After the Apocalypse

Delores – An After the Apocalypse StoryThe Café door chime sang its song of arrivals. Jolene watched a woman enter the café.  The woman was furtive but otherwise unremarkable. She stayed close to the door, seemingly unsure whether her decision to enter was a good one, and, at any moment, might turn and flee back to the anonymous safety of the apocalyptic street beyond.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intro – The apocalypse CaféHello my survivor friends. Today we are presenting a story called ‘The apocalypse Café’ written by yours truly and read by our old friend Robert. You’re going to get all sentimental hearing it I’m sure. The story is set in the same universe as the original After the Apocalypse series, but this is a standalone storyline with new characters. I expect to do three of these. I gave myself a little more rope than usual so this story reads out to around 30 minutes. I’ll come back...

Patrick's Contest Story - Read by Austin BakerAnd Then There Was JanieThe sun was quickly disappearing behind me as I stood in front of my cabin in southern Iowa, watching as a brand new, silver ‘65 Cadillac rocketed down the long dirt driveway, spreading a fine layer of dust on the prematurely rotting pumpkin patches on both sides. The car eventually slid to a stop a stone's throw from my front porch, and out of it stepped a smartly dressed man in his late 40's. Lean and tan, with close cropped salt-and-pepper hair, he wa...

Hello my survivor friends. For new listeners you should go back to season one episode one to start the five season After the Apocalypse story. You have a wonderful 100 episode journey in front of you. Enjoy. It took me 5 years to produce, it will probably take you 5 days to consume. So go get started! Or you can listen to the trailer which should be the first episode in the feed. Today, for my ongoing and habitual survivor friends we present the first of two stories that Patrick and I wrote for a story contest that my p...

Welcome back survivors! How have you been? Have you missed me? Today, we have a conversation with Jesse and Shannon to wrap up the Dean and Cordelia series. If you’re new to the feed, the original After the Apocalypse story ran for 5 seasons. It’s an story about survivors of a viral apocalypse and I recommend you start with Season one Episode one. ·      Notes: from conversation: ·      Jesse’s website https://www.piedraven.com·      T. Kingfisher books -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Vernon·      Tamson Muir -> https://en.wikipedia...

Hello my survivor friends…Thick, oily, toxic mist rises from a crack in the village center. The bone crushing coldness has caused the turf to dry and die. The earth below contracts and splits to reveal its deathly inner workings. All is cold and death. Yup, that’s pretty much the way it is at my house too. Winter and darkness have rolled like an exhausting dystopian ghost over the land. What’s new survivors? Today I’m going to talk about the Dean and Cordelia series and what we’re doing next on the feed and I...

"Widespread Mechanical Failure" - Episode 2 of the Dean and Cordelia seriesWritten by Jesse DanielsRead by Shannon StockwellProduced for the Apocalypse Cafe by Chris Russell...Cordelia and Dean rumbled on the hood of his car as a small plane flew in overhead. The proximity to the landing aircraft shook her small frame and blew her hair in every direction. They hollered, but couldn’t hear one another, and gazed up as the plane passed. It grew louder when it backfired, sending a quick burst of flames and so...

Introduction to “Cherry and Star Anise – Episode one of the Dean and Cordelia series. Hello and welcome survivors to the next story in the Apocalypse Café. Today we present to you the first episode in the Dean and Cordelia three episode arc titled “Cherry and Star Anise.” I’ll come back with comments at the end, but allow me, survivors, to quickly introduce the author and the performer. Jesse Daniels is a tree-climbing Virgo with an amazing whistling ability. He can often be found at the peak of a mountain with his dog and w...

Patrick Rushbrook is a self-described “middle aged white guy in Kentucky with a beautiful wife and two teenage daughters, who writes silly stories to entertain himself instead of doing more productive things with his spare time.” Patrick had always been interested in writing but isn’t exactly a self-starter, so he didn’t take up the craft until age 39, after finding Reddit’s nosleep page. Growing jealous of some of the wildly successful, yet terribly written stories there and craving reddit upvotes to satisfy his fragile ego, he ventured into the game where one of his early stories was...

Hello, my survivor friends, The sun is setting now in behind the protective ring of iron hills as we wend our way down the slick shale to the village. It glows orange in the opaque, ravaged horizon. As we approach, we see there is an old man squatting on his haunches in front of a warming fire. He turns to us with yellowed eyes and says “Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you…” So that was the 3rd episode of the 3-episode arc of the Exterminator’s Apocalypse Read by Austin and adapted for the apocalypse b...

The Apocalypse CaféThe Exterminator’s Apocalypse, Episode two, Exterminate!Welcome Survivors to the second episode of “The Apocalypse Café”. This is a series I’ve created as a follow up to the After the Apocalypse 5 season run. Her we feature new artists with new stories.  If you are looking for the original five seasons of the After the Apocalypse story arc then you need to start at Season one, Episode one.I’ve decided to tweak the format after listening to the first episode. I found the commercial break after the i...

Introduction: Season 6, Episode oneWelcome Survivors to the August 1, 2025 inaugural edition of “The Apocalypse Café”.  For those confused, befuddled and wandering pilgrims that are wondering what exactly they are listening to, let me ‘splain’. Let me sum up! After the Apocalypse is an apocalyptic story that I created and published 100 plus episodes over five seasons. That story started with episode 1 season 1 at the beginning of this feed – so if you’re new, go back to the beginning and state there. Since we completed the narrative arc that we had planned now we are presentin...

Ad-Free: How to get Ad-Free episodesHello my survivor friends. Thank you for being part of the After the Apocalypse Family. I have set up Ad-Free versions of all the 5 seasons and 100+ episodes of the After the Apocalypse story on Patreon. Go to the After the Apocalypse Patreon page and you will have access to all the episodes without commercials. This is Chris, the author and producer speaking to you from the end of August 2025The podcast will continue to be free to listen to with programmatic ad...

Editors’ RetrospectiveHello and welcome my survivor friends to a special wrap up episode where I sit down with the three editors of After the Apocalypse to have a retrospective chat about our experiences over the last half-decade.So, if you’re new to the show, this is not a narrative episode. The narrative starts at season one, episode one. Your podcast app should let you sort on ‘oldest first’ and you will see that. Today, I’ll give you this brief intro and then the chat and no outro.That being said th...

After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Epilogue...This is an epilogue to the whole series to tie up loose ends and character arcs. It has four scenes that jump forward in time. ...It had been four weeks since the battle. It had taken that long to decontaminate the DC from the drug filled drone spray. Still, Mags eyed her coffee suspiciously. “It should be fine.” Brent reassured her, “We sprayed enough water on this place in the last few weeks to melt an...

After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Episode twenty – “Released”...The truck roared down the highway towards Defender. Janet gripped the wheel and focused on the road. The old man held the grab handle and rested a calming hand on the dog’s head that had been thrust under his arm from the back seat. He was trying very hard not to worry about how fast she was pushing. "It would be nice not to die in an accident on an abandoned road!” The old man shouted over the road...

 After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Episode nineteen – “Consumed” ...The King was quite pleased with himself and was pleased with the outcome of his work. He leaned back in his chair and took a swig of high-end whiskey. In the old world this would have been a luxury brand. Very expensive. Something he couldn’t get. Unless he stole it from some rich asshole. It wouldn’t be wasted on him intentionally. That world hadn’t made any luxury for him. Now this bottle and everything in th...

After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Episode eighteen – “Swarm” ...Liam and Zooey had opted to stay with Mag’s group when the Kaiju – as Paul was called – left. They had gone to Defender with the old man. Now Liam was equal parts glad and anxious. Glad that he had an opportunity to make an impact, potentially turn the tide of the conflict with his drones, and anxious that it might not work. He knew everyone on Mag’s team had doubts. Doubted the feasibility of this drone attack plan a...

After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Episode Seventeen – “Moving Day” … “Good to see you.” Mags said to the old man, shaking his hand and simultaneously rubbing the big dog head that had been enthusiastically pushed into her lap. The entire team was now gathered to decide on what to do next. What action to take. Bill knew what actions he would take and he took them. He executed a happy round of greetings to his old friends and associates, gathering head scratches and pets. Then...

After the ApocalypseA pandemic survival storySeason five, Episode Sixteen – “Exodus” … The Corporal angled behind an oak tree and rolled prone into the tall grass. He came to rest with the barrel of his rifle pointing uphill towards the command tent where The King had just executed Ottweiller. Far enough to be out of sight, close enough to shoot pursuers. He had just been witness to a brazen coup d’etat. ‘What a cluster..’ He thought, as he waited there in the grass and slowed his breath...