Horror Story Prompt Challenge: "The Last Command"

let's support each others.

Congrats to all the winners, wishing I the best of luck next challenge..

I am very sad to know that my name was not in the winner list but I will try to come first next time

🎉 Announcing the Winners of “The Last Command” Horror Story Prompt Challenge! 🎉 Hosted by Dr. Jason Benskin 📚💀 Where fear meets imagination... After reading through bone-chilling entries and spine-tingling tales, we're thrilled to announce the top 3 winners who truly delivered terror in its finest form. 🕯️👻 🥇 1st Place – $20 Tip Sent Today! 🏆💵 “The Edge of Silence - A Prompt from Dr. Jason - The Last Command” By: Ellie A haunting tale of isolation and obedience pushed to their breaking point. 🥈 2nd Place – $10 Tip Sent Today! 🥈💵 “The Way Out Is Through - An Entry for Doc's Horror Story Prompt Challenge” By: C. Rommial Butler A psychological descent where survival means surrendering to the unknown. 🥉 3rd Place – $5 Tip Sent Today! 🥉💵 “What Happens in Outer Space... Stays in Outer Space” – Dr. Jason Benskin's Horror Prompt By: Antoni De'Leon Terror among the stars, where no one can hear your final command. 💌 All winner tips were sent today in appreciation of their stellar (and spooky) work! 👏 A huge thank you to everyone who participated. Your stories made this challenge unforgettable. 🩸 Stay tuned for the next round of horror hosted by Dr. Jason Benskin… if you dare. 👀 #TheLastCommand #HorrorPromptChallenge #VocalWinners #DrJasonChallenge

where is winner

wow nice

I just returned from a long trip, and to be honest this challenge was a constant in my mind, knowing I would not be able to enter. I still may write the story that formed in my mind. This chalenge is one that I truly did not want to miss. Alas my days were full and the nights were long and a prom,ise of No major writitng was given. Good luck reading all of the entries I know I am abouit to indulge myself in them.

Mine is not finished 😬

This prompt really pushed me outside my usual writing comfort zone and helped me explore a new kind of atmosphere and pacing. I had a lot of fun crafting this story, and it honestly stretched me in the best way. Thanks Doc for putting together such an evocative prompt. It lit a fire under me! Here's my entry: https://shopping-feedback.today/horror/when-the-world-went-quiet%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

Just made it before the deadline! Thanks for the challenge! https://shopping-feedback.today/horror/two-crewmates-one-mission%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

What's up, Doc? In answer to your question: "In the cold expanse of space, who do you trust when the world below turns to ashes?" The first and last answer that came to my mind was, knowing the history of the Cold War, and the brave refusal of more than one individual to follow such orders: not the State. So, for this reason, I'm not sure that I followed your prompts adequately, but, nevertheless, I did greatly enjoy writing this one once I sat down with it. Here's my entry: https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/the-way-out-is-through%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

Awesome to read

Here is my entry. https://shopping-feedback.today/horror/what-happens-in-outer-space-stays-in-outer-space%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

Dr Benskin, I am so eager to submit to this challenge but review response is not back yet, for me to get the link, kindly advice if is there other option that I can opt for?, Thanks.

sir check my stories if they are bad i can change my method because no one comments on my stories .

Amazing prompt 😉

This is really wonderful prompt

I'll be returning to this over the coming days 😁

Consider this….Thanks! https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/tp-82%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E —S.S.

Hi Jason, thanks for the invite 😊 Strangely I actually already wrote a story that almost matches this prompt! A sci-fi eco-thriller with horror elements: https://shopping-feedback.today/futurism/baby-s-first-steps%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E But I'll see if I can come up with a new one for this challenge 👍🏻

I humbly submit my entry. Thank you for the thought provoking challenge! https://shopping-feedback.today/horror/the-edge-of-silence%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

I will submit my story.

Above the Ashes The International Space Station drifted high above the Earth—a fragile island of humanity orbiting a world unraveling below. Commander Ethan Shaw floated silently in the Cupola module, staring down at the blue marble that had once been home. But now, vast swathes of the surface were cloaked in smoke. Fires burned unchecked across continents. Cities had gone dark. Communications had stopped. One by one, Mission Control centers in Houston, Moscow, Munich, and Tokyo had fallen silent. It was Day 9 of the blackout. Across the station, Cosmonaut Alexei Morozov drifted, barely speaking. The two had once been colleagues—friendly even—but that was before the final transmissions. Shaw clutched the data slate again, re-reading the last message he had received before the comms cut out completely. It was a short burst transmission from NASA, encrypted and urgent: > “Global escalation confirmed. In the event of prolonged blackout, you are authorized to neutralize Cosmonaut Morozov. He poses an existential threat. Godspeed.” He hadn’t told Alexei. But something in the Russian’s silence made him think he had received a similar order. The ISS, once a beacon of cooperation, had become a tomb. There was no more mission, no more science, only two men trapped in orbit, unsure if their families were still alive. Unsure if their countries even existed. And unsure if they should kill each other. --- Day 10 They split duties. Ethan stayed on the U.S. side, Alexei on the Russian segment. The airlocks remained unlocked, but the tension was thick enough to suffocate. Shaw couldn't sleep. The station creaked and groaned like a living beast. Voices whispered in the hissing of the oxygen vents. Sometimes he saw shadows move where no one floated. He began having visions—of his wife, of his daughter. They appeared in the portholes, staring, their faces blurred by static. Once, he thought he heard his daughter's voice whisper: “Daddy, why won’t you come home?” Alexei, too, looked increasingly gaunt and haunted. He scribbled in a Russian notebook obsessively and spent hours staring at the Earth. On Day 11, Shaw found a hypodermic needle floating near the galley. Empty. No explanation. He didn’t ask. --- Day 12 – The Countdown At 02:41 UTC, every display screen on the ISS lit up with a message in both Russian and English: > “COUNTDOWN INITIATED – 48:00:00” No source. No details. The crew access to the mainframe was locked. Shaw confronted Alexei in the Node 2 module. His voice shook. “What the hell is this?” Alexei looked as confused as he did. “Not from Moscow. I thought maybe... NASA.” “You think I sent this?” “You think I did?” They stared at each other, hearts racing. For a moment, the silence between them was louder than any alarm. Then Alexei spoke quietly, “You got orders too, didn’t you?” Neither of them answered. They didn’t need to. --- Day 13 They tried everything—manual overrides, rebooting subsystems, even rewiring power nodes. The countdown persisted. At T-minus 30:00:00, the station sealed off access to certain modules, including the Soyuz escape pod. The AI was behaving oddly, spitting out logs that didn’t exist. The station claimed a third crew member had logged in. Shaw opened an EVA suit locker and found a helmet fogged from the inside, as though someone had breathed in it recently. There were only two of them onboard. Right? --- Day 14 Trust had disintegrated. Shaw moved through the station clutching a wrench. He heard footsteps in modules that should have been empty. The cameras showed glimpses of a third person—just a flicker, always out of frame. When he confronted Alexei, the cosmonaut only laughed. “You see her too?” “Her?” “The woman in the window. She speaks to me.” That night, Shaw watched as Alexei floated in front of the viewport, mumbling in Russian. “I won’t do it,” he said. “You can’t make me.” Then he screamed. Later, he told Shaw he saw his dead sister outside the station, knocking on the glass with bloodied hands. --- Day 15 – T-minus 06:00:00 Alexei vanished. Shaw searched every module, calling his name. Tools floated abandoned. Food packets untouched. Then the whispering returned. Louder. Clearer. > “Finish the mission.” Shaw found Alexei hiding in the Tranquility module, pale and shaking. He had disconnected the air scrubbers and muttered about “cleansing the ghosts.” “We were never meant to come here,” Alexei whispered. “We brought our wars into heaven.” --- T-minus 02:00:00 The Earth below flashed—again. More detonations. Bright mushroom clouds in the Middle East. Eastern Europe gone. Even from orbit, the devastation was undeniable. Humanity had pulled the trigger. Alexei and Shaw sat in silence near the life support console. No words left. “We could end it now,” Shaw said. Alexei looked at him. “Or we wait.” “For what?” “For death. Or God.” They floated in silence, eyes locked on the ticking countdown. --- T-minus 00:00:01 Nothing happened. Then: a soft chime. > “Mission Complete.” The screens went black. --- Day 16 The lights flickered. The station systems reset. Gravity wobbled briefly. Something had changed. The escape pod—previously sealed—was now accessible. No new messages. No more whispers. Just silence. Shaw stood in front of the hatch, staring into the Soyuz capsule. He could leave. Go back. If Earth still existed. Behind him, Alexei spoke, “What if this was all a test?” “A test of what?” “Faith. Loyalty. Sanity.” Shaw didn’t reply. He stared at the Earth—scarred, smoldering, but turning still. Then he looked back at Alexei. “There was never anyone else up here, was there?” Alexei didn’t answer. He just smiled. A bloodless, eerie smile. --- Day 17 – Last Entry > ISS Log – Commander Ethan Shaw “I don't know what's real anymore. Maybe this station is haunted. Maybe we’re already dead. Maybe none of this ever happened. The countdown, the orders, the voices—they could have been a test… or a trick. A ghost in the machine. Or worse: something waiting to see if we’d destroy each other. Alexei left in the Soyuz pod. Said he was going home. But Earth doesn’t look like home anymore. I stayed behind. The whispers are louder now. They tell me the war never happened. That it’s all in my mind. That there was never any Alexei. But I remember his face. His voice. The way he looked at me when the world burned. I’m alone now. Or maybe I never was.” --- The International Space Station continues its orbit. No signals come from Earth. No voices reply. Only silence. And something—watching—just beyond the stars. --- THE END

I love fiction but not great at science fiction. This is a hard think challenge. Hmm. Will see what comes to mind.

I read Marie's entry, and I might give it a try for this is great for those science fiction horror story writers. Good job and good thinking.