Season five, Episode eighteen – “Swarm”

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 presenting stand-alone apocalypse stories that we plan to drop monthly. So, for my surviving listeners, give it a listen and let me know what you think. Today, format-wise. I will read an introduction, insert an ad-break to pay off the jailers, and then step off stage to let you enjoy the story. So let’s get on with it! Today’s offering is the first of a 3-episode story arc by Patrick Rushbrook that introduces a couple of fun characters struggling to survive and make sense of an apocalypse that is alternately comical and horrifying. It is written and adapted by Patrick Rushbrook.…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 the first iteration of the Exterminator character. In 2024, Patrick achieved the title of “professional writer” by earning an incredible $400.In addition to his literary endeavors, Patrick is also a professional drummer and an un-professional guitarist, where he’s earned a grand total of $75 and a t-shirt that was three sizes too big. You can find Patrick on Instagram at patrickrushbrookwritesBut the best place is at his Author Subreddit - r/ hgtv_neighbor …Patrick and I worked together to vet an audio performer for this series and landed on the voice you will hear today reading the work – Austin.Austin C. Baker is a storyteller and experience designer from Plymouth, Indiana, with a lifelong passion for narrative and creativity. From writing comic books and filming backyard skits as a kid to designing immersive events and ghostwriting fiction, Austin has always sought out meaningful ways to connect with audiences.He holds degrees in Experience Design, History, and Strategic Leadership & Design from the University of Indianapolis, where he also spent several years teaching. Alongside his design and writing work, Austin is an actor and voice actor, bringing characters to life across screen and audio.Today, he runs BDP XD (https://www.bdpxd.com/ ), his own experience design studio, while also continuing to write and teach professionally.So without further data loss, after the break, let’s sit back and enjoy “The Exterminator’s Apocalypse, Part one, The Rats”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 Aug 17min

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 there aren’t really any blatant spoilers in here if you want to listen to our chat – It is forty six minutes long so perfect for that extra-long car ride or two-mile walk. For you time travelers, it is the end of July 2025. We have completed the five-season arc of the main show. Now we are pivoting. ‘Pivoting’ was all the rage in the 90’s when I was a startup guy. They wrote books about it! What is said pivot? Well….we will be spotlighting new writers and audio performers on this feed going forward. What does that mean to you? More high-quality apocalypse audio stories for your tender discriminating ears!I will drop the first story on August first (yes, a week from today) with a fun story with some unique characters – you are going to love it! What should I call it? The ‘Apocalypse stories’ podcast? I kinda dig ‘The Apocalypse Café’. Anyhow – if you are a write that has some good stories let me know. If you fancy yourself an audio performer – especially female voices – also let me know. I’ll probably end up needing slush readers as well when the undead hordes of starving artists find that I’m accepting submissions. You can email me directly at cyktrussell at gmail dot com or use the contact form on my website oldmanapocalypse.com And yes, I know I need to redo the website. I have a long list of needs to dos. A few technical updates before I go. There was briefly a feature on Acast, my hosting service, that provided early release and ad-free options. Acast pulled the rug out from under that and pivoted (see what I did there?) the service to another app – but it no longer supports Ad-free or early release – pain in the ass. So one of my projects is to create Ad-free versions of the show and put them up on my Patreon site. I also need to go back through and clean up my outros from the past five years and remove all the out of date references, etc. Stay tuned as I work my way through my task backlog and enjoy my summer vacation! I’m reading a bunch of books and watching a lot of content and listening to even more books and starting to get antsy bout writing something new – but I have to clean the kitchen a bit before I start any new meals. So as the burning sun sinks low, casting a heat shimmering shadow across the valley floor, we see sings of habitation down there. And we move slowly down the slope to investigate. Come with me now on a new adventure as we keep surviving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25 Juli 51min

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 iceberg.”“I know.” She said, “I just don’t want to get dosed. I don’t have time in my schedule for an acid trip.” She looked at him and made a vague circular gesture that seemed to include the whole world. “We’ve got so much to do.”...Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.htmlWebsite -> http://www.oldmanapocalypse.com Buy me Coffee -> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyktrussellSubscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apocalypsePodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/after-the-apocalypseFacebook group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmanapocalypseYouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/@cyktrussellPatreon to support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/AftertheApocalypseMerch Store -> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/after-the-apocalypse Twitter -> cyktrussell@twitter.comRunRunLiveWebsite -> https://www.runrunlive.comPodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/runrunlive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Juli 23min

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 noise as Janet took the Defender exit off the highway. She squeezed at high speed between a wrecked bus and a derelict semi. The old man visibly stiffened as the tires protested in a plaintive squeal. “Don’t worry.” She replied, “I’ll get you there in one piece…(pause) Probably…” She added with a wink. “Goddamn woman!” The old man cursed and held on tight as they bounced onto the two-lane access road. “Going to get us all killed.” ...Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.htmlWebsite -> http://www.oldmanapocalypse.com Buy me Coffee -> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyktrussellSubscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apocalypsePodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/after-the-apocalypseFacebook group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmanapocalypseYouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/@cyktrussellPatreon to support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/AftertheApocalypseMerch Store -> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/after-the-apocalypse Twitter -> cyktrussell@twitter.comRunRunLiveWebsite -> https://www.runrunlive.comPodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/runrunlive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Juni 36min

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 the DC was his. Hell, everything was his. As far as he could see and as far as he could reach, it was all his now. ...Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.htmlWebsite -> http://www.oldmanapocalypse.com Buy me Coffee -> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyktrussellSubscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apocalypsePodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/after-the-apocalypseFacebook group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmanapocalypseYouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/@cyktrussellPatreon to support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/AftertheApocalypseMerch Store -> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/after-the-apocalypse Twitter -> cyktrussell@twitter.comRunRunLiveWebsite -> https://www.runrunlive.comPodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/runrunlive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24 Maj 31min

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 he ambled off to curl up in a grassy patch of shade at Janet’s feet where she stood leaning against a wall watching the proceedings in silence. Mags watched him go about his work and wished she were as sanguine and confident. They were refugees, gathered here, at the Zoo. The King had chased them from their fortified farms and agricultural community at the Distribution Center. Now they had to decide what to do. Her vision of the future was dead. ...Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.htmlWebsite -> http://www.oldmanapocalypse.com Buy me Coffee -> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyktrussellSubscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apocalypsePodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/after-the-apocalypseFacebook group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmanapocalypseYouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/@cyktrussellPatreon to support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/AftertheApocalypseMerch Store -> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/after-the-apocalypse Twitter -> cyktrussell@twitter.comRunRunLiveWebsite -> https://www.runrunlive.comPodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/runrunlive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 Maj 31min

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 breathing and watched to see if he would be followed, “Totally SNAFU’ed”...Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.htmlWebsite -> http://www.oldmanapocalypse.com Buy me Coffee -> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyktrussellSubscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apocalypsePodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/after-the-apocalypseFacebook group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmanapocalypseYouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/@cyktrussellPatreon to support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/AftertheApocalypseMerch Store -> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/after-the-apocalypse Twitter -> cyktrussell@twitter.comRunRunLiveWebsite -> https://www.runrunlive.comPodcast on Acast -> https://shows.acast.com/runrunlive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Apr 31min