300 Miles through the Apocalypse. 10 Hours. One Way Out.

The infection hit fast. The panic hit faster. Now, Jed Thorne is driving a stolen Land Cruiser through a burning Utah, trying to get his daughter to the only safe place left: Dead Horse Point State Park.

But the safe zone is closing. At sundown, the military is detonating the only land bridge to the mesa, turning it into an impenetrable island in the sky. Jed has to outrun the infected, outmaneuver the chaos, and beat the setting sun.

In this week’s episode of Dust and Echoes, James Cawley presents "Island in the Sky" a relentless survival thriller about the terrifying fragility of the world we live in.

In the isolated settlement of Terth, life is defined by the Burn Line...a shimmering, humming barrier that encircles the town, protecting the last of humanity from the radioactive wasteland outside.

To touch the Line is to burn.

To question it is heresy.

Caleb is a tower mechanic, dedicated to keeping the ancient machines running and the barrier strong. But lately, the silence speaks louder than the hum. He’s noticed gauges that never move and power loads that don't match the terrifying stories of the apocalypse raging just inches away.

When a slipped wrench falls into the forbidden zone, Caleb is forced to confront a terrifying reality.

Now, Caleb stands at the precipice of the ultimate taboo. If the fire isn't keeping them safe, then what is it keeping them in...and what is outside?

A story about the comfortable lies we live in, and the dangerous freedom that comes with the truth.

Written and read by the author, James Cawley >>Something VERY COOL is coming soon, keep an eye out at:<<

https://www.dustandechoespodcast.com/

The Grand Banks, 1755.

The fog does not roll; it exhales. And hidden within the stifling gray of the Atlantic, something waits for Lieutenant Thomas Halloway.

Halloway is a man of the Royal Navy, a scholar of the Enlightenment, and a believer in the rational world. He trusts charts, sextants, and the sturdy timber of the HMS Acheron. But when the fog clears, it reveals a vessel that defies all reason: a blindingly white craft, smooth as bone, devoid of sails, floating in the silence of the deep ocean.

Inside lies a corpse dressed in fabrics unknown to history. And in the dead man’s hand, a small slab of seamless black obsidian.

It is cold. It is heavy. And when Halloway touches it, it ignites.

Suddenly, a man of the 18th century holds a window into a terrifying, vibrant future. The stone captures souls in impossible clarity...moving paintings, disembodied voices, and glowing runes that count down the minutes of a dying light.

As Halloway becomes obsessed with the "ghosts" trapped in the glass, he is forced to bring the artifact to the jagged shores of New Providence, where the fanatical Lord Governor Corvus sees not a miracle, but a demon to be purged.

With the light in the stone fading and religious hysteria rising, Halloway must protect the impossible object and the memories it holds. But he is about to discover that the greatest horror is not the magic of the future, but the fragility of the legacy we leave behind.

Help grow this show! Leave me a comment and rating please, it only takes a minute. I READ EVERY COMMENT.

> Tell me in the comments: What kind of story do you want to hear next??? <

Darius Enlo is five thousand days into a lonely mission to harvest a comet that will exponentialize Earth's AI models. Onboard are the scientists who will execute the plan on arrival, frozen in ice for the long haul. Watching over them alone is Darius, a transit caretaker. But when an impossible message arrives from deep space claiming the mission is a death sentence for "his people", Darius must make a choice.

Does he trust the AI-lead world government's models? Or...does he trust the voice speaking to him from the dark?

He knows he's alone...but someone is definitely watching.

The Caretaker is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi thriller about the price of following orders and the courage it takes to break them. Written and Read by the Author, James Cawley

Stewart believes he is just waiting out the clock. Retired, invisible, and adrift in a life that feels increasingly gray, he drives into the high Utah wilderness not to find something new, but to escape the quiet nothingness of home. He tells himself he is ready for the end.

But the mountain has a way of calling a bluff.

When a sudden winter storm buries the remote road and traps him in a freezing whiteout, the silence of the desert strips away Stewart’s defenses. Isolated in the crushing cold, he is forced to confront the terrifying truth about his own resignation. As the temperature drops and the world dissolves into white, Stewart discovers that the line between accepting death and fighting for life is razor-thin...and that the mundane life he took for granted might be the only thing worth burning for.

A story about the stubbornness of the human heart and the savage clarity that only comes when the cold finally breaks in. ----more----GIVEAWAY!

And finally, a special offer for the listeners of Dust and Echoes. I am opening the doors to my premium audio platform, and I want you there first. I am giving away a free one-year VIP subscription to the first ten people who email me right now. That’s full access to over 50 original audio-book style stories (new ones added each week), some of which you can’t hear anywhere else.

Want to win? This is what you do:

Open your email and send the word VIP to: EnterTheDust@gmail.com

The first ten emails to hit my inbox get the year for free. Good luck.

----more----

• The Offer: The first ten (10) individuals to email "VIP" to the designated address will receive a free 1-year subscription to the Weekly Stories platform.

• Winner Determination: Winners are determined solely by the timestamp of receipt in the Host’s email inbox server.

• Eligibility: Must be 18 years or older to enter. Void where prohibited by law.

• Prize Fulfillment & Beta Status:

  • Delivery Timeline: Access to the service is part of a "Pre-Launch" phase and may be subject to a delay of up to Thirty (30) days from the date of winning notification.

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Sent to the dreary, isolated Oregon coast to stay with a grandmother they barely know, two city teenagers find themselves trapped in a war that is older than they are, and far more terrible.

Their family's history is the town's curse, and the only path to survival demands that they sail directly into the heart of the darkness. This is a story about the agonizing choice between running from your past, and the moment you decide to burn it all down.

Thomas Reid is a literary star, his bestselling novel The Factory Grave, a golden ticket out of his blue-collar past. But the life he built withing a remote mountain fortress, the perfect family, the critical acclaim....it all feels like a fraud. He is haunted by a suffocating "survivor's guilt", a feeling that drives him back to the Utah wilderness for a reunion with Rudy, the best friend he left behind.

He went for penance. He went to prove he hadn't changed.

In the cold, gray light of the mountains, a single rifle CRACK shatters the silence. Thomas is faced with a choice: his new life, or the truth.

He chooses the new life.

He buries his secret under a blanket of pine needles, crafts the perfect lie for the sheriff , and walks away, a good actor in the role of a grieving friend. For two years, the lie holds. He is safe.

But some graves don't stay closed. And in the remote, quiet dark of his fortress, Thomas is about to learn that the man he buried... isn't the one who is coming back for him.

What if you found a VHS tape... that showed you the future?

It's 1992, and Clint Mercer is a lonely man living a quiet, predictable life. His only solace is the local video rental store, a relic of a bygone analog era. But when the clerk hands him a mysterious, unlabeled cassette with one word on it ...REWIND! his world is shattered.

It's not a movie. It's a prophecy.

Clint watches, horrified, as the grainy, handheld footage shows him events that haven't happened yet, a future he can't even comprehend. The tape's cryptic message is clear: if he doesn't rewind it, it will all come true.

But the future doesn't want to be changed.

The moment Clint decides to act, he learns that something is guarding the timeline. Creatures of static and shadow begin to crawl from the dark corners of his apartment, whispering his name, their only goal to stop him from pressing that button.

This episode of Dust and Echoes is a gripping story about a man in a race against time, armed only with a failing VCR and a flashlight. It's a chilling blend of supernatural thriller, 90s nostalgia, and analog horror that asks: if you had the power to save the world, could you survive the things trying to stop you?

If you love stories about cursed objects, found footage, or "what if" time travel thrillers, this episode was made for you. Written and performed by the author, James Cawley. Like this? Want more? Please SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE A RATING.