Last Man

The story must begin with "The last man on Earth sat in his room. There was a knock on the door."

The last man on Earth sat in his room.  There was a knock on the door.  He said nothing.  He moved nothing.

 

"Please," Adelle's voice quivered from the other side, "you don't have to do this."  His head remained buried in his hands and a tear drop fell from his cheek onto the floor.  Words could not have escaped even if he had a desire to set them free.

 

"This isn't your fault, John."  His name came out sharper than she intended, but the tone was moot.  They had waded through this discussion countless times before and both knew this was where it ended.  No matter how badly they wanted her strained argument to be true, the pain and suffering endured as a result of his actions had been permanently cemented in history.

 

"We need you.  I need you."  His chest tightened as her words echoed off the bare walls of isolation.  Another tear hit the floor.  

 

As hard as he tried, he could not stop the onslaught of visions from flooding his brain.  Vivid images replaying the last twenty eight months.  First the exuberance in the lab with Jean and Wanda as all of their hard work and sacrifices turned into the birth of the first age stalling serum.  Next was his wife Adelle's smile, glistening with pride at the public release conference which was in tandem with worldwide distribution.  Then he recalled the heartache and embarrassment he felt when Jean and Wanda fell ill months after boastfully self-injecting their greatest gift to mankind.  Finally he regurgitated the overwhelming fear that gripped his soul and the rest of the world.  Their once highly touted miracle drug had only short lived success before turning poisonous within the fatty tissues of the human body.  

 

The pharmaceutical companies couldn’t wait to get their hands on it and rushed through proper research and development.  John, Jean, and Wanda were persuaded by fame and fortune and followed suit.  To make matters worse, the poison proved to have no reversible solution and remained highly toxic for an unprecedented length of time.  Poison ravaged the human body, contaminated the water system, made its way into the food chain, and was rapidly consuming the entire ecosystem.

 

"The last transport is leaving, and they've already said anyone left behind will be considered lost to Earth… even you."  Her voice wavered through the locked door.  Adelle had been John's rock throughout their relationship but the horrific events of the past months had changed everything.  At no fault of her own, she no longer had the persuasive influence of love on her side.  John had done everything within his power to sever himself from everything and everyone in his life.  He had been preparing for this day from the moment he realized the magnitude of what had transpired.  He knew it would be hard, but not this hard.  He was near the end of his rope and was grasping at twine.

 

After a minute of silence she tapped the door with her index finger and whispered, "Goodbye, John.  I'll always love you."  His heart nearly exploded.  He had told himself from day one that his new found purpose in life was to right his wrongs.  He was the closest to the problem and was the closest to the cure.  Family, friends, pleasure, sadness, happiness, love, and everything else in life that did not help him find the cure had no bearing.  It was all a distraction.  Irrelevant.

 

He fell completely dead inside as the echoes of her footsteps faded into silence.  He said nothing.  He moved nothing.  With nothing left to lose and with one goal left in life, the last man on Earth sat in his room, with only one thing on his mind; the knock on the door.