Human Extinction

Human Extinction

Last Hope

As he vacated the air craft, Tom couldn't help but feel trepidation about this new world he would be living in.

All he knew was that the civilisation that had once inhabited earth were forced into extinction one hundred years ago by a terrible virus.

Tom and his friends were genetically modified test tube babies that could not contract diseases or illness and were obedient to the leaders.

Life on Zentopia was good but the Government decided it was time to recolonise Earth so they were put onto a space craft and flown to their new home.

Tom walked out into the fresh air, he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light, he had never seen anything so bright before.

He mad his way to the Que forming for scanning and classification. Each person would be housed based on their genetic class.

As Tom progressed towards the front of the line he missed the safety and comfort of Zentopia. The air was musty and smelt of death.

As he approached the scanner he held his arm out and examine the bar code on his left arm. He placed it under the scanner, as it beeped it spoke to him, welcome Thomas phoenix, barracks A.

As he walked towards his new home Tom kicked the dirt under his feet. He noticed something shiny on the ground and bent down to pick it up. It was a silver locket, he shoved it into his pocket before anyone could see.

Tom arrived at his new home which was a dark grey building with a lime green door, he opened it and entered into a well lit room with a black lounge, an odd shaped coffee table and plasma screen TV.

The bedroom has mustard coloured wallpaper, and was filled with a double bed and a single closet.

Tom went back to the lounge room and sat on the oversized black leather chair.

He removed the locket from his pocket and began to inspect it.

The locket was heart shaped, it looked old and worn as he held it, the locket opened, inside was a photo of a grey haired lady. The photo fell from the locket, landing on Toms lap. As he picked it up he noticed some writing on the back, it said Mary and underneath 3 numbers, 10,17,28.

What did the numbers mean? He thought. Birth dates? Co-ordinates?

Tom was curious so he removed his laptop from his backpack and placed it onto the coffee table.

As he typed the information into the search engine, Tom was unsure of what he would find if anything.

In an instant one match to his search appeared on the screen.

A photo of the same greyed haired lady from the locket along with an article.

He clicked onto the link with anticipation.

As he scanned the article two words stood out, patient Zero.

The article confirmed that the grey haired lady was in Fact Mary Joseph-Phoenix.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that her name was the same as his could it? He wondered.

He read on and discovered that Mary was the first person to contract the virus after a trip abroad.

She was a scientist for a company called Protocorp.

Tom typed the name into the search engine and found an article written by Scientists Today that stated Protocorp was a billion dollar company who were responsible for the vaccines for the virus Covid19.

The article went on to say that Mary and her sister were the first human test subjects for the vaccines that were successful in curing them of the virus.

Tom began to question this article, if they were cured then why did billions of people die?

Was he related to Mary? And if so how?

‘

He would need to sneak into the archives hall and retrieve his file. Tom planned his secret mission, he waited until midnight when everyone else was asleep and crept to the archives hall.

The door creaked as he opened it, his heart pounding like a locomotive,

he located the filing cabinet where his file was kept and just as he was about to grab it he noticed a beam of light cross the floor beside him.

Tom slid under the table and pulled his knees to his chest and buried his head.

Listening closely as the footsteps appeared to be getting closer then stopped.

He held his breath too scared to look, thinking he had been caught.

Suddenly the footsteps moved away again the a door could be heard closing.

Tom released his breath in relief.

“phew that was close” he whispered to himself.

He returned to the cabinet and retrieved the file then made a hasty exit from the building.

Tom ran back to his home and burst through the door and closed it quickly behind him, A wash of relief came over him.

He flopped back onto the lounge and opened the file.

He saw his name Thomas Phoenix, date of birth 17th May 2005. Wait that cant be right he thought, or he would bee One hundred years old not twenty five.

Parents; John and Mary Phoenix

“What the Hell! “He said a little too loudly as it echoed through the quiet room.

HE noticed something else, Patient 20278

Tom suddenly came to the realisation that his whole life was a farce; a lie.

As he continued to read the file he came across some notes, the first one dated April 26th 2015.

Patient 20278 aged 10, responding well to treatment, immune to all diseases tested.

So he had been a guinea pig for them to test their vaccines on.

The next note two weeks later stated that His parents had died from Cardiac arrest from one of the vaccines.

Tom felt his blood boil, the more he read the angrier he became.

He Vowed to himself to confront the people in charge and get the truth.

He tossed and turned that nigh his mind swirled with a million questions.

The next morning he made a coffee and sat down to read the file again. He came across a note that he had overlooked the night before that stated that he, patient 20278 was the only male participant who had not been render infertile from the vaccine and was the only hope for future generations.

Tom picked up the file and made his way to the leaders Hall. As he burst into the room an eerie silence filled it.

An women who was familiar to him approached him “lets go talk in here” she said calmly pointing to a small room. He followed her into the room, his anger reappearing as he slid the file across the table at her. “Is this true?” he yelled.

She looked at him blankly.

“you know exactly what I’m talking about” he hissed.

She drew a deep breath and looked at him, sadness in her eyes.

She explained everything to him then explained that he was a project so humans would be healthier.

And if I don't procreate? He asked

“well humans will no longer exist”

“you could have just asked” he said with a grin.