Day 78

Today is May 29.

Someday I should go back and write down what happened in the first 50 days. I have notes somewhere. I don’t want to forget. But, I’ve been too stunned. I can’t think straight. I’ve barely cried. I can’t believe WWIII actually happened.

If that’s what happened. Was it a natural disaster? How could everyone be dead? I couldn’t get in touch with anyone anywhere.

I should go. I’ve decided on Northern California. It’s better for long term survival. I can’t spend the winter here. It’s too cold here to grow the fruit and other food I will want to eat. And there might be other people out there somewhere.

Tomorrow I will drive by the capital. There has to be someone alive.

But, I can’t leave.

I’ve gone through all of the rooms in the house, but not my parents. I know somehow, I will never be back here again. Eventually, infrastructure will deteriorate, bridges will collapse.

I took an old tie from my father’s closet. There is nothing from my mother that it makes sense to bring.

I looked through her jewelry boxes. I took the pearls she got as a 50th anniversary gift. Her bedside table. There was a book she was reading. I didn’t look at the title. I open the top drawer. There was a locket I had never seen before. A gold, heart-shaped locket. I picked it up. I opened it. There was a picture of my grandmother on one side and my grandfather on ther other side. Black and white. She was posing like a matriarch. I would have laughed, but I have no laughs left. He was laughing. He had a warm soul.

History. A connection to the past. I put it on. I will remember them. I will remember all of them. I can’t cry anymore. But, I sat on the edge of the bed with the locket in my hand, and stroked it with my fingers.

It’s time to go.

June 9.

Some car accidents are easy to get around; others take hours. I took a scooter to the White House. I walked right in. The oval office was empty. I guess I was expecting that. There were wild dogs in the corridors. I had to shoot them. Mostly, I just let the wild dogs be, but if I feel threatened, I don’t hesitate.

I took some papers. And some cell phones and chargers. Several computers. All I know is that the president was picked up and they headed west with him. Of course. The wave was moving west.

Was it from a weapon up in orbit? A wave that sped around the planet as the earth spun? All the animals are alive. It’s just humans that are dead. What caused this?

I decided to head West. Some of the papers I found in one of the conference rooms had military information about bases. I would check them out. I didn’t expect they would fare much better than here, but if there was a chance someone was alive on this continent, I figured they would be my best chance.

June 21. I’m in a totally different world. I don’t even feel like I am on earth. I’ve been alone for so long. There is a silence in my soul I can’t explain. It feels as if the whole earth were empty.

There needs to be another word that is far stronger than lonely. I want to scream all the time. Sometimes I do. Sometimes the cat meows for hours on end. But, there are members of his species left. What if I am the only one of mine?

Tomorrow I will arrive at a military facility. I can’t believe how long it took.

June 23

Nothing. No one. I can’t believe this. I screamed for half the night in grief. I am so mad! Why am I the only one? Why? Why? Why?

Why?

It’s early in the morning, but it is the 74th day. It’s mid-July. I need to settle down before the winter. Though, now that I’m further south, it won’t be as much of an issue. But, this place is barren. And hot.

It’s evening. Still day 74. I went back inside. I found top secret documentation that mentions another facility. I will check it out. Much of it was redacted. But I think it is a military/research base. I have little hope. From the other military information I have gathered, they are certain that no other country was behind it. And that they knew the source, but apparently, that information is classified.

I can’t believe I haven’t found another person by now. I have to believe that there is someone else out there.

There has to be someone.

June 27

It took me 3 days to get here. It is late evening. There isn't a lot of time to look around.

The earth was bombarded here. I was afraid there would be radiation. Maybe it had been bombed by another country. But there is minimal radiation and not everything is flattened.

It’s a good thing I found some personal radiation detectors at the other military base and night vision goggles. There are some craters I had to zigzag around, but there are a couple of buildings standing. I will check them out.

Oh my word! There is a … a ship … I don’t know. It is not a regular plane or a flying saucer. It’s something in between. I’ve never seen anything like it before. My first thought was aliens, but that's all science fiction right? Right?

I’m shaking so hard I can barely write. I can’t let them see me, whoever they are. I have to go.

I can’t go. Maybe they have hostages. Considering that I haven’t seen a single person alive; perhaps not. And they would kill me for sure. I have to go.

...

Now, I know. I know what happened.

I found the entrance to the underground facility. It was totally unguarded. They think they’ve killed the whole entire human race. That’s what they said. What do they care for security?

They have some way of detecting where every single person is on earth and that they eliminated every single one. They disrupted every human’s DNA with some sort of energy that they beamed down from space. Everyone was dead in just over a day. Every single person. Except me. Why am I alive?

What was my boss working on in that safe room? How was I protected? It wasn’t until the backup electricity failed that I got out. If I knew I could…

I can’t leave here. One day they will turn it on again and kill me. I have to destroy it somehow. But, what is the point if every human is dead except me. Sort of.

They look like aliens, but they are not. They are genetically enhanced humans. I mean, Well, I was very careful, but I thought, I have to … I didn't know. Do something. So, I was looking around and found a way down into the underground facility. I was very careful to listen for any noise and was using night vision goggles so I didn't have to use a light. The facility is huge.

I went into what looked like a lab and was trying to figure out what it had been used for. It was a very quiet area. I shut the door and turned the light on to look around. Then I heard two voices. They weren’t English.

I looked around quickly. Where to hide? There was a closet. I opened it. Lab coats and some boxes. There was barely room. I got in and shut the door. Had they heard me? They were distracted.

They switched to English to talk about the research they were looking at.

“This is my DNA?”

“Yes.”

“You’re saying this part is human?”

Most of our DNA is.

What is the rest?

This here. This is gorilla. This sequence is from a rare species of bat.

My echolocation?

Yes.

This is octopus

What is an octo -pas?

A type of sea animal. That is where your polarized vision comes from.

I froze. And started breathing through my mouth slowly to make it quieter. What kind of senses might these people have? What if they could hear my heartbeat? I was grateful for the hum of the different lab equipment. I hoped they would mask my presence. Very slowly, I turned my head so I could see through the crack in the door. But, I closed my eyes. Don’t panic. No matter what you see. Whatever you do, don't panic.

I opened my eyes. Then they widened. Yes. They looked alien. Very alien. Different from each other. But alien. They were mostly human though? I listened more closely.

“All earth life forms?”

“Yes. All of our DNA comes from here. From earth.”

“Then when did our ancestors leave earth for Hourisn?”

“Never.”

“What do you mean? I remember it before it was destroyed.”

“A false memory.”

Silence.

“What?”

“You know how they put memories in…”

“NO! I remember.”

“Yes.” He said calmly.

“NO! No! I have no human in me! I am not like them! They are evil. They treated us like animals. They have no good in them. They…”

“No doubt that’s why they treated us like animals.”

“What? Why?!”

The other one interrupted him.

“They ‘created’ us. They messed up our DNA. They thought that meant they owned us and could do whatever they wanted.”

“NOO!” He was breaking equipment.

The other panicked.

“STOP!” Our future depends on this equipment. Our child will be made here. Stop.” He was struggling with him, pushing him against a wall. “Stop. Don’t you want children with your Numa?”

“We are not like them. We destroyed them because they have no respect for life. They tortured us. Experimented on us. Killed us. There is none of them in me. They deserved to die. Every. Single. One. They are evil! That’s why we killed them all. We are not like them. We are not like them.”

He sobbed. The same tragic sounds I had heard come from my own mouth. The depth of the pain. I was familiar with it now. I turned away.

We did this. Of course we did. Genocides and massacres, inquisitions, world wars, pollution, the list is long. All by humans.

But, they are us. They have our DNA.

They killed mercilessly. Just. Like. Us. Even the ones who did nothing and would never have done anything to hurt them. They could not be trusted.

But. I understood their anger. But, I would never be like them.

I kept hidden. They were no longer speaking English. I didn’t recognize the language. It didn't sound like Russian or Chinese or any language I could recognize. I only speak English.

They switched to English again a couple of times. I just listened. Numb. They had a way of detecting the location of every person on earth. That is why they were sure they got everyone.

But they had missed me.

I learned they had sperm and eggs here. And they were fully human. They had brought them with them. This was how the one who knew more had found out they had been made from these. From the research. Created in a lab not unlike this one. And, they were trying to find a way to reproduce because they couldn’t on their own.

Tears were running down my face. I didn't wipe them away. I didn’t move a muscle. How long did I have to stay there?

I didn’t move, but I could feel the locket lightly against my collar bone. The history it represented. A greater history. The world’s. The love, the pain, the tragedy. The progress. The mistakes. All of human history. Would there be a future? Would it be theirs?

Would I be the last human alive?