Well, you're right. This plot would be done better justice as a novel, so that's exactly what I'm gonna write: a novel. The first chapter has already been posted, so please take a look.
I am the last human on planet Earth. I am the final survivor on this ruined rock orbiting a dying star. I am the only one left.
Thirteen days ago, my friend Carl died. Ever the optimist, He was whistling as he fished for bioluminescent fang squid. He never even heard the skull creeper coming. In the middle of the chorus, the baleful mutant arachnid shot venomous spines in his back. All I found was his fishing rod, with a squid still trying to escape.
Twenty-two days before that, my dear sister drowned in acid-polluted water. While fighting for my life with an ushi, I watched cravenly as a hitokage serpent pursued Elizabeth. She tripped and fell over a cliff, and my sister was no more. I could not even give her a decent burial, let alone avenge her on that accursed monster.
Just ten days earlier, Alexander, my former rival, was impaled on a twisted steel support when a floor collapsed as he hunted ushi. I could not reconcile myself to the fact that he died to bring me food.
When shall my turn come? Tomorrow? Today? Will they come for me tonight, when my fire dies down? I have cheated death so many times. Now, no one is left to take my place. One by one, they died. Slowly, we are becoming extinct at the claws of abominations that should not exist
And to think that it began with a discovery that might have saved lives. In the name of greed, a war was declared to decide who would have rights to Human DNA. Munitions evolved. Missiles flew. Cities burned and billions died.
His name was Dr. Clarkeson. He promised he could solve all of our problems with genetically engineered organisms. Our faction was loosing the war, and the senate was desperate. How very foolish it was to trust him. They kicked the president out of the capitol, then replaced him with this man who had never overseen so much as a lemonade stand.
He promised us ‘super cows’ to solve hunger. They should have been fast growing, hardy, and docile. He succeeded in the first two characteristics, but failed utterly in his third promise. A hormonal mutation caused their mouths to fill with teeth, sharp as katanas. They were known to regenerate even entire limbs with astonishing speed. Four muscular legs allowed them to out distance a human with ease. Many of the man-eating omnivores escaped from the top-secret laboratory where they were bred. We call them ‘ushi’ after the groans of the first victim.
His fang squid were bred to devour the enemy’s fisheries and so starve their population. They did, and then preyed on our own fishing industry.
Skull creeper larvae can fly on strands of silk like some ordinary spiders, spreading them over the enemy’s cities and fortresses. Fatally, though, they also infested our own.
When rolled-up newspapers failed, Dr. Clarkeson developed hitokage serpents from the komodo dragon and other fierce creatures large and small. At first, the fire-breathing organic exterminators could be kept on a leash, but it didn’t take long for most of them to escape. Between the two species, the streets, subways, and especially the alleyways became unsafe to stand in.
As the empire I pledged allegiance to began to crumble from monsters within and an onslaught of enemy infantry without, the Doctor became desperate and despairing. In a final act of spite, he ordered numerous missiles constructed and launched. Some had nuclear warheads. Others carried a far more sinister payload; they detonated in low atmosphere, distributing a deadly, synthetic virus. By the time the remnant of the enemy army found Clarkeson’s body in his office, most of civilization was ashes. Most of those remaining died soon after in an epidemic unrivaled in all of history.
I ponder the purpose of what is left of my life as I cook fang squid over a burning couch. Once the furniture was worth thousands of dollars; now it is less than an armload of usable firewood.
I look out the entrance of the cave I dug into a mountain of rubble. Watching the dying crimson sun, I consider ending my painfully meaningless existence with a plunge into the slate gray lake my hole overlooks. What is there to live for? It's over. For decades they searched for life on other planets. Now, ours is dying, joining the rest of the lifeless universe
What was that noise? Whatever else may come, I refuse to become prey to the creature that caused my sister’s death. I grab an ornately carved couch leg from the fire and prepare to face the unknown source of the startling sound.
More astonishing than a dozen hitokages, a gaunt woman meets my worrisome gaze at the mouth of my cave.
“Who are you?” I ask, as astounded as she.
“Ki vagy te?” It sounds like she is asking the same of me.
I point to myself and say slowly, “Jacob.”
She does the same, saying, “ILona.”
I am famished, but I can see that she has not eaten in days. I take the squid out of the fire and offer it to her. Watching her face, I can tell that she is too hungry to care that she had never tasted anything more bitter.
I was no longer alone! Now that there is another human being with me, I have so much more to live for. I am amazed that she has survived this long without even knowing how to catch a fang squid. Now it is my responsibility to look after her.
It is hard to remember, sometimes, that Elizabeth is no longer with me. ILona does not say much, like my thoughtful sister used to. When I hear her feet quietly trotting behind me, I think it’s her, until I look back and see ILona’s curious, smiling face. I could never forget my sister, though. I could never forget my her blood that is on my hands.
Frequently, I forget that ILona has never even heard English before! But she nods politely and pretends to understand for my sake. Slowly, I teach her English, and she teaches me words of her native Hungarian. One word that she never lets me forget is ‘Tintahal’ - squid.
Three months later, we find Kazoku. What a wonderful place it is! Sixteen miles of craters, acid and rubble from the cave I once called home, we came across a thriving community of over a score of those who survived the nuking and disease.
They had gathered enough clean soil to grow some potted vegetables – you never realize how good broccoli tastes until you have not eaten fresh vegetation for three years. In small pools, they raised fang squid and other, less remarkable, fishes.
From blackened I-beams and strips of corrugated aluminum, they had pieced together homes. In the middle of the village they had dug a deep well filled with fresh, clean, pure water, free from acid, chemicals, and microorganisms.
They defend themselves from hitokage serpents with longbows, javelins, and a crude flame-thrower patched up from a prewar tool. Usually there are at least two villagers at their primitive forge, making and repairing weapons. When an ushi is killed, the furnace is re-purposed to cook the gigantic animal.
To be a citizen and share in the harvest, one must share in the provision, and particularly, the protection of the village. There is much to be done, with squid to be fed, barley to be harvested, arrows to be made, and hitokage serpents to watch for in one of the five guard towers.
We were welcomed with open arms. It is a safe place to be, even if a skull creeper or an ushi is spotted every six hours or so. People from both of the formerly warring empires work together in defiance of death.
No longer do I think myself the last human on Earth; now, I am surrounded by friends.
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