Last Man On Earth

• Sam Burkitt, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

I am the last man on earth. Or at least I thought I was until I heard a knock on the door. At first, I stare at the airlock. How? How is it possible? I should be the only one left. I hear the knock again, louder this time – thud, thud, thud against the heavy metal door. I slowly trudge towards the sound, dragging my untied combat boots across the filthy lab floor. I think it’s the sound of one of the starving mutant beasts which roam the area and fling their bodies against the side of the lead chamber that shelters me – or imprisons me more like. I feel dizzy and my joints ache because I haven't moved much for the past few days – I don’t see the point any more. Then I hear it, a man's voice: it sounds raspy and old.

"Josh..."

I am riveted to the spot. The sound of another human voice is such a shock. My world has been ravaged by a deadly plague for years; there's no one left now except for me stuck in this isolation chamber with the food and water supply slowly dwindling. Well, that's what I thought. And how does this man know what my name is? What an amazing feeling to hear it said out loud again.

At the door, my hand hesitates over the handle. Should I open it? I haven’t been outside for such a long time. My need for human contact is so strong that it's like a terrible hunger.

The man is now in the inner airlock chamber where the atmosphere is safe for me. I unlock the door and pull it quickly open. A towering figure in a hazmat suit and helmet stares at me, one hand raised in a gesture of peace; the other holding a spare suit.

"Who are you?" I demand. "I thought there was no one left."

"We've been searching for you, Josh. We need to leave quickly. Put this suit on and follow me." His metallic voice rings through his breathing apparatus. "My name is Luca. There are more of us living in an underground community. You'll be safe with us. We have supplies."

It's been three years since I've seen another living human. I want to laugh and embrace this man, but my survival instincts tell me to be cautious. I've seen so many people die in those months before the last of us found refuge in this isolation chamber, safe from the desolation that was happening throughout the world. Now I’m the only survivor. Or so I thought.

"How do I know you don't have the sickness?"

"Our group isolated ourselves in the early days. We could tell something a lot bigger was going on here. Josh, we can talk about this later. We really need to go now. I’ve travelled a long way to find you and there are dangerous creatures roaming at night."

I make a decision. If a community exists somewhere in this diseased world, I want to be part of it. I put on the unfamiliar hazmat suit, stumbling a little as I haven’t been outside for an age. I look around quickly at what has been my home for so many hard years.

We leave together.

I turn around and close the final airlock behind me with a heavy bang. I look back in front to follow Luca. There is no man there. I look down and see that I am not wearing a hazmat suit.

The feeling of the air on my skin is pure bliss.

I take a deep breath.