Short Stories

The Last Human

The man ran through the abandoned Warehouse, he didn't need to glance behind him to know that They were right there, chasing him. He could sense one of Them circling around him, he dove to the side as, out of thin air, one of them emerged and lunged at him, Its white hot tentacles speeding past his face. The man aimed his Pistol and fired once, not at the head, but at the body, where the Core was located. The FEMP wave knocked out Its suit's power source, and the creature fell back, suffocating and freezing, and died in seconds. The man turned a corner and found solid wall, he didn't stop, instead he jumped right through it. 

Outside the Warehouse, a teenager was tagging the wall with a spray can, he didn't have anything against the old building, but he had to prove his bravery and loyalty to Morton and the others. Suddenly a Man appeared out of thin air and ran directly towards him. Caleb stood shocked for a few moments, but quickly regained his senses, Caleb turned and ran from the man, but realised the man was still gaining ground even while he was at full sprint. "Caleb! You need to stop!" The man called. How he knew his name Caleb did not know, but it certainly couldn't be good. Caleb tried to quickly change direction, but the man effortlessly followed, Caleb couldn't escape this man, he'd have to turn and fight. Caleb rounded on the spot,  raising his fists and hoping the man wasn't ready for it, indeed the man wasn't even looking as Caleb punched him as hard as he could in the side of the man's head. The man fell backwards, stunned, Caleb was about to turn around and run when a... creature... appeared in front of the fallen man. It made a low pitched rumbling that seemed to resonate throughout its whole body. Then three whip-like tentacles lashed out through the air and buried into... the place where the man had just been. The creature's vibrating intensified and became even lower pitched, it seemed angry. The creature rounded on him and let out a series of deliberate vibrations, it raised its three tentacles, and even from a few metres away from It he could feel the heat radiating from it. The creature's strike was lightning fast, but the man was faster, he leaped from nowhere, raised a gun and fired. Nothing happened, no bang, no flash of light, nothing. Even so, the creature toppled over dead, its tentacles frozen inches from his chest.

"The War was brutal. For Decades the battles raged across the Galaxy. There were great victories and losses on both sides, but eventually, we lost. I don't think anybody remembered the exact reason why we went to war, maybe we were cocky, low on resources, some even said that we were just incompatible, I'm not sure. But, even as They decimated our final stronghold, reducing it to rubble, the UIC, that's the United Interstellar Colonies, had one last weapon to deploy. Me." I turned and looked at Caleb, he sat there on the couch staring at me. "I am somewhat of a prototype, I was a test run for what the UIC hoped could be the perfect soldier. But unfortunately, Their counter-attack was faster and harder than we were expecting, they broke through our defences and-" I paused, realising he wasn't listening. "Hey," I said, almost annoyed, "Caleb!" Caleb's eyes shot up. "What?" He looked scared out of his skin. I sighed, leaning back in my chair and putting my feat up on the rest. "Did you ever know your parents, Caleb? Your father? He disappeared when you were young right?" Caleb glared at me, "How do you even know that? Are you like a perv or something?" I cringed at that, then nodded, "Yeah, actually. I've been watching you for some time Caleb. Although not because I'm creepy. Thing is, your life is in danger now. And it's my job to keep you alive as long as possible." Caleb looked at me for a time, probably wondering whether I was crazy. I wondered the same thing sometimes, but I was pretty sure I wasn't. After a short silence Caleb said, "The Police are gonna find me." I sighed, irritated. "Were you not just listening to what I told you? The Police don't matter any more! School doesn't matter any more! Your whole world is irrelevant! Your life is in danger!" Caleb glared again, "You're crazy man, you expect me to believe that you're from another dimension, that there was this big war against people and aliens, and that you're the last person alive?" I sighed, there were a few people who, if attacked by aliens, would accept their existence. Unfortunately most people assumed that the alien attack was a side affect of whatever drug I must have used to get them here. "Fine, you want proof? Come on. I stood up, then realised I hadn't unbound him yet. His hands and feet were still tied, that probably hadn't helped my case.

The man, he still hadn't revealed his name, drew out a small handle from his belt, he flicked a switch on the handle and a blue, glowing blade leaped about 10 cm from the handle. I recoiled from the weapon, I had no idea how it worked, but I could see the heat radiating from it, doing that wavy thing to the air above it. He started walking over to me and raised the knife. At the last moment I kicked out with my legs and caught him right in the knee, dislocating it from its socket with a CRACK! The man swore and fell over, his gun skidding out of his belt to my feet. I grabbed the knife and cut my bindings, then picked up his gun and turned towards him, his leg was bent at an odd angle at the knee and I looked away, disgusted. I looked around the place for a phone, there was nothing that said 'Phone' but there was a panel that looked like it could be. I ran to the panel and punched in the numbers 9-1-1. The monitor in front of me flickered to life and displayed the message 'RETRIEVING FREQUENCY' I sighed in relief, waiting for the call to go through. Behind me I heard another CRACK and the man cried out, I turned to see him flexing his knee, then tenderly putting weight on it. He turned to me and started limping over, "Caleb! I'm getting sick of this! You turn that off and get back out here!" I raised his gun and pointed it at him, "Stop! Or I'll shoot you! I swear!" The man kept walking, unfazed. I flicked the safety off and lined up the shot with his chest, at least those Thursdays at the Firing Range weren't to waste, the man hesitated only slightly, but kept walking. "Caleb, I'm not gonna hurt you, just calm down! You're behaving like a caged animal!" I waved the gun threateningly, "Not one more step! I'm calling the cops!" That stopped him, I glanced behind me and saw the 'RETRIEVING FREQUENCY' message had been replaced with 'FREQUENCY RECEIVED' and then 'DOWNLOADING DATA' and finally 'TELEPORTING, 3 - 2' "Wait what?" '1' I turned to the man, "What kind of pho-" And I disappeared.

The man saw the confusion on Caleb's face as he realised he wasn't using a phone. Caleb turned to him and said "What kind of pho-" And he was whisked away in a flash of light to Safehouse 911. The man, despite his throbbing leg, broke down into fits of laughter. It was the funniest thing to happen to him since the Chicken Fight. (The Chicken Fight had involved a fight between three of Them and a group of Chickens. Despite having high tech weaponry and deadly hot bodies, They seemed to have an irrational fear of Chickens. That particular incident had resulted in the deaths of all three of Them as they wouldn't dare move out of the way of his FEMP waves in case they touched the Chickens.)