by Cross, Amy
I can't help smiling as I see the way he's swinging his arms. Of all the new humans living here on this planet, Katmi is somehow the most ungainly. Sometimes I'd love to see how he'd fit in back in somewhere like New York, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he'd adapt pretty well. Something I've learned since we reached this planet is that adaptability is one of the key parts of being human. I honestly think you could drop a bunch of us anywhere, and we'd find a way to survive.
Looking past him, I see the others milling about in the town square. I'm still astonished by all that we've achieved since we arrived here.
“I thought you might be here,” Katmi says as he stops next to me, and I see that he's already looking over to the spot nearby where the hill reaches its crest. “I hope you don't think that we forgot. We actually talked for a while about whether to mark the first anniversary in some way, but...” His voice trails off for a moment. “We just couldn't decide what to do.”
Turning, I look over at the makeshift cross that I put on this spot exactly one year ago today. Elizabeth was an old woman when she died, and she was surrounded by friends from the town. She was, almost certainly, the last Earth-born woman in existence, but she seemed totally unafraid of death. She laughed and joked with me until the end, and I held her hand as she passed. Not a day has gone by that I have not thought of her, or missed her, or comforted myself with the notion – however foolish it might be – that one day I might be reunited with her. With all of them.
“You've done more than enough,” I tell Katmi. “Ignore me, I'm an old fool now.” I can't help smiling. “I guess Elizabeth and I have been the first old people you've ever seen.”
“True,” he replies, “but I'm not scared. None of us are.”
“That's a very... human thing to say,” I tell him, as his liz-dog nudges my arm with its snout and I give it a stroke.
“In what way?”
“In a way that can't be put into words.”
He pauses, and it's clear that he doesn't really understand. I don't know whether it's something genetic, or whether it's more to do with the environment in which they were raised, but these new humans (I wish I could think of a better way to describe them!) struggle with certain nuances. Then again, there are some areas in which they excel, and I guess that's how things should be.
“I'll be down to eat soon,” I tell Katmi, even though I'm not feeling very hungry. “Just give me a few more minutes.”
“Of course,” he says, taking a step back. “I didn't mean to disturb you.”
“You didn't at all,” I reply. “Thank you for coming up here.”
He turns and starts heading back down the slope.
“Wait!” I call out, and he stops to glance back at me. “Sorry,” I add, “but I have one quick question before you go. Right now, tell me... do you see anyone else here with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you see anyone else sitting here,” I continue, “or do you see me sitting alone?”
“Well...” He pauses. “You're alone.”
“That's all I wanted to know,” I tell him. “Enjoy the food. I'll be along soon, if my old legs can carry me.”
He looks more than a little puzzled as he walks away with his liz-dog, but I'm not too worried about that. It's good that they're puzzled sometimes, because that's how they learn. They sometimes struggle with more esoteric concepts, but I think they're slowly making progress in that regard. Maybe I'm giving myself too much credit, but I think that's an area where I've been able to help them quite a lot.
Well, not just me...
“They're going to be alright,” Elizabeth says, and I turn to see her sitting next to me, with her grave just a few meters further away. She smiles at me. “Without us, I mean. We didn't do a bad job raising them. All... how many came out of the pods again?”
“Fifteen hundred,” I remind her.
She laughs.
“Do you remember that day?” I ask. “I couldn't believe it. I thought we were so screwed.”
“We managed,” she points out. “Somehow. I know I wanted to have actual kids at first, but eventually I got over the fact that I couldn't. I mean, at one point we were having to deal with fifteen hundred teenagers all at once. That was...”
“Hectic,” I reply.
“Insane,” she says with a smile. “But somehow we managed.”
I look back toward the town, and suddenly I feel as if I'm completely at peace. Over the past weeks, I've been feeling a few unusual pains in my chest and arms, although I never mentioned anything to the others. In an instant, however, the pain is gone, and I feel utterly calm.
“I think I know why you're here,” I whisper finally, still watching the town.
“I thought you might,” Elizabeth says, reaching down and holding my hand.
“Are you real?” I ask.
“What do you think?”
I turn to her.
“I think I've lost the ability to tell,” I reply.
“They're advancing so quickly,” she says, as we watch the town. “Sometimes I worry that they're developing too fast, but then I tell myself that there's nothing I can do about it. They pore over every document and video from the ship, they're fascinated by stories of Earth, and it's as if they're in a rush to push on into the future.”
“They managed to find the Maxwell Carver audio files,” I tell her.
“They did? I thought I destroyed them.”
“They're clever. They reconstructed them.”
“What happened when they played them?”
“They laughed. Somehow I don't think they took him too seriously. One of them even asked me if his speech was some kind of joke.”
“I guess we taught them well,” Elizabeth replies. “They constantly talk of the stars, of going out there and exploring. I know people did back in our day, too, but I think there's actually a chance that it could happen this time.”
“They've learned so much from studying the wreck of our ship,” I tell her. “You'd better believe that they're going to get out there sooner rather than later. Humanity has already left one planet. I think the next journeys should turn out to be a lot easier. And faster, too. They keep talking about trying to improve the tech that brought us here. I've got to admit, I don't understand half their ideas, but the other day they were talking about -”
“Settle back, Thomas.”
“Some of them even think they can break the speed of light,” I tell her. “Now that's crazy, right? Still, it shows that they're ambitious.”
“Settle back,” she says again. “Put your head on the ground.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me. Do it.”
“But -”
“Trust me,” she adds, the way she used to ask me to trust her back on Earth.
I hesitate, but then – figuring that there's no point arguing with her – I lean back on the ground, and she does the same next to me. I stare up at the sky, and I wait for Elizabeth to say something, but then I realize that maybe I'm the one who should be speaking. After all, I'm starting to understand that this is my big moment.
“Does it hurt?” I ask.
“Does what hurt?”
“Death,” I manage to say after a moment.
“That depends. Did it?”
“What do you -”
Stopping suddenly, I realize what she means, and why she wanted me to settle like this. The sense of calm is really starting to fill my entire body, and I can't help but marvel at the beauty of the pink moon that's just about visible high above. This world is so similar to Earth in some ways, yet so different in others, and I've never quite been able to stop comparing the two. Earth's still out there somewhere, even if there's nobody left alive on its surface, but it's nice to think that maybe something is managing to survive there. After all, it wasn't a bad old planet.
The sun is starting to dip now, disappearing behind Mount Martha.
I am the last of my kind. And as I slip away, I feel c
ertain that the new generation – born right here on this world – will thrive and prosper in ways I can't begin to imagine. I've already seen glimpses of their potential, and I'm certain that this dusty old planet won't hold them for long. They're going to spread across the stars now, and in the process they're going to make themselves so much stronger. I guess that makes it official: despite all the odds, the human race survived this mass extinction event. In fact, we did more than survive. We prospered, and now we're going to live among the stars.
On this day, and on all the days to come.
THE END
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
1. Days 1 to 4
2. Days 5 to 8
3. Days 9 to 16
4. Days 46 to 53
5. Days 54 to 61
6. Day 100
7. Days 101 to 108
8. Days 109 to 116
9. Days 195 to 202
10. Days 203 to 210
11. Days 349 to 356
12. Days 357 to 364
13. Day 365. The Final Day
BOOKS BY AMY CROSS
1. Dark Season: The Complete First Series (2011)
2. Werewolves of Soho (Lupine Howl book 1) (2012)
3. Werewolves of the Other London (Lupine Howl book 2) (2012)
4. Ghosts: The Complete Series (2012)
5. Dark Season: The Complete Second Series (2012)
6. The Children of Black Annis (Lupine Howl book 3) (2012)
7. Destiny of the Last Wolf (Lupine Howl book 4) (2012)
8. Asylum (The Asylum Trilogy book 1) (2012)
9. Dark Season: The Complete Third Series (2013)
10. Devil's Briar (2013)
11. Broken Blue (The Broken Trilogy book 1) (2013)
12. The Night Girl (2013)
13. Days 1 to 4 (Mass Extinction Event book 1) (2013)
14. Days 5 to 8 (Mass Extinction Event book 2) (2013)
15. The Library (The Library Chronicles book 1) (2013)
16. American Coven (2013)
17. Werewolves of Sangreth (Lupine Howl book 5) (2013)
18. Broken White (The Broken Trilogy book 2) (2013)
19. Grave Girl (Grave Girl book 1) (2013)
20. Other People's Bodies (2013)
21. The Shades (2013)
22. The Vampire's Grave and Other Stories (2013)
23. Darper Danver: The Complete First Series (2013)
24. The Hollow Church (2013)
25. The Dead and the Dying (2013)
26. Days 9 to 16 (Mass Extinction Event book 3) (2013)
27. The Girl Who Never Came Back (2013)
28. Ward Z (The Ward Z Series book 1) (2013)
29. Journey to the Library (The Library Chronicles book 2) (2014)
30. The Vampires of Tor Cliff Asylum (2014)
31. The Family Man (2014)
32. The Devil's Blade (2014)
33. The Immortal Wolf (Lupine Howl book 6) (2014)
34. The Dying Streets (Detective Laura Foster book 1) (2014)
35. The Stars My Home (2014)
36. The Ghost in the Rain and Other Stories (2014)
37. Ghosts of the River Thames (The Robinson Chronicles book 1) (2014)
38. The Wolves of Cur'eath (2014)
39. Days 46 to 53 (Mass Extinction Event book 4) (2014)
40. The Man Who Saw the Face of the World (2014)
41. The Art of Dying (Detective Laura Foster book 2) (2014)
42. Raven Revivals (Grave Girl book 2) (2014)
43. Arrival on Thaxos (Dead Souls book 1) (2014)
44. Birthright (Dead Souls book 2) (2014)
45. A Man of Ghosts (Dead Souls book 3) (2014)
46. The Haunting of Hardstone Jail (2014)
47. A Very Respectable Woman (2015)
48. Better the Devil (2015)
49. The Haunting of Marshall Heights (2015)
50. Terror at Camp Everbee (The Ward Z Series book 2) (2015)
51. Guided by Evil (Dead Souls book 4) (2015)
52. Child of a Bloodied Hand (Dead Souls book 5) (2015)
53. Promises of the Dead (Dead Souls book 6) (2015)
54. Days 54 to 61 (Mass Extinction Event book 5) (2015)
55. Angels in the Machine (The Robinson Chronicles book 2) (2015)
56. The Curse of Ah-Qal's Tomb (2015)
57. Broken Red (The Broken Trilogy book 3) (2015)
58. The Farm (2015)
59. Fallen Heroes (Detective Laura Foster book 3) (2015)
60. The Haunting of Emily Stone (2015)
61. Cursed Across Time (Dead Souls book 7) (2015)
62. Destiny of the Dead (Dead Souls book 8) (2015)
63. The Death of Jennifer Kazakos (Dead Souls book 9) (2015)
64. Alice Isn't Well (Death Herself book 1) (2015)
65. Annie's Room (2015)
66. The House on Everley Street (Death Herself book 2) (2015)
67. Meds (The Asylum Trilogy book 2) (2015)
68. Take Me to Church (2015)
69. Ascension (Demon's Grail book 1) (2015)
70. The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1) (2015)
71. Eli's Town (2015)
72. The Horror of Raven's Briar Orphanage (Dead Souls book 10) (2015)
73. The Witch of Thaxos (Dead Souls book 11) (2015)
74. The Rise of Ashalla (Dead Souls book 12) (2015)
75. Evolution (Demon's Grail book 2) (2015)
76. The Island (The Island book 1) (2015)
77. The Lighthouse (2015)
78. The Cabin (The Cabin Trilogy book 1) (2015)
79. At the Edge of the Forest (2015)
80. The Devil's Hand (2015)
81. The 13th Demon (Demon's Grail book 3) (2016)
82. After the Cabin (The Cabin Trilogy book 2) (2016)
83. The Border: The Complete Series (2016)
84. The Dead Ones (Death Herself book 3) (2016)
85. A House in London (2016)
86. Persona (The Island book 2) (2016)
87. Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2) (2016)
88. Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories (2016)
89. The Ghost of Shapley Hall (2016)
90. The Blood House (2016)
91. The Death of Addie Gray (2016)
92. The Girl With Crooked Fangs (2016)
93. Last Wrong Turn (2016)
94. The Body at Auercliff (2016)
95. The Printer From Hell (2016)
96. The Dog (2016)
97. The Nurse (2016)
98. The Haunting of Blackwych Grange (2016)
99. Twisted Little Things and Other Stories (2016)
100. The Horror of Devil's Root Lake (2016)
101. The Disappearance of Katie Wren (2016)
102. B&B (2016)
103. The Bride of Ashbyrn House (2016)
104. The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal Trilogy book 1) (2016)
105. The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel (2016)
106. The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories (2016)
107. Laura (2017)
108. The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1) (2017)
109. The Curse of Wetherley House (2017)
110. The Ghosts of Hexley Airport (2017)
111. The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2) (2017)
112. Haunted (2017)
113. The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories (2017)
114. The Ash House (2017)
115. The Ghost of Molly Holt (2017)
116. The Camera Man (2017)
117. The Soul Auction (2017)
118. The Abyss (The Island book 3) (2017)
119. Broken Window (The House of Jack the Ripper book 1) (2017)
120. In Darkness Dwell (The House of Jack the Ripper book 2) (2017)
121. Cradle to Grave (The House of Jack the Ripper book 3) (2017)
122. The Lady Screams (The House of Jack the Ripper book 4) (2017)
123. A Beast Well Tamed (The House of Jac
k the Ripper book 5) (2017)
124. Doctor Charles Grazier (The House of Jack the Ripper book 6) (2017)
125. The Raven Watcher (The House of Jack the Ripper book 7) (2017)
126. The Final Act (The House of Jack the Ripper book 8) (2017)
127. Stephen (2017)
128. The Spider (2017)
129. The Mermaid's Revenge (2017)
130. The Girl Who Threw Rocks at the Devil (2018)
131. Friend From the Internet (2018)
132. Beautiful Familiar (2018)
133. One Night at a Soul Auction (2018)
134. 16 Frames of the Devil's Face (2018)
135. The Haunting of Caldgrave House (2018)
136. Like Stones on a Crow's Back (The Deal Trilogy book 2) (2018)
137. Room 9 and Other Stories (2018)
138. The Gravest Girl of All (Grave Girl book 3) (2018)
139. Return to Thaxos (Dead Souls book 13) (2018)
140. The Madness of Annie Radford (The Asylum Trilogy book 3) (2018)
141. The Haunting of Briarwych Church (Briarwych book 1) (2018)
142. I Just Want You To Be Happy (2018)
143. Day 100 (Mass Extinction Event book 6) (2018)
144. The Horror of Briarwych Church (Briarwych book 2) (2018)
145. The Ghost of Briarwych Church (Briarwych book 3) (2018)
146. Lights Out (2019)
147. Apocalypse (The Ward Z Series book 3) (2019)
148. Days 101 to 108 (Mass Extinction Event book 7) (2019)
149. The Haunting of Daniel Bayliss (2019)
150. The Purchase (2019)
151. Harper's Hotel Ghost Girl (Death Herself book 4) (2019)
152. The Haunting of Aldburn House (2019)
153. Days 109 to 116 (Mass Extinction Event book 8) (2019)
154. Bad News (2019)
155. The Wedding of Rachel Blaine (2019)
156. Dark Little Wonders and Other Stories (2019)
157. The Music Man (2019)
158. The Vampire Falls (Three Nights of the Vampire book 1) (2019)
159. The Other Ann (2019)
160. The Butcher's Husband and Other Stories (2019)
161. The Haunting of Lannister Hall (2019)
162. The Vampire Burns (Three Nights of the Vampire book 2) (2019)
163. Days 195 to 202 (Mass Extinction Event book 9) (2019)
164. Escape From Hotel Necro (2019)