Author's Note

Version 1.1 – I put it through Reverso and Grammarly, and fixed a TON of annoying grammar mistakes. It should be a lot more readable now (I’m 100% sure that there are more errors in there, but at least the major ones should be mostly gone).

Changelog:

2018-09-16 - version 1.1:

• Fixed a lot of grammar mistakes with Reverso and Grammarly
• Added a missing explanation about Discord and made a few other edits

Chapter 1 - To be or not to be...

Have you ever thought about immortality? It’s funny, we all took death for granted, everybody thought that someday, he or she would be pulled from this world. Some believed that there would be an afterlife, others, that there would be nothingness, but everybody thought that, sooner or later, death would get them all. Well… I thought so too.

My name is James Gastovski, the last man alive, cursed with ‘life’ - to forever suffer for the crimes of humanity.

***

Einstein once said, “I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth - rocks!” actually, he was wrong - I guess even genius can sometimes make a mistake… in reality, there won’t be a WW IV - or any other for that matter - because nobody is left to fight it. Except me, that is…

You see... During WW III, I was a soldier, a captain actually - working for the United Nation Defense Forces - UNDF for short. We were a small undercover group of independent people that had one goal: to stop this bloody war at all costs. We weren’t on anybody’s side - we were the ‘balancer’ trying to show world leaders that victory was impossible and that they should stop fighting.

We were actually doing a pretty good job! Many scientists joined our cause, seeing how futile this bloodshed was, and since we were ‘borrowing’ technology from all sides of the conflict - we were the most advanced army in the world. Still, we needed a ‘game changer’ - something that would give us a final advantage over other ‘players’...

Then, I made the worst mistake of my life - I volunteered to become that ace in UNDF sleeve. Well... OK, ‘volunteered’ may not be the best phrasing - in reality, I got KIA, and thus became the best ‘material’ for the job. My body was transformed - pumped full of highly experimental technology, I couldn’t even pronounce. When they activated me, they were pretty shocked I retain my original memories - or so they said.

At that moment - I was happy. I became a superhero! Super strength, speed, regeneration, hell - doc Kleiner (our leading ‘egg head’) even said, that my systems were self-sustaining and adaptable, so I could gain new abilities in the future (and the bastard was right of course - as always). If I only knew then, what fate had in store for me…

***

My enhanced body finally gave us the 'edge' we needed. We were ‘this close’ to ending this thing when - in one single day, all hell broke loose.

A synthetic virus was released to the atmosphere and started wiping the earth of all animal life. It gave no symptoms until it was too late, and was nearly undetectable.
Of course, it was designed to target only the 'enemy' of the certain nation - but it quickly mutated (surprise, surprise) and started to hunt down its creators too ('poetic justice' I guess).

After 6 months - world powers were on their knees, and the war officially ended.
After 12 months - with about forty percent population dead, world economy collapsed.
After 18 months - all known humans and animals were infected and dying…
After 24 months… there was only silence.

I had watched my friends die one by one - and waited for my turn… but it never came. My 'super body' adapted and killed off that little bastard - leaving me, the last man on Earth.

***

At first, I had searched the planet, hoping to find some survivors, but as years went by, I realized - I was alone.

The only reason I didn’t go mad, was my assistant - the Artificial Person Emulator or APE for short. On the one hand, he was something I could talk to, on the other - he really was a pain in the arse sometimes - just imagine having Mr. Spock inside your head - no emotion, just pure logic.

10 years after the world had died, I lost all hope and... Put a bullet to my head - only to wake up after a few hours like nothing happened.

After that, I tried every known method of suicide there is - even quartering, but my body just kept adapting and regrowing. Hell, I even jumped into an active volcano once, but 1200°C only carbonized my outer skin - took me a month to climb back up.

But today - after nearly 300 years - I think I finally found the way. If you are reading this, then hopefully - I’m finally resting on the other side. For whoever finds this - let it be known, that humanity got what it deserved.

This is captain James Gastovski - last human alive, signing off.

“What do you think APE?” I asked, pointing at the letter, I just finished.

APE responded with his synthesized voice, “I am not sure sir, don’t you think that ending is a bit… harsh?”

“Nah. They - or rather we - got what we deserved. The continuous power struggle for nothing, electing morons to lead... I won’t change my mind on this subject” I folded the letter and put it inside the waterproof envelope.

“That is, of course - your prerogative sir. However, isn’t that note hurtful to your former friends?”

“APE… I didn’t say that all humans were bad. There were many examples of good people - UNDF was full of them, but humanity as a whole? Give me a break...” I responded, waving my hand in irritation, “anyway, we have to get going - I will leave the time capsule here - it should be far enough to prevent any damage to it, right?”

“Yes, sir. According to my calculations, the capsule should be safe at this distance.”

I put the round cylinder into the prepared hole. “Alright, there is nothing left for us here - let's go.”

***

During the next three hours, I walked towards my goal - passing monuments of our once thriving civilization. Houses, stores, and skyscrapers that years ago thrived with life - now all falling apart, wild plants growing everywhere, reclaiming the land, humanity once took to build their megacities.

Since the animals paid the price, for our stupidity - everything was silent, you could hear the wind occasionally, but other than that it was quite like a tomb.

Finally, I arrived at my destination - the 'Tesla Labs.' The huge round bunker housed a prototype piece of technology powerful enough to manipulate matter at the quantum level - if my calculations were correct, it should have been capable of converting my body to pure energy – nano-tech or not, it was doubtful anything can survive that.

When I force opened the rusty security door - warm stale air hit my face, with a loud hiss. “Let’s get started.”