The Awakening
Slowly, his eyes open, and the darkness is ripped apart by the light that floods his senses. His body feels cold and stiff. After some time, his eyes begin to adjust to the light, until he can finally see shapes around him. He tries to move but finds his body does not respond to any of his commands.
“Hold it there, young whipper-snapper. You aren’t fully thawed out yet. One sudden movement the wrong way, and you could find yourself in pieces all over the floor, and that won’t do for any of us,” a voice says.
“W-where am I? A-and w-who the he-hell are you?” he asks, as he tries in vain to focus his vision on the owner of the voice.
“Neither of those questions need an answer right now. All you need to know, Bobby, is that the world has gone to shit. Everything else is utterly useless information,” the voice replies. “You’ve been on ice for the last five years, like half the goddamn rich and famous did when it all happened. Escaping into your little isolated world, hoping everything would be all perfect when you were ready to come out. Guess that idea went to the shitter like everything else.”
“What ar-are you talking ab-about? What happened?”
“The end of days, Bobby. The plague to end all of humanity.”
“Plague?”
“Yeah, the plague to end all plagues. I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said—then again, I sometimes think I’m talking and realise too late that I’m not. Not that there’s ever anyone to talk to—not down this deep anyway. Well, there are you popsicles, but you all just sit there looking all cold and distracted, not interested in having a decent conversation. God, I miss that word—‘conversation.’ Isn’t it a grand old word? Anyway, where was I? That’s right, the plague. A virus cooked up by jealous sons of bitches who wanted nothing more than to send every man, woman, and child to the afterlife. But it fucked up—fucked up big time.”
“What d-do you mean by fucked u-up?” he asks, as he watches the man move around before him, his vision slowly improving as time progresses.
The man lets out a laugh. “I mean, Bobby, it fucked up. You see, the virus was designed to kill whoever it infected, but it didn’t end up working the way they planned. It didn’t kill—well, not straight away anyway—and it spread fast, like a fucking hurricane on crack, or one of those designer drugs. Twenty-four hours after the virus was first released, the entire earth, and when I say ‘entire earth,’ I mean every-fucking-thing was infected. Every living thing it touched was changed in some fucked up way. Some were infected minutely, and others were ravaged by it. They even gave it a name—some shit like the righteous arm of the Lord or some stupid name like that. The fucking fools—they doomed us all.”
“T-T-This has got to be some crazy-arsed prank, r-r-right? I-I don’t remember any of this. The last thing I remember was—fuck why can’t I remember?”
“It’s the hibernation sleep. It’s a shortcoming that will take several hours to wear off. You should consider yourself lucky though. Out of the two thousand sleepers, so far you’re the only one who has managed to be revived to this state. Everyone else on your level turned to toast before they even opened their eyes.”
“T-T-They’re dead?”
“Dead as the proverbial doornails, which I must say is pretty fucking rare these days. I told them not to rush perfection. I told them my old head wasn’t what it used to be, but they insisted I get some warm, fresh meat. They’re impatient buggers, I’ll tell you that. Reasoning with them fails ninety-nine percent of the time.”
“W-warm, fresh meat? What the fuck are you talking about now?” he says as he tries to push himself up with his elbows. It’s then, for the first time since he awoke, he notices the straps holding him down. “W-what the fuck is going on?”
“History is going on, Bobby—something for the almanacs of time, you could say. You see, Bobby, my young, rich, and obnoxiously good-looking friend, a very old book is about to be closed, and you are the man who will close it. Or something like that, anyway. I forget things, you see. It’s all part of the virus. It slowly infects every organ in the body, with the brain being one of the last pieces of the human puzzle to succumb to its volatile attack. From there on, it’s pretty much downhill until your body finally gives in to the ravages of the virus and literally falls to pieces. But you need not worry about that, my good man, as you won’t have to go through any of those horrible, terrible pains—well, not those pains, anyway.”
“L-let me go, please! I’ll give you anything. I have mo-money—you can have it all—just please let me go!”
“Money means nothing to me, or to what is left of this world since you ran away and hid. The only thing that matters in this world now—the only thing that has even an iota of value—is the one thing none of us can resist, the reason why this world is as it is. That reason is also the reason why you are here, awake and talking, and not still in the freezer, for that one thing is priceless above all. Do you understand?”
“I have n-no idea what you’re trying to tell me. Just fucking say it and I’ll make it happen. I just want to live—”
The man laughs loudly. “Bobby, I’ll blame the hibernation for how stupid you are. It’s your flesh, my dear boy. Your organs, your blood, your eyes, and your brain. They are but some of the things you can give to this world—we don’t discriminate, we will even eat your arsehole. You see, it’s the only thing that dulls the pain—the pain of the craving, the need for fresh flesh. It’s just a pity we’ve wasted all the rest, and you’re the last.”
“W-what the f-f-f-fuck? What are you talking about? What do you mean, the last?”
“You don’t listen, do you, Bobby? I spend all this time with you, making sure you understand what is to happen and why, yet you still don’t listen. It’s simple—you, Bobby, are the last known living human alive, of course. I called you Bobby because you reminded me of someone I once ate, and he was delicious. So I’m hoping we can—”
The door to the room crashes open, and several other blurry figures rush in and pile upon Bobby.
“No, you fools, stop! He’s not ready for you yet. I still have so much to forget—no, I mean I still have so much to remember. Oh, damn it all, I still have so much something to do…” the man says, but his cries are drowned out by Bobby’s screams of agony as they begin to rip and tear into him, shoving chunks of his flesh into their salivating mouths.
“It is such a terrible thing to see, humanity goodbye to thee, and in the end, it’s such a shame, because you taste so damn good,” the man says as he joins in with the others, ripping and tearing into Bobby’s now lifeless corpse.
Several doors down, a woman slowly opens her eyes, and the darkness is ripped apart by the light that floods all her senses at once. Her body feels cold and stiff, and it takes a little while for her eyes to adjust to the light until she can finally make out faint, blurry shapes in front of her.
“H-H-Hello?” she says softly, her throat feeling like it’s on fire.
“Hello, my dear, I am so glad you are awake. For a while there, I thought we were going to overcook you. My mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be, you see—not since it all started. But I’m sure you don’t want to be bored with stories that are not really going to have an impact on your future, or lack thereof.”
