Stranger Danger

There were only three things I was certain of these days. 

The first: I was certain that I was the only one left on this god-forsaken planet. In the very beginning of this hell on Earth, I had been so naive that I had actually thought I’d find someone to share this pointless life with. But I was over that now. I knew better. 

The second: I was certain that no one and nothing was watching over me. And if there was some celestial being in the skies above, it had stopped caring the day it had tired of humanity and wiped out the population with a swipe of a hand. I couldn’t be sure why I had been spared in the Final Plague, what I’d done to deserve the curse of complete immunity. It had certainly never served me well. 

And finally, the third: I was certain that I was hallucinating right now. After all, I had just gotten out of my makeshift bed after a fitful sleep—I hadn’t slept through the night in years—and I thought that might be a prime time for hallucinations. 

This time, I was imagining a middle-aged man. He stood among the trees, half hidden by the innumerable branches and pine needles, about fifty yards away from where I sat next to my campfire. The hallucination kept his eyes fixed on mine, his every muscle frozen like the lake next to the house that I was currently inhabiting. 

However, I knew there was something off about this vision. Every other time, I had seen people that I’d known, people that I had loved before the sickness had taken them from me. But I didn’t recognize this man. At first glance, he seemed to embody the word ‘average.’ Average brown hair, average brown eyes, average build, etc. He seemed like someone I could have passed by on the street twenty-some years ago, when people other than me walked this earth. Then I thought that perhaps my mind had plucked this random stranger straight out of my unconscious memory and dropped him into my current reality, once again hoping my naivety would get the best of me. 

But then I noticed something else. This man cast a shadow. It sprawled on the gritty dirt beneath him and sliced through the sunlight that bathed his surroundings. 

None of my visions ever had shadows. Not one of them. It was as if my unconscious mind never truly grasped the concept of light and thus couldn’t bend it in a way that was real. Even when I used to see my parents back when I still remembered their faces, they never cast shadows. Every line in their faces would be in its exact position, but the lighting was never right. Could it be that my mind has finally acquired the skill to mimic light and shade?

Whatever it was, I knew he wasn’t real. I had traveled through nearly every state now, meandering through the cities and forests and mountains and canyons with nothing better to do. And I had never seen a single person. Not a trace of life to be seen across the country. 

For the first decade, I had hoped and hoped and hoped that I was simply never in the right place at the right time. No matter how many times I dreamed of crossing paths with another person, it never happened. And soon enough, I’d given up on ever finding someone to talk to, someone to laugh with, someone to share life with. After all, before the Final Plague cleansed this planet of humanity, scientists around the world had studied every fiber of my being to discover the source of my immunity. And they had found a single, never-before-seen mutation in my genetic code that could have possibly kept me alive even after everyone around me wasted away. There was no one else like me, they’d told me that much. 

However, not even all of that knowledge could compel me to break eye contact. For some reason, I felt obligated to stare at the figment of my imagination, to memorize every fake line in his fake face. 

Then he took a step forward. The movement caused my heart to skip a beat and my breath to cease in my lungs. I’d never felt so scared. What new torture had my own mind devised for me today? 

I tried looking away so that he would disappear like the others, but my eyes were glued to his quickly-approaching form. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t blink, I couldn’t even string together enough words to shape a thought.

Then he was in front of me. Only a few feet away. Within arm’s length. 

But I didn’t know what to do with that information, so I just sat still and watched him with wide eyes. 

“Hello.” The word came out a raspy whisper, a broken syllable from the depths of his throat. 

“Hi,” I managed to spit out after a moment of indecision. I never knew whether to speak to my hallucinations or not. And during this internal debate, I tried to ignore the very real shadow on the ground behind him. 

“What’s your...uh...name?” He asked the question as if he’d forgotten the way humans identified themselves. 

“Margaret,” I said, then corrected myself to, “Maggie.”

“Mine is James.” I nodded, unsure of what else to do. I had long ago forgotten how to properly socialize and by the looks of it, James had too. He simply stood there, in front of me, looking down at me with furrowed brows and down-turned lips. 

I needed to confirm the fact that he was fake. So extended my hand to him. 

He blinked, confused by either my sudden change in demeanor or the gesture itself. After a moment, though, he reached out his hand to shake mine. I was expecting the crushing disappointment that usually came at this stage. When the touch of another person becomes too much for my brain to fabricate, the vision usually dissipates and I am left alone once more. 

But then his hand grazed mine.

And I immediately snatched my hand back as if a snake curled around his palm had bitten it. He jumped too, presumably spooked by my sudden movement. We were like animals, I realized. No longer familiar with human contact, we’ve reverted back to our primitive roots that seem to encourage weariness in every new encounter.

But that wasn’t the important thing here. The fact he had touched me was important. The fact that he was real was important. My breathing quickened as I just stared in awe. I wasn’t even sure how to react after all these years of endless searching.

However, my exhilaration quickly reverted back to fear when his expression changed. The blank, innocent look in his eyes morphed into something predatory and cruel. His lips spread in a malicious smile, revealing perfectly white teeth that gleamed in the daylight.

Just as I was about to follow my instincts and flee the scene, I stopped to hear his next words. 

“I’ve been looking for you for awhile now. You must think you’re lucky, being the only one to ever escape my grasp.”

This time, I was the confused one. “What—What do you mean?” I stuttered. 

He chuckled, the sound crawling down my spine like a spider would a web. “I forgot how innocent humans were. It makes this all the more fun actually.”

I was sweating now. Clearly this man meant to harm me in some way, so why couldn’t I move? I just sat there, paralyzed on the forest floor. 

“It’s your fault anyways, you know. You tear this planet apart piece by piece and expect no repercussions, that is your fatal flaw. Humanity never expects anything to stop them.” His evil grin grew wider as he added, “And that’s where I come in.”

“Please don’t hurt me,” I rasped. Before this moment in time, I hadn’t exactly been enjoying life, but now my survival instincts were kicking in and I just wanted to escape whatever monster this was. 

“Hey, I tried to make it easy for you, you know. The sickness was simple. It worked its magic quickly and I assure you that you would have preferred that end compared to the one I am about to give you.”

He took another step forward and I scrambled backwards, my hands searching the earth for anything to hit him with, to cut him, to stop him. 

“Aren’t you going to ask who I am?” he questioned with a lighthearted laugh, as if this was all a game to him.

I continued to put distance between us, but I refused to take my eyes off of his as he tracked my every move. 

With one fluid and deadly pounce, he was on top of me, his arm across the column of my throat and his body pinning mine to the ground. I could feel the chill of his breath slide across my skin as he said, “I am your god.”

Then I felt cold metal cut into my chest, the pain searing and all-consuming for all of five seconds. 

Then everything went black.