From The Last To The First

Ediva

Fighting for a life. A will to live in this vast, wide empty world. After the apocalypse, I haven’t seen a single soul. They were either taken prisoner by an alien and sent to another planet, or they were killed. When It is a dog eat dog world, you have to be the champion at hide and seek. And I was. I hid and nobody found me. I would’ve thought that more people would try to hide. Or even fight. But no. Nobody saw it coming. I killed a few of the aliens. Saved a few lives. But they were already condemned to die, with the newly found, incurable disease. Now, the world is bare. The open vastness is mine. Everything is mine, until I die. And unless I find a fountain of youth to keep me from dying faster, the human population of Earth ends with me.

Nik

Nobody saw it coming. Death. Destruction. Disease. So much blood, so much gore. And still, me, a coward, is left to live. I hid. In the built in compartment that my basement had. I hid with a bag of Cheetos, a huge can of Jif peanut butter and two gallon-sized Gatorade jugs. I stayed there for ten days before running out of food. I don’t know how, but I did. I had my phone to keep me busy. There was a charger in my compartment, so I could charge it. And thanks to me, the world has ended. I am the last one left. Even if I find a shuttle to take me off this world to go and find a new one, I wouldn’t be able to fly it on my own. But now, I can go out to the grocery store and get food without buying it. Money means nothing to the only man on Earth. Money is just paper now. I am the richest being in the world. Unless some bird has a twenty dollar bill in their nest. Then I am the second being. 

Ediva

It is hard to not  be able to speak to anybody. It is hard to not be able to use my voice, my words, to lift someone’s day. But, while I go out, I have to know if there are other men. Other women. I know that the chance of finding someone else out there is less than 1/7.5 billionth %. I know this because Before the apocalypse, there were billions of people. So even though I know that there’s no one out there, part of me still has hopes. High hopes. So that is why I am going out. I am going to walk around to see if I can’t find someone. I’ll start in my small state of Delaware, then move out of the area. Yes, that is what I will do. I will find someone. I will find a way to save the Earth. I knew the world was going to end one day, but I never knew that it would be like this. So soon. So violently. I thought that the world would end when the Lord himself came to take us into heaven. I thought that I would have a life to live. Finish high school. Go to college. Become a doctor. Get married. Just a normal life. Now, In this previously ‘small’ world, I feel so lonely. It’s so vast. 

Nik

“Oh, shoot!” I yell-whispered. It is 6:00 a.m. I see a figure off in the distance. It could be one of those aliens. Or a bear. Possibly a bear. Okay, I am just hoping that it is a bear. I climbed up into a tree thinking, This tree is so small, that a bear wouldn’t be able to climb it. It is so thin it would snap. But It wouldn’t see me because the branches are full of leaves. I sit on a branch and wait for the bear to pass. I hear nothing for a while, and I don’t feel myself breathing, so I take in a huge gasp of air. That gasp of air hurt my lungs, because it was too much air all at once. I fish my inhaler out of my pocket and take a puff of the medicine inside. I almost drop it and the leaves rustle as I try to catch it. I cringe at how loud the sound is. I cross my fingers and silently hope that the figure is a bear.

Ediva

I hear a rustling noise in the tree in front of me. I pulled out the staff that my father gave to me. Before he was taken away, he was a Kung Fu instructor at his dojo. He also taught Karate, Ninjitsu, and Aikido. I had a black belt in everything. I was going to defend myself. Whether it was an alien creature, a bird, or some type of squirrel, I was going to defend myself. I stood in my spot for a good five minutes before moving. I was barely breathing. Finally, I heard a screech. Some giant thing fell from the tree and I charged at it. When I was about five feet away from the thing, I realized that it wasn’t a thing. It was a person. A skinny guy with curly hair. He looked up at me and screamed. It was a high-pitched girl squeal. He backed up against the trunk of the tree. 

“How! I thought that there was only one of us left. I thought I was the only one!” He gasped. He grabbed out an inhaler of some sort, put it in his mouth and pressed down on the top. I reached my hand out to him, hand he grabbed it. I helped him up. 

“What’s your name?” I asked. I helped him steady himself. There was a park bench a distance away, so I started to lead him to the bench. 

“Nik. My name is Nik. What is your name?” He was surprisingly tall. Once we got to the park bench, I sat him down. I sat next to him. 

“My name is Ediva. I am sixteen years old and I like cheese.” I didn’t know why, but whenever I meet someone new, I tell them about my liking of cheese. This was normal for me.

“What kind?” He asked. Like he needed to know. But that was a common question from people. I shrug and blow at a strand of hair that is in my face.

“All kinds. I don’t have a preference.” I look over at him and he nods.

“I’m fifteen. And I have an allergy to cheese.” He is still nodding when I look over.

“So, we are just talking about cheese now?” I ask. He looked at me and no one will ever guess what he did next. He continued nodding.

Nik

She was nice. Fierce. Smart. I was beginning to wonder if she knew how to fly an aircraft. She plugged in one of her earbuds and began listening to something. Her hair was up in a quick, sloppy bun. Her sweatshirt was plain gray and she was wearing joggers. I figured that she was going on a run when she found me, falling from a tree like an idiot.

“Wanna know why I was in a tree?” I asked. I figured that she wasn’t asking because she had her reasons. 

“Sure. Why were you in a tree.” She asked. She turned her body towards me so she could see me better. 

“Well I saw a figure and I was hoping that it was a bear and not an alien. I am relieved that you aren’t a bear.” I said. I am pretty sure that I sounded dumb, but that is what everything I say sounds like. 

“You know, bears can climb trees, right?” That is all she said. In fact, she stood up and walked into the direction of a wooded area. 

“Where are you going! Ellie!” I yelled. She stopped and turned around. She squinted at me, as if I had said something dumb again. 

“I see something. And my name isn’t Ellie! It’s Ediva.” She turned back around and continued going to the ‘thing’ that she saw. I saw nothing, and I was quite confused. I just went along with it and followed her into the trees. 

Ediva

It was a fairly large chest. It was beautiful. The wood was stained a golden brown color. The metal on the chest was most indefinitely gold. The key was sticking out of the keyhole. If Nik and I were the last ones on Earth, nobody would mind if we opened it. I spun the key until I heard a click. Nik was standing over my shoulder, curious at what was inside. I opened it. There were two fancy, golden boxes. And underneath that, there were garment bags. In between the fancy boxes, there was a scroll. I looked up at Nik and he nodded. I unrolled the scroll and there were elaborate, intricate letters. 

To the Chosen:

Congratulations Ediva Width and Nikolas Troughton! You have been chosen by the Intergalactic Council to be Earth’s rulers. We have taken your people to immunize them from your planet’s diseases. We understand that you may be confused. We have been watching you two very carefully to see who to choose for the commitment. Once you have organized the beginning of your new government, contact us with the pager in the chest. We do wish that you find suitable estates for your temporary palace and as your temporary Intergalactic Headquarters. You are required to come up with your planet’s own traditional garments, as these are temporary for your first meeting of discussion with the Council. You may choose to be either a King and Queen, Emperor and Empress, or a Kaiser and a Kaiserin. We do not care. Page us within 7 days. If you do not page us by then, you will be the last survivors of Earth’s population. And your planet will die with you. The choice is yours.

Best regards, 

Padke Sroppona 

President Of The Intergalactic Council

“What does that mean?” Nik asked. I shrugged, as I looked up at him. 

“I don’t know, but we’d better create a government. And fast. I say a Queendom Empire. What were you thinking?” I said. 

“Well, I don’t care. I am the kid in class who doesn’t do work in groups. So, I will be fine with whatever you want.”

“Okay. Lets go to Pat Catan’s. I need supplies. To plan everything out. And I will make us ‘traditional’ outfits.” I was too excited about this. 

Nik

This whole thing was a lot to comprehend. Ediva was so excited about creating a government. And traditional outfits. She began to hurry away. I followed slowly. She stopped at the bench that we once sat at and waited for me. I waved her on. She had so much energy that she needed to expel. She smiled and skipped down the sidewalk. I stopped at the bench as she began to slow. She was at the stop sign now and was waiting for me. She pulled out her phone and was typing. I continued walking, but still slowly. I stopped when I saw the stick that she had dropped earlier. I picked it up and finally realized that there might just be such a thing as love at first sight.