Clean Up

What do you do when you want to eliminate the human race? A series of plans that work whether the previous plan was a huge success or a disgraceful failure. Endless phases that will only end when there is nobody to execute it or no one else to execute. That is where many antagonists screw up. They want the end result to be complete extinction. Then out of the rebellion of their plot a group of people are miraculously spared and build the population yet again. They assumed that leaving one person would counteract that ideology.

A sole existence was then engineered to be that lone survivor. She was created in a lab. With a set of derivatives from her creators. To kill off the human race. To keep it simple, anybody who she resembled. This enabled her to avoid the killing of animals and plants. Thus building up the animal and plant kingdoms without the influence of human existence.

After the first set of plans were completed, 30% of the population remained. The rest of the phases were performed and constantly lessened that percentage. The last bit that were able to avoid the wide spread assaults were then picked off. A phantom that scouted the world for hiding spots, secret bunkers, and the such. She was assumed to be a scavenger, but had only one assignment, kill anything she found in the bunker.

A decade or so had passed since the initial rapid decline of the human population. Bunkers forcefully entered and destroyed with its inhabitants. She was rather swift with her eliminations. As the years went on, her previous methods just got tedious. There was no use in playing and toying with them anymore. It didn’t even register anymore. She felt like she was numb to her surroundings. Her conditioning was not planned for a long life span. Her physical and mental states were slowly deteriorating. Her protocol was still intact, but blurry.

According to her data she was the last human in existence. She now found herself revisiting a previously scouted area. She was walking through an open field. Animals roamed the area, making it seem empty. Then she noticed a herd of animals grazing. When she got close she found remnants of feed. She continued to scan the rest of the land. The fruit trees still bore fruit. Rotting fruit was evident around the roots with insects adding themselves to the ecosystem. She continued in a random direction for signs of further life. Then she tripped on it. The years must have eroded some of the soil around the opening, making it uneven. When she uncovered it, the door handle was rusted.

When she broke it open it was blocked. They were aware that the entrance was compromised. So they either blocked it off due to having multiple hatches or they were complete idiots and saw it as the equivalent of adding multiple deadbolts to their door. She staked it out for a full cycle and saw no movement. So they were either dead or there were alternatives.

She returned to the herds of animals. The feed was fresh. A turned over bucket in a close radius. They fled in a rush. She scouted the area for hiding spots. Hours passed as she slowly roamed the land. Then she noticed another thing that was not there the previous day. A dead bull. She slowly approached it. The body was bound to be cold. It didn’t seem to look like a recent death. She examined the animal intimately, then she heard a faint noise. It sounded like air escaping something. It brought her attention to an opening towards the bottom of the bull. There was a tube slightly sticking out of the edge of it. She took her blade and reopened the animal. The breathing seemed to hitch. She could sense the familiar fear before she killed.

When she ripped open the belly she was met by something she had not seen in a while. A human. Most of her memories were gone in her current state. The main things she remembered was to kill without thought: anyone who resembled herself or lurked in a bunker. Her mind spun at the processing. It didn’t look like her, nor were they in a bunker of any sorts. Before her quivered a young man covered in cold bull blood with a breathing tube at the corner of his mouth between his teeth. He stared motionless at the straight faced intruder.

“Y-you’re the p-phant-tom?” He asked in a shaky tone.

She tilted her head at the question. She didn’t exactly have a name or title. She just continued to stare at the being in front of her.

“You killed the other people in the other bunkers.” He stated with an audible swallow.

She nodded at that accusation. Some of his words registered properly.

“S-so that means you are going to kill me too?” Stuttered the being.

She tilted her head yet again in confusion. The word ‘kill’ she understood, but the rest just puzzled her more.

Was she going to kill them? She kept her gaze locked on the tensed form. After some time she shook her head. This earned her a befuddled expression.

“Why?” He asked her.

“You no look like me and we no in bunker.” She plainly stated.

“Why do you talk like that?” He inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Expiration date soon.” She deadpanned.

Now it was his turn to look at her with tilt in his neck and a disoriented face.

“What are you?” He asked her as she began to walk away.

“Nothing.” She answered.

When she got further, he found himself following her. He left his bull carcass and scampered after her. He discarded his tube and trekked after her with blood prominent on his person. The smell and feeling was the last thing on his mind.

“What do you mean, nothing?” He questioned.

“Nothing mean nothing.” She clarified.

“What about a name?” He inquired.

“What name?” She asked back.

“You don’t have a name?” He asked with shock lacing his voice.

They continued to walk without exchanging anymore words.

“Well my name is Ben.” He introduced.

“What Ben?” She asked.

“Me. That’s what you call me.” He explained.

She thought about it. It took a while but it clicked.

“Ben.” She spoke when she looked at him.

He nodded with a smile. She didn’t quite understand that expression.

“What you doing?” She asked.

“What?” He returned.

“Your mouth.” She identified.

“You mean my smile?” He asked before smiling.

“That.” She agreed.

“It’s a smile. To show you are happy.” He entailed.

“What happy?” She asked.

His eyebrows shot up. He still failed to wrap his head around this girl. He was not sure if she was completely serious.

“Where were you conceived? Under a rock?” He half jokingly asked.

“Conceived?” She asked.

“Um, made? Created?” He tried to think of a synonym she would understand.

“Oh, I made in Lab.” She answered.

This stopped him in his steps. The distance between them grew. At first he was afraid for his life when they first met. Now he was completely intrigued with her. Something in his soul compelled him to follow her. He felt like he wanted to know more and help her. His reasons for wanting to help a murderer were beyond him, but his gut was the only thing telling him something.

He caught up to her. She didn’t flinch or pay him any mind. He took this time to study her. She was smaller than him and he was considered small for his age. Most of his rationing led to undernourishment. When he got older he made up for it. Her on the other hand looked like she was going to die soon. She looked to be in her early teen years. He couldn’t believe this was what was killing the remaining survivors. Then again the last transmission he received was from years ago. From his global scans he came to the conclusion of being the lone survivor of the human race. He thought the rumors of a phantom killing survivors were simply rumors or hysterical rogues.

She was nearly a foot shorter than him and her body lacked extra fat. There was only muscle, but not gross amount. She looked like a child raised by animals. Then again he was covered in animal blood. Without realization he finds himself bumping into the girl he was observing. He stopped and looked around.

“Why did you stop?” He asked as he looked around.

They were near the river. He wondered how he didn’t notice. She pointed to him.

“Stink.” She stated.

“Well you don’t smell like a field of flowers either.” He scoffed.

“Field of flowers?” She asked.

“I mean you stink too.” He clarified.

She sniffed herself and agreed with a nod. She made her way to the stream. She removed her weapons and put them to the side. She then entered the water. She reached for her knives and began to clean them. Ben followed her actions and slowly entered the river. He didn’t bathe too often. This was the closest river but still a big risk.

He didn’t feel comfortable getting naked in front of her. She was most likely going to ask what certain things were. His clothes were also stained in blood so there was no use in removing them. Ben found a rock and leaned against it to help with the current.

“So since we are going to be together from now on, I think you should have a name.” Ben declared.

She turned to him with furrowed brows. She didn’t understand what he meant. That didn’t stop her from trying.

“Together?” She inquired.

“Yeah me and you. Together. I go with you.” He clarified.

“Why?” She asked.

“I need a reason?” He asked.

“We no together before. You scared before.” She reminded.

“True, but now I want to go with you.” Ben contradicted.

“Why?” She repeated.

“I want to.” He simply answered.

She looked at him with her eyebrows still in a stressed state. She was never in this type of situation before. She didn’t quite know what to make of it.

“You don’t want me to?” He asked her.

She didn’t know the answer to that. She just shrugged.

“Then that means I am with you from now on.” He proclaimed.

She nodded in agreement.

“Now you need a name.” He said before brainstorming.

“Name?” She asked.

“Something to call you.” He answered.

She just shrugged and went back to cleaning herself. She submerged herself under the river. When she emerged she shook her hair out like a dog. She wiped the water from her face with her hands. Now that he saw a cleaner side to her appearance he could see that her features were too soft to be a murderer. Since she was made in a lab, Ben assumed that they meant for her to look innocent. When she noticed his attention she looked back at him. Then it hit him.

“Violet.” He decided.

She tilted her head at his sudden outburst.

“Your name. What I am going to call you.” He explained.

“Violet?” She pointed to herself and asked.

“Yup.” He spoke with a nod.

Violet was quiet. She seemed like she was processing the situation. After a while she nodded and got out of the river. She seemed to be looking for something.

“Violet, what’s wrong?” Ben asked.

He attempted to exit the river as well but was stopped.

“You stay.” She told him.

She grabbed her knives and took off without another word. Ben thought he was leaving him, but his gut thought otherwise. So he stayed and cleaned himself the best he could. He pondered how the rest of his life was gonna go. He had everything he could need to survive back at his bunker. Then again he was going to be alone again. After being alone for so long you get sick of it. He also didn’t like the idea of dying alone. Nobody deserved to die alone. Even for someone like Violet who would have deserved it.

Something rustling and impacting with the ground behind him pulled him from his thoughts. He turned to see Violet dusting her hands after supposedly dropping a rabbit. Her hands and mouth were bloody. She went to the river to wash off the blood.

“What is that?” He pointed at the rabbit.

She looked at him after washing her face.

“Food.” She answered.

“For me?” He asked.

She nodded her head yes.

“What about you?” He inquired.

“I eat.” She replied.

He remembered the blood around her mouth. So that meant that she ate it raw. Ben cringed at the idea of eating a rabbit raw. He has eaten raw horse before but rabbit was a grey area.

“Thanks.” He expressed.

He hoisted himself out of the river to fetch wood to start a fire. Since he forgot to put some lighters in his pockets he had to look for some stones too. When he tried to leave Violet stopped him to eat. After explaining to her about the cooking process with the simplest terms he could think of she helped him. In no time Ben had the rabbit roasting on a small fire. He was sitting in his underwear as his clothes dried next to the fire. Then a cool breeze set in and chilled Ben. Violet didn’t seem to feel it but saw Ben shiver.

The more time they spent together the more Violet developed emotions towards Ben. She was more concerned for his survival. She didn’t properly grasp the idea of shivering but the look on Ben’s face said it all for her.

“I help?” She asked him.

“H-h-huh?” He asked.

“I help?” She repeated.

“You want to help me stop shivering?” He asked her.

She nodded her head. Her expression starting to look worried.

“I guess you could help with your body heat.” He shared.

Her face blanked. Ben discovered that this was her way of thinking. He felt bad for her need to try so hard just for simple speech. Then the familiar look of a key word clicking showed on her features. She quickly stood in her spot and went over to Ben. She removed her clothes and removed Ben’s shirt from the sticks they hung it on. She placed the shirt over Ben’s head. He was in that bunker for most of his life so the sight he was seeing overwhelmed him. She sat on his lap and pulled his shirt down. She then crawled under the shirt and wrapped her limbs around Ben. When he felt her warmth against her chest the rest of his body began to warm up. She must have remembered this from hearing the words body heat, Ben thought.

He looked down at Violet throw the neck hole of his shirt. She was cuddled close to him. As if sensing his attention she looked up which caused her to shift. This caused Ben to grow flustered as particular things rubbed against the other.

“Don’t move.” He pleaded.

She froze and nodded against his chest. She snuggled into him and made no further movement. When he reached for a stick of rabbit her grip tightened a bit before relaxing. When he looked down she was asleep. He tried not to eat above her and slowly bit into a piece of rabbit. It wasn’t the best thing, but it was food. Then Ben hatched a theory. Since the phantom was the sweet girl snuggled to his chest, that meant that the rest of the world was safe. Meaning that they could find a better place to stay. Ben looked down at Violet and pondered the possibilities. For someone who believed that he was the last human on earth. This is the warmest he had felt since he was placed in that bunker 15 years ago.