Short Stories

Infradead

Cat and Moose

Infradead: Tales of Human Extinction
HiraethSFF 12/23/2021

This is the end of the human species…or is it?  Here are ten tales of our demise.  The causes and characters vary, as do the ultimate outcomes.

The last woman on Earth—but is Satan tempting her?

One final attempt to leave the planet…

A poignant surrender and goodbye

Dietary supplements prolong the inevitable

The virus that we did to ourselves

…and much more.

Remember:  we were here. This is the end of the human species…or is it? Here are ten tales of our demise. The causes and characters vary, as do the ultimate outcomes.

The last woman on Earth—but is Satan tempting her?

One final attempt to leave the planet…

A poignant surrender and goodbye

Dietary supplements prolong the inevitable

The virus that we did to ourselves …and much more.

Remember: we were here.

Excerpt

Lianna woke sprawled across her back stoop, her body damp with sweat and aching in every joint.

Did I get the door open in time?

She tried to turn to see but it hurt to move. Dragging herself inch by inch she managed to pivot around. The back door swung on its hinges, banging against the house.

No furry faces peeked out from the door. The cats could be gone, scattered when she stumbled outside and collapsed. Her old homemade screens hid the view of the window. She lifted a hand but let it fall, still dazed from the sickness.

“Mortar? Pestle?” Her voice was weak and thready.

It had been a month since the last of the radio broadcasts died away and the stations went silent. The world had been in a state of emergency before that, with the plague wiping out cities. As people got sick they vanished into hospitals, leaving her area empty. She hoped to escape the sickness, but she had not. The fever and chills that followed drained her of her strength until it was all she could do to crawl to the kitchen to feed the cats. When she was so debilitated she thought it was over she made her slow, painful way to the back door and outside before she collapsed. If she was going to die she could not allow her cats to be trapped. They might have little chance in the desert, but they had none sealed in a house.

There was a plaintive meow from the next room. Lianna rose on unsteady feet. The motion caused the world to spin again and she caught her hand on the door to steady herself. Her arthritic right knee threatened to buckle but she gritted her teeth and hobbled to the door. If she was not going to die, then she wanted to secure her pets. They weren’t safe outside.

By nightfall the dizziness had abated although she was still feeble. The cats had started to venture out. Luke and Laura stayed where they were, while Mortar and Pestle had begun to investigate. Lianna set down a plate of wet food, one of the few cans she had left. Even though it had to have been two days that her body fought the illness the cats didn’t come running. The poor souls must have been terrified to see her motionless. There was no reason a frail old woman had survived the disease when the entire world had succumbed to it. Yet here she was.