Short Stories

october-issue-cover copy

“The Last Man on Earth”

Far Horizons
10/18/2015

Synopsis

Is immortality a blessing, or a curse? One man finds out the answer to that question when he is given eternal life.

The last man on Earth stood on Mount Everest. Shaking his fist at the sky, he cursed.

It had taken weeks to climb the mountain. He had slipped and fallen several times into chasms so deep a fall would kill anything. He had seen bits and pieces of other humans and luckless mammals entombed, arms or claws sticking above the permanent ice. Each time he would fight his way out of the crevasse, knowing that no matter what happened, he would not die.

Once there, he ignored the howling wind, returning to his colorful invective. He had no idea what he was actually cursing, even after all this time. He had never known what had given him this ultimate, endless nightmare. This nightmare that persisted, even after all else was gone.

It had not started out that way. When he had first been granted eternal life he had thought he’d hit the jackpot. He hadn’t understood why the person he got it from just chuckled, looked at him with pity, and disappeared into the night.

He understood now.