The Last man in the world... By Aaron Bopp Burning. So much burning. Death. Destruction. Disintegration.This is what I think as I descend upon the desolate landscape. As my feet reach the ground, I decide not to think about what I'm walking on. Even after three months it was smoldering. Even after my regulator had purified it the natural air has a certain taste to it. Burning, that's what it reminds me of. It all burned, well most of it you'd be amazed at some of the things that had survived, however charred: Some paneling, a headboard, a tree, and even a little girls doll. I try the pick that up but it disintegrates at my gloved touch. I wonder what it must have been like, before... everything. It had been a dry planet, but still they had had their greenery. Enclosed in arboretums. Their Market place was one of the largest in the galaxy. There you could find any commodity imaginable. The people were stingy at times but there deals were not bad. I had been here once when I was a child. It was the most fun I'd ever had in my life. I can still see the outline of a street in the ashes. Up ahead I see marble steps, the remains of a government building. One of the few that could have survived the fire. I wonder if I could find an entrance, but no, it would be too gruesome. Another word comes to mind... roasted. "*Ranger, there is a sandstorm coming through sector C-2579 make sure you\'re through by 0900 planet time,"* said radio-command. I quickly had my suit run an equation, "Roger," I said "adjusting route, expected planet departure 1130." This report reminds me of our task on the planet Mark 10. I quickly look through my scanner history, but this isn't where the fire had started. Nothing out of the ordinary, no life, no water, just... nothing. The fire had burned everything. Down to the last cobblestone. Some say there were survivors but I doubt it. Anybody who hadn't escaped the planet would have burned. Nobody had a basement on Mark 10. No where to escape the fire.The entire surface had burned, draining every last bit of fuel from, well, everywhere. There was no place that wasn't touched. Mark 10 had gone up like tinder. To this day no one quite knows what happened. One minute the people of Mark 10 were living their lives. Then out of nowhere the alarms sounded, but this was no test. This was the real thing. People were directed to take safety in the buildings equipped for attack. But the fire ripped through even that. Those who had been caught outside had disintegrated instantly. There is no way any of them could have survived. Someone had launched an attack to destroy the planet, and they succeeded. It would have to be some kind of psychopath to commit this amount of genocide.I wonder what they must have felt like, after the burning. Perhaps it was Mark 9: they had always hated their neighbor, but, no, they weren\'t guilty of genocide either. • • • The last man in the world sat alone in a room. the Pain, a pain in his head, it consumed him. His children were taken from him, his wife was lost, and he was dead. The day, that day, the day which haunted him. A day never to be forgotten. It had been a wonderful day. Until the sirens blared, and the world burned. He had ran as the world ran. His family had ran. but there was no room for him. He let them go. He would see them there. He waited, waited to escape, but he was waiting for death. He was selfish he thought, many were hda accepted their fate, many had already died. But he could not give up. He ran, and he found freedom, he found escape. Something that could take him out of the atmosphere. He ran, but he would die just like the rest. The fire would not let him go. It pulled, so that he could not escape. He had fallen. While the rest had burned he had fallen. He sat alone, in his crash. The had had a quick death, and he had condemned himself. • • • I realize now that I have exited the city. Around me is a vast, desolate plain. The animals that had once roamed here are long gone. Not even the cockroaches survived this one. Everything burned. Everybody died. There is no one left. Then I see something unusual. A crash site? Some escape pods hadn't escaped the fire, and had fallen back to earth I suppose. As I descend I think that nobody could have survived in there, but maybe the fire hadn't reached this far... Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. • • • There is no point thought the last man in the world. He knew he would die alone- Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. -but maybe he was wrong\... "Hello!" the ranger yelled. His demeanor was not that of a savior, but that is what he was. He was the savior of the last man in the world. "Help!" What other word could you say, lost and alone. It was the only word you could say, but it was the word you'd screamed. "Help!" he said and the last man in the world was alone no more\... the end. Their ground was mixed with the quartz but no reason to destroy it. Mark 10 was just a simple planet, no reason to be destroyed , to get on anyones bad side. Yet they had. How did they die? Was it quick and clean, or did they suffer... I'm sure the ones outside had disintegrated instantly, but the automatic bombing sirens had alerted the people to a threat. They say that the sirens had gone off almost immediately after they had started, but still hundreds would have made it into the shelters. They would have been roasted alive. But\... nothing, I saw nothing. No ashes, no entreatments, just nothing. Plenty of stuff had survived, there is no way they're all gone. What had happened to all of them. I gasp as the ground falls beneath my feet. "Stabilizers!." I yelled. This stops my fall and I realize where I am. The bunkers. This is where the people had run. To escape the burning. My eyes are shut, but I know I must open them at some point. Why down here, why did I have to see... Nothing. Up, up, up I think. Out , out of that horrid place. Nothing. There was nothing except for the tingling at the back of your neck. People had died down there, where had they gone? BURNT! I see them, I see them in the darkness. My wife my beautiful wife. Why were they taken from me. What brought me here. What is so vicious. To burn me. Burn my world. The sirens oh the sirens. run they said, run run run. and I did. I ran far, fast, away from my family. into this whole. and burned. There is no point, I am the last man in the world. No one is coming for me. the last man in the world. The people ran, and he ran with them. He had ran with them. He had he didn't even say goodbye. He had seen them go. He would see them safe, but he didn't... he lost them. Now he was alone. the last man in the world. He had escaped too, but only to be brought back to this hell. The fire, the fire was vicious, it was a glutton. Wanting only death. I would not stop. He had tried to escap it but it had pulled it back into its grip. They had fallen, fallen from the sky. They had died he had lived. The family-man get separated from his family survived the catastrophe and then is found by search and rescue. *On the planet of Mark 10...* > "Daddy! Daddy! Look what we found!" Pip screamed, while emm followed closely behind. "Not now, I have to go to work." "What's the rush?" "Big meeting, can't be late. Bye!" > > Sirens blare: > > Everyone runs for shelter > > Total destruction: Fire. Burning. Running. Screaming. Thud thud thud thud. My heart is pounding. Thud thud thud thud, my feet are pushing against the ground. > > He's the only one left > > There was a knock at the door. The end > > Write last man in the world in third person. > > talk about his family how he saved them by sending them on escape pod before him. how he fell out of the sky his podmates died and sterf.