Last Men: A Short Story

“Alright everyone, please settle down. We need to start this meeting,” Alicia, the clear leader of this organization, says. She is a little bit intimidating, but attractive. She has shoulder length hair, and green eyes. I have yet to see her smile, and in a way I think it makes her more attractive.

“Thank you,” she says after the crowd quiets. “I have been told that topside, there are no signs of life.” There is solemnity in everyone’s eyes as she tells us. “…And as you all know, we have been picked to repopulate the Earth.”

I try to fight back the smile. 7 billion people dead, and I’m fighting back the biggest grin of my life. I’m sitting next to my best friend, Hank. I can see that he’s fighting the smile too.

He and I are literally the last two men on the Earth, and we’re in a room with 80 women who’ve been tasked with repopulating the Earth. I’m not sure how we go about picking his forty mates, or mine. I certainly hope that it is not gym class style. I don’t want the last woman picked to feel bad. Maybe it will be a lottery. I’ll worry about it later.

“Gentlemen, the eighty women in this room, myself included, held a secret meeting prior to the start of the war.” I’m so excited that I have a hard time focusing on what she’s saying. “We believe, and came to a unanimous decision that the human race doesn’t deserve to continue.”

I’m not sure what she’s saying now, as my ears are burning and everything has gone seemingly silent. I can see that Hank’s body has tensed up. He’s not sure what is happening either.

She must sense our confusion, because she elaborates. “We’re not going to mate with you. We think any race that participates in such blatantly destructive behavior as this, doesn’t deserve a second chance. If humans die out, perhaps the Earth can regrow and thrive again.”