{"sf1_id":897437,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Last One Alive","author":"tigerwriter93","words":2431,"posted_at":"2015-08-12T11:56:00.000Z","tags":["Bear","City","Destruction","Female","Fiction","First Person","House","Human","Incomplete","Male","Mammal","Polar Bear","Short Story","garage","literature","post-apocalyptic","survival"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/897437-the-last-one-alive","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/897437","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=897437\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nI awoke to the sounds\nof screaming and explosions this morning. Hair frazzled and only in my\nunderwear, I quickly put on a loose t-shirt and burst out the front door, only\nto be greeted by the heated glow of the other houses being set ablaze. \nI heard loud, deep\nhums coming from the sky sounding as if there were giant flying beetles; yet\nthey looked more like military jet planes, though not of human construct.\nInstead of giving off a white smoke trail, they didn't give off anything as\nthey flew by. Their attacks were low and quick, like feral raptors attacking\ntheir prey. Whenever they would strike, they fired a quick succession of\nlight-blue lasers that instantly ignited anything they hit, even if it was made\nout of fire-resistant material. Sometimes, these raptors would let out a thick cloud\nof red gas upon the screaming civilians. I couldn't tell if these were at\nrandom or not, so much chaos was happening in front of me I lost sense of any\nobservation skills.\nI quickly ran back\ninside and started packing the basics: cloths, food, toiletries, the works. I packed\nwhatever forms of entertainment I could find; maybe I can use them to keep my\nsanity when I get out of this chaotic hell-hole.\nAmong the chaos, I\nnoticed a framed picture on my desk. It was of my brother and I a few months\nafter his family \"adopted\" me. I was 5 at the time, he was 8. It was in a\nsimple, dark wooden frame and it was just us being a couple dorks, but it means\na lot to me.\nI buried the picture\namongst my clothes so it wouldn't jostle around and get damaged.\nAfter packing everything I needed and getting decent, I darted out to my\nHonda clunker. I didn't bother to lock up my house. I tossed the duffle bag in\nthe back seat, then got myself in the driver's seat and started up the ol'\nbrick.\nI peeled out of the driveway and sped down the street, dodging any people,\nraptors, or debris I encountered.\nI hope Otso is safe, I thought to myself as I drove,\nI don't know where that fuzz butt is, but\nI think I have a clue.\n \n            I pulled into the driveway of a\nvacated house. Memories of when me and Otso used to hide out here flooded my\nmind; as far as we knew, no one has lived here for ages, and it was never put\nup for sale. It was a small, one-story house with a basement, it's white siding\nand red shudders covered with moss, dirt, and vines. The windows were dusty,\nsome broken, and the handles on both the front and back doors were rotted off.\nThe yard looked more like a miniature prairie, the grass nearly went up to my\nneck.\n            But oddly enough, our favorite part\nof this place was the garage right in front of me. A square, squat building\nthat's as old and broken as the house. The only way to get in was through a\ndoor on the side in the back. I got out of my car, walked pass the rusted,\nchain-link fence separating the front and back yards and entered the garage.\n            Hehe,\nit's almost just like we left it.\n            I walked inside of the garage. I never knew why this was our favorite\nfeature, maybe the apartment feel to it that made us feel independent, but not\na couple. \n            I remember the time Otso and I decided\nto clear this place out and, essentially, build our own little nest. Mom got\npretty pissed when we were gone for more than a night:\n \n            \"Hey\nbro! I found some neat beds inside the house. We should totally spend the night\nhere instead!\"\n            \"Ehhh,\nI don't know Hellen. Mother got very angry that one time we were out here all\nday. I...I can't imagine what she'll do if we stayed overnight.\"\n            \"Pshh,\nyou're such a wimp. C'mon, aren't polar bears supposed to be solitary or\nsomething?\"\n            \"Not\nwhen they're still cubs.\"\n            \"Hey,\nyou gotta be a big bear sometime. Can't have momma bear coddling you all the\ntime now.\"\n            \"Don't\nsay stuff like that! You know how much she misses Father.\"\n            \"Hey,\nI was just joking...ok? Can...can you please stop crying?\"\n            *Sniff*\n\"...Sorry.\"\n            \"God,\nyou're so sensitive. Listen, a little rebellion won't hurt anyone. Ok?\"\n            \"Heh...ok.\"\n            \"Alrighty\nthen. C'mon, I'll show ya all the cool stuff I found.\"\n \n            \"Hm, that was our first and only night out here,\" I said to myself.\n            The inside was exactly how we left\nit. My bed was in the corner across from the door, a dingy mattress on a\nsimple, metal frame that was also next to the garage door. We could never\nfigure out how to get that thing unstuck. On the corner across from the bed\nwere a couple wooden bookshelves that held whatever knick-knacks we found. Starting\nat the corner and going along the wall across from where I entered was a long\nworkbench bolted in the concrete floor. Sitting on top was a damn good stereo\nsystem we found during our 'explorations' in the house, along with a variety of\nCDs and tapes. Centered in the wall across from the garage door was a small\nfurnace, its smokestack going up and out the roof. Otso always liked to lay on\nthe sunken, dingy, olive couch in front of it any time we were here; I never\nknew why.\n            After taking a brief trip down\nmemory lane, and noticing Otso wasn't around, I left the garage and headed\ntowards the house.\n            (Hellen goes into the house and\nfinds Otso there. She explains the situation to him. They decide to hide out in\nthe their old hideout, the garage.)\n            \n*          *          *\n \nThe first snowfall of\nwinter covered the ground in a white, sparkly blanket in the course of a day;\nit stopped by the time it got dark. The temperature dropped significantly, and\nany melted snow during the day is now frozen. My fingers, toes, face, and the\nrest of my body all started to feel numb because of the evening cold; it didn't\nmatter that I was bundled up in layers from head to toe. My eyes were stinging\nfrom the cold, and I had a hard time keeping my head up with that same air\nblowing gently in my face. I could see my breath from panting so hard; between\nthe heavy layers I'm wearing and my nose starting to get plugged up, my mouth\nwas my only source of oxygen intake, and there wasn't much in this air.\nI nearly ran as soon\nas I saw our garage up ahead; I couldn't wait to sit by the furnace and enjoy\nsome coffee and a cigarette.\nI went to the only\nworking door of the garage near the back. I quickly opened the door, darted\ninside and quickly closed it. Otso must\nhave gotten the furnace started; it's toasty in here. I took off only my\nouter layers consisting of my gloves, scarf, winter coat, ski pants, and snow\nboots and put them all in their proper places by the door. I grabbed my find\nout of my coat pocket. \nThe room was at that\ntemperature where it was comfortably warm, but you could still feel the cold\nfrom outside trying to get in. \nI saw Otso sitting on\nthe stained, olive couch in front of the furnace looking at a beer bottle he\nmust've just finished. Thankfully he had the decency to wear something before I got back; all he was\nwearing were the only pair of shorts we could find that would his big, fuzzy\nbutt. I wasn't at all surprised to see him wearing only these in this freezing\nweather; he is a polar bear after all. There was a dark orange hardcover book\nnext to him on the couch that looked like it had seen better days. It was a\nbeat-up copy of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Still haven't read that find you were so curious about I see. And why\nthe hell did you decide to keep that abomination you call music! Nickelback was\nnever any good when civilization existed, and it's still horrid even in this\nwasteland!\nI rubbed my temples\nwith my free hand. \"Oh god, why do you always listen to that garbage whenever I\nget home?\" I said in a low, irritated tone.\n\"Whaaaat? It's\ncatchy,\" he replied in his slight Scandinavian accent.\n\"No, just...\" I\nwalked across the room to the stereo. \"No,\" I said irritably as I turned off\nthe stereo and took out the CD. This is\ngoing in the furnace later. I put it on the table the stereo was on. I\nwalked behind the couch to my desk next to my bed and got the coffee pot\nstarted.\n\"Come on Hellen, why\ndo ya have to be that way?\" he whined. \n\"Otso, this isn't a\ngood time right now. I found part of what we've been looking for today.\" I took\na cigarette from the pack on my desk, lit it, and took a draw. \"Plus, this may\nbe our most important clue yet to figuring out what the hell happened here.\"\nHe pouted some.\n\"Alright, let me see what you found.\" He held out a paw.\nI tossed him the\nobject in question. He caught it in his paws with a clap. When he opened them,\nhe gave a confused wrinkle with his nose. He held it to me between his thumb\nand index claw.\n\"A microchip?\" he\nasked disapprovingly.\n\"Yes. You are quite\nobservant,\" I teased.\n\"Ha ha.\"\n\"And yes, it is\nimportant.\"\n\"How? We don't have\nany way to see what's on this. Every computer we've come across so far doesn't\nwork anymore or is straight-up destroyed.\"\n\"Yes I know, but I'm\ncertain this is important. Guess where I found this?\"\n\"Someplace\nimportant?\"\n\"Ok smartass. Come\non, guess.\" I tossed the cigarette butt in a tin can that was on the other side\nof my desk. The coffee pot was done and I poured myself a cup and sat next to\nOtso.\n\"Is it that creepy\nuniversity you always like going to, and where you sometimes drag me along?\" He\nlowered his head in disapproval. \n\"Actually no. For\nonce I found something important somewhere other than the university. I found\nit in the parking lot of that half-destroyed Wal-Mart down the street.\"\nOtso\nwas about to make a remark, but was caught off guard by my revelation.\n\"...Seriously? We could never find anything there.\"\n\"Well, you couldn't\nfind anything in Wal-Mart even before it was destroyed.\"\nWe both laughed. \nOtso handed me back\nthe microchip. \"But you still haven't explained why you think this is\nimportant.\"\n\"Well for one, if you\nlook closely, you can see that everything's in-tact. Now, do you recall us\nfinding ANY technology that's not broken in some way?\"\n\"Actually no, at\nleast not with any computers. Just what we have here.\"\n\"Exactly! Plus, look\nat the label.\"\nHe squinted. \"...I\ncan't read it. And it definitely not English or Finnish, or any other language\nyou humans have.\"\n\"That's why I'm sure\nwe have something good here. I have no idea what language this is, but I agree\nthat it's not an Earth language...or Elvish or Klingon or Aurebesh.\"\nHe giggled under his\nbreath, \"You're such a nerd sis.\"\n\"Hey don't judge me!\"\nI looked back at the microchip. \"Besides, even if we did find a method to see\nwhat's on here, how will we know what it says?\"\n\"I don't know...make an\neducated guess?\" He shrugged.\n\"Yes...yes you're\nright,\" I acted as if I had a revelation. \"That's a brilliant plan.\"\n\"Really?\"\n\"No...\"\nHe leaned forward and\nput his paws on his cheeks, resting his elbows on his legs. \"You don't have to\nbe mean,\" he pouted.\nI rubbed my eyes with\nmy fingers out of frustration, but I was also very tired and the coffee wasn't\nhelping. *sigh* Why does he get this way\nso often when I tease him even a little? \n\"Look,\" I said,\n\"Let's just get some sleep and tomorrow we'll figure this little shit\nout...ok?\" I said, holding out the microchip.\nHe rubbed his face\nwith his paws before straightening back up. He looked at me blankly. \"Get off\nmy bed,\" he calmly ordered.\nI got up and headed\nto my bed that was hugged up in the corner by the broken garage door. I gently\nlaid the chip on a bookshelf before going to the side door to dump whatever\ncold coffee was left in my cup. I undressed to just my underwear, not paying\nmuch attention to the cold from outside coming through the thin garage door. No\nmatter how hot or cold it is, I always sleep better in my boyshorts; I could\nnever stand wearing clothes to bed, probably from being raised by bears or\nsomething.\nBefore turning in, I\nnoticed we left the furnace running, but I didn't mind; in this cold, we need\nall the heat we can get. Otso was lying on the couch, and I could see most of\nhis shoulder and a corner of one of his light-blue stripes on his back. I\nwasn't sure if he was asleep yet, though I could hear his heavy breathing. For\nbeing such a big guy and the fact that he's...well a bear, he sleeps quietly and\ndoesn't snore, thankfully. Regardless, I walked back over to the couch; I\ndidn't mind walking barefoot across the cold concreate floor of the garage and\nany cold air in here touching my bare skin. \nPutting a hand on his\nfuzzy, white shoulder, I said half-heartedly, \"Hey...I'm sorry...alright? I didn't\nmean to offend you...if I did.\" I gave his shoulder a comforting rub before\nheading back to my bed. \nI was so tired that\nthere were no thoughts running through my head, nothing about the chip, nothing\nabout what happened to our planet, nothing about having to survive in this\nwasteland, just nothing at all. The only feelings I could process were Otso's\nsoft but heavy breathing, the little warmth I'm getting from the furnace, the\nwind gently tapping on the garage door, and that ever-present worry for my big\nbaby brother. He's never been the same since our family's been separated.\n"}