The Last Plague Page 29

  Frank went down into the pit, amongst the scorched remains. He fell to his knees. He searched the pile of bodies as thunder roared overhead. He searched while his heartbeat counted down the time he had left, as his blood leaked from his body and he grew weaker.

  Darkness closed in around him. He sensed Emily nearby, watching him. He remembered his friends and the world that was now lost.

  I am still Frank Hooper, and I will die as a man, not a monster.

  When he found what was left of his wife, in the midst of warped limbs and eyeless faces, he curled his body beside her and wrapped himself around her bones. Trace of red in her blackened hair. Her skull grinned, pleased to see him. Her spindly fingers brushed against his skin. She accepted him, welcomed him into her embrace as he produced her wedding band from his pocket and slipped it onto her ring finger. He put his mouth to hers. His lips opened. Her scent was smoke and old things. She tasted of ashes.

  He closed his eyes.

  His final thoughts ran through his mind.

  Humanity was a dying flame, its passing barely noted by an unsympathetic, indifferent universe. The Earth would have new masters. The constellations would still burn and species greater than Man would emerge to grow and die in the dark reaches of the cosmos.

  Frank went to sleep, content in his heart that he would never wake up.

  www.crowdedquarantine.co.uk

  *Nightmare*

  Table of Contents

  Title page