Last Man Falling

They said that only the strong would survive. They couldn't have been more wrong.

The strong were the ones who died first. Then the powerful, the rich and the intelligent. Until only the weak remained. Until only I remained.

The invaders came from above the sky, small, pulpy creatures with dull metallic shells, riding chariots of death that would mark the destruction of our race. At first, we thought we could stop them, that violence could save us; but although they were weak physically, their skills at violence were levels of magnitude higher than anything we could muster. It wasn't long before our captains were lost, so at last we learned their language, and tried other means; trading, negotiating, begging. But they didn't listen. They didn't need us. They had only ever wanted the raw material of our world, and to this end they brought the Machines, spewing death and destruction across the globe from pole to pole.

Occasionally we could bring down one of the Machines, but there were always more, thousands upon thousands, hundreds of millions, each belching flame and toxic gas that made even our own atmosphere hostile against us. We couldn't take it anymore. We abandoned our homes and took to living in the streets and passages underground. Anywhere they couldn't find us. Anywhere the scorching heat and putrid stench of rot and destruction couldn't reach us. But it was all in vain.

One by one, they tracked us down, hunting us and killing even our children without mercy. Every friend, every family member, they were all murdered by the lanky pale-faced creatures, and carried off in the machines for dissection. I cannot understand what it was they were after. All I know is that they took everyone away, and destroyed them.

I can hear them above me now, walking the streets of our cities, trampling upon our culture and our species without a care. I know I cannot last for long. Even down beneath the city the air is uncomfortably warm, and as I hold my youngest child in my arms, I can feel it go hot and limp within my arms.

I know what I must do. If I am to die, I will take them with me. Make them remember the world they destroyed. Remember that there was life before they brought machines to kill our plants and animals, and reduce our lands to pools of sloppy liquid. Before they brought the parasites that came and infested the wastelands that remained, filling the air with their deadly gas to ensure that we could never live there again. Now only at the poles can we find refuge, and even that is quickly fading.

I set my dying young one in the corner, and bid my last farewell, knowing that even its warm, lifeless body held more vitality than my soul did at this time. For my heart was burning away inside me, emanating death to everything around me. I could not help but feel hatred for those who had steeped us in blood for so long. But now the end had come.

Bursting from my hiding-place, I rushed headlong into the scorching sun. No longer did the gentle clouds shield us from its fury, and to the corners of the horizon was splattered the sick azure blue of their lifeless oxygen atmosphere. I knew they had many ways to inflict pain, but still I rushed onwards, into the open street. There they were, their machines even now crushing our cities to dust, and leveling it all to a smooth, black, even plain. I could bear it no further. Grasping several of them about in my tentacles, I crushed them until their sloppy red insides came splurting through the broken edges of their shells. They pointed their weapons at me, and filled my body with pain, but I had already become numb; the world was full of pain, and what I experienced now was only an insignificant shard of the greater suffering. I thrashed and beat them, until I could move no longer, and my limbs turned soft, and my limp form collapsed to the hot black earth beneath me. I had taken out twenty or thirty, but as I saw their reaction, I knew they wouldn't remember me. It was all in vain.

The creature closest to me put his hand to his head and began to pull of his shell. The others followed suit, and soon the entire group stood with only their mushy insides exposed to the glaring sun. Then he spoke words, words which I had worked so intently to learn, so we could make peace, but to no avail.

"Extermination complete. We now declare this planet fully terraformed, and welcome it as the newest part of our free nation."

The creatures around him started slapping their tentacles together, as they frequently did on such occasions, and I thought of how great the misunderstanding was between us.

And as my consciousness faded, I saw them raise over my dead body the thirteen stripes and one hundred twenty-eight stars of the flag of the United States.