After Extinction - by Chris

https://Voice.club - “How many rations do we have remaining, Joe?”

“When we arrived at this outpost, there were 36 months of rations remaining, so by my calculations we have 23 months remaining.”

Vlad emphatically screamed, “They will come with more!”

Joe somberly stated, “They are all dead, no one else will come.”

Joe flashed through his mind, continually haunted by the final images, long ago streamed to the outpost via the satellite internet. The bombs, screams, horror, hysteria, as the nukes rained down worldwide.

Vlad felt that they were lucky to survive. As a scientist who had been sent to research at a remote arctic outpost, he had been saved from the nuclear Armageddon that had destroyed humanity. Now stranded at this outpost, unclear on the state of the world, with only brief bursts of internet connectivity randomly streaming from a few remaining satellites.

Joe fell to his knees, and started to slip into darkness. Vlad hung his head low remembering his loving wife on that red-letter-day of his daughter’s graduation, in the park on a Sunday picnic. In those days, it seemed time was endless.

Joe continued a downward spiral, spewing about the evil dictator who started the war, the corrupt politicians who had enabled and emboldened him for years. He cursed the plethora of greedy corporations, oligarchs, and fascists, who together had robbed and enslaved the world. The war was all their fault, their greed and ego caused this nuclear human extinction.

Vlad tried to stop him, but Joe sank deeper and deeper into darkness.

“We cannot be the only ones left on the planet, Joe.”

Finally, in total despair, both fell to the ground, passing out from a dark hysteria of an overloaded mind.

Awakening later, he realized his fellow scientists Joe and Vlad died months ago. The final war had left the team traumatized and now he was alone at the remote arctic outpost. The last remaining human on earth, and he could not even remember his real name. There was only him, no one else, running out of time, and he had gone completely insane.

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Chris, this is a very chilling read on the subject of nuclear Armageddon, corrupt politicians and voices from the past playing in an insane man’s head. Your final sentence was a dramatic punch!
Your “After Extinction” reminded me of the film “The Midnight Sky” where after an apocalypse, a lone scientist in the Arctic has to warn a crew of astronauts. Very masterful writing.

Oh! Chris. I was thrilled with your voice record. I can listen to it again and again. Your story is very moving. I can feel how the protagonist was traumatized with all he went through that makes him completely insane.

Hi Margarida - Thank you so much for the positive words of encouragement, since I really need them! Recently, I’ve been extremely busy and haven’t had enough time to pursue my passion for writing. I am really glad to reunite with the Voice Club team again after a long break. The new site is awesome, and hearing all these wonderful voices is so much more personal, which helps to develop a closer community. In addition, all these recent great stories are inspiring me to make more time for writing again.
:slight_smile:

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