Robert Wilson - The Quiet

James jumped when the gunshot went off and Jr.’s screaming abruptly stopped. Devon took slow deliberate steps in James’s direction. James heard the familiar click of the lock and the door flung open followed by another single gunshot and the thud of dead weight hitting the floor.. He knew it was his only chance. Lunging forward, James slammed into the door, knocking it into the man holding it open.

“I’m gonna enjoy killing you, you whiney son of a bitch,” Barger said from behind the door. A large rifle and Barger’s head peaked around the door. James pushed the door with all the strength he had, wedging Barger in the door and knocking the gun to the floor. A shot fired, ricocheting off the far wall.

James slammed into the door again, harder this time. Barger let out a yell, his head and arms the only thing still in the room. James pulled away from the door and Barger collapsed in a heap. James ran forward, picked up the gun from beside Barger, and poked him in the back with it.

He let out a moan, startling James and causing him to pull the trigger. A single shot went into Barger’s back, blowing a huge hole in it. Blood and bone splattered against the wall and out the open door and his body twitched. The world tilted in James’s stomach and he fell back against the cot and sat down, Devon’s legs lying still, underneath him.

Smoking a cigarette and looking out across the parking lot in front of the store, James was not at all surprised to find his car gone. At this point, what did it matter? He was the last of his kind, he knew that beyond a doubt. He walked through the double doors and out into the empty world, the rifle gripped in his hand, its barrel resting on his shoulder. The darkness was spreading from the east again, taking up a third of the sky. They were still trying to get the last remaining life.

He pictured the yellow-eyed bastards up there laughing with the knowledge that they didn’t even have to kill off the last community remaining of the one species that could’ve put up a fight. Completely human, Barger had done that for them. James remembered that brief vision he had of the people thriving and bit down on the filter of his cigarette. He knew from the flash they wouldn’t risk coming down from the sky until they had cleansed every speck of life from the world.

He might be the last man on earth, but they would still have to come and take it over his dead body. Feeling strong and healthy, he walked out into the sunset, a look of angry determination covering his face. He wasn’t sure just how long he could survive in this barren world, but he was damn well going to find out.

Robert S. Wilson is the author of Shining in Crimson , the first novel in his dystopian vampire series Empire of Blood in which his vampires aren’t affected by religious relics, don’t become romantically involved with humans, and neither do they sparkle. He lives with his wife, kids, dog, and a rehabilitated evil cat in Tennessee.

Check out his blog at http://shiningincrimson.blogspot.comwhere you can listen to audio episodes of Shining in Crimson , compete in pop quizzes, or just read his ridiculously redundant ranting.

The Quiet by Robert S. Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.