0. LAST MAN ON EARTH

London, 21 March 2025.

Asteroid 2001 FO32 hit Earth four years ago.

Today I can say, with absolute certainty, that I am the last man on Earth.

Everything around me would be calm and silent, if it weren't for that creature.

I just turned into the street when I heard a deafening noise. Even from half a kilometer away I was able to see the blanket of smoke rising upwards. I look towards the building on my right and read the name of the street. To be sure, I repeat it in my mind.

I try to imagine the sound my voice would make to pronounce it: "Frith Street".

As I walk briskly forward, I adjust my mask. It is a device now common to people like me, or at least was common to people like me. Since the fall of the asteroid, many have died due to poisoning by strange toxic substances unknown to us. The Architect therefore took charge of designing devices to keep the survivors safe, namely the masks. If I'm honest, I don't even need it. These substances are dangerous only for those who have not evolved and assimilated them naturally. However, the habit of concealing my nature leads me to wear it again.

I have now reached about halfway, but a bus has been thrown in my direction. Now it blocks both my view and the passage, so all I have to do is climb over it. The bus has the left side in contact with the asphalt and the rear wheels are missing. I deduce that it was thrown to block the road. Using strength on my legs, I leap forward and manage to get to the car. For just a moment I decide to look below me, just to make sure the glass doesn't shatter after being weighed down.

Here, however, my gaze is captured by the creature located at the end of the road.

A "Horror", as we called them, of the sentient machines that have infested the cities since that fateful day. There are different ranks and types, all classified meticulously and at great cost. Many of my precious companions have fallen through their own fault. The Horror in front of me must necessarily be one of the latest generation. I don't see any alternatives. It presents characteristics that cannot be traced back to a type of animal.

The machine's eyes suddenly shine with a red light and it turns in my direction. This gives me the opportunity to see it fully, despite the smoke it is giving off. It has an ovoid-shaped trunk made of metallic fabrics. From that area, five protuberances emerge and stick violently onto the road. I trace those limbs back to legs. In the center of the trunk there is a rise from which a metal tube stands out, it is certainly the neck. Finally, there is the head, a white demonic mask with slits for the eyes and mouth. Crimson red horns and a thick mane of black hair covering everything.

I don't have time to put my hands in the pockets of my sweatshirt before the creature opens its jaws, ready to attack with a photon beam. I quickly take the recording device that was given to me a couple of years ago and throw it into the air. The thing starts up and freezes in mid-air, while a small blue light signals that the ignition is complete. For safety, with a finger of my left hand, I give the object a light blow: my "Cube". I try to talk to him ironically.

«Are you turned on?»

I get nothing but a sound like abeep as answer. At this point I instinctively dodge to the side, anticipating the enemy's attack. The Horror fires its beam, narrowly missing me and pulverizing the second floor of a building to my left. Attention cannot be set aside in this situation, my brain tells me to be cautious.

"But really... what does it matter anymore?" I think, already detached from the events before my eyes.

This thought has been wandering around my mind for a while now. Now I'm alone, whether I live or die makes no difference.

From the back of the back I extract a finely shaped cylinder with some grooves. The weapon has been my property for a long time and within it hides an extraordinary power, the same strength that has allowed me to get to this point. The moment my right hand tightens on the hilt, a single-edged metal blade materializes with disarming simplicity. As soon as I unsheathed my pseudo-katana, the air was filled with strange glitches, as if reality was coming into contact with an artificial phenomenon. The laws of this world vibrate in resonance with the existence of the weapon and manifest themselves in that way.

In front of me I see the Horror charging a second energy beam. I drop towards the ground and land in a puddle, some splashes landing on a fallen street lamp causing a light sparkle. I don't let myself be deceived, unfortunately I know very well that electricity ran out a long time ago.

This moment of distraction seems to cost me dearly. The light reaches me and hits me. The Horror has erupted its blast, I feel hot, my skin becomes incandescent.

Yet I run unconsciously towards my death, just like I did that day.