Monday
May242010
Last People on Earth
May 24, 2010 * * * * * Posted by: guest blogger 
What would you do?
It is too quiet; that is your first thought as you awaken this particular morning. Glancing over at the alarm clock you see the digits are silent also; there is no power. "No coffee this morning"! You frown thinking about the electric coffee pot in the kitchen. At least it is a Saturday so no work, and it is an exciting day anyway since it's the day you are finally getting that big screen HDTV.
Leaving the house there is still no power, so it is a lucky thing the truck is outside the garage. Looking around, it is curious that none of the neighbors are up and about; not even the sound of a lawnmower breaks the eerie silence surrounding you. Oh, well, into the truck and off to Best Buy.
"Well, that is odd". You can't pick up your favorite music station. Scanning the FM dial, you cannot find any radio station at all. Now your thoughts turn to buying a replacement stereo for the truck, not just a new TV. All those stations can't be off the air at the same time; it has to be the stereo.
By the time you get downtown it has finally sunk in; there is nobody else around. None of the businesses are open, the electricity is off everywhere, normally busy streets are completely vacant. Your quest for a TV is now long forgotten, as the entire day is spent searching for another human; anyone at all.
Fast forward a few years. You have figured out how to run a portable generator for power, and have been suctioning gasoline out of the underground tanks at gas stations for fuel. Food in supermarkets is long spoiled now, with the exception of canned goods. Your hunting skills and ability to find edible plants have greatly improved through practice and reading. Thank goodness for the public libraries with books on survival skills. There is no longer an internet to search anytime you want to find quick info, so the old school method of finding a book for the needed topic has once again become the only way.
You know there must be other people out there somewhere; people like you. The roads are starting to really go downhill, and some of the bridges in town have now collapsed. You have no idea how much longer any of the roads will stay navigable; it is now or never to travel the countryside by vehicle.
You feel that you've gained the basic survival skills to live just about anywhere. The roads, some of them at least, can still be driven. For the meantime, there is still plenty of usable gas available in underground tanks, and vehicles that are still driveable in each town you have been to.
Where would you go? What would you do?
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Special guest post today by Mark Johnson who blogs at 'Pixels by Me'. Thank you for joining us here today, Mark, and for your wonderful story and image.
Reader Comments (15)
Horror ! wow ! great post and supershot to accompany it! Love it! But me? I would die of lonelyness.
Excellent post, Mark and the photograph is amazing. Very thought provoking too - I've recently re-read a couple of John Wyndham books (Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes) that have similar themes and trying to imagine what you would do under those circumstances is a really interesting exercise. Great start to the day :)
What would I do??? WOW! A question I'd never thought to ask myself. Definitely something to think about. I hope that - at least - my camera would have survived along with me??? I'm not sure what I'd do with that!!!!
Wonderful image to accompany the scarey thought and always-remote-possibility.
Thank you - Mark - for joining us today!!!
Oh my, Mark! First of all, where in the world did you find that incredible road! It must be at the end of the world, wherever that is. Where would I go? Is there a boat back to America for me to check on my kids (or won't it work without electricity!)? I'd want to know for sure if they were still alive and not take someone else's word for it. And what would I do? Will my camera be inoperable after my battery runs out? What--no more picture taking?!? I'd probably get out some of my empty journals and start writing...in case someone would make a movie of it one day. HA! I'd scratch off the days on the calendar to keep track of time. But who would care? Is there no one else alive anywhere? Where are you? Come to think of it, I think there ARE movies about this already...and there are ghosts hiding in buildings, as I recall....
Well Mark...if you haven't "shaken things up a bit" today!!! :) A whole new twist for V&V. And that's not a bad thing at all. We all need to have something new to challenge our thinking from time to time.
Your image set the stage so perfectly for this scenario; I was pulled into the plot immediately.
"Where would you go? What would you do?" Wow! Such food for thought. I need to ponder your questions...
Love that photo. The whole thing was like Twilight Zone...which I have always loved... Where would I go? Alaska. That is the place I want to make it to. But what would I do en route? Ah, so many things come to mind. I love your deeper question, what would I do if, essentially, I could do anything I wanted? I have some ideas. Some of them, I am doing already. Some of them, I may never get to. But it feels like I'm on the right road...
I think I would learn to fly a plane; plenty of videos and books are available. Being inexperienced I probably would keep fairly low to the ground for a while at least; without traffic any road would be a runway.
Where would I go? Places I can't go to now. I grew up in southern New Mexico; there are many beautiful caves in the Guadalupe Mountains that are closed to the public - they would likely be one of my first destinations.
I'd travel while I could; eventually it would be harder and harder to find working planes, autos, gas, etc. It probably wouldn't take long before loneliness would make me search for others, but I know that wouldn't be my immediate goal. Eventually I'd probably find a place to settle down and live out my remaining days. No, it wouldn't be a mansion -- it would probably be a shack in the desert mountains near a stream.
Great science fiction tale. You know my husband is a river planner among other things and he says before we get to that point there would be no water, at least no pure water. Already with the Gulf oil spill it may alter the oceans and kill billion of fish. Water is what will go first, so we’ll be poisoned before we have to wonder what to do next. But, in your tale you did not speak about the animals – would they survive? I saw a great lecture on youtube by a Dr. A. Batlett, professor of physics at Colorado University in Boulder – he said that population is going to grow immensely but germs, microbes, etc even more. It does not sound good. The name of the clip is The Most Important Video you’ll ever see. I watched the first 3 parts so far and it's really interesting. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iFESMAU58.
How thought provoking - I can't imagine it without my family. I would make my way to find them because if I survived so would they. Being a handy lot, I think we would manage for the rest of our days. Distilling the idea of life down to sheer survival brings with it thoughts of hard work, a letting go of the notions that had perceived importance the day before, a simpler lonely time for sure. The key would be to hold fear at bay.
Having said all that, I can't dwell on thoughts like these, because for sure with my worrisome mind it would become another needless worry!
Visions of Mad Max and Thunderdome come to mind as I saw your image and read your text. I don't even want to think about what I'd do without my camera or laptop. I do still have my film camera...
Great thought provoking post, Mark. So glad to have you as a guest here today!
i love stuff like this! and that picture! great shot ;)
what would i do? i really don't know beyond going to the library and researching HOW TO SURVIVE! i would probably plant a garden. ride a horse instead of driving a car. surround myself with the animals that were left. i wouldn't want to be lonely!
great post!
chilling post...put the hairs up on the back of my neck, literally!! reminds me of a book i read, can't remember the name of it, but something horrific had happened, some apocalyptic, and two young girls were left...spared the main horrors because they lived in the backwoods of mid-western USA. they noticed that everything changed around them, but they learned to adapt and survive. it didn't have a happy ending really.
what would i do? you know i'm really not sure at all. i think in the beginning there would be unease and a growing sense of panic, trying to stay calm, trying to figure things out...then what!! i rather hope i never have to experience this :)
My oh my!! What a horrific story. I can not even begin to imagine what it would feel like being left all alone in the world!! Would there still be animals?? If so I would go live somewhere in the middle of nature where there are loads and loads of animals, so I would be able to see movement without having caused that myself. After loneliness starts to become unbearable I would make sure to get really stoned through some good spliffs and take a bunch of pills that will do the trick nice and easy and die peacefully with my eyes on some major waterfall with a zillion birds singing in the background and the sun on my face, while inhaling the intoxicating scent of wild flowers.
Thanks Mark, for such a brilliant post and photograph!! It really made me think, and again.
My husband would find this challenging. I'd be incredibly lonely. It's a great science fiction story. I would go on about Revelation and etc but I won't. It is what I think of though when I read these end of the world tales.
I love your image! So powerful. The story is... to much for me! I mean, I'd probably go crazy in such a horrible event. Can't even imagine the only voice I would hear would be the one inside my head! Your scenario reminded me of a movie, 'I am legend' with Will Smith. You perfectly described that sense of loneliness and void. Thanks for sharing!