[ WP ] The last humans are years from being completely extinct . They recall what caused their species to come to this end .

“ We sacrificed mankind ’ s legacy for the legacy of men. ” 
 
 “ What do you mean? I don ’ t understand, ” the boy said. 
 
 His father picked up the young child and hoisted him onto his shoulders. The two of them had a long walk to get to the outpost and he knew the boy hadn ’ t had a proper meal in days. Now was the time to conserve his strength. The sun was bearing down and heat was rising off the ground in the distance. He gave his son a sip of his water from his backpack and took some for himself. 
 
 “ Think about it. Everybody wants to live forever. We know that ’ s not possible, so we try to do the next best thing. We try and accumulate a lot of money and power so that we will be remembered even after we are gone. Though we all eventually die, our legacy continues. ” 
 
 The boy ’ s head bobbed with each step his father took down the dust covered road. Abandoned vehicles decorated the sides – most of them showing evidence of break-in and salvage. 
 
 His father continued, “ Who was the first President of the United States? ” 
 
 “ George Washington, ” spoke the boy. He remembered that name from his father ’ s teachings. 
 
 “ And who invented the cotton gin? ” 
 
 The boy scratched his head underneath his Yankees cap in though. 
 
 “ Ummm…….Eli Whitney! ” he proudly announced. 
 
 “ Good! Well, think about this. If the whole world was gone, who would remember those people? Without any humans left, does it matter who the first President was or who invented the cotton gin? ” 
 
 “ No, I guess not, ” he said with a frown on his face. Maybe what he had learned from his lessons wasn ’ t so important, afterall. 
 
 His father noted the tone of concern in his son ’ s voice. It was a difficult lesson to learn, but he knew very well that the boy would need to learn why things were the way they were now. 
 
 “ Well, the point is – we are now paying for the negligence of the generations before us. Instead of using our resources to either save our own planet or find another one to live on, they wasted them on becoming popular and building their own wealth. ” 
 
 The child was silent. They continued to march along the path. In the distance was the outpost…and smoke was rising up to the sky from one of the buildings. 
 
 “ Dad…what does negligence mean? ” 
 
 “ Oh, sorry…it means that you have a duty to do something and then you don ’ t. ” 
 
 “ So, dad, you mean your dad ’ s generation had a duty to stop all this? I mean, the weather shifts and all? ” 
 
 He took a minute to think before giving an answer. It was easy in retrospect to place the blame on the Millennials. They were an easy target, especially now that they were all gone. Sure, they knew the data. They had seen the trends of the oceans and the melting ice caps. But solving that problem involved sacrificing personal wealth, and as a result they continued their ways. 
 
 “ Yes, they had a duty. But now they ’ re all gone and there ’ s only a few of us left to try and survive as long as we can. We also had a chance to maybe leave this planet and start fresh on a new one, but nobody wanted to use resources to make that happen. ” 
 
 The outpost was only a few hundred meters ahead. A few abandoned fields surrounded the area; mostly barren with the exception of a few weeds that could survive the daily temperature shifts. 
 
 “ Do you think we ’ ll find food? ” the boy asked. It was starting to get cold and the child was beginning to shiver. He pulled his hood over his Yankees cap. 
 
 “ I ’ m not sure, but we might have to put off looking until morning. The cold winds are coming in and we don ’ t want to be trapped outside when they come. Let ’ s hurry. ” 
 
 He pulled his son down from his shoulders and took the child ’ s coat out of his bag. He bundled him up and put his gloves over his small hands. He hadn ’ t had room to bring his own jacket or gloves, so time was of the essence. 
 
 “ Dad, can we run? ” said the child. He looked frightened, and rightfully so. 
 
 They quickened their walk to a jog. Now was the time to get inside – just a hundred meters or so to go. 
 
 They came upon the outpost. Three buildings – ravaged by obvious conflict. 
 
 Smoke continued to pour out the windows of one building, which made for a poor shelter choice. The second building had already been caught ablaze weeks previous and looked to be structurally unsound. 
 
 “ Let ’ s go in here, ” the father said as he motioned to the third building. It had boarded windows and appeared structurally safe. 
 
 “ How do we know if it ’ s safe? If there ’ s anyone else in there? ” the child asked. 
 
 It was a legitimate question. While the population was thinning by the day, running into others was mostly an unwelcome experience. Looting was common, and people had been known to murder for even small amounts of food. But, shelter from the frost winds took priority. 
 
 “ Let ’ s just go. We don ’ t have a choice, ” he said as he felt for his pistol on his waist. The light was giving way to dark. 
 
 He opened the door and stepped inside. The building was dark and the He motioned for his son to remain as quiet as possible. They tiptoed through the room and found an open closet. It was empty. They stepped inside, closed the door, and listened. The building was silent. They took off their gear and sat down on the dirty floor. The child laid his head on his father ’ s shoulder. 
 The house began to shake as the frost winds picked up. Stepping outside at this point would be suicide. Even from the closet, the roar of the winds was near deafening. They hoped the building would stand through it all. 
 
 “ Alright son, let ’ s try and get some sleep. We have a busy day and we ’ ll need to check all three buildings for food. I know you ’ re hungry…I am too. We ’ ll just do our best and hopefully there ’ s something left here. We ’ ll have to keep an eye out for other looters, too. ” 
 
 “ Do you think we ’ ll see anyone else? ” 
 
 “ I ’ m not sure, son. I sure hope not. ” 
 
 The child took off his cap and closed his eyes. Sleep with such strong hunger pangs and the sound of the winds wouldn ’ t be easy; but he was exhausted. As he tried to lull himself to sleep he imagined the can of carrots he had found two days previous and could taste the sweetness of each bite. Tomorrow would be a good day, he told himself. His father wrapped his arm around him to keep him warm. It would certainly be a cold night, even indoors. 
 
 “ Goodnight dad, ” said the child as he drifted to slumber. 
 
 “ Goodnight. I love you, ” replied. He draped his son's coat over them both. There just has to be some food, he thought. There has to be. 

