[ WP ] You are not the last human , but you are the last human on earth

I awoke to the sound of my alarm, as I do every day at dawn. As I do every day, I began going through my daily checklist: clean up; get dressed; check the scanners; empty the rain collectors into the water tank; and gear up. I activated my exo-armor and run through it's systems, checking for functionality. With everything in order, I exited the outpost. 
 
 As I approached my armored vehicle, I stopped to gaze over the landscape below. My eyes went from the ruins of New York City to the dried-up shoreline of the Atlantic. It seemed like only yesterday news reporters were exclaiming that we'd won the war. We'd driven off the Xantori invasion force. Headlines were talking about how `` America'' had saved the world, no matter how little truth they actually held. America certainly had been a major factor. We'd certainly been a major factor. We did n't, however, deliver what everyone thought was the killing blow. That title belongs to the United Europe Air Force. They were the ones who developed and fired the warhead at the alien ship. 
 
 Our victory had barely lasted a week before our solar scanners detected more of the Xantori signals, coming from a wormhole near Neptune. Panic quickly overtook the world, sending it into a state of near-anarchy. With the militaries of the world exhausted and weak, we could n't survive another attack. Luckily, the Earth Aeronautic Space Administration ( EASA ) announced that they had completed a fleet of ships using reverse-engineered Xantori tech. Each ship was said to have capacity of 1.5 billion people. With 10 total ships, they supposedly had enough room for everyone on Earth. With the Xantori's arrival estimated to be in 5 Earth days, time was running out. Planes and boats were being filled to the brim in a hurry to get everyone to the EASA's launching facility, built over what used to be Boston, Massachusetts. Merely 8 hours before the Xantori would reach Earth, the last airplanes landed and the last cruise ships and boats docked. In a race against the clock, people were rushed aboard the massive starships. I was nearing the loading docks myself, alongside my wife, my two sons, my daughter, and my parents. Just as we reached the loading area, however, I was pushed over by people scrambling for the ramps. I tried to catch up to my family but found myself stuck among the billions of people and soon lost track of them as they went up the ramp, unable to turn around. 
 
 A loud warning alarm began to sound as the gates to the ramps closed. Shock and confusion spread among the masses. People were angrily shouting for the gates to be opened. They were all quieted by the sound of pistons and gears as the ramps began folding up toward their respective ships, closing with a loud `` *hisss*''. After staring in confusion at the ships for a moment, I realized what was going on. The ships actually had a much smaller capacity that what they told us. They knew not everyone would be able to fit. They lied to try and keep people calm. I quickly made my way back to the parking lot to avoid being potentially trampled by over a billion desperate people trying to make it to the ships. I got in my car and began driving as fast as I possibly could away from there, as the mass concentration of people would be a prime target for the Xantori ships. I stopped by an abandoned military outpost and began outfitting myself with armor, weapons, ammunition, anything I could fit into one of the abandoned armored vehicles. As I left the outpost and continued South, I heard the loud engines of the starships roaring. The massive vehicles rose up from their docks and began flying off into the sky, disappearing among the clouds. I checked the car's clock, which read 3:30pm. That meant the Xantori were due to arrive any minute now. Just as the EASA facility faded into the horizon, I noticed a strange shape moving across the sky. Right on schedule, the aliens descended from the skies. I quickly pulled the vehicle over and engaged its thermal cloaking device. 
 
 I watched as their plasma weapons began scorching the landscape. Like a hunting dog picking up on an animal's scent, their ships all began heading for the EASA facility. They razed the entire facility to the ground, igniting a fire that turned the sky orange and black. I took this opportunity to continue South, eventually reaching the military installation I was formerly stationed at and began setting it up for my tenure. 
 
 That was all nearly forty years ago, and still I wonder what would have been different if I had n't been pushed. My thoughts, however, were interrupted by my scanner's alarm. I rushed back inside to see what it had picked up. Usually, this meant a false alarm. The scanner was quite old now and often picked up false positives or animals. I read the signal code, my eyes widening. I'd been transmitting an emergency broadcast on every channel I could in hope that it would eventually be received. The code was a message, hidden in an old military encryption. I quickly ran it through the decryption software and read the result aloud: 
 
 > THIS IS THE UCF TRANQUILITY. IF ANYONE REC...... 
 
 The scanner suddenly shut off, its power supply giving out. I hurriedly tired to switch out the power supply, but it was no use. I kicked the scanner in anger and frustration, hoping it'd turn back on. I remembered my vehicle had a scanner on it and rushed outside, hoping to get it running. I picked up the signal again and tried sending a response, but the vehicle just was n't strong enough. I tried in vain for what seemed like forever before another signal came through, announcing the *Tranquility*'s departure from the Solar system. I stared up at the sky as rain clouds covered the sun, wondering if I'd ever get off of Earth.
