The Waterborn Luna

The last of the humans had died 5 years ago today from my knowledge, and from information passed down, the last of them banded together suffering from Novalities-21. A botched lab creation that had spread through one person to the next like wildfire, developing itself to contaminate the air and the water alike. Civilisations died out in a matter of weeks. Months later, the last were taking their last breath….all except for me, Aliana DeMuir, the last human on earth.

The virus itself was initially harmless, or so it was broadcasted around the world. It was a test that was being trialled on species similar to humans to try and increase heart activity to assist in the decrease of obesity of humans. Obesity had become a problem in the last few decades and the human race was essentially looking for a way to stop the process of becoming obese without actually exercising or putting effort into it. A lot of humans were against this, not only because it was the lazy route but because it was inhumane against the other species it was being tested on. Apparently humans were not in this list but vampires and children of the dark were among the tested species.

Next thing anyone knows, a human had become very sick within days of being close to this laboratory and from that point onwards, hundreds of reports of sickness were being relayed across the human civilisation. Scientists had called the mutation of the so called harmless virus Novalities-21, once it was confirmed this was killing the humans off. Most reports consisted of heart failures and brain damage, but at the end of every single case of the virus was inevitably death.

On the second month after the initial report and contamination rates getting out of hand, humans figured out that it was airborne and waterborne, meaning that no one was left out in its tracks. It spread from the Eastern side of the hemisphere to the Western side and started reaching the district I was living in.

I was sixteen when the virus started to appear on the local news, my adoptive parents instantly started packing for my cousin’s house in the Northern district as it was more secluded from the vast city we were in that had humans just taking ill. Little did we know at this point that it would get to everyone no matter where they were. We had several hundred miles to reach them but by the time we were there, they were already dying of the virus. A few days later, my parents started displaying symptoms of the sickness. They had decided from that point that it was too late to turn away and instead decided to look after our extended family. I remember vividly my Father saying “We will not outrun this virus, but we can all be together and no one will ever be alone in this.” I buried them all together in my cousins back yard with my bare hands and a makeshift shovel made of bark from a large tree, then finding some wood and notching into it “Not alone anymore.”

I’ve not been back since, that was the day that I lost everything. My family, my friends and my species. Several other species tried to help, others left us to be condemned. Nothing stopped that virus, but it seems humans were the only fatalities.

The first route I took was back home, I drove the car as far South as I could before the fuel ran out, I didn’t even notice the fuel notification ticking. My Father had only starting giving me lessons and I only understood the basics, nothing about the notifications on the dashboard other than how fast I was going. It made no difference anyway, I ran and walked the rest of the way which had taken me around three hours, and by the time I got home the house had been looted. We were only gone for a few weeks. The only thing that I cared about that was left was a picture of us three together at the lake Nonite down in the south district. Luckily it was left intact on the fridge-freezer in our kitchen.