By JOHN BERNARD DALEY
Illustrated by ED EMSH
Being last man on Earth fit in
perfectly with the dreams of C. Herbert
Markel III. But Rocky didn't!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Infinity April 1958.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
CHAPTER I
He had a dream of Phoenix rising glorious from the bleak ashes of theworld and a conviction that only he could make the dream real. To dothis he needed two items: a woman, to produce the children of Phoenix,and books, to educate them. And so he searched the ruined land and thebroken cities.
He had certain qualities that favored the success of his dreams:intelligence (BA, MA in English Literature), marksmanship(sharpshooter's medal, ROTC), and cunning (inherent). But he had oneother quality that was most important to his survival and to therealization of his dream. That quality showed itself the day he foundthe girl in the broken city.
Silence lay over this city like a thick sea; it flowed like rivers insummer down long streets; it pooled stagnant in the backwash of alleysand dead-ends. Past sky-scrapers it drifted, like eddies drift pasttowers in Atlantis. Overhead, pigeons dived like gulls beneath itssurface, but their cries were not the cries of gulls.
A voice broke the silence that was drowning him. He spun crouching, theM-1 ready, and saw a girl running toward him. "Gad!" he said. (He hadalways felt that "Gad!" was a gentleman's expletive.) Seeing that shewas not armed, he lowered the M-1. The girl, who was fat and dirty,crashed into him, flinging puffy arms around his neck. "Save me!" sheyelled.
Her yellow hair, streaked with dirt and sunlight, was against his face;he breathed stale powder and sweat. For exactly this occasion he had aspeech prepared. "Earth Mother! At last, the Earth Mother! Now will Ilift Phoenix from the bleak ashes of the world!"
"Save me!" yelled the Earth Mother.
"Now will I rebuild civilization; now will a new race of man walk theearth!"
"Save me!" she yelled.
"From what?" he yelled.
"From everything! From the lonesomeness and the rats and the no moviesand the no fun anywhere and from Rocky!"
Abruptly she plopped to the street and started to cry. Her fat facequivered as she wheezed, and her nose ran. Impassively, he sat on thecurb, handing her his handkerchief. From his jacket pocket he took abriar pipe, filled it with dried tobacco, and lit it. The Earth Mothercried. He smoked and waited.
September sun lay bright in the street, with shadows of elms on thelawn across from them. A porch swing creaked in the wind, and somethingtoo big to be a rat went past the porch and under the trees thateverywhere were closing in on the cities. The Earth Mother's criesfaded to sniffles. She blew her nose, wiped her eyes, and gave him hishandkerchief. "Keep it," he said, coughing.
"Thanks. Oh, it's so good to see somebody else. You don't know howlonesome it's been here with nobody around but that goofy Rocky. I beenpraying somebody would come. Somebody real cool-looking, like you." Sheleaned toward him, blinking her eyes.
He leaned away from her. "And who, may I ask, is Rocky?"
"Joe Nowhere, that's who he is. Rides around on his goofy motorcycleall the time. He's mean, and real square. Like a cube, you know?"
He stared at her incredulously. Holding the pipe in his left hand, heput his right hand over his face. "I didn't really expect you to bepretty, but Gad, did you have to be a thoroughgoing idiot?" Eventuallyhe lowered his