When Last We Left
Our intrepid heroes were making their way across the wastes of the world. We were in the future. The entire world was wasted. It didn't care anymore, and neither did we, but the heroes, they cared, and they picked up the trash we had left behind to rot. The trash couldn't rot because it was plastic. Everything worthwhile was artificial. Still, the heroes collected the trash and built new heroes from it.
We were buried under a plague of noble heroes. We were in the future. The heroes lived in our homes without our permission and they judged everything we did or didn't do. They frowned when we didn't replace the empty roll of toilet paper. They frowned when we threw the cardboard roll into the recycling bin. We didn't know what they wanted. They refused to tell us.
Our brave heroes were in trouble. We were in the future. Someone was picking them off one by one and the survivors were scarred. They wore missing limbs and clouded eyes like medals. The heroes were ugly. The heroes looked like villains.
Enjoying this story? Don't miss the next one!
SUBSCRIBE TO DSF
The determined heroes finally returned all the ills of the world to Pandora's box. We were in the future. They sealed the box in concrete, dropped it into a vat of molten lead, then shot the whole assemblage into the sun. Weeks later, people collapsed on clean summer days under cloudless skies. The ills of the world were spreading, at light speed, throughout the universe.
Our desultory and overdramatic heroes were asked to come by for tea. We knew what the future held for us. We put strychnine in their cups and we toasted to their successes. They drank and they died. We were not heroic. We were not trying to be.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, March 3rd, 2016
We hope you're enjoying
When Last We Left by
Andrew Kozma.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come.
Tell me more!
Support Daily Science Fiction
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):
Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.
3.4 Rocket Dragons Average
Please join our mailing list and
receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept
100% private):
