The Last Device pt.1 (gay romance)

November 14, 2025, after sunset.

    The orange cream sky slowly melted into dark molasses, thick and unforgiving. I watched the distance waiting for a shadow to appear. It has been ten sunrises since I received the message from him, and for ten sunrises I have been on the edge of a heated blade. Since the abolishment of government supervision and the eventual downpour of modern society technology became scarce and only used by those who were smart enough to lock it away avoiding the prying eyes of other survivors. Before I had received the message I had not used any of the devices I had stored away as they do not help in my everyday life. I had just come back from collecting water from the properties nearly dried up man made lake, when everything fell apart most of the water in the major parts of the world was either contaminated or simply used up by survivors.

    Here in the southern part of Texas things in the countryside seemed almost untouched, farm houses and ranches with barns and stables still sitting silently waiting to rot. Nature making its way inside some of the older ones I chose a home that must have been made just before the fallout because it had little to no damage and was still dressed up inside for a sale. I had just come in from the lake in the far back corner of the property (which stretched about five miles front and back) and I could faintly hear a humming coming from somewhere, I pushed the metal buckets of water on the marble countertop of the island in the kitchen and slowly followed the noise.

    Having spent the last eight years alone I easily forgot of the remnants I hid in the bookcase. When I reached the office on the second floor the humming grew louder enough that I could feel the vibrations on the polished wooden floors, it had been so long I nearly forgot the book that moved the shelf open and after a few attempts I found the right book; Alice's adventures in wonderland. The shelf slowly popped out of place and I glided it open to hear the humming grow even louder.

    The hidden room was empty except a few papers scattered on the floor and my old backpack. The entire backpack vibrated from the humming and I could see the flashing white light that let you know you were receiving a message. I opened the drawstrings of the pack and reached in, the old communication device vibrated in my hand almost slipping from my grip. I slid open the device and promptly a holographic image of a man wearing draping black robes and red fabric masked over his face appeared and began to speak pacing across the devices screen.

    "If this message reaches your device, consider this a warning. everyone here is dead and resources are gone. I am on my way to this devises location. luckily for me there was stored energy being hidden in this camp, I was able to charge my device long enough to access the tracking function on my own devise and locate you. I do not know you. The simple truth is I only found your own devises location, no others showed up."

    The man paced up and down the glass screen and at times seemed to make eye contact with me.

    "I cannot say how long it will take me to get to you, time matters on condition of the terrain."

    The man dropped his head and from inside his robes pulled a curved threatening looking blade, he held it over his heart then continued.

    "If I never show, I'm sure it will be clear as to what happened, I would like it to be known that I gave it everything to survive on this earth. Even in its destruction and corruption and yes even in the aftermath of society's unhinging I stayed unshaken. This was my home and I survived in it."

    The hologram buzzed and dissolved away, the device turning off, I acknowledged for the last time.

    I dropped the device back inside the pack and closed back up. there was something about that message that didn't sit right with me. somehow the man claimed to be "unshaken" in this new world but then why seek out others? I guess loneliness doesn't count as unshaken.

    The sky was almost completely dark and the wind started to pick up causing the dirt to dance around. The conditions of weather is its own master nowadays. I think about the message, the ending more aggressively, "If something should happen to me..." the voice played in my head, I think that maybe waiting is causing more damage to my slowly cracking shell more than anything.

    I would be lying to myself if I said having someone else around would be bad. Come to think the idea of others even being out there anymore hadn't crossed my mind in a while, I guess I had subconsciously made peace with dying alone without realizing it. Now the possibility of this man presented itself and with every sunset I sink deeper into the understanding of true loneliness; waiting on someone who may not show.

    "Hello? Is the owner of the last device in there?" A deep voice shouted from outside, causing my stomach to collapse, a feeling until just now I had long forgot.