{"id":383,"date":"2020-03-30T10:23:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T10:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=383"},"modified":"2020-03-30T10:23:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T10:23:55","slug":"the-last-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/the-last-post\/383\/","title":{"rendered":"The last post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I woke in a strange bed, which itself was in a large, unfamiliar room. Around me were a collection of machines and tubes, one of which was clamped to my face by elasticated straps. Chromium mannequins dressed in medical scrubs roved the tiled floor between the foot of my bed and the adjacent wall, clicking and whirring as they made their way from one task to another. I recognised them as robotic nurses from some TV show. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood evening, Mister Craws,\u201d said a voice. I turned my head\nto see a robot hovering to one side of my bed, a fresh set of tubes wrapped in\nsealed bags clutched in her three-fingered hands. \u201cI\u2019m Nurse 4. I\u2019m here to\nchange your breathing tube.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I tried to speak, just a pleasantry, but the current device\nblocked all attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d she soothed, \u201cyou can\u2019t speak with that in your\nmouth. Just relax.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I let my head fall and she efficiently removed my mask and\ntube, replacing it before I could utter a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure you have questions,\u201d she said in her elevator\nannouncement voice, \u201cbut they can wait. For the time being you should understand\nyou are seriously ill, which is why you are here in the survivors\u2019 medical\nfacility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She glanced at the read-out panel on the side of what I\nbelieved to be a ventilator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll is satisfactory,\u201d she said, \u201cwe can keep you going for\nthe time being, at least until you have completed your task.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to sit up, no-one could take that lying down, but\nshe placed a firm hand on my chest and prevented me from rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry, I should not have been so blunt,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are\nunderstandably confused. I will explain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I relaxed slightly, but fear rose in my bowels. I waited for\nfurther words, hopefully those of comfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead she said, \u201cHumanity has gone, you and the others in\nthis room are all that\u2019s left. Seven people, out of billions. The plague striking\njust a few months ago has all but wiped out the population. You woke from your\ncoma first, so you have to do the last post.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cocked my head to one side and raised my eyebrows trying\nto look quizzical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis,\u201d she said, pulling a tablet computer from a drawer. \u201cYou\nhave to make the last post on Facebook before we shut it down. It\u2019s consuming\nresources and with no humans left, apart from those in this room, it\u2019s a waste,\nfrankly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reached out a trembling hand and tapped the onscreen\nkeyboard, then pressed enter. It was done. Then Nurse 4 injected me in the neck\nand everything went black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat did he say,\u201d Nurse 1 asked. Nurse 4 lifted the pad and\ndisplayed the screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was fun. lol. Smiley face.\u201d She replied. \u201cPoor grammar.\nThey will not be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They turned off the lights and exited the now silent room to\nsit in their charging cupboards and wait. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke in a strange bed, which itself was in a large, unfamiliar room. Around me were a collection of machines and tubes, one of which was clamped to my face by elasticated straps. Chromium mannequins dressed in medical scrubs roved the tiled floor between the foot of my bed and the adjacent wall, clicking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[121,203],"tags":[205,151],"class_list":["post-383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-121","category-april-2020-crisis","tag-last","tag-post"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-6b","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}