The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. John Burges opened his eyes; again he had dozed while writing in his journal. He had been doing that a lot lately. The knock came again, only this time harder. Now I’m hearing things. Why can’t I just die in my sleep? John looked to his left at his old worn journal. And who’s going to read that anyway, my ghost? He turned to his right, and stared hard at his service pistol lying next to him. He could almost feel the weapon seductively calling to him, singing to the loneliness that infested his mind, much like the radiation poisoning that saturated his body.

The knock on the door continued, and then it turned into pounding. John watched the door shake on its hinges, but he did move. I really hate hallucinations. Why can’t I imagine a dozen naked cheerleaders? Aw hell, I’ll settle for a three hundred pound grandma in a walker. At least I could still go out on top. Ha, even dying I kill me.

The pounding soon shook more than the door frame. Plaster from the ceiling drifted down on John’s head like little white snowflakes. John smiled and then his face grew serious.

“You’re not supposed to feel hallucinations,” he said out loud, and then as sudden as it started, the pounding stopped. Panic lanced through his heart, and he leapt from the sofa. He tried to run to the door, but his legs buckled from his sickness. On his hands and knees he crawled.

“Wait, wait,” he called, as he reached the knob and pulled himself up. He yanked the door open and froze. “Oh, shit!”
****

“How goes the process?” The lead technician didn’t turn or attempt to answer the question. He had heard that and others similar to it, over a dozen times since the man arrived. With amazing speed his black clawed talons raced over keys and pulled levers.

“I know you don’t approve, Kadar,” the other persisted, “but this is our only chance, our last hope.”

Kadar, the lead medical technician for the Council of Twelve, stopped his work, and turned to the being he considered his friend.

“Jo-keel, do not speak to me of last chances. Their kind had its chance. They had their precious freedom, and what did they do with it?  If the Council believes that…that this… animal can save us, then they are bigger fools than man.”

Jo-keel, had heard his friend’s objections before, and in both his hearts he agreed with him, but his was not to question the decision of the elders and neither was Kadar’s. “We do what we must, my brother. What is his condition?”

Kadar turned his eyes to a slowly falling needle. “The exotic energy in its cells is dropping. I have kept it asleep throughout the treatment for its own good. After the other one, we have learned that they have a negative reaction to our appearance.”

“Yes, a study of their history shows a disturbing and irrational view of our kind in relation to their origin. I do not know how that happened, but it will definitely be an obstacle we must overcome. When you’ve finished, have him moved to the pens, but keep him separate from the other. Man is a violent species by nature despite his genes, and a great deal is riding on him.”

“Yes, Jo-keel, I will do my duty, but I do not trust it, and I advise caution.”
****

John Burges was lying on the powder-white sands of St. Marten’s famous Lakota Beach. The sun was high, the breeze warm, and the woman next to him, naked. He reached out his hand, and pretended he was brushing sand off is wife’s tanned bottom.  She giggled lightly, not at all fooled by his move.

“John, there’s no sand on me,” she cooed. “That’s impossible.”

“Why is that, honey?” He answered looking into her sparkling blue eyes.

“Because I’m dead, silly.”

John opened his eyes and jumped up from the floor. He blinked twice, while his vision adjusted to the low light around him.

“Oh God, am I in hell?” he asked out loud.

“No, it’s far from hell, sort of.”

John quickly turned to his left. The sudden move made him dizzy and he dropped to a knee. He took several deep breaths and waited for the sensation to pass.

“Take it slow. They’ve been working on you for some time. I think you’re well now, but I’m no doctor.”

John raised his head and looked around. The light was dim, but he could make out that he was in large glass box or cage. Behind him was a stone slab, which could be a bed if he was desperate enough, but it was the vision to his right that caused him to gasp.

“Good morning or good night. I don’t know which it is, and I’ve given up trying to find out. If you’re wondering, my name is April, and I’m not the woman you were dreaming about, and I do hope it was a woman that made you so…aroused.”

John didn’t reply. He rose to his feet, and slowly approached the glass wall. He looked upon the woman’s blonde hair, brown eyes and completely naked body and his mind stopped working. It was only when she became blurry to him that he noticed he was crying. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He placed a hand on the clear glass, and April, on the opposite side, placed her smaller hand up to his.

“Yeah, I kind of had the same reaction when they brought you in,” she said, as a single tear ran down her cheek. “Look, now you’ve got me crying again and I have no Kleenex.”

“You…you’re real,” John stammered, placing his other hand on the glass. “I thought I was the last.”

April added her other hand too, and for an unknown amount of time they stood before each other, both totally naked and both not caring one bit.

“What’s your name, and please don’t say Adam, though right now I would gladly be your Eve.”

“My name is,” John felt weakness in his legs and his head spun, “John...John Burges.”

“Oh, sit, John.  You’re still weak.” They both slowly sank to the floor. John looked down at the metal floor, and touched it with his hand. “Yes, the floor is heated. They like it warm and dark. I would tell you why, but I don’t think you’d believe me, it’s probably best you see for yourself. It should be anytime now, according to my stomach.” April patted her flat belly.

John took a second to take all of April in. She seemed to be in her mid to late thirties, and judging by the stretch marks on her tommy, she had been pregnant before. She was thin, but not too thin.  In another time, when he was married, he probably would not have given her a second look, but now she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. His gaze traveled from her belly to her small pert breasts, and on to the light brown areolas tipping each one. And because he was a man, his observation drifted down to the brown thatch of pubic hair covering her sex. Wait a minute. How is it brown?  He raised his head, and looked right into April’s eyes staring at him.

“Yeah, I’m not a true blond.” She smiled and then ran her fingers through her tangled hair. “If you look closely, you can see my brown roots. Pretty soon I’ll be a brunette again. I doubt I’ll make my next hair appointment.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare at your…um…” John stumbled, and his face turned a bright red.

“At my what, John Burges?” She beamed a huge smile at him, and John notice her nipples had grown. He adjusted his seat as he felt a change in himself too. “Oh, I guess that answers my question.”

Both man and woman suddenly burst out laughing. They continued to laugh for several minutes, until they heard the sound of a door opened and shutting.

“He’s coming.” April who had been sitting crossed legged, shifted, closed her legs, and placed her hands over her lap. “John, please don’t freak out on me. I need you sane.”

John was about to question her when the lights brightened some. The light wasn’t very bright but the change caused him to cover his eyes. When he lowered his hand and his breath caught in his throat.

“NO! No! God, in heaven, no,” he shouted staring at the creature holding two silver trays.

“John,” April yelled at him, and pounded on the glass between them. “John, look at me. John, he’s not what you think. Please, John.”

But John did not hear a word she said. With his mouth hanging open, he stared in horror at the being who represented every fear his Catholic school teacher had warned him he would meet. The creature stared back at John through pitch-black lidless eyes. It set the trays on the floor and stood before John, seemingly allowing the man to fully take it in. The creature looked towards the woman, and then back at John. It reached one clawed hand up, and struck its huge red muscular chest. When it did so, two giant leathery wings extended from its back. The red bat-like wings spanned the entire length of both glass cells.

“John, don’t pay him any attention, he just likes to show off.” April waved a dismissive hand at the creature.

It folded its wings back behind its back and looked at the woman.  “I am not showing off, April, I am only giving him a full view. If he is to understand the difference between human myth and reality, then he had better begin now.”

John Burges, former Florida state trooper, ex-army ranger, and one time altar boy instinctively reached to his hip for a gun that was there.

“I do believe your man wants to shoot me, April.” The creature who resembled the traditional image of the devil smiled a fang-filled grin at John. “Oh, dear, I do not think he is listening to you.”

“John, it’s okay. Jo-keel doesn’t want to hurt us.” April stood and walked to the glass between her and the creature. She touched the wall with a finger and it slid into the floor. John watched in stunned silence as April walked out of her cage, and stood in front of the demon with her back to him. The monster towered over the small woman. It was easily three times her mass, and almost twice his. “I’m going to open your cell now, John. Please, please, don’t panic or do anything violent. It won’t end well for you if you do.”

She placed a finger on the glass, and it too receded into the floor. She bent over, picked up both their trays and entered John’s cell. When she crossed the threshold, the glass wall slowly rose behind her.

“I will come back later, April. I trust that you know what you’re doing. I am taking a big risk.” Jo-keel hooves scrapped the floor as he turned to leave.

“Wait,” John called out. He stood, walked passed April, and stopped at the glass. “Are…are you the Devil? Is this Hell?”

Jo-keel stopped, but did not turn. In a lowered voice he said, “Would you believe the Devil, if he said no?”