The Last Man by Ryan King Read Free Book Online Page B

calculation in his head and realized he had given Scotch too much but wasn't too far off the mark. Thank God, he was a monster of a dog.
    He looked around for other types of rabies vaccinations and couldn't find any. Evidently Doctor Hob specialized in treating farm animals. Sam hesitated then did some calculations on a piece of paper in the clinic. He carefully measured out an amount in a syringe and injected the vaccine in his own thigh. Sam next filled the same syringe with varying amounts of the vaccine and stalked the dogs until they were cornered and gave them each the vaccine. He doubted rabies vaccines were much different for large animals than they were for small or humans. He wasn't going to go through this again and he packed up a few boxes of the vaccine and some syringes just in case.
    They rested there that day. Scotch seemed to be doing well, but Sam didn't want to rush him. The big dog would let him know when he was ready to move on. Besides, where the hell did they really need to be?
    He explored the house, found no corpses and was grateful for that. The vet may have been out on a call when he succumbed to the disease himself. Sam had seen many examples of medical personnel who worked themselves without rest, taking care of others until they finally succumbed to the plague.
    The vet had a detached workshop behind the little house and Sam explored inside. He had taken wood shop in high school and knew his way around all the typical machines and tools. Doctor Hob was clearly an accomplished woodworker. There were several pieces of furniture in various stages of completion and noticing a commonality he realized that the doctor had made many of the finished pieces in the house himself.
    Near the back of the shop was a small table with an attached bench covered in small carvings. Sam bent close and saw there were dozens of incredibly lifelike animal carvings, shaped and polished with love and care. There were several horses, deer, squirrels, rabbits, a pig, cows, bulls, birds, cats, a raccoon, sheep, and even a small bear. There were also several dogs and Sam saw a small spaniel sitting on its flanks with its mouth open in a smile. It looked just like Tanner. Sam picked it up, placed it in his pocket and walked out of the shop, closing the door behind him carefully.
    What of all the master works of man, Sam asked himself. What of works of beauty like in the woodshop or of Rembrandt, or Michelangelo? What of them now? Would archeologists or an alien race discover them millennia in the distant future and wonder about this creature called man? What would they think or conclude? Sam pulled the spaniel out of his pocket and looked at it closely. Hopefully they will think the best of us and not judge too harshly, he thought and went to check on The Pack.
    *******
    Sam was shocked at how quickly things he had considered relatively permanent were disappearing. He passed over a bridge spanning a small river and the water was already rushing up against the underside of the supports. The culprits were a colony of beavers who had built a gigantic dam a hundred feet downstream from the bridge. When Sam and the dogs got out of the SUV to look at their handy-work the rodents barked at him and stared threateningly like gang members guarding their territory. He knew he would not be able to come this route again, the river would become a lake soon and cover the bridge. They drove on and away from the jeers of the beavers.
    The beavers caused him to wonder what was now happening with the hydroelectric dams. Were they shut down, unable to run without the careful hand of humans, or could they possibly be pumping out electricity unconcerned that it wasn't used? Did turbines still turn powering lights and charging batteries? Sam wanted to think so and the image was so strong and appealing, but dams were mostly to the west. He had no interest in going west away from his...well, away from the sea.
    This led to another thought which was not