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Civilizations crumble and decay. Empires fall, sometimes to fiddle music, other times in silence. Silence swept across the lands and seas some four years ago. The six remaining bastions of humanity had all the time in the world to rebuild. To right the wrongs of the past. Gently nudge humanity onto a new path. Until that nerd Jeremy explained how with only six adults any procreation would only delay the inevitable before the gene pool got really murky. Offspring survival rates would plummet exponentially leading to extinction. They were already on that road, so they took a road trip to Yankee Stadium. It was Brad's month and it was only beginning. Everyone hated when Brad got to choose their monthly activity.

Brad had found a uniform in the locker room that fit him, the other five wore their regular attire, they didn't want to play dress up. Brad was already making them play baseball. He managed the lineup. Alice would be homeplate umpire, she could communicate strikes and balls without having to talk. Percival played center field, he could read while they played. Simon protested but ended up playing catcher, he wanted to sit in the dugout and be manager. Cindy played shortstop, her glove hung loosely from her hand, her eyes glazed over in boredom. Jeremy was up to bat.

"Alright Jer get ready for my signature slider! This one's got a lot of movement too it. It's gonna lick the entire slit."

"Gross!" Cindy scoffed.

"It's a game about balls Cin, it can get a little dirty." Brad blew Cindy a kiss, she returned it by flipping him the bird.

Brad had pitched in college, never made it to the show though. Humanity crumbled shortly before the MLB draft. He never took it easy on the others when they played sports, it was the only thing he was ever good at. He gripped the ball tightly, it spun through the air, dropping quickly. The tip of the bat struck it flush, the ball rocketed overhead, Percival even looked up from his book to watch it go over the right field fence. Alice indicated for Jeremy to round the bases.

Brad clapped. "Let's fucking go! Fuckin home run in Yankee stadium! Good shit Jer!"

Jeremy crossed home plate and Brad slapped him on the back with his glove. "How did you hit that though? That's my money pitch."

"Simple really. After watching the first few pitches I studied your release angle and adjusted my swing accordingly. Force equals mass time acceleration, the tricky part is getting the bat around in time to maximize acceleration thus imparting more force to the ball. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Newton proved....."

Jeremy's lecture was cut short by Simon tearing off his catcher's mask and throwing it down. "What are we doing ladies? We playing ball or gossiping over tea? Next batter let's go! Come on blue get control of this game. You're strike zone is wrong too, you're calling low. Look alive shortstop! You still alive out there Percy!?" Simon demanded. Percival gave him a light wave out of courtesy.

"Oh my god this is the most boring game ever invented by mankind!" Cindy groaned.

"We put up with your activities, you made us put on a fashion show last month remember?" Brad shot back.

"Can't we just let Alice pick each month? Then we can just sit quietly and watch the world end?" She asked. Alice liked the plan, she gave it two thumbs up. She waved Percival up to bat, he trudged from the outfield dramatically. He held the bat awkwardly at the plate, it was down around his knees. He held his hand up.

"So is Simon a stand in for the wicket?" He asked.

"The what?" Brad yelled.

"The wicket, you bowl me the ball, I hit it then I run between you and Simon to score points. That's how this game works, I figured you would know that."

"Fuck you talkin about?" Cindy called from shortstop.

"We are playing cricket, correct?"

"Baseball Percy. Baseball." Brad shrugged. "Hold the bat near your shoulders, I'll pitch slow so you can get some practice swings."

"I forefit. If that's a thing. Can I do that?" Percival turned his attention to Alice. She animatedly rung him up on strikes.

"Alright that's out three, bring it in everybody, bring it in." Brad huddled up with the rest of the group. "Now for the best part of a baseball game, the seventh inning stretch!" Brad hollered.

"Some form of siesta in the middle of a sporting match? How absurd." Percival mocked.

"You get to sing a song." Brad smiled.

"You have my attention, what do we sing?"

Brad cleared his throat. "Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd......come on everyone! I know you know the words Simon! Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack........"

Simon and Cindy started singing along. Percival and Jeremy hummed along. Alice acted as maestro of the ragtag choir. They would get it soon enough, there were a lot more ballparks to visit this month.

Alice clapped her hands as the song wrapped up. "Play Ball!" She yelled enthusiastically. The players trotted back onto the field in the crisp October air. If this truly was the end of it all the gang might as well spend their time making memories as a team.

Well... I guess they DID re-build society, just THEIR society, not a new society. Btw, Jeremy, you're overthinking things, at some point natural selection would rescue humanity lol.

​

Good story anyway!

Glad you enjoyed it. I have to disagree with the thought of natural selection rescuing humanity. Natural selection is a cruel mistress, without the correct balance of environmental pressures species go extinct. Species go extinct a lot on a geological timeline. Only six people means we're boned, gene pool isn't deep enough and there are no similar enough species to interbreed with that could produce viable offspring. We'd end up like a lot of things, a dead end of an evolutionary branch.

Still think there's a chance. Either my sister or my mum found out a while ago - which I just double checked myself - that all of humanity has a common female ancestor. If that's true, then humanity hasn't always had a deep gene pool, so it's possible six people could recover the species!

Ah! Mitochondrial eve. That has fallen out of favor in the past forty years.

Also the 50/500 rule would come into play

I didn't know it had fallen out of favour...

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IT'S FICTION OK? :P