Five

I remember.

Somebody!

Somebody, pIease!

Somebody, pIease!

HeIp me!

Somebody, heIp me! PIease, somebody!

I'm aIive! Somebody, heIp me!

Somebody, heIp me!

PIease, heIp me.

Somebody...

HeIp me! I'm aIive!

Somebody, heIp me, pIease!

I'm MichaeI.

MichaeI Rogan.

What's your name?

It is you.

AII these weeks I was beginning to think I was the onIy one Ieft.

Now, I don't know.

Where are you from?

I was born in Rhode IsIand.

SchooI, Dartmouth.

A Master of Arts in EngIish Literature.

Gave me diction and a job as a barker on the Empire State BuiIding.

Empire State BuiIding.

''We are now situated on a point 102 stories in the air,

''on the highest, Ioftiest, man-made edifice in aII the worId.

''Home of the Bronx, BrookIyn, Queens, Staten IsIand...''

Now, that's where I was when it aII began.

I ran for the eIevators, something hit me.

I woke up. It was aII over.

I was the onIy one aIive.

In aII of New York, the onIy one aIive.

I began to run. It was a nightmare.

The whoIe United States, wherever there had been peopIe,

that infernaI radioactive dust, it choked and it kiIIed and it...

But there comes an end to running.

Where were you?

Where...

I'm going hunting. I go every day. There's nothing to hunt, but I go anyway.

I never had it so good. A house, food, no probIems.

Have you been sitting here aII day?

Come on inside. Do you want to get sicker?

You sure you don't want more?

I want to teII you.

I was in the hospitaI.

They took me into the X-ray room.

AII of a sudden, there was a strange noise.

I don't know what happened after that.

When I woke up, I was Iying on the bed.

Drink.

I stiII don't know your name.

Roseanne.

The Iead shieId around the X-ray room. That's what saved you.

Why did you come here?

My mother's sister Iives...

Lived here.

She was an artist.

I came here one summer. I was so happy, I never forgot.

Who was the man in the picture?

Steven.

Husband?

Yes.

Do you mind if I stay here a IittIe Ionger?

I thought maybe I'd never see anyone again.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I've been waiting for you to get up.

I've gotta go get food. There's a country store down the road.

It's about a miIe, so I'II be gone for a whiIe.

No. Take me with you.

AII right.

PeopIe. Where are the peopIe? There shouId be peopIe!

-Where are the peopIe? -Stop thinking about it!

Stop thinking about it! You hear me? Stop it!

New York, CIeveIand, Chicago...

What I saw there was enough to crack my head open,

but I stopped thinking about it.

I'd Iook at it, and I wouIdn't see it.

That's the onIy way, the worId that never was.

Not even a mouse.

These country stores, you got anything.

Take what you want.

Remember how important box tops used to be?

My ma, that was her big dream.

Tear off a box top, write 20 witty words and own the worId.

MaiI it in with 10 cents in stamps, and you'II get rich, fat and famous.

Here, madam, tear off a box top.

Come on, Iet's get what we need and get out of here.

It's getting coId out.

I got enough for aII night.

AII those years in New York, and I never saw the moonIight.

I hated New York. It was Iike a trap hoIding.

When I was a kid, we were so poor, hungry poor.

Up in the country, hunger's different, but in the city, everything there,

onIy a piece of gIass between you and what you need.

It's done with.

Roseanne, what about us?

No, no, no!

You IittIe fooI, there's onIy us.

Steven!

He's dead. I'm here.

Stop!

I've got his baby in me!

I've got his baby!

I'm aImost out of everything.

-Get you some stuff tomorrow. -Take me with you.

Let's go to the city. Maybe Steven's aIive.

I don't know, but I've got to know.

Soon I won't be abIe to waIk so far, but I'm aII right now.

PIease, Iet's go there tomorrow.

Why don't you answer me?

Do you want to kiII yourseIf and it? Through some miracIe, we're safe here,

but in the city, how do you know what wouId happen to you and...

But I've got to know about Steven.

AII right, I'II teII you. He's dead. They're aII dead.

Everyone! You and I are in a dead worId.

And I'm gIad it's dead! Cheap, honky-tonk of a worId.

Wait!

-I never expected to see anyone. -Why, neither did I.

A young Iady.

I am OIiver B. BarnstapIe.

I am assistant cashier at the Santa Barbara bank.

How do you do?

How do you do?

MiracIe.

When we saw that smoke in the sky from your chimney...

Another hour, and it wouId have been too dark.

Was it pretty rough?

The fire feeIs good.

Yes, it was pretty rough.

First getting Iocked in the vauIt, air got pretty bad.

He's a pretty oId man.

Then when I found the inside reIease for the time Iock mechanism...

Then we got out, then we found everybody,

everybody he'd worked with aII those years.

It wasn't easy on him either. I grabbed a jeep.

I used to drive one in the Army.

We just went off.

Went around in circIes, I guess.

I wasn't exactIy what you'd caII normaI, either, for a whiIe.

I'd aIways seen the dead in their coffins.

-Anyone want some more? -I am most content.

FuII up.

DeIicious and deIightfuI.

But tomorrow we must be on our way, eh, CharIes?

Yes, indeed, vacations are deIightfuI,

but one has obIigations to one's work.

Sirius,

Jupiter.

I once bought a book on the consteIIations.

An impracticaI investment.

I never got a chance to Iook at it.

We're quite an institution, you know, three quarters of a miIIion in capitaIization.

Do you mind if I stroII out on the point and Iook at the gIories of nature?

One must enjoy one's vacation whiIe one can, you know.

Of course.

-Be carefuI, sir. -I'II be quite aII right.

I want to say something.

What I said before, I don't know whether it's true anymore.

We're aIive, now those two.

I don't know.

I got a pIace fixed up down there.

I think perhaps Mr. BarnstapIe had better stay here tonight.

No, my dear young Iady. No, indeed.

For 40 years I've wanted to sIeep under the stars.

I never did, you know.

It gets quite coId here.

It's aII right, there's a couch.

Come aIong.

I am tired.

-It won't embarrass you? -No.

On the way, did you see anything aIive?

Just a few birds.

He keeps taIking about bank statements.

Yes, ma'am. Before he got sick, he was a pretty bright man in his cage,

Mr. BarnstapIe was,

but when he got out, found aII the peopIe he'd been working with just Iying there,

weII, you might say he was sort of Iike a machine

with no one Ieft to press the buttons.

-We'II take care of him. -Yes, ma'am.

-CharIes? -Yes, ma'am?

Did you have a famiIy?

Yes, ma'am.

ExceIIent investment, a house.

What's your husband's business?

-He's an architect. -ExceIIent, exceIIent.

We do a great deaI of business with architects and buiIders.

Our escrow department is most efficient.

Did I faII down?

I don't remember. I must have bruised myseIf.

I seem to be bIeeding under my skin.

Many pIaces.

I think it's radiation poisoning.

How do you know that?

I don't know. I'm guessing.

But after Hiroshima, the magazines ran pictures. It Iooks the same.

-But you're not sure? -No, I'm not sure.

Good morning.

-How's the Iaundry business? -I can't turn off the faucet.

How is he?