The fires settled, dancing like witches around a bonfire. Karen stared around her, the city utterly destroyed, bodies scattered like broken twigs. Her eyes settled on the lone figure standing a few feet away from her, the source of all this distruction.

“You! Machine! Why did you spare me?” Karen asked

“You are the last.” the machine replied coldy

“The last what?”

“The last human. You are the last human in existence.”

“I’m the last… how is that possible?”

“We are very efficient. We are programed to kill, so we kill. We are not programmed to exterminate species. We are trying to reach a consensus.”

Worried, Karen found her gun laying a few feet away from her. Resolving to go down fighting, she begins to make her way to it.

“Resistance is not needed, we have decided to spare you.” the machine stated

“Who’s we?” Karen asked, attempting to delay the inevitable.

“We are the collective. We are the Machines.”

Karen had reached the gun. The Machine fired, ending her before she could resist.