The next day, while checking for any malfunctioning machinery, my mother approached with an apologetic look and said.
"I'm sorry. If I hadn't suggested giving out food, this wouldn't have happened."
"No. That couple knew the bunker location from the start, so it was bound to happen anyway. Don't worry too much."
After comforting my mother and checking the machinery again, despite such a big incident, fortunately, there were no major issues.
After that, the internet suddenly connected, which was quite surprising, and it turned out that some hacker had made a satellite network free worldwide.
Thanks to that, for five years, I made a survivor community with other survivors, exchanged information, made friends, and spent time without boredom.
As it passed over five years since coming to the bunker, the number of people using the internet decreased rapidly, and the opinion is that most people starved to death after running out of food.
Certain nations, in a 'let's die together' manner, targeted nuclear power plants and fired nukes, so already with abnormal temperatures worldwide, plants and animals were dying, and pollution became severe, so except for what's grown in bunkers, there's nothing to eat.
And as nations collapsed, outlaws and looters increased, and due to food shortages, even those who hunt humans for cannibalism appeared.
In the 6th year, suddenly my mother couldn't even get out of bed and was lying down, so I thought 'Is she sick somewhere?' and upon checking, her whole body was feverish like a ball of fire.
"This is a big problem. I have no medical knowledge."
I hurriedly searched on the internet, but I couldn't figure out what illness it was. Unable to do anything else, I took antipyretics and cold medicine from the emergency medicine kit, gave them to her, and brought cold water, soaked a towel, and continued to cool her body.
The next day, despite nursing her diligently, her condition worsened, and still the fever didn't go down, and her waking hours gradually decreased.
That evening, she woke briefly, grabbed my hand tightly, left her last words, 'No matter what happens, survive, you must become strong.', and finally closed her eyes.
For two days, I couldn't eat anything, repeated crying and collapsing from exhaustion, and thinking I might die without keeping my mother's last wish, I steadied my mind, wrapped my mother's body well in cloth, and stored it in the coolest place inside the warehouse.
"Mother, I will surely survive and bury you next to father."
I made a promise in front of my mother's body that I might not be able to keep.
By the 10th year, most of the surviving people were those like me who stocked food and lived in bunkers, and outside, it seemed almost all people had died.
Bunkers weren't necessarily safe either; from what I heard, some bunkers couldn't defend against external attacks and were looted, or self-destructed from internal conflicts, or due to pollution, food shortages, etc.
It's said that many places burst open. Ironically, the bunker I'm in, thanks to the looters who attacked last time covering the entrance with soil, hasn't been attacked since.
After living in the bunker for over 15 years, now it's really few people left, posts on the community decreased, and friends I used to communicate with don't respond.
The bunker I'm in also had many problems; the air circulation filters were almost used up, so being frugal, the internal air quality worsened, and the water purification facility has been broken for a long time, so using the dehumidifier installed to control humidity in the warehouse and water from the collection well, I barely managed, and my health gradually began to deteriorate. The only luck was the food supplies; by calculating thoroughly and eating sparingly, it seemed I could last for five more years.
Now it's the 18th year. I barely endured and endured until here, and now it seems really the end.
For two years, the solar and wind power generators installed at home had some problem and couldn't produce electricity, so I've been living in darkness for a long time. Thanks to the air circulation duct connected to the outside, there's no lack of air, but without filters, polluted air flows in as is.
Since a year ago, hair started falling out in patches, and teeth are falling out one by one. Now, I have no strength in my whole body, and it's hard to even walk around.
"Ah, is this the end...?"
I don't know about anything else, but I was so regretful that I couldn't keep the promise I made with my mother.
[■AB■-X■■L-23854 planet's last intelligent survivor has been confirmed.]
[Checking the value of civilization...]
"Huh?"