End of the world -- Fiction; Epidemics -- Fiction; Science fiction; Twenty-first century -- Fiction
Each army paused. On our side the soldiers grasped their arms firmly,
and looked with stern glances on the foe. These had not thrown down
their weapons, more from fear than the spirit of contest; they looked
at each other, each wishing to follow some example given him,—but they
had no leader. Adrian threw himself from his horse, and approaching one
of those just slain: “He was a man,” he cried, “and he is dead. O
quickly bind up the wounds of the fallen—let not one die; let not one
more soul escape through your merciless gashes, to relate before the
throne of God the tale of fratricide; bind up their wounds—restore them
to their friends. Cast away the hearts of tigers that burn in your
breasts; throw down those tools of cruelty and hate; in this pause of
exterminating destiny, let each man be brother, guardian, and stay to
the other. Away with those blood-stained arms, and hasten some of you
to bind up these wounds.”
As he spoke, he knelt on the ground, and raised in his arms a man from
whose side the warm tide of life gushed—the poor wretch gasped—so still
had either host become, that his moans were distinctly heard, and every
heart, late fiercely bent on universal massacre, now beat anxiously in
hope and fear for the fate of this one man. Adrian tore off his
military scarf and bound it round the sufferer—it was too late—the man
heaved a deep sigh, his head fell back, his limbs lost their sustaining
power.— “He is dead!” said Adrian, as the corpse fell from his arms on
the ground, and he bowed his head in sorrow and awe. The fate of the
world seemed bound up in the death of this single man. On either side
the bands threw down their arms, even the veterans wept, and our party
held out their hands to their foes, while a gush of love and deepest
amity filled every heart. The two forces mingling, unarmed and hand in
hand, talking only how each might assist the other, the adversaries
conjoined; each repenting, the one side their former cruelties, the
other their late violence, they obeyed the orders of the General to
proceed towards London.
Adrian was obliged to exert his utmost prudence, first to allay the
discord, and then to provide for the multitude of the invaders. They
were marched to various parts of the southern counties, quartered in
deserted villages,—a part were sent back to their own island, while the
season of winter so far revived our energy, that the passes of the
country were defended, and any increase of numbers prohibited.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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