2017 a short story about the end of the world. Heavily symbolic.

2017 Prologue: The year is 2017. World War V ended six years ago. It wasn't much different from its predecessors. Men killed men without really knowing why. What started out as a conquest to rid the world of (somebody's definition of) evil, ended in disaster. One nation unleashed its bombs on another nation and then that nation released its weapons on another nation. Entire countries were flattened in one cataclysmic blow. The deadly cycle continued without abatement. …

…nor beast to converse with. He was alone in a way that no one had ever been alone before. His limbs froze and his skin turned a pale shade of gray. On a cold night on an unknown day, at an unknown hour, the last man on earth died. Epilogue: John awoke from his dream and got up from his desk at the United Nations in New York. The big decision would be made tomorrow.