This Is How the World Ends

"This Is How the World Ends" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by American author John R. Fultz, first published in the Darrell Schweitzer-edited anthology Cthulhu's Reign (DAW Books, 2010) Title: "This Is How the World Ends" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
==Synopsis==
In a post-apocalyptic world where the human race has been overrun and virtually annihilated by a plague of extra-dimensional monsters, two survivors, one a pregnant woman, take refuge in an isolated cave. On the day she goes into labour, a tiny, winged, tentacle-faced monstrosity claws its way from her womb and utters a single word: "Cthulhu". The man quickly kills the little creature but the damage has already been done, and the woman lies dead.
As the months go by, the man becomes finds himself plagued by thoughts of the dead entity, and the name Cthulhu haunts his dreams nightly. Eventually, unable to locate any trace of other survivors and out of bottled water, he makes the decision to drink the tainted rainwater. This causes his body to metamorphose, changing him into one of the creatures which has infested the Earth and he flies off to join his new family.
==Publication History ==
*Cthulhu's Reign (2010, DAW Books)
*The Book of Cthulhu II (2012, 2022, Night Shade Books)
==References==
Category:John R. Fultz works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works