The Scarlet Plague by Jack London. Short summary

5 seconds

Smith tells his grandchildren about an epidemic that began when he was young. Most of the world’s population died. Smith managed to survive because he was immune to the disease.

1 minute

On the seashore, old Smith tells his grandchildren about the Red Sea (Scarlet Plague). As a young man he was a professor of English literature at Berkeley. At this time the United States was ruled by tycoons, social stratification was growing.

Epidemics were rampant in the world, but each time mankind was victorious. In 2013, a new unknown disease was reported. Sick people died within an hour of being infected.

Scientists could not find a cure, and they too began to get sick and die. When the disease reached San Francisco, residents began to flee the city, but they were already infected.

Smith and his students and faculty took shelter in the chemistry building. People made food supplies, dug a well, and sealed the doors to the shelter.

After an explosion in the warehouse, infected people approach the shelter and the plague makes its way inside. Residents die one by one. After a few days, everyone but Smith died of the disease. He was the only one immune to the plague. He later managed to find other survivors and join them.