Jasper thought escaping the city would save him but the streets outside were already filled with the dead… and the dying who knew they wouldn't make it.The silence was worse than the chaos. Jasper slowed slightly as his boots hit the cracked outer road leading away from the city and behind him was fire, screams and collapse and ahead was nothing, no movement or even sound. Just empty space stretching forward under a sky still scarred with smoke trails. For a moment, it almost felt peaceful. Then he saw the first body. man lay on the roadside burned, barely breathing. His chest rose unevenly, like his body had forgotten how to function properly. Jasper's eyes locked on him, measured and detached. The man's eyes flickered open.
They met Jasper's.
"Help…"
The word came out broken weak and fading. Jasper didn't move close, he did not speak either because he already knew the outcome, there were severe burns in him with no medical support, or transport or even a chance. The man reached out slightly and then his arm dropped, gone. Just like that and Jasper walked past him. It wasn't just one. The further he went the more he saw. A woman slumped against a broken vehicle, her hand still gripping a phone that would never connect again and a child curled beside her lifeless. An older man crawled slowly across the asphalt, dragging a useless leg behind him each one had a story, life, perhaps an ending and none of them mattered anymore not in this world.Jasper's breathing stayed steady but inside him something was changing again and he was becoming tough because every death he passed confirmed one thing; that no one was coming to save anyone not the governments or systems or heroes. Survival wasn't about hope anymore, it was about reality. A faint cry reached him which was different from panic, this time slower, and weaker. Jasper turned his head slightly. A man sat in the middle of the road, cradling someone in his arms.
"Stay with me… please… please stay with me…"
The person he held was already gone. Jasper didn't need to get closer to know. The man rocked back and forth, whispering, begging, refusing to accept what had already happened.
"Wake up… come on… wake up…"
Jasper watched for one second or two and then kept walking because denial was just another way to die. A sudden movement caught his attention, two figures ran toward him from a distance way too fast, Jasper stopped and shifted his stance slightly ready. They weren't injured or desperate. They were just focused and they were looking at him not past him.
"Hey! Wait!"
Jasper didn't move. The two men approached, slowing slightly as they got closer with their eyes scanning him, judging and calculating.
"What you got on you?" one asked without any panic, he was being intentional.
Jasper's gaze remained steady.
"Nothing you need."
The second man smirked. "We'll decide that."
They stepped closer, closing the distance which was a mistake. Jasper moved first fast and direct. He striked to the knee and the first man collapsed instantly before the second reacted Jasper grabbed his arm, twisted, redirected, and shoved him hard to the ground with no wasted motion or emotion. He stepped back immediately and yet he didn't finish them because again tmattered more than dominance. He walked away leaving them behind alive but no longer a threat.Every minute outside the city was a lesson and Jasper was learning faster than anyone else. Trust no one and stop for nothing, move with purpose and feel later but survive now. The air was dry and heavya and each breath carried dust and ash. His throat tightened slightly, quite subtle but there was the beginning of a new problem which was water. Jasper's eyes scanned the surroundings instantly, there were no stores or easy access which meant resources would be the next battlefield.
A vehicle sat ahead and the driver door was open but the engine was dead. Jasper approached it cautiously. Inside a family was there, didn't look long, he didn't need to but something caught his eye, a bottle was filled with water, he reached in, took it paused for a second and then stepped back, closed the door and walked on. He opened the bottle and took a controlled sip to avoid it being wasteful and then sealed it again, every resource mattered now and every drop too. Another voice called out behind him.
"We can help each other!"
Jasper didn't turn or responded because he had already seen what "help" looked like now. It looked like hesitation and hesitation got you killed. The road stretched endlessly ahead totally empty and quiet but not safe, never safe. The city behind him faded further into the distance with smoke still rising and quieter now, it was like a memory already dying. As the sun dimmed behind smoke clouds, Jasper saw one last figure. A young boy, standing alone. In the middle of the road, he wasn't crying or moving. Just… standing. Jasper slowed down against his own instinct and the boy looked up at him with empty eyes.
"What do I do?" he asked.
With no fear or panic, just confusion. Jasper stopped for the first time since leaving the city, he truly stopped. The question hung in the air, heavy and yet unavoidable.
What do you do… when the world ends?
Jasper looked at him and for a fraction of a second the man he used to be surfaced. The one who would protect, guide and save and then his reality crushed it. He stepped past the boy without answering because there was no answer anymore. The streets weren't just filled with the dead— They were filled with the dying… and the ones who didn't know they already were and as Jasper walked further away from everything he once knew— He didn't just leave people behind. He left pieces of himself with them one by one, step by step. Until there was nothing left…except the part of him that could survive.