“ Hello, future viewers. I’m the only person… well, I believe I am, left on Earth.”
Jack tilted the camera slightly. He was in a dim room, with a lamp in one of his hands. The windows had their shutters down, and it seemed to be dark outside. The hall behind him was dark, except for the wall that made it end, which had a candle.
Jack snuffled his nose.
“ As you can see here, I’m currently in my house. Don’t worry, I’ve checked it. I won’t repeat the same mistake like last time.”
He stepped to the left, and panned the camera towards the left side of the house.
There was a closet, and a sleeping bag on the floor, which seemed to have gone through a lot. Wear and dirt smeared its blankets and pillows, and part of the blanket was torn off. Jack bent over. After shuffling through his backpack for some time, he pulled out a cardboard box of matches. Attempting to ignite the match, he paused.
Standing up, he walked towards the camera, and turned it around a bit more, to reveal a fireplace. Walking back, Jack continued lighting the match, until a bright flame was ignited on the red tip of the match.
The flame illuminated the room, casting Jack’s shadow against the backwall. He slowly walked over to the fireplace, and blew on the fire to draw the smoke away from his face. He seemed to be carefully putting the match in the fire, until he suddenly jolted back. The fire suddenly burst out, and the camera blurred in orange before slowly coming back into view.
His hand covered the camera’s lens, and you could hear his footsteps, until it was placed down in front of a fire. Jack grinned.
“ I always like to get nice and toasty near the fire before I sleep. I’ve also got a nice fire starter going, a bit of gasoline and wood scraps… Anyways, it seems like this is the end of today’s video. See… you guys tomorrow.”
The camera opened, and Jack was outside. Tall, pine trees towered over him, and the Sun was bright. Birds sang and Jack seemed to be cheerful, walking through the brush and piles of dried leaves. The camera shook and was abruptly blocked by leaves.
“ The birds seem to be quite active today.”
Jack said.
“ Today, I’m walking to the town center. It's relatively dangerous though, so I need to be cautious of them. Luckily…”
He panned the camera, and it focused into the thin object.
“ I brought a thermometer.”
As he continued to walk through the dark woods, it suddenly started to brighten up, and he mumbled something. The camera shook violently, and the ground was a mesh of blurred colors, gray and brown.
The crunch of the grass and the dry leaves was soon replaced with hard concrete and pavement. Jack pointed the camera up, and turned it around in a full circle.
There were woods, still with the recognizable tall trees, and multiple shopping areas. He seemed to be in an empty parking lot, with looming street lights and, the most notable thing, a large mall in the distance with glossy glass windows. Besides it was a tall radio tower, its light still on, but slightly dimmed.
Jack walked at a faster pace, holding the camera still. After a while of silence and footsteps, he soon entered a brightly lighted area, with an audible silence.
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“ We’ve entered a gas station.” He whispered. Walking past the ceiling of dimmed, shut off, and bright lights and aisles of chip bags, sodas, and various other things, he soon entered a white tiled room.
“ I’m sorry for boring you guys, but I’ve been trying to find some untouched food.”
He set the camera on top of a rack, and pushed the items blocking the lens away.
Holding a chip bag to the camera, he paused.
“ I’m going to demonstrate how to see if a food item is safe to eat.”
Opening the bag, he lifted his head away from it, and a small cloud of yellow-colored dust rose from the bag, before drifting away.
He faced the inside of the bag to the camera.
“ See, this food seems safe to eat, but if you just use your thermometer and-”
He stuck the thermometer into the chips, and it suddenly beeped, and red flashed on it.
Putting the thermometer down, he reached into the bag, and slowly moved the chip towards the camera, before breaking it apart. But strangely, the broken piece of the chip still hung on, seeming to float in the air.
He focused the camera lens on the chips, and after a while, you could see small strands of white holding the chip together.
“ Its infected. If you eat it, it gives you minor stomach pain and headaches, but if you eat the entire bag-”
Suddenly, a beeping noise was heard, and he looked down on the floor. Outside of the camera, he seemed to be looking at the thermometer.
“ Already-”
He said, before pausing. He suddenly put the camera behind the chip bags, before running away.
After a while of random noises, such as the rack falling over and a door closing, the store was silent. The camera, unmoved, continued to focus on the back of the chips, until the lights suddenly turned off. The store was pitch black. Heavy breathing was heard, and from what you could see between the chip bags, a strange, large silhouette stumbled across the racks, until it stopped. Looking at the camera with its white eyes, it swiped the chip bags away, and lunged at the camera. Then, it blurred and shut down, with a large beep and a thud.
The camera opened again.
“ I hope.. This works.”
Jack seemed to be more aged, with a slightly long beard and ragged clothes. The background wasn’t his house anymore, but another empty parking lot. There was no birdsong, and the stores were aged, with vines dangling from the windows and the doorways. The mall in the distance still sported its glossy windows, but some had been covered with thick gatherings of vines and clumps of dirt.
“ Its been, what… 1 year?”
He snickered and laid down on the floor, away from the camera, muttering something that wasn’t audible.
“ I’m just… tired. I haven’t found another person, and I’m probably very… very… far away from my house right now.”
Jack sighed. It was silent, before the camera cut to black.
The camera opened again. Jack seemed to be outside of a house, but he was in the backyard, not the front door. Thick columns of grass covered his legs as he peered inside the basement window.
“ I’m gonna need to come in this way, and check the house for any other guests.”
Crawling in the basement, the camera blurred, before revealing a dark basement with a closet and a room. Jack held his thermometer up high, walking around the dark area before putting it down.
“ It seems this place is clear. I won’t need to check many… places because its just a one story house.”
Walking upstairs, he repeated the same process again, before laying down.
The camera cut to black again.
The camera opened.
It was dark.
Jack muttered to himself.
“ We forgot to check a place in the house. This is bad, theres…”
He slowly walked towards the basement, down the dark stairs, until he peered into the closet, revealing another room behind it. He put the camera down.
Then the camera blurred and shook as he ran up the stairs, and far away, until he collapsed on the floor and gasped for air.
“ Its… here… again…”
A metallic, sliding noise was heard.
“ I’m gonna kill it. Its been following me. It must…”
He sighed.
“ Its…”
Hanging the camera on his neck, he slowly walked into the house, with a small knife in his hand.
Walking towards the house, the camera blurred, and he grasped the knob of the basement door. His hands sweated.
“ I…don’t……know.”
Opening the door, he paused. A brief blur was seen, and there was a shadowy humanoid figure staring at him. He shut the door and breathed heavily. Then, the camera cut to black.
The camera opened again. He was in the parking lot, yet again. He sat on the floor.
“ I can’t do this anymore. Theres no one.”
“ Its hunting me. I know I haven’t explained much. Its been following me everywhere. No matter how far I run, how much I convince myself that I’ve outsmarted it, it always appears. There's no one else left here. Goodbye.”
The camera clicked and shut to black.
