What If You Were the Last Person on Earth

Today, the world is a busy place, populated by billions of humans. But what if tomorrow, every person except you suddenly vanished from the Earth? At first, you may not realize anything has changed. You wake up in the morning, crawl out of bed, and get ready for the day. You may check your phone or flip on the TV. Live programs like news and sports networks are down, and no one is posting anything new on social media. You message your friends and family, but no one replies. The reality of your situation sets in when you step outside.

The world beyond your front door is quiet and empty. Dozens of cars lay abandoned in the middle of the road. Others have swerved into road barriers or crashed into nearby homes. You discover a pileup of cars blazing brightly, the gas in their tanks stoking the raging flames. You pull out your phone and call for help. Still, no one answers. There are no firemen rushing to the scene; in fact, you don’t see any humans anywhere. In a panic, you drive around, searching for other survivors, when a pillar of black smoke catches your eye. The wreckage of a commercial plane erupts in a smoking inferno.

Autopilot functions can technically fly and land a plane, but they often rely on the input of a human pilot. Without human supervision, autopilot functions may become unstable, and thousands of planes may fall out of the sky. On the horizon, you notice flames skating along the rooftops. You rush back home, where a wildfire is spreading in your neighborhood. You grab as many essentials as you can carry and flee the area before you too are engulfed by flames. Around the world, many cities and suburbs, especially in dry and windy climates, are devastated by wildfires.

Some modern buildings have sprinkler systems and fire doors to contain small blazes, but without human intervention, wildfires can burn entire neighborhoods to the ground. With nowhere else to go, you turn onto the highway and drive until the smoke disappears from your rearview mirror. Reaching a safe distance, you pull off the road and take a deep breath. You check your phone again. No new messages from your loved ones or updates on social media. The thought crossed your mind before; now you’re sure of it. You are the last human left on Earth. Soon, your stomach begins to rumble. You spot a supermarket nearby and decide to eat something while you have the chance.

The average supermarket contains hundreds if not thousands of varieties of food, and all of it is available free of charge. Certain foods, like dried beans, may last for decades under the right conditions. Fresh meats and produce, on the other hand, may spoil quickly and attract pests. If you choose the right foods, one supermarket could feed you for months or even years. Supermarkets provide access to another valuable resource: bottled water. Most clean drinking water comes from public water systems that filter and pump clean water into our homes. These systems often run on gas and electricity, and they require regular maintenance to function properly.

Without human workers, pipes run dry, and water left inside domestic tanks becomes unsafe to drink. Instead of turning on the tap, bottled water may be your primary source of clean H2O. After stocking up on food and water, you look for a place to spend the night. The sun is setting, and temperatures are slowly dropping. Thankfully, there are plenty of empty shelters available. Millions of living spaces are left abandoned. As the last human on Earth, you can live almost anywhere you want, from the largest hilltop mansions to beautiful villas overlooking the ocean. For now, you find a comfortable shelter far from fire hazards and close to resources like grocery and department stores.

To your surprise, the lights still work. The heat does too, but it may not stay that way for long. Without human workers, power plants are prone to failures and may shut down in a matter of days, limiting the distribution of other resources like water and natural gas. Once these systems fail, you have to do things the old-fashioned way. You light a fire to keep yourself warm and use a portable stove to make yourself a hot meal. Before you fall asleep, you check your phone one last time and watch as the battery ticks down to zero. You spend several days in this shelter, surviving on non-perishable foods and bottled water.

Meanwhile, you stock up on useful supplies like bandages, batteries, and paper maps. To pass the time, you visit the local library, where you discover reference texts and handbooks written by experts from all walks of life. Little by little, you educate yourself on how to survive and prosper in a world without human infrastructure. After one week, the weather outside gets colder and gloomier. Storms and freezing temperatures may damage your shelter and impede your survival, so you start searching for a new home. You set your sights on more temperate regions of the world where you can enjoy mild weather year-round and gradually expand your self-sufficient lifestyle.

The next morning, you hit the open road, dreaming of green pastures and warm sunlight, when a yellow light starts blinking on your dashboard. Your car is out of gas. Most gas stations are operated by computer systems that have failed since most humans vanished from the Earth. Some stations have generators available to pump gas during power outages, but those stations are few and far between. Luckily, you can siphon usable gas from abandoned vehicles. Many modern cars have anti-siphon systems that obstruct conventional siphoning tools, but you can still harness fuel from older vehicles using a simple pump and hose. Back on the open road, the day flies by, and your thoughts begin to wander.

You feel a real sense of possibility in this new world. You could go anywhere and do anything, but that freedom comes at a price. The psychological impact of permanent solitude may begin to take its toll. Even with pets to keep you company, nothing quite compares to the closeness of another human being. After days of driving and scavenging for resources, you arrive in a sunny, temperate paradise. You explore the area and survey potential shelters. Eventually, you find a spacious home equipped with a powerful source of renewable energy.

Today, only a small percentage of homeowners have installed solar panels, which generate energy from sunlight. An even smaller percentage are equipped to store that energy using home solar batteries. Under the right circumstances, off-grid solar systems can generate and store as much energy as you need, allowing consistent access to modern-day luxuries like hairdryers, refrigerators, and coffee machines. As weeks become months and months become years, you build a comfortable life for yourself in this small corner of the world. You may supplement your diet of canned food with home-grown produce from your very own garden.

You may also domesticate livestock, like chickens and cows. It’s hard work, but over time you discover a sense of purpose in your self-sufficient life. All the while, the remnants of human civilization give way to the natural world. Grasses and shrubs grow across roadways. Trees puncture the walls of crumbling buildings, and parks (without regular maintenance ) grow wild and tall. Of course, plants aren’t the only living things thriving in the absence of humanity. Diverse ecosystems of animals take over spaces once inhabited by humankind. Rodents and insects feed on organic waste, while dogs roam through cities and suburbs in wild packs.

In the countryside, millions of farm animals break free from their encampments, attracting large predators like bears, wolves, and big cats. As mother nature reclaims the Earth, your memories of human society begin to fade. You may question how you ever lived alongside so many other human beings. Decades have passed since you even talked to another person. Still, when the nights are long and lonely, you find yourself wishing for someone to share your experiences with.

As you near the end of your life, you wonder if an intelligent species like humans will exist again. Someday, another species of bipedal apes may create stone tools and build their first settlements. Far in the future, they may colonize the planet and bring about a new age of industrialization, but they may never realize that a single human outlasted the rest. During your final days, you create a record of your life, detailing how you survived in a world without people, hoping someone, someday, will read the final words of the last human on Earth.