Have you ever imagined what it would be like to wake up one day and find out that you are somehow the last person left on Earth? This is such a bizarre question, that the brain freezes for a bit in trying to think about the implications.

Of course the chances of this happening is practically zero but let’s imagine for the sake of this post that it actually happens to you. What would you do? How would you go about your life? It is one interesting thought to ponder upon.

The Day Everybody Disappears

So, you wake up one day and as you open your eyes, you suddenly get the feeling that things are quieter than usual. A little too quiet. Maybe it’s just that there is less traffic than usual but as you make your way out of bed and look through the window, you get the shock of your life.

As you glance around, you see no one at all. The street which is usually full of people is completely empty. To see what is going on, you head downstairs and outside the house. As you roam around the neighbourhood, the realisation dawns on you that something terrible must have happened.

As you keep walking further and see no signs of human life, you begin to wonder if the zombie apocalypse on your favourite TV show has become a reality. You immediately grow cautious and take every step carefully. You even take the baseball bat that you find lying on the ground with you just in case.

The panic starts to set in and you reach for your phone to call your family and friends. Nobody answers. Not one of them. You call the police and even they do not pick up the phone. You then head back, get in your car and go on a drive throughout the city. Not a single soul to be seen. What happened?

Coming To Terms With It

After an entire day of driving around the city and not seeing a single person, you begin to think that you are in a dream and soon you will wake up and all this will be over. It doesn’t. You start panicking more.

You come back home and turn on the TV to watch the news. Nothing. There are no shows being broadcast. You check your Facebook wall and there have been no posts by your friends the entire day!

It’s almost as if everyone just vanished! Could it be? Could it actually be that everyone just disappeared without a trace leaving you behind for some odd reason? The grief of losing the loved ones start taking over and all you can do is cry. But in some corner of the mind, the thought that you are all alone sounds stupid and you brush it off thinking someone else has to be out there.

A few days later, and after exploring even further than your own city, you are slowly coming to terms with the fact that as impossible as it may sound, you really are alone. Maybe there are people in other big cities or other countries but as far as you know, you are alone.

Learning To Survive

Thankfully there are no zombies in the world and that should make survival a lot easier. There are basically three needs you need to fulfil and they are food, clothing and shelter. As there are more than enough empty houses and more than enough clothes in the supermarkets, you are able to satisfy two of the three needs easily and pretty much forever.

There is also an abundance of food and water in restaurants, supermarkets and other such places. But these supplies won’t remain fresh forever. Vegetables and fruits start going bad soon and unpreserved water would start getting stagnant.

So, you quickly start stocking up on canned food as these can remain edible for decades and also on bottled water, as this is the only source of water that you can be sure about its purity. With no one around, water supply to homes will eventually stop working.

Even with all these, you feel the need to be extra prepared just in case and so start learning basic agriculture via several books you find in the library, so that you are able to grow some vegetables and fruits.

One other thing that you realise is that electricity supply will soon stop as well as there would be no one manning the power plants. Therefore you start making the necessary arrangements.

A Meaningless Future?

So, you use your wits and time (which you have a lot of) to ensure your survival for the foreseeable future. It takes you quite some time to set up a system and adjust in this new world but you eventually do it.

But now you start thinking about your needs beyond just food and shelter. After all, you are a human being and humans need other humans to satisfy their psychological and social needs.

Without anybody around, the loneliness becomes your worst enemy and you struggle to find any meaning in continuing your life. Even if you are the solitary type, once in a while you miss your friends and family and the presence of any other person you can speak to. After all it’s been weeks since you have heard your own voice.