The Last Message

 

The first time Jake sent the message, I laughed.

"If the end of the world comes, take care of yourself, and stay alive."

It was so unlike him, dramatic, cryptic, and lacking his usual precision with words. Jake was a methodical man; it’s what made him an excellent doctor. Every prescription written in perfect script, every diagnosis delivered with exact terminology. Seventeen months together, and I’d never seen him send a text with so much as a typo.

I called him immediately. No answer.

Tried again an hour later. Voicemail.

By evening, concern had replaced confusion. Jake hadn’t been home in three days, not unusual lately, with his research project consuming every waking moment. But he always answered my calls, even if just to say he couldn’t talk.

“Jake, I got your weird message. Call me back,” I said to his voicemail, trying to keep my voice light despite the knot forming in my stomach.

That night, I slept on his side of the bed, phone clutched in my hand. It never rang.

Five days passed. No Jake, but three more identical messages arrived.

"If the end of the world comes, take care of yourself, and stay alive."

Always at odd hours, 3:42 AM, 12:17 PM, 8:05 PM. Never a response to my increasingly frantic calls and texts.

On day six, I drove to the Atlanta Medical Research Center, where Jake worked. The security guard at the front desk called upstairs, then shook his head.

“Dr. Lanham isn’t available. Would you like to leave a message?”

“I’m his girlfriend, Ellie. We live together. I haven’t seen him in over a week.”

The guard’s expression didn’t change. “I’ll make a note.”

“Can I go up? His lab’s on the eighth floor.”

“I’m sorry, that’s a restricted area. Clearance only.”

I left my number, knowing it would join the dozens of voicemails and texts already ignored.

Two weeks since the first message, and Jake’s absence had become a physical ache. I’d filed a missing person report, but the detective seemed unimpressed when I explained that Jake still sent occasional texts.

“Sounds like he’s working on something important, ma’am. Doctors get busy.”

“For two weeks straight? He hasn’t been home. Hasn’t showered. Hasn’t changed clothes.”

The detective glanced at the photo I handed him, Jake in his white coat, brown eyes serious behind wire-framed glasses, dark hair neatly combed.

“Dr. Jacob Lanham, virologist, Atlanta Medical Research Center,” he muttered, scribbling it down with barely a flicker of interest.

“We’ll look into it, but honestly, this sounds like a relationship issue, not a police matter.”

That night, another message arrived. I hurled my phone across the room. It hit the wall with a thud, leaving a dent in the drywall before landing on the carpet.

Furious tears stung my eyes as I retrieved it. The screen was cracked but still displayed his words:

“If the end of the world comes, take care yourself, and stay alive.”

That’s when something inside me snapped.

If Jake was so obsessed with the apocalypse that he’d ghost his own girlfriend, then fine, I’d make sure he was well-prepared for his doomsday fantasies.

I grabbed my laptop and started researching.

“How to survive the apocalypse.”

“End of world preparation.”

“Pandemic survival guide.”

“Nuclear fallout shelter supplies.”

Hours slipped by as I dove deeper, joining prepper forums, watching survivalist YouTube channels, and taking meticulous notes on everything from water purification to long-term food storage.

By sunrise, I had a color-coded spreadsheet with hundreds of items, categorized by necessity and function.

If Jake wanted the end of the world, I’d make sure he had everything he needed to face it.

Jake’s credit card was still in the drawer where he kept spare change and cough drops. We weren’t married, but we’d exchanged PINs months ago, a mundane yet meaningful milestone of trust in our relationship.

First, I ordered water. Gallons upon gallons of bottled water, delivered in bulk packs that I hauled into our spare bedroom. Then came the non-perishables: canned vegetables, fruits, soups, twenty-pound bags of rice and beans, jars of peanut butter. Freeze-dried meals meant for campers. Energy bars. Powdered milk.

The deliveries arrived over several days. I stacked everything with care, building narrow pathways through towers of supplies. I ordered medical kits, batteries, a hand-crank radio, a camp stove and fuel canisters, water purification tablets, and seeds, just in case growing our own food ever became necessary.

When Jake's credit card company called on the landline to verify the suspicious charges, I mirrored his curt, businesslike tone and assured them the purchases were legitimate.

When the bedroom could hold no more, I moved on to the hall closet, then under the bed. Slowly, methodically, the apartment transformed into a doomsday bunker.

But the deeper I fell into prepper rabbit holes, the more I realized we needed something else: mobility. If the world truly ended, staying put wouldn’t be an option. Nuclear fallout. Floods. Riots. The forums all said the same thing: Bug-out plans are essential.

That’s when I found it, a 32-foot Winnebago listed on a dealership website. Used, but in excellent condition. Solar panels already mounted on the roof. Built-in water tanks. Extra storage compartments. A propane system for off-grid cooking. Just enough comfort to live in, just enough rugged practicality to survive.

The price made me hesitate, $87,000. My finger hovered over the “Contact Dealer” button. This wasn’t like ordering powdered milk or flashlights. This was a life-altering purchase that would financially cripple Jake for years. The rational part of me hesitated, questioning how far I was willing to take this…grudge.

Then my phone buzzed on the desk.

I didn’t even need to look. I knew what it would say.

“If the end of the world comes, take care yourself, and stay alive.”

The timing chilled me. It arrived at the exact moment I began to doubt myself. It felt like a sign. Without another thought, I clicked the button and filled out the financing application using Jake’s information.

When the dealership called to confirm, I once again became Jake, firm, efficient, and utterly convincing. I explained that this was an urgent purchase for reasons I couldn’t disclose. The monthly payments would stretch his salary for the next five years, but if the world was ending, who cared about credit scores?

Three days later, I drove the massive vehicle back to our apartment complex, maneuvering it into a tight corner of the visitor parking lot. The building manager left an angry note on the windshield within the hour. I ignored it, too busy transferring supplies from the apartment into our new mobile bunker.

I imagined Jake’s face when he finally came home. The shock. The disbelief. The realization that our apartment had become a shrine to his doomsday paranoia, and outside, parked like an omen, a $87,000 RV waiting to carry us into the apocalypse.

It would serve him right.

The headline grabbed my attention as I scrolled through my phone while waiting in line at the pharmacy to pick up my prescription. A push notification from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution flashed: “MYSTERY ILLNESS CLAIMS FOURTH VICTIM, CDC INVESTIGATING.”

I quickly tapped the alert. The article detailed four deaths at Grady Memorial Hospital over the past week, all victims had suffered rapid-onset fever, severe respiratory distress, and internal bleeding. Despite health officials' assurances that there was no public risk, I noticed the article had been updated 27 minutes ago with news that CDC teams were being deployed.

As the pharmacist called my name, I screenshot the article and forwarded it to three friends with the message: “You seeing this?” My thumb hovered over the Twitter icon, wondering what the local hashtag would be.

As I walked to my car, my phone buzzed.

“If the end of world comes, take care yourself, and stay alive.”

I stared at Jake’s message, my anger freezing into something colder.

For the first time, I wondered if it hadn’t been a breakup line, but a warning.

Three days later, the number of cases had risen to twenty-seven. The CDC released a carefully worded statement urging anyone with symptoms to seek immediate medical attention, but they avoided using the word outbreak.

Local news stations aired friendly reminders about proper handwashing.

I called AMRC again, demanding to speak with someone, anyone, from Jake’s research team. The receptionist sounded tired, her voice frayed at the edges.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Dr. Lanham’s entire department is unavailable at this time.”

“The entire department?”

“I’m not authorized to provide further information.”

That night, I woke to the wail of emergency sirens. Through the window, I watched an ambulance streak past our building, red lights slashing across the dark street.

Then another.

And another.

My phone lit up with a notification.

“If the end of world comes, take care yourself, and stay alive.”

And this time, for the first time, Jake had added three more words:

“It’s happening now.”

By morning, Atlanta was under quarantine.

The governor declared a state of emergency as hospitals overflowed. The illness had officially been classified as a novel viral hemorrhagic fever. Every news channel looped the same grim images, medical workers in hazmat suits, stretchers lining hallways, makeshift triage tents in hospital parking lots.

Schools closed. Businesses shuttered. The streets emptied, save for emergency vehicles and National Guard Humvees setting up checkpoints.

I called my parents in Oregon. The line connected, then dropped after thirty seconds. I couldn’t get through again.

As panic spread, cell networks clogged. Internet service became unreliable. The power flickered twice before finally stabilizing.

I stood in our spare bedroom, staring at the towers of bottled water, canned goods, and medical kits. What had started as a spiteful, petty gesture now looked like salvation.

Jake had known.

On day five of quarantine, the news from outside Atlanta turned darker.

The virus had spread to twelve states and four countries. No effective treatment. Estimated mortality rate: 60%.

My phone and TV blared simultaneously with an emergency alert: Remain indoors. Do not engage with unfamiliar individuals. Stay tuned for updates.

The screen briefly showed reports of looting, then cut to static.

That evening, I heard gunshots echoing from somewhere nearby. I dragged the bookshelf in front of the door and wedged a chair beneath the knob.

After nightfall, my phone lit up one last time before the networks failed.

“If the end of world comes, take care yourself, and stay alive.”

I stared at it, then typed back with trembling fingers:

"I NEED MORE THAN THAT. WHERE ARE YOU?"

For the first time in almost a month, three dots appeared, he was typing.

“Coming home. Wait for me. Don’t open the door for anyone else.”

The power went out on day twelve.

Water stopped flowing from the taps by day fourteen.

I rationed my supplies carefully, limiting myself to one small meal a day. October had turned cold, and without heat, the apartment dropped to frigid levels, I could see my breath. I slept in layers of clothing, wrapped in every blanket we owned.

Beyond the windows, Atlanta burned.

Fires bloomed across the skyline each night, some raging for days before burning themselves out. Gunfire echoed sporadically, slicing through the eerie silence. Sometimes, I heard screams.

I stopped looking outside after I saw a man dragging a child’s body down the street.

The days blurred together in the dim, cold apartment. I marked them on the wall with a pencil, like prisoners do in movies. When not sleeping, I read by candlelight, Jake’s medical textbooks, mostly, searching for anything that might explain what was happening.

On day seventeen, someone knocked on the door.

I froze, the book slipping from my fingers to the floor.

Three sharp raps.

"Ellie?"

Jake’s voice, but strained, raspy.

I crept toward the door, a knife in my hand. "Jake?"

"It’s me. Let me in."

"How do I know it’s really you?"

A tired sigh. "Because I know why you filled the apartment with survival supplies. The credit card company called me about the charges, I told them it was fine. And I’m guessing that RV parked in the visitor lot? That’s you too."

I peered through the peephole.

A gaunt figure stood in the hallway, face obscured by a surgical mask. But the eyes, bloodshot and exhausted behind smudged glasses, those were Jake’s.

With trembling arms, I dragged the bookshelf away from the door and unlocked the three deadbolts I’d installed after the quarantine began.

Jake stumbled inside, lugging a battered backpack. His scrubs were stained in places I didn’t want to identify. He reeked of antiseptic and smoke.

"Don’t touch me," he warned, raising a gloved hand. "Not yet."

From inside his jacket, he pulled out a small, frost-rimmed case. “Put this in another container. Don’t touch it directly,” he said, handing it to me. “Keep it in the fridge.”

“What is it?” I asked, eyeing the case.

“Antibodies,” he said. “Made from my own blood.” His fingers lingered on it a moment before he let go. “If you get sick, when the symptoms start, this could save your life.”

He staggered toward the bathroom, stripping off his outer layers in the hallway. I heard the shower turn on, just a trickle from the water I’d stored, now hooked to a system he’d apparently rigged himself.

Thirty minutes later, he emerged. His skin looked raw from scrubbing. Dressed in clean clothes from his dresser, he looked older, gaunt. His cheekbones jutted sharply beneath pale skin. His hands trembled as he collapsed onto the couch.

"I need to tell you everything," he said, voice cracking. "But first, I need to sleep. Real sleep. Just a few hours."

I nodded, keeping my distance, even though every part of me wanted to touch him, to make sure he was real.

"We’ll have to leave soon," he murmured, already fading. "The city’s not safe anymore."

"Where will we go?"

"My research facility. In Colorado." His eyes flickered open for a heartbeat. "That RV you bought… it might just save our lives."

But he was already drifting off, face slack with exhaustion.

Jake slept for eighteen hours straight.

I kept watch, listening as the chaos outside crept closer, engines revving, glass shattering, sporadic bursts of gunfire.

When he finally woke, he downed three bottles of water and ate an entire can of cold beans before speaking.

"It started as a research project," he said, setting the empty can aside. "A virus discovered in a remote cave system. Early tests showed potential medical applications, unique properties that allowed it to target specific cells."

He rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses.

"What happened?"

"Human error. A breach in containment protocol. One researcher got infected and went home before symptoms appeared. By the time we realized…" He spread his hands, helpless. "It was already out. The virus mutated, became airborne. More contagious than anything we’ve ever seen."

"Your messages..."

"I couldn’t say more. They were monitoring our communications. I was quarantined at the facility with the rest of the team, working around the clock to develop a treatment. They confiscated our phones, but I’d hidden a backup." His voice cracked. "Everyone on my team is dead, Ellie. Everyone but me."

"Why not you?"

A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

"Natural immunity. Roughly 5% of the population has it, a specific genetic marker. I’ve been testing blood samples, trying to develop an antibody treatment. That’s why I came back. I think I have something, but I need better equipment."

"The CDC..."

"Overrun. Their Atlanta facility was one of the first to fall." He leaned forward, voice low and urgent. "We need to get to the CDC’s backup site in Fort Collins. They've got the equipment I need. It’s more isolated, less population, slower spread."

"Colorado? That’s halfway across the country."

"I know." He stood, swaying slightly. "But thanks to you, we might actually make it. That RV, it's perfect. Self-contained, mobile, already stocked."

He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time.

"I can’t believe you did that."

"I was angry," I admitted. "I thought you were ghosting me. Thought you were obsessed with some doomsday fantasy."

"Instead, I was trying to warn you about an actual apocalypse."

His laugh held no humor.

"We need to load everything we can into the RV. We leave at first light."

We worked through the night, transferring supplies from the apartment to the RV.

Jake moved with urgent precision despite his exhaustion, organizing medical gear, bottled water, and non-perishables with clinical efficiency.

I watched him pack his most precious cargo, blood samples, research notes, and experimental treatments, into the RV’s small refrigerator, cushioning the vials with foam padding.

"Is it worth the risk?" I asked as we filled the fuel tank with gasoline siphoned from abandoned cars in the parking lot. "Driving across the country when everything’s falling apart?"

Jake wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"If we stay, we die, whether from the virus or what comes after. Society's collapsing, Ellie. Fort Collins is our only shot."

Before dawn, we pulled out of the apartment complex. Jake drove, navigating streets choked with debris and abandoned vehicles. Bodies lay where they’d fallen, some covered with sheets or tarps, others left to the elements.

We moved slowly, avoiding main roads where desperate survivors might target a well-stocked RV.

The city burned behind us as we merged onto the interstate, heading west.

The journey was a nightmare across a dying country.

Some towns we passed looked untouched, silent, intact, ghostlike. Others were war zones: buildings torched, streets blocked by crashed vehicles or makeshift barricades.

We avoided major cities, sticking to rural backroads even when they added hours to the route. The RV was invaluable, shelter, transport, and storage all in one.

We slept in shifts, one of us driving while the other rested in the narrow bedroom at the back.

News came in fragments.

A working TV at a deserted truck stop looped emergency broadcasts.

The RV’s radio caught flickering military transmissions.

And sometimes, whispers from the few survivors we cautiously approached.

The virus had gone global.

Every continent reported outbreaks. Governments fell. Borders closed.

The luckiest nations, remote islands, countries with ruthless quarantine enforcement, had saved fragments of their populations through brutal lockdowns.

“Sixty percent mortality was optimistic,” Jake said one night as we parked in a wooded clearing in eastern Kansas. “It’s closer to eighty now. Maybe more.”

“How many people is that?” My voice sounded far away, like someone else had spoken.

“Billions.” The word lingered between us.

“But the virus burns out in some places. It kills too fast. Once population density drops below a certain threshold, it can’t sustain transmission.”

“So the world ends,” I said, “but not everyone dies.”

“Not everyone,” he agreed, staring out the window at the star-filled sky. “Just most of us.”

On our ninth day of travel, Jake began coughing.

I heard it first when he thought I was asleep, a deep, racking sound muffled poorly by his sleeve. By morning, his eyes were glassy with fever.

"I'm fine," he insisted when I confronted him. "Just tired."

"You said you were immune."

"I am. It's just..." Another cough wracked his body, and this time I saw the flecks of red on his hand. "Stress. Exhaustion. Not the virus."

I didn’t believe him. Neither did he.

We reached Fort Collins on the twelfth day. Jake’s condition had worsened, his fever spiked, breathing turned ragged, lips spotted with blood every time he coughed.

The CDC backup facility was housed in a nondescript building on the outskirts of town. No guards. No checkpoints. The security doors stood ajar, emergency lights casting a dull red glow down empty corridors.

I parked the RV by the loading dock and helped Jake through the deserted halls, following his mumbled directions until we reached the laboratory level. Somewhere deep inside, a generator still hummed, keeping the lights on.

"Here," Jake gasped, fumbling with his access card at a door marked BSL-4 AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

The lab was state-of-the-art, sterile surfaces, gleaming equipment, sealed chambers. It looked untouched, as if abandoned in a rush when everything collapsed.

Jake collapsed into a chair and hauled his cooler onto a stainless steel counter. His hands trembled as he tried to remove the samples.

"Let me," I said, stepping in. "Tell me what to do."

For the next three hours, I followed his increasingly fragmented instructions, prepping slides, centrifuging blood, running diagnostics on machines I didn’t recognize. Jake’s medical knowledge spilled out between coughing fits that left him doubled over, gasping.

Finally, he pointed toward a microscope. "Look."

I leaned in, staring at two blood samples, his and mine.

"See the difference?" he asked, voice barely a whisper.

I didn’t. Not really. But I nodded.

"Your blood is destroying the virus," he said. "Natural immunity." He gave a bitter, broken laugh that turned into another coughing fit. "You never needed me to save you."

"But you're immune too. You said..."

"I lied." His fevered eyes locked onto mine. "Not about the research. Or the outbreak. But about my immunity."

He wiped blood from his lips with the back of his hand. "I was exposed in the first wave. For some people, the incubation period is longer. I've been infected for weeks."

A cold horror crept through me as everything clicked into place, his disappearance, the cryptic messages, the way he looked when he returned.

"The treatment..."

"Was real. Is real." He sat up straighter, swaying. "My blood has antibodies from fighting the infection. Not enough to save me, but maybe enough to help others. That’s why I had to get here. The equipment..."

He gestured weakly at the lab. "You can finish it. My notes, they're here. Everything you’ll need."

"I’m not a doctor, Jake. I can’t..."

"You have to," he said, his voice suddenly firm. "Someone’s coming. Other researchers. Doctors from the safe zones. They'll know what to do with my work."

"How do you know anyone’s coming?"

"Because humans survive," he said, reaching for my hand. "Not all of us. But enough."

Jake died three days later.

I buried him behind the facility, beneath a stand of pine trees. No headstone, just a simple wooden cross, fashioned from broken lab equipment. I carved his name into it with his own pocketknife.

That evening, as I sat beside his grave watching the sunset turn Colorado’s mountains to gold, I heard it, the distant thrum of helicopter rotors.

I stood, shading my eyes against the fading light. A black speck grew on the horizon, drawing closer, heading straight for the facility.

Inside, Jake’s work waited, blood samples, handwritten notes, the treatment protocol he’d pieced together in his final lucid hours. Perhaps too late for billions, but not for everyone.

I turned and walked back toward the lab as the helicopter descended. The RV still sat where I’d left it, packed with enough supplies to last for months, a grim gift born of my stubborn anger, now turned to salvation.

The air trembled with the promise of arrival.

Behind me, Jake’s grave stood as a silent sentinel. Ahead, the remnants of the world waited.

If the end of the world comes, take care of yourself, and stay alive.

His last message.

Now my mission.