1 Everything Falls Apart

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Jackson!"

Jackson awoke to the loud blaring sounds of the alarm as well as from the voice of Michelle, his long-time girlfriend, for as well as long as about a thousand years already, of his thousand five hundred years of his life.

"Hm..? Hm..! Yes..! I am awake now!" Jackson confusingly stated

He opened his eyes, to which his vision immediately scanned his surroundings. Lights, there were lights, a lot of them precisely. Not only that, it was all but blinking in red, along with the loud alarm going off in the entire ship. After a while, Jackson finally came to his senses. He intensively scanned the surroundings and found Michelle laying down on his knees.

However, he tried feeling his legs, to which no avail he couldn't feel any of his knees, let alone his feet or his entire lower half body. That's when he noticed he was laying in his own pool of blood, along with Michelle's.

Panic started to set in. He stared down at his hands; it was filled with blood, and along to his side he found a Pulse Mark IV handgun. he didn't understand what was happening, but one thing is for sure, something is definitely wrong.

He immediately grabbed the pulse handgun and looked at the energy storage. He calculated how many shots he had and concluded that he still had about four shots. More would definitely be desirable. However, he now has at least the means to defend himself.

Now gazing at the body of his thousand year girlfriend, he felt his heart sink, however this isn't the time to mourn. The enemy could have already infiltrated the ship. He needs to immediately move, so he crawled towards the side of the ship, to which he opened a compartment. There, he found the thing he was looking for.

"Nanobots." Jackson silently whispered.

Upon grabbing the needle and attaching it to the syringe, he immediately used the syringe filled with nanobots that a special type of fluid carried. The activity hurt him a lot, as he could never get used to the syringe penetrating his skin. Now that he has injected it, the only thing he could do is wait for the nanobots to do their job.

Silently, but fast, the nanobots traveled through his entire body, inching deeper and deeper into his very being as the nanobots do their job, repairing, rejuvenating, and enhancing the body of Jackson. Within in the span of a few minutes, he could now move like he used to. He gazed into the dead corpse of his girlfriend, Michelle.

Unfortunately, no matter how advance their society was, they could never be able to revive a dead person, as the soul is no longer there. If they were able to revive, then that's only a miracle that a god could do.

The world that Jackson lives in is already gone, for hundreds of years already. They have been on the run since then. The United Earth Federation Navy is the only existing part of the armed forces of their homeland that still stands. Now the ship he is onboard currently the UEFN Enterprise, is the last ship that is left and its inhabitants the last remaining humans in the expansive galaxy of stars.

"Reminiscing of the past wouldn't really help my situation, but it will help keep my sanity afloat in the sea of space of light and dark matter."

With the advancement of rejuvenation methods and the human victory over aging as a disease have exponentially prolonged the life span of humanity spanning over thousands of years, while still being able to look young. Unfortunately, humanity's advancement wouldn't really go far much further as humanity entered the stellar age and made contact with other species. It was at that point that humanity has entered into a blood feud with another galactic civilization, and now that civilization are hell bent on eradicating humanity off the face of all space.

Ever since then, they have been at war for over hundreds if not thousands of years, and now they are down to the last man if his assumption was to be correct.

Silent tears were falling down his cheeks as he moved on about the thought of being the last human in the entirety of the galaxy is definitely a very nerve-wracking experience. Which means that he now carries the last bastion of humanity. Inside the ship were millions of sperms and egg cells that were frozen for the future of humanity. He now has to protect them.

Alarms were still blaring. As he moved about through the entire ship, mutilated bodies and dead corpses littered the surroundings. As of now, he still had no idea on what was really happening on the ship, but he was sure that he might be the last person alive.

After all, it was the only logical explanation, and the more the reason that he must go to the bridge of the ship. Only being able to walk a few meters in to the ship, Jackson heard the most horrifying sounds he have heard in a while. A thunderous growl echoed through his back, with his skin going up with goosebumps.

"Arachnids!" were the words that he blurted out.

In a scowl of anger, the Arachnid move about into the ship, moving towards Jackson, crawling upwards, bottom and into the sides of the hallway. In a desperate attempt to attack the enemy, he aimed his pulse handgun and immediately shot.

The handgun shone in a bright light, to which it exploded into pieces. To which it temporarily blinded Jackson, however, he still ran in the opposite direction, from where the arachnid was.

"Goddamn, overcharge mechanical failure!" He grunted as he bit his lips.

As he was about to open his eyes, he tripped into a hand of a corpse, to which he stumbled down into the hallway as he rolled and bounce away. Immediately looking behind him, he saw the arachnid with dozens of feet, arms making its way towards him. At the center of the arachnid were hundreds of eyes, with a smirk on its mouth.

He was now sweating bullets, as he attempted to stand up, however he stumbled down again. This time it was not due to his mistake. Instead, when he looked below him, he saw a face, the face of a human like him, however they now have dozens of eyes and were growing more limbs by the hour.

"Fuck, an Infected!" Grunts Jackson

He scanned his surrounding for weapons as he attempts to kick the damn infected off him. The infected already has other limbs grabbing him by his legs, and when he gazed behind him, the arachnid was getting closer and closer to him, with its claws sprawling everywhere. In a desperate move, he grabbed a pipe by destroying the pipes by his sides. To which he immediately smashed the head of the infected, to which he proceeded to run for his life towards the bridge of the ship.

He was able to smash the pipes as it was one of his soul's skills, increased strength and intelligence. Unfortunately, that was all that he have. He has a weak constitution, a weak soul strength and a laughable soul skills. Against all odds, he was still able to survive for this long, which was an achievement in itself.

Sprinting towards the hallway, Jackson finally reached the door to the bridge, and for some god send luck that he was able to lose the arachnid that was pursuing him.

Pressing the correct password, as well as inserting his card, scanning his fingerprint and eyes, he was finally able to enter the bridge. To which after he stepped onto the bridge, a pulse gun was already waiting for him.

"W-What!" Jackson's faced turned a smile downward

"J-Johnson?!" Jackson stated with bright eyes and open mouth

"Jackson!" the man named Johnson stated with surprise

Sensing the desperation in the words of Johnson, Jackson immediately moved in. With numerous questions appearing before him, Jackson questionly asked Johnson.

"W-What happened?!" Jackson stated, with confusion present in the entirety of his face.

"There is no time now, quick get in the escape pod!" Johnson shouted with vigour.

Confusion dawned even more than escaping through the escape pod means abandoning the future generations of humanity.

"Are you serious? We can't j-" Jackson stated before he was cut off.

Johnson looked at Jackson straight in the eyes and stated.

"We have found the Heaven's Grail, and someone has to make their way down there, and someone also has to maneuver this ship to mislead the damn Arachnids, as far as I know we are the only two left surviving humans in the entire galaxy, we must take this risk, as the Arachnids are already hot on our trail. I am sure that you have already encountered them already." Johnson stated.

Jackson's mouth opened wide in shock as his eyes widens, he asked for confirmation from Johnson if they have had really found the Heaven's Grail to which Johnson confirmed once again.

"This is the planet where my soul of the oracle of prophecy is point-" Johnson stated before he was cut off.

A reverberating sound came from the hull of the ship to which was followed by a deafening explosion. Johnson's eyes became sloppy as he threw Jackson into the escape pod. Jackson, realizing what was happening, now shouted from the other side.

"I wouldn't fail you, Captain! And the rest of Humanity!"

In a few momentary seconds, the sound became deafened as the vacuum of space started comes in between the escape pod and the main ship. To which after a few seconds, Jackson's eyes widened in surprise.

The ship, which was the UEFN Enterprise, exploded as it was consumed by the embers and fluctuating gravitational pull of the ship as failing technology splits apart and exploded into different parts.

The UEFN Enterprise was no more.

Third Mate, Lieutenant Jackson Smith, is now the last person alive that is part of the human race.

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