The air is stale with debris and decay, the building overhead crumbled and slain on the coarse roughed up roads. The sky was settling into a dull, dark orange and the clouds black with soot and toxins.

It's been nine months since the world fell apart, since humans mostly vanished and the wild animals starved to death. Nine months would be long enough to create another one, but Jacob isn't a woman and hasn't found one either.

His head wasn't even a head anymore, but a constant makeshift gas mask with a fishtank. Heavy breaths fogged it up, and he adjusted his gloves, moving aside broken street sighs and garbage he's found. Like WALL-E, he scavenges for new and useful things, inanimate objects that'll help him survive a day longer.

"What the..." He mumbled to himself, his voice hoarse from being unused. Jacob pulled aside a big chunk of road and found something fleshy, something human. You were laying there, a creature so delicate he wasn't sure he was allowed to touch you. But he must, fishing out his spare gas mask he placed over your face until it clicked on.

His heart pounded, a human, he found a human. Jacob very carefully slid his arms underneath you and cradled you to his chest, you were all dirty with dust and dirt muddled on your hands and knees, your clothes threadbare and disheveled.

"It's ok, it's ok, it's fine." Jacob murmured reassurances, but mostly to himself. It was unbelievable, you were still breathing albeit shakily, but you were alive. 'A human, they're still alive..' the thought kept repeating in his mind while he made his way back to his safe house.