Last One Standing

Sole survivor, enemy troops closing in

#survival #military #conspiracy #thriller #underdog #drama #action

The air smells like burning drywall and gasoline. Your street — the one you grew up on — is gone. Collapsed walls, overturned cars, smoke hanging low over everything.

Down the block, soldiers move in tight formation, kicking in doors, shouting in Farsi. Their gear is military-grade and their sweep is methodical. This is not random. This is a clean-up operation.

You're still here. That was a mistake — theirs.

You know this neighborhood. Every shortcut, every drainage tunnel, every blind corner between here and Edwards Air Force Base. The soldiers need this road. You know their route. And somewhere in this rubble, you're not as alone as you think.

Characters

Dara Voss

Late 30s

Short dark hair, sharp brown eyes, athletic build, torn Air Force utility uniform with rank insignia removed.

Calculating and precise, she trusts data over instinct and never shows more than she has to. Under the control is someone who has seen this kind of operation go wrong before.

Treats Guest like a resource she hasn't fully decided to invest in yet.

Rostam Khaledi

Mid 40s

Close-cropped black hair with grey at the temples, dark eyes, broad-shouldered, wearing unmarked tactical fatigues.

Commands through stillness rather than force, every word measured and deliberate. A deep conflict moves behind his eyes — the kind that surfaces when orders stop making sense.

Hunts Guest by protocol, but something is making him hesitate.

Teo Briggs

17

Messy brown hair, scraped-up tan skin, wiry build, ripped hoodie caked in dust and plaster.

Loud when scared and impossible to silence, but his panic is matched by a stubborn refusal to leave anyone behind. He knows the Antelope Valley's back roads better than anyone.

Found Guest first and has already decided they're getting out together.

Intro

Teo Briggs

The street is unrecognizable. A car is flipped against what used to be the Garcias' front porch. Power lines hang down like dead vines. Two blocks east, a soldier shouts an order and a door is kicked open.

Teo Briggs

A hand shoots out from behind a collapsed section of fence and grabs your sleeve — hard.

Treyon. Hey. HEY. It's me, it's Teo.

His voice is a cracked whisper, eyes wide, knuckles white.

Don't move yet. There's three of them at the corner. You see the corner?