WARNING: Character Death
Many people wanted him dead for many different reasons. And so he was on the run, trying his best not to get caught by anyone. He cautiously hid behind a wall, as he thought he recognized someone familiar across the street. He carefully looked after the feller. Yeah. He was one of them indeed. Jack continued watching as he meticulously searched the street while strolling, but didn't seem to find what he was looking for: him. Jack Bauer. Then he suddenly began pondering why he actually was doing this.
Why was he running? Was he afraid to die? No, he had taken grace with dying before. Jack vividly recalled having been affected by the bio-chemical nuclear weapon. He vividly recalled the seizures that would come over him; would come more regularly and harder as the end had neared. The end of his suffering. Kim hadn't wanted it to be any other end, like the end of her father's life. Kim had been headstrong enough to go through with the therapy, even though he hadn't wanted it.
Jack thought of his only daughter and her family. He thought of little Teri. Chloe would tell them and would protect them. He couldn't really himself. He couldn't search contact with either of them again; not even Chloe, who had covered his back all these years, couldn't be called in times of need anymore. If he really wanted them to be safe, he had leave them alone and take care of himself.
Even Jack Bauer thought of that as lonely, though. It would be uncharacteristic for him to just let them have him, and part of him didn't even think about it. Another part knew that even though Heaven or Hell didn't exist, it would be much easier; much less exhausting for everyone to just give up. In the mess Jack had worked himself now, he couldn't save anyone anymore now.
Renee's death had left a wide, gaping hole within him. It could never be replaced. It had made him reckless. He had gotten justice and revenge altogether… but it didn't make it better. At least he felt so.
A part of him felt as if he had fulfilled his purpose on earth. Another went in immediate conflict with that, questioning him if he ever really had a purpose; if he had ever even taken the time to think about it. Another more realistic piece of him replied back that there existed no such things as purposes, or fate.
Then, suddenly a red hot pain could be felt across his chest. His legs collapsed underneath him almost immediately. A hand moved to his chest as he looked down to see blood oozing from the wound and over his fingers fast. His insecurity about whether it would be worth it would be his death. Maybe it wasn't worth it then. Jack entirely collapsed onto the pavement, and the smile of the man he had noticed before was the last thing he saw before his eyes fluttered shut and he drifted off in a sleep not even Kim could rescue him from. He would never awake on planet Earth again.
Maybe, just maybe, he would see his Renee again.