The air thickens with waste, sky tinted into a sickly green colour, a reminder to what we've done. 

I claw myself out of a hole made of garbage and misery, broken TVs, rusted metal bed frames, and a fridge. With my gloved hands, I reach for the handle and pull myself up and out of that stinkin' hole. I've already cleaned through the fridge leaving nothing edible behind, something you gotta learn how to do if you're going to live out here. 

The straps of my backpack weigh down my body. I hoist it up, adjusting for the long-dreaded walk ahead. My body scratches past a few items as I slide down the garbage pile. I don't wait another minute, I had to go home. 

It wasn't like this before, though anybody would expect an outcome like this. Before this, it was normal, everybody lounged around doing their jobs or staring at their phones. Sweet life man. Until the glaciers started to melt. Quicker than ever before. The Earth became hotter by the minute, water levels began to rise, and floods were common everywhere. Everything was either drowning or on fire. There was no end, it went on like this for years. I don't know how we survived, as many people had died every month as many others were born. That wasn't the end. 

The end began when the bomb came. A huge bomb, the size of Italy landed somewhere in China. It leaked out a gas. No scientist, not even the smartest person could figure out what that gas was. It just came out of nowhere and everywhere. The news spread as quick as the gas spread. In desperation, we had named it, named our killer, Thanatos Gas. Creative. There was something about it though, something deadly. Even though a tiny bit has leaked its way out of the bomb, somehow the molecules in the gas reproduced and soon we had a plague. The water quality lowered and in turn, killed many if not all of the water creatures, many plants and crops withered, and the land animals? Well, most of them died off from sickness. Us too. Those who were somehow immune to the sickness had to fight to survive the already dying planet. When the sickness passed we were left with nothing. Ten billion humans plummeted down to 500,000 worldwide.

I do not suspect nature had done this at all. Nobody smart enough ever lived to tell us what has caused this horrible outcome. But, I don't really think anybody has to be smart to explain what had happened. In reality, this harsh reality, the only explanation I have is simple. We existed. Sadly, the problem isn't gone. 

I'm still here.

Alone.