[ WP ] The world is rapidly changing as the plague of our era is spreading fast . But it does n't affect humans . It eats plastic .

They say that the original intent was to reduce tire yards to powder, developing a bacteria that could return the rubber to the ground in a green fashion. I do n't know what tire yards are, or why they were a problem. Because there's none left. 
 
 The bacteria worked. 
 
 The problem originated with the lab that developed the bacteria, carefully using gene injecting viruses to meddle with mother nature's creations. What started off as beer fermentation aids gradually changed, moving step by step closer to the ultimate recyclable. But it evolved too fast, chewing though plastics that the lab never accounted for, and turning them into a single byproduct- methane. 
 
 None of the scientists survived the explosion. But then again, if any did, they would not have survived the following weeks. 
 
 The cloud of smoke and dust stretched out over a fifty mile radius, borne by the wind twice that far in the eastern direction and depositing the freshly created species. It landed on cars, the under bellies of planes, and the costs of passerbies. And it hitched a ride. 
 
 Hospitals were the first to go, sterility packs and sutures losing their integrity, clean rooms losing their pressure, biohazard bags dissolving into nothing. Then transportation fell, valves failing, instruments jamming, cheap car interiors disintegrating to nothing. 
 
 Personally, I remember my braces popping off my teeth, freshly installed at the ripe age of eight, the wires jumping out as the bands snapped. And I remember my last good pair of shoes, powdered down to the laces. Then there were the temperatures back then, so much colder, a brisk ninety five degrees on an average summer day. 
 
 But no longer. 
 
 Because now in our methane filled skies the sun burns hot, and powder is everywhere, in the air, crunching under our feet, in our lungs. Caking the sides of buildings that stand like shells, their interiors eroded away, their signage dissolved. 
 
 But there is good news, on this scorching day, as we taste powder and hide from the heat. 
 
 There are no tire yards. 
 
 *** 
 
 If you enjoy sci fi, be sure to check out my running story, [ The Bridge ] ( https: //leonardpetracci.com/the-bridge/ ) 
 
 By Leo.
