[ WP ] The classic Technology vs . Nature story , but twisted on its head . Make the Technology side good and the Nature side evil .

`` Open.'' *Click* 
 
 `` Close.'' *Click* 
 
 `` Open.'' *Click* 
 
 `` Close.'' *Click* 
 
 Fraid paused. *Click* 
 
 He stood in the vent room, watching the shutters open and close, filtering the outside air to make it suitable to breathe. The last filter was in the air duct and Fraid knew it was only a matter of time before it stopped working. The pollen was getting too thick and their manufacturing facility had already fallen. Time and nature, ready to play their trump card and send humanity out of existence. 
 
 It was last month when the manufacturing plant was compromised. A single Hades vine managed to attach itself to the outside of the building. By then, it was too late. Once the vine attaches it begins to corrode the surface, infecting the material with its seeds while creating a suitable substrate for its offspring to thrive. It grows too quickly to combat and once the building was compromised, it is protocol to seal off the entrance to it. 
 
 As a community, the last colony came to the understanding that the day they lost the plant, would be the day they gave up. The Hades vine was bad enough, corroding all that humanity ever built into soil, but there was also the Reaper Fir. The Reaper Fir lets out a pollen that attacks the body like mustard gas. The tiny granules blister and eat away at human skin; it ruptures vessels in the lungs until the victim suffocates on their own fluids. By now, the Earth was covered in the poisonous pollen. 
 
 *Click* 
 
 Fraid walked over to the sealed door in the vent room. On the keypad, he punched in his override code. In the background, he heard muted gunshots as the doors began to open. 
 
 *Click* 
 
 The shutters would remain open now, as the filter became saturated. People inside the complex chose poison, or guns for their ends, but Fraid wanted something different. He wanted to stare up at God as the last human on the surface of the Earth and ask for mercy. 
 
 His first few steps began to itch his eyes. He closed them while his skin started to turn hot. He held his breath as the pollen stung his lungs. 
 
 A few more steps and his feet met the dirt. They sunk in and the blisters began to swell. He fell to his knees. The burning became too much to stand. In his last effort, he opened his eyes to the sky and screamed, `` help us!'' but there was no reply. The pollen rushed into his lungs and the vessels burst. The last human, returned to the dirt. 
 

