A pan of olive oil sizzled on the nearby stove. Albert cut onions at his kitchen table preparing his dinner for the night with precision. Cutting the layers thin enough to dissolve effortlessly into his famous home made sauce. Every now and then he took a break to clean his face of sweat and tears. The combination of a dark room due to the heavily tinted windows, a protection against radiation, and a tight gas mask made preparing food a grueling task. That never bothered Albert though, he always enjoyed cooking food for the neighborhood before the shortage. With every cut of his knife he thinks back to the wonderful barbeques on the green lawns when he was a kid. Thinking about everyone's envy of biting into his world class hamburgers cooked to perfection. He gazes off over the sink letting the water run dry over his hands when a sudden alarm from his television catches his senses.

“A world cleansing is needed!” says the buzz of a man on the television. The 2136 News statics its way through all the houses of the globe. All world powers and all world minorities are coming together to discuss the major threat of extinction. Dark clouds seemed to plague half the sky for the past ten or so years. While the other half was covered in a permanent day, the ozone seemingly ripped away. Rivers flowed like lava, slow and thick. Oceans seemed to boil themselves away into the atmosphere and rain down in a deathly mist. A precipitation that ate away the strongest man-made structures. An endless darkness coupled with a miserable heat scorned itself over the earth. For years discussion amongst polluted politicians took place, but it was not until now that a groundbreaking turning point was made. All nations, every single person, was to stop the radical use of Fossil Fuels.

Upon hearing the word “radical” used for the first time Albert halts his dinner and makes his way to the recliner. A rickety old chair with tears on either side, he slides himself onto it delicately. Leaning back and reaching for the remote the TV seemed to turn the volume up by itself. Most likely a government ploy to get everyone's attention. With speakers blaring the news, the change all the people hoped for will finally take place. Every nation, every human on earth will completely halt all use of fossil fuels starting sunset. Albert clicked the remote off, gently placing it back on the chairs arm rest. He didn't need to listen to any more of the news; with jubilee, he shut his stove off, put his suit on and took a trip outside.

Dusty and rickety, Albert was on the scorched side of the earth. An endless day that dried up any water exposed to the horrors of the surface. Animals skins were petrified like mummies, and anything living outside of a human house had very little chance of survival. Government officials already appeared in his home town giving Albert and the many other people of the town a more thorough and detailed plan. The training lasted for about five weeks and the entire world surprisingly seemed to follow everything by the book. The desperation of survival can bring some truly amazing events.

The rule book that everyone was handed was called “Relief”. The opening page quickly and easily summed up that anyone not willing to comply will simply be exterminated. A “helpful” dictatorship spread across the world. Everyone's rights were preserved except for the ones in this rule book that involved consumption. The next chapters went on to describe free government services all people are entitled to like learning how to grow crops. Classes on cooking and cleaning in the new life style of no oil and no pollution. The complex technology that can harness energy from the sun is now widespread. Renewable energy was made completely free for a extended period of time. With ten billion people all working together results came within months.
After six months the line between light and darkness spread evenly over the entire globe. Clouds covered both hemispheres and there was no more scorching of the earth. The constant rain and darkness faded to a nice even gray. The first stage of the cleansing was complete. Everyone experienced an even cloud cover of nasty skys. Gas masks littered every family home and every child nursery. Although temperatures appeared to be dropping back to normal, the air is still heavily polluted. Trees became non existent on the scorched side of the world. Of course every government had a plan in the reforestation of planet earth. Within about five years all forests miraculously grew back. Flourishing green throughout the globe, the trees cleaned the world’s air. Ten years later the cloud grew less gray, expressing life like books used to. Blue skies blinded everyone during the day. The puffs of clouds flopped their way across the evening sky. An imenses and incredible flourish of flowers ravaged the countrysides. Deserts turned into oasis, rainforests became thick havens for life. The world quickly and smoothly turned green again.

People began to have barbeques, they began to live again. Albert working hard with relief workers and finally was able to head home. The caring efforts of people heightened in dark times and light truly began to shine through. Gazing over his house he noticed grass grew ever so tall. Water streamed down his course face. Cutting riverways through the grime on his face he stood and looked at what was simple in life. The precious lawn of his and his neighbors, a wonderful community grew from the ashes of hell and people agreed with one another. He took his hand pushed lawn mower out of the locked garage and  began to snip the blades of green. The common smell of freshly cut grass filled the nostrils of everyone of the town, a lovely sight to see and smell and experience once again.

The next day people of the small town planned a party. Smoke filled the air and was a wonderful sight to see; it was like a beacon of hope, to start anew. Albert briskly went outside to take a jog over to the center of town. Upon exiting the door he trips violently onto the ground, his colored shirt smashing into the ground. Grass penetrated the pockets of his jeans and any crevice it can get into and stained his clothes with a slight tint of green, blotched all around. Brushing off the dust Albert is confused and looks back at the dirt to see a nice tall patch of grass. Gazing around seeing his entire lawn that he swore he mowed just yesterday completely grown in again. Like the sky and the bleached white clouds, the sight distorted his vision and his mind. Confused he simply put it deep away and headed off to the party, jotting down in his notebook to not forget to mow the lawn.

Upon arrival at the party he noticed similar people with the pale green stains on their lapels and waist bands. Conversation created a white hum throughout the field and talks of the wonderful growth of nature spread like wildfire. It was the talk of the town. Talk of grass that finally takes root and grows quickly, speeches of how trimming hedges has been harder than ever, branches growing thick and wild. And how each plant gives off such a beautiful scent. People talked about everything ranging from how the thorns on the roses became as large as knives, or how the roots of trees buried into the foundations of their homes. With not a care in the world people breathed with a sigh of relief because nothing can be worse than the fiery hell they lived in before. Although this pleasure of growing lasted only about a month.

As soon as the skies of the earth turned blue again, nature began its plan. Embedding its roots into the earth, its original home an eternity ago. Growing ever so deep to immense watersources, cracking through stone and eating away at mineral deposits. Talk on the news changed from beautiful new life on earth, to an ever growing green that cannot be trimmed. Leaves like baseball mitts covered over trees with bark as strong as steel, and roots even stronger. Every peaceful flower took genes from the rose and began growing sharp swords across its beauty. Roots, the root of all evil, was the main weapon of attack. Sneaking underground, humans became defenceless to what seemed to be planned attacks. A simple trip is all it takes. peoples’ bodies laid lifeless amongst the headlines of the newspaper. Nobody had attempted to move them in utter shock. Each one lying peacefully, it seemed, face down in the dirt. But upon further examination, blades of grass, as deadly as the name seems weaved their way into the skin of the victim. A hearty food source for boosted growth and strength. Not a single drop of blood, all being consumed by the pours of each plant. Adapting and growing as one source connecting.

Cities turned into graveyards littered with the dead. Trees destroyed buildings from the ground up. Roots grabbing the legs of anything living, yelps of puppies and screams of their owners shreaked its way through any civilization during the early phases. The days seemed to pass quickly. Airborne spores flew with the wind blocking the sun and turning the day into night. Like a warm snow storm, yellow pollen, potent enough to kill, caused the lungs of people to flood with fluids. Sprouting trees and limbs from the inside if its victims.
Albert quickly picked up on this and locked himself away. His gas mask on once used for the toxic air of pollution, now used for the end of humanity. Locked away in his air tight house he feared the titanium foundation will break with a burst of flowers. Blocking out the sun was a shimmering poison ivy plant consuming his house. Nothing entering in, and nothing able to leave. Imprisoned by mother nature for all time as punishment for the careless treatment of mother nature. His basement bent and shook, vines bending metal, making snake like impressions in the floors. Unable to break through the tough hardened house. Albert sits with the uncertainty of what is to come. Staring blankly at the tv that no longer turns on. Look at himself in the reflection of the television. Beads of sweat fell down his face and landed on the sofa staining it a dark shade. His eyes shot open leaning in closer to the reflection. A small gleam of light behind him shot down through his house. Turning around frantically he sees a small green sapling growing lopsided amongst a pile of dirt and cracked vase pieces.