No more left,
Only one.
No contest,
No where to run.
This is the countdown to extinction.
~Countdown to Extinction, by Megadeth
Once there was a peaceful, quiet mountain. It was untamed and full of wild life. There were white waterfalls, lush forests, rich soil, and rivers so full of fish, you could appear to walk on water all the way to the other side. Then, like a scouter ant, a person found the mountain. More came. Farmers came to plant in the rich, never dieing soil. Hunters came for the wild life and fishers came for the wild runs in the rivers.
They spread out, and one town became two. Two became four, and so on. Forests were cleared to make way for the oncoming towns. As more and more towns were built, there were less and less forests. With the lack of vegetation came the lack of wild life. More and more houses were built, taking up the soil. The rivers were over fished as well as polluted from the mines and the wild life was over hunted.
Soon the fishers and farms and hunter left, and the people who stayed had to do these things themselves. The investors for the mines soon found them empty and left. As did the miners. The towns were dieing. Many became ghost towns, but there were still a few left.
There were still the people who were the first to come, who loved the mountain as it was. They worked to bring back the forests and wild life. But their children left, seeking a life and future elsewhere. With the children gone, the towns began to die out. People became to old to hunt and had no one to care for them. Soon there was only one town left with children, and even they were leaving.
"You're going, too, are you, Keer?"
Keer looked down, ashamed at being caught. She had planned to leave in secret.
The grandmother nodded sadly.
"I promise to visit." Keer said, hoping to cheer her. The grandmother shook her head a waved the words away as meaningless. They were.
"So they all say! And not one of them has come back, has they? No, Keer. I'll not hold you to a promise you cannot keep. Go then, and see what of the world you will." the grandmother said, turning around.
"Grandmother, wait." Keer called. The grandmother stopped and turned. "I'm sorry." Keer said. The grandmother said nothing, only turned and shuffled away.
