Marci watched the ant walk onto her sneaker in a dauntless manner as she sat on the sidewalk on her patio. Why it was interested in climbing her leg didn't interest her. She saw it as the only other entity on earth. The black ant crossed the landscape of Marci's leg and regarded her for a moment. The tiny creature's antennae wiggled as if testing the air before it moved onto Marci's knee. The creature's eyes seemed to be especially intense, but then, everything in Marci's life recently seemed especially intense.

  The sky was a washed out pale blue with no clouds. It was boring so Marci looked back down at the ant who had taken up residence on Marci's knee. He just stood on her left knee watching her face, or so it seemed. Who knew where such a minute creature was looking. It could be looking anywhere, but Marci knew he was watching her.

  "Why do you want, creature?" Marci asked, half joking and half not.

  "I want your life," came the remarkably  clear answer.

  "You want MY life?" she asked and laughed heartily. "Why?"

  "So that I can go on. It's down to you and me. It's all come down to this, human."

    Marci reached down and set her finger next to the ant. The ant hesitated a moment before climbing on.

  "I could have killed you."

  "I knew you wouldn't. I have been watching you for many days. You were not one of the Mother's enemies. Your heart was pierced by the destruction of our planet's ecosystem. Praise the Mother that the enemies are all finally gone."

  "Why can't we both continue to live out our days, ant?"

  "You know why, human. We cannot co-exist."

  "Surely an ant and a human can co-exist. My days are sorely numbered."

  "No. It will be either you or I. I stand a better chance for survival. I know there are others of my kind to be found. I can hear their voices in the wind. You are the last of your kind."

  Marci set the ant of the ground. It was over. The planet was wasted. The eagles no longer soared in the skies and the oceans were shimmering caldrons of oil. The last dolphin and whale had suffocated years earlier. The green of the forests was a distant memory.

  Marci was tired beyond her years. She couldn't live in a world in which there was no beauty. It was time for her kind to move on.

  "I'm ready, creature. It's your world now. The path has been long and lonely in a world devoid of love and beauty."

  The ant climbed up Marci's body once again.

  "You fought a good fight, human, and did so with courage and compassion."

  The ant delivered a single bite to Marci's jugular. After a few minutes had passed, a column of ants that extended for miles could be seen in the distance approaching. It had begun. Marci was the feast that would mark the end of one world and the beginning of another.