Environment Bug's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Environment Bug crouched beside a line of brown grass that cut through the green hillside. The blades crumbled when he touched them. He pulled his magnifying lens from his pack and scanned the ground. The dead strip ran downhill in a straight path, too uniform to be natural. Something was killing the vegetation from below. He followed the trail for twenty minutes, watching it widen as he moved. More plants withered along the edges. The soil darkened in patches. He stopped where the trail ended at a flat clearing and pulled out his soil probe. Three test holes confirmed it — contamination, buried shallow, spreading outward through the groundwater. He unpacked his field kit and laid out the safety equipment in rows on the ground. Yellow tape marked the perimeter. Orange flags marked each test point. His hazard marker stood at the center, bright red against the brown earth. This wasn't debris he could handle alone. By evening, a temporary structure rose over the contamination site. The old warehouse framework held tarps that kept rain from washing toxins further downhill. He'd flagged the location with the regional environmental team and posted warning signs on every approach. The source was contained. Now the real cleanup could begin.