The year is 2054. The human race had slowly started to correct its countless mistakes and had tried to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, it was too late.

Leftover toxic waste caused random mutations with many of the Earth's creatures. It was quite unfortunate. New types of plants and animals emerged. The world humans once knew was changing.

What humans didn't know was that their time on Earth was about to get cut short. A new type of spore was spreading quickly. It started in the forests of North America and continued to travel through the wind.

This spore was extremely dangerous. Once infected it caused rapid decay in the tissue of the brain. It would also wiggle its way into the blood stream, infecting white blood cells to go undetected.

Once in the body, the spores would reproduce rapidly in the infected white blood cells. They begin to eat away at the brain, causing insanity signaled by uncontrollable laughter. Unfortunately, people did not avoid the laughs of the dying. They had not yet figured out that it was caused by the virus.

By the time someone figured out they were infected they had already spread it to everyone they knew. Medication would not take effect fast enough. This virus was spreading fast and was only going to become faster.

Schools were closed to avoid spreading, along with airports and shipping companies. Everyone in the world was trying to prevent the virus from spreading.

Everything was happening so fast that scientists didn't bother naming the virus. It was called many different things by the public; the virus, the plague, and the beginning of insanity. It was clear that the human race did not have much time.

Scientists began searching for where the spores came from and if anything in that environment would be able to defeat them. They did manage to find something, but the numbers didn't look good.

The world's number of spores were increasing while the cure was actually decreasing. What was the cure to such a virus? The answer is rather surprising.

The forest in which the spores were originally found contained an endangered species of newt. This newt, while being a new form caused by a mutation, was dying rather quickly and often did not have the chance to reproduce. The odds of creating a cure from them was not good.

The newts contained an acidic mucus in their systems that could encase the spores and break them down to a harmless state. Unfortunately, there were only a few thousand of these newts left. There was no way to have enough mucus to treat everyone. Time was running out.

Scientists took as many newts from the forest as they could, but they refused to mate because they were not in their natural habitat. Finally, time had run out.

The virus had spread so quickly and easily. Nearly everyone was infected. Billions were dead already. There was truly no stopping such a virus.

Scientists had tried and failed. They could not find any other biological substance that could defeat the virus. The newts had gone extinct and no one knew where to begin with a synthetic medication.

Humans had managed to survive many illnesses, but this virus was truly a death sentence. Every great thing that rises must have its fall.

((A/N: This is a short story that I needed to write for my biology class. I figured I might as well post it here as well.))