Epilogue
ACROSS THE VAST DECIMATED Atlantic ocean, filled with garbage, sludge, and decay, the top third of Christ the Redeemer reached out of the sea, Rio De Janeiro now an underwater lost city beneath it. On a small green island off the coast, two sets of bare brown feet stood on the clean, white sands. The crystal blue water around their island formed a sphere that became grayer and sludgier as it extended away from the island and farther out to the sea. Schools of plastic worms swam in the lazy surf. Seagulls flew above the figures, one young woman and one young man, who held their hands out toward each other.
Between them, the legs and hips of a capybara formed, and its soft belly was coming together as small plastic worms intertwined and molded to one another. They formed its ch
