Shreds
The world, as we know it now, is gone. The destruction of man, was ultimately cause by man itself. There was no asteroid, there was no super-flare. We were there, and then we were gone.
It was so simple.
The first great feat of man was the atomic bomb. The bomb to end wars. But that was not the end. The next great achievement was the implosion bomb. The problem with these bombs was not effectiveness, but rather, it was the fact that they created undesirable side-effects. This was often called “nuclear fallout”.
But it was not over. The next great feat was to be the particle bomb. The particle bomb was a bomb that would create an explosion that would, rather than using uranium, use super-particles. These super-particles would collide with other particles and, quite literally, rip them to shreds.
There was a blast, there was a shock wave, and then, nothing. It was an ironic ending. It was what the world wanted; Peace. Peace to the sun, the moon, and all of the solar system. But the catch? Death.