"The Earth Groans" in Youth Imagination
"The Earth Groans" was published in Youth Imagination (now defunct) back in August, 2015, and later in the print edition of FrostFire Worlds (also now defunct) back in November, 2017.
The story was originally titled “And the Mountains Burned,” which makes no sense now. The general idea for the story was prompted by Paul’s words in Romans 8:18–25. But also, there are some intriguing references in the Old Testament to the idea that the land would vomit out a nation that persisted in wicked conduct.
There's a lot to unpack in what the Bible says about our relationship to the rest of creation, but an easy recommendation to make is to approach the rest of creation not as opportunists, but as caretakers and gardeners (sometimes in the literal sense and always in the metaphorical sense).