Incredibly, after the retaliatory strikes by Russia, despite the annihilation of eight or nine U.S. states, the New York Herald Daily Chronicle continued to monitor the end of the world and to release increasingly infrequent editions.

“It’ll soon be over!” pronounced Nancye Burgess prophetically, as Dave Bevans and Kevin Davis emptied their desks in preparation for the long stay in the shelter.   “Stick around and watch the fireworks.”

“No thanks, we’ve seen enough fireworks to last a lifetime!” called Kevin as they dashed for the elevator, to head down to the basement to collect Dave’s car.

Despite the chaos in other states, New York had remained relatively calm.   As though the populace expected their luck to hold forever, while states north, south, east, and west of them were being obliterated every day.

“Just stay calm,” warned Kevin as Dave gunned the engine.   “The last thing we need is to get trapped in the city in a panic of our own causing.”

So reluctantly Dave drove at a crawl until they reached the highway to start the hour-long drive to their homes in the suburbs.

They had moved most of their essentials down to the shelter immediately after the destruction of Washington.   But when they arrived home, they found Sally and Katy gathering up the last of the clothing and foodstuffs.

“It’s time then?” asked Sally as Kevin came in through the front door.

He simply nodded his head, too depressed to speak.

They finished the moving in half an hour, then went next door to see if the Bevans needed any help.

“Well this is it then,” said Katy as they locked the second of the bomb shelter’s door from inside the shelter.

A week earlier they had connected a TV inside the shelter to a satellite dish atop the Bevans’ house.   So over the next few weeks, until the last station went off the air, they were able to watch the end of the world from the safety of the underground shelter.

“So how did the end of the world come about?   What made the Commonwealth of Independent States suddenly launch a nuclear strike against Washington D.C. after decades of détente?” Kevin wrote.   Closing the diary in dismay, unable to answer his own questions, he went over to the brown-leather sofa, where Dave was still reading his book.

Looking over his shoulder, Kevin saw that he was reading a chapter titled “Coloured lights over Europe and Asia.”   Skimming through the page, Kevin stood up again to return to his desk, when to his astonishment he read:

“It has been rumoured that in 1970 a UFO crashed on the border between China and the former USSR.   The UFO’s nuclear engines supposedly overloaded and melted down, causing a major nuclear disaster.   The two nations at first thought the other had launched a nuclear strike and almost went to war with each other.”

THE END