The Dawn of No Tomorrow

Prologue

Leaning heavily on the glass that separated him from the studio, John Keans did not hear the cacaphony of panicked human voices there. Looking up, he saw the camera's were hurriedly pushed in place, cables where pulled out of their neat contraption of duct-tape as the little wheels rolled over them. His newsreader, Frank Young, was quickly prepared by the makeup-lady, his niece. God, he detested that girl. He sighed. "Why God, is it so that I will never see my family again, yet will be with Etta until the end? Why the fucking irony, God?" Still staring, he saw Young talking into the camera with a face that not completely hid the terror under the surface, his niece crying on her knees, safely hidden from the camera. "The news goes on..."

Something horrible was going on. No one had bothered to tell her yet what it exactly was, but it was horrible. Etta ran after Frank Young, who dashed behind his desk, his face still partly grimed.

Rouge in hand, she quickly grimed the last of his face while he wanted to irritably push her away. She did his hair with a few strokes and said absently: "Good luck."

He didnt even look at her.

"Online in five, four, three..." one of the camera guys yelled, looking just as haunted as everyone else. She ran out of reach of the camera view, as Frank Young adjusted his earpiece a last time, and put on a serious, solemn face. It was from his voice that she finally learnt what was going on.

Etta Keans sagged through her knees and wept.

Plugging in his earpiece Frank Young walked with large strides towards the spot where he would announce the news he had just received. Millions of captivated eyes would be pointed at him, thousands of tv's tuned in on his report. These would be his 15 minutes of fame, he had no doubt about that. As Etta applied some quick make up to his face, he stepped out in front of the camera and tried to put on a calm face, something which he wasn't sure he could manage.

His fifteen minutes of fame, he thought while he opened his mouth. That was if they still had 15 minutes.

"Ladies, gentlemen, I have just received the news that an atomic bomb was detonated on Paris..."