He immediately knew it was all over the very second he looked up from his desk, trying to catch a glimpse of the setting sun.

The thin trails of fire and smoke rising swiftly towards the sky told him humankind had little under thirty minutes to prepare for the end, and would probably spend them running around in useless panic.

The news were brief and barely coherent. Something about fake news being taken for real by some countries holding old grudges against each other. The race for clicks had finally caught up with us.

If there was intelligent life anywhere else in the universe they wouldn’t have any trouble writing out epitaph, it would simply say: Consumed by greed. He had to chuckle at the thought.

The saddest part, he thought as the flashes started getting brighter in the horizon, was that we came so very close to being better.