Ninety Seconds to Midnight

Flash Fiction by Liam Kerry

The doomsday clock had started to tick, counting down from ninety seconds to midnight, and the tyrants in charge of the detonators were too proud to lose face and save the world. Their regimes—their vanity projects—would cost everyone everything.

The rich and powerful fled the planet on rockets, searching for a new one to ruin, leaving the ninety-nine percent to pay their debts.

The bombs failed. No one knew why, but humankind made the most of their opportunity. The planet healed without the politicians’ shady deals draining its resources, and without the billionaires, everyone could afford to eat.


Liam Kerry is a thinking enthusiast with a bad memory. Writing helps him recall his daydreams. An anthology of his microfiction will be available later in 2024.

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