Still alive?
Chapter 1

Waking in her student dormitory room, Mia took a shower, got dressed makes some instant coffee and turn on the news:

“Scientists have warned that the threat of a nuclear apocalypse is closer to becoming a reality. The Bulletin’s Atomic Scientists segment advanced its symbolic Doomsday Clock 30 seconds to two minutes to midnight – a reflection of how bleak scientists view the current nuclear dangers facing the world. The dial is now 23 hours 58 minutes. According to authors of the project, before the onset of «nuclear midnight,” humanity had only two minutes remaining.

“To label the world’s nuclear situation dire is to understate the danger and its immediacy,” said Rachel Bronson, the bulletin’s president – the news station’s CEO informed journalists in Washington.

The “clock” better known as the Doomsday Clock, was created in 1947 at the initiative of a group of scientists who participated in a project to develop an American atomic bomb. For decades, the project has been overseen by the editors of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which is published by the prestigious University of Chicago.

Explaining their decision on Thursday, scientists from the bulletin’s widely respected science and security board said they were disturbed by the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula: their increasing expenditure on nuclear weapons from major powers, the absence of arms control negotiations around the world, and the wavering political desire to combat climate change.

“The probability of a global catastrophe is disturbingly high,” warns the committee’s journal on science and security.”

“The end of the world. The Apocalypse. Is there no news besides the end of the world?” Mia wondered and switched off the TV.

“There’s insurance for almost anything: an apartment, car, health, even Jennifer Lopez insured her famous derrière. But no insurance company will be willing to cover anything related to nuclear war... I should consider some sort of insurance,” Mia then remembered a phrase of her beloved Scarlett O’Hara.

“But what if there won’t be a tomorrow after all this talk of nuclear war? Hmm… Then I need to look good today.” After a shower, she dried her long hair and carefully combed it.

“I’ll need to wear something decent,” Mia thought and found a blue blouse in the closet. This color complimented her blue eyes, and as she looked in the mirror, she saw a beautiful girl with magnificent wavy hair and sea-blue eyes. A girl, it was impossible not to fall in love with as her smile was irresistible.