Web Video / The Final Minutes

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Created by Matt Yarnold, The Final Minutes is a Web Original series of Emergency Alert scenarios that paint a picture of when things go terribly wrong in Australia and result in the state's Emergency Alert System kicking in to document all of the gory details of impending doom.

The current running series include:

• Zombie Plague, a two part series detailing the rise of the fictional XMNV^note Cross-Mutating Necrosis Virus epidemic after an attempted terrorist attack goes horribly wrong and the eventual fall of humanity as we know it.
• The 2050 series, a series set in the titular year which shows that the same natural and artificial disasters that happen today will still happen 30 years in the future.
• Kaiju, where a wild rose infestation causes things to quickly spiral downwards.
• UK Sci-Fi EAS, in which what starts as a meteor impact turns out to spell doom for the United Kingdom, courtesy of a detachment of metal men from Mondas.

A smaller assortment of standalone scenarios is also available on the channel as well.

Matt's channel is available here, in which all of the above scenarios (and more) are available to view.

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Please stand by for these examples:

• After the End: Zombie Plague takes place years after the world was ravaged by the XMNV virus, and the resulting nuclear apocalypse that rose from attempting to sterilize and destroy it.
• All for Nothing: The United States’ “sterelization” strikes do nothing to slow the spread of XMNV. Australia’s post-devastation emergency broadcast even outright says that the strikes failed to wipe out the mutants.
• Alternate Timeline: The aptly-named Trumpocalypse scenario takes place in a Bad Future timeline in which then-president Donald Trump doesn't take kindly to the prospect of leaving office, to say the least.
• Bad Future: Trumpocalypse is explicitly stated to take place in one of seventeen timelines. Right off the bat, this timeline seems to have gone so badly that it outright collasped.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Halfway through the first half of Zombie Plague and shortly after the Prime Minister’s death and subsequent reanimation, the Australian emergency broadcast starts urging those infected to kill themselves as to not give their bodies a chance to reanimate. The Japanese broadcast advises its infected population to do the same thing much earlier though.
• Call-Forward: In Zombie Plague one of Australian emergency messages starts going haywire, but upon pausing the video at the right moment, you can see the beginning of another Australian broadcast that does not get brought up until later.
• Celebrity Casualty:
  • Ed Sheeran is explicitly named as one of the casualties in The Tiangong Incident, being killed by satellite parts hitting Optus Stadium.
  • Similarly in Zombie Plague, Caracol's emergency broadcast identifies Colombian singer and musician Carlos Vives as leading a group of hybrid mutants.
  • The Netherlands broadcast from the same scenario mentions the infected actress Yolanthe Cabau leading a group of mutants in Den Haag.
• Crapsack World:
  • The world of Zombie Plague. A botched terrorist attack results in the release of the XMNV virus, which spreads rapidly and wipes out a good chunk of Australia. And that’s just before it spreads outside of the state and prompts the USA to take the Nuclear Option. In Part 2, the situation doesn't look exactly nice and only further worsens until the Path finally destroy the Earth with the Magno-Loop self-destruction mechanism.
  • The Earth of 2050 is only marginally better. The planet is being smackered by multiple extreme weather disasters in quick succession. Supply shortages, pollution and dissent are rampant, leading to a globe on constant damage-control. Similar to Zombie Plague, Part 2 ends with the disasters affecting Earth's Magnetic poles, reversing them.
• Disproportionate Retribution: In response to the other collectives retaliating at the announcement of last-minute missile-strikes on their territories purportedly claiming to have The Cure, The Path decide to end Zombie Plague by activating their Self-Destruct Mechanism and wiping the entire globe out.
• Downer Ending:
  • Zombie Plague: Though things settle down after the chaotic first days of the outbreak and several governmental entities take control, this only buys humanity 20 more years. After the Path's attempt to cure the world via dispersal missiles leads the C.U.T. and Tokyo Confederacy to attack them, the Path decide humanity has no hope and destroys the entire planet. Basically, not only does humanity cannibalize itself, but it's not even the zombies that finish them off.
  • Trumpocalypse: As promised at the beginning of the video, the events of the timeline go as horribly as they can. Trump steals the nuclear codes and begins firing as many nukes as he can, and while his staff prevents some of them, they can't prevent all of them nor the inevitable retaliation. When the nukes all hit, the timeline outright collapses.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Heavily implied to be the final outcome of Magno-Loop destroying itself from within courtecy of the Path from Zombie Plague.
• Easter Egg: Zombie Plague's subtitles have a hidden message during Caracol's emergency broadcast— about how suspiciously sexy the TTS voice reading out the emergency information sounds..
• Emergency Broadcast: All scenarios on the channel are presented as this, naturally.
• Everyone Has Standards: The Path, a post-apocalyptic survivor group, makes their stance on child predators very clear.
  "Children are inviolable. Sexual interference is not tolerated. You will be executed."
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Australian Nuclear Attack Warning is… well, exactly what it is- a broadcast from the initial missile detection all the way to ATTACK IN PROGRESS.
• Foil: The Path and the C.U.T. are direct opposites of one another; sitting at the two extremes of the Sliding Scale of Libertarianism and Authoritarianism. The Path is a Libertarian collective that has a hand in nearly every facet of its citizen's lives; its broadcasts emphasizing a mixture of Brutal Honesty and Condescending Compassion to gain followers. They're mistrustful (and dismissive) of the other groups but never directly enter into hostilities purposefully. (Though the idea of overtaking the Confederacy is discussed in a briefing) The C.U.T. by contrast are on the Authoritarian end; their broadcasts a blend of articulate information on changes to X.M.N.V. and claims of superiority over The Path. The Commonwealth's policies are framed around the mantra of "your life is your responsibility," downplaying their peacekeeping role in favor of engaging in constant turf wars with the other collectives.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • 2050: Multiple large-scale emergencies pop up around the world, ranging from extreme weather disasters and pollution to large-scale rioting. Eventually these disasters start affecting the Earth's magnetic poles and cause a catastrophic magnetic reversal.
  • Dual Catastrophies opens on a Kessler syndrome event, with the United States being pelted by incoming pieces of satellites. As the satellites fall, another emergency broadcast announces that Russia, China, and North Korea have all decided to launch a nuclear attack on the States...
  • Trumpocalypse: The former President refuses to step down from office after being declared insane, and mobilizes the Citizen Militia to support him. Riots, explosions, and natural disasters start to spring up. Oh, and it also looks like he made off with the Presidential Emergency Satchel and the nuclear launch codes...
  • UK Sci-Fi EAS: The United Kingdom being battered by meteor strikes is bad enough. Even worse, some of these meteors turn out to be Cybermen spacecraft.
  • Zombie Plague: The Prime Minister of Australia has been killed and turned after the aircraft carrying him was attacked by flying zombies. The emergency broadcast starts urging emergency centers to lockdown immediately and for those infected to kill themselves to not give their bodies the chance to reanimate... and then a bright red NUCLEAR ATTACK warning comes in.
• God Help Us All: An early version of Zombie Plague has the full version of the United States' message to Australia, which is nothing but deep remorse for nuking the Down Under state into oblivion:
  "We are deeply saddened and regret to announce that the United States has launched a nuclear strike against the country of Australia. This will ensure the sterilization of the most critically affected population centers. We hope that this will limit the spread of global infection. We pray for all of those whose lives we have taken with our actions. We pray for forgiveness from the people of Australia. May God have mercy on our souls."
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The United States government's attempt at slowing the spread of the XMNV virus using nuclear sterilization strikes not only wipe out most human life but also manages to mutate the various zombies into something even worse.
• Holographic Terminal: The Reynolds Historical Event Library is presented as such in Trumpocalypse.
• Hiroshima as a Unit of Measure: The meteors in UK Sci-Fi EAS are stated to be capable of damage equivalent to several Hiroshima bombs.
• Hope Spot:
  • Trumpocalypse: After various fights break out and explosions are reported, the emergency broadcast announces that the Vice President is en route to the White House aboard Air Force One. One file corruption later, and the broadcast then announces that Air Force One was destroyed in a nuclear explosion and that the Vice President is presumed dead.
  • Zombie Plague: The Path's scientists have managed to discover a cure for the XMNV virus. Unfortunately, their method of dispersing it^note  launching missiles containing the cure unannounced into the other territories' airspace only riles up the other groups into attacking The Path (and each other), setting up the Downer Ending.
• Kill It with Fire: The only 100% sure way of killing XMNV zombies is by incineration, thus destroying the body and any chance to mutate. Best emphasized by the C.U.T. when they state that you can only trust ashes.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The United States' government deeply regrets their decision to "sterilize" Australia with nuclear weapons.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Path, at the end of Zombie Plague. Instead of communicating its plans to use missiles to disperse The Cure with the other collectives well in-advance, The Path deliver the vaguest of warnings over broadcast before firing their entire payload on everybody. This causes complete chaos on every end and eventually the end of the world.
• No Ending: Deliberately invoked in The Tiangong Incident, challenging other creators to make an ending of their own.
• Nuclear Option:
  • The United States's attempted "sterlization strikes" in Zombie Plague.
  • The Finale of Zombie Plague sees The Path open a hole in Earth's mantle with the Magno-Loop, allowing magnetic shockwaves to crush the planet in response to rejection of the Cure.
• Nuke 'em:
  • Dual Catastrophes has Russia, China, and North Korea launch several nuclear missiles while the United States is in the middle of being pelted by space debris.
  • In Australian Nuclear Attack Warning, the broadcast announces that approximately sixty-five missiles are inbound towards Australia.
  • After making off with the nuclear launch codes, Trump immediately commences a missile strike after fleeing the White House in Trumpocalypse. This results in the targeted states firing back, with seventy-five warheads heading towards the United States.
• Offscreen Karma: According to Zombie Plague’s opening scrawl, the terrorist groups responsible for the XMNV outbreak end up dying in the botched facility attacks.
• Out of Focus: Aside from their occasional experiments on XMNV mutants, The Path briefly discussing overtaking Confederacy territory, and their partnership (and eventual mutual betrayal) with the Commonwealth of United Territories, the Tokyo Confederacy is rarely brought up throughout Zombie Plague, and the scenario largely focuses on the rivalry between The Path and the C.U.T.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Not even animals and plants are safe from XMNV. Anyone and anything exposed to the virus turns into a Plague Zombie.
• Poor Communication Kills: What ultimately sets up Zombie Plague’s Downer Ending. The Path did not bother making sure the other territories would be fine with accepting the cure by any sort of beforehand negotiation, only delivering a vague warning broadcast before firing their entire Cure payload right off the bat.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Individuals infected with XMNV show red eyes as a sign of mutation.
  Red eyes? Red skin? Red nails? Red is dead!
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: The Citizen Militia in Trumpocalypse. The group's Establishing Character Moment has them go on a spree of public attacks against minorities after being endorsed by the President.
• Rule of Three:
  • The titular Triple Threat scenario, in which volcano eruptions, earthquakes, and horrible weather ravage the United States.
  • Three survivor collectives spring up during the second half of Zombie Plague: The Path, the Commonwealth of United Territories, and the Tokyo Confederacy.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Path’s compound locations are fitted with a Magno Loop, an underground ring that acts as the compounds’ main defense system. It’s also fitted with Complete Destruction mode, which causes the loop to cycle through all of its defense modes before detonating and vaporizing anything in a 25-kilometer radius, and even expose the Earth's mantle and cause a magnetic reversal.
• Shout-Out:
  • UK Sci-Fi EAS is one to Doctor Who, from the invasion of Cybermen to a teaser for part 3 of the series involving the Doctor receiving a distress call from UNIT.
  • Kaiju is one to Godzilla vs. Biollante, as the main antagonist is described as being a rose, much like the titular Biollante, who is the result of a rose being crossed with the DNA of Godzilla and a human.
  • During the first part of Zombie Plague, the final broadcast leading up to the sterilization strikes mentions sightings of elderly zombies at 6151 Richmond St., and Shady Pines.
• Snowy Screen of Death: Shortly after the emergency broadcast in Zombie Plague announces that the United States has launched "sterilization" strikes at Australia, ABC Studios is overrun by zombies. The station's signal is cut as soon as the broadcast announces that it may cease at any moment.
• Station Ident: One exists for the fictional Cubed TV station.
• Stylistic Suck: Part two of Zombie Plague begins this way, as the Australian government's emergency broadcast is visibly grainy and has poor audio quality. Though this is justified considering that this takes place after the devastation from the "sterlization" nukes.
• Take That!: Zombie Plague has some subtle jabs at both CNN and Fox News, with the broadcast leading up to the sterilization strikes specifically announcing that the former’s studios have been overtaken by zombies and that the latter has gone up in flames.
• Taking You with Me: Total Destruction Mode of The Path's Magno-Loop amounts to this, going through each of its modes one-by-one until it implodes and creates an explosion that opens the Earth's Mantle. This puts the Poles in-flux and sends out planet-sweeping shockwaves.
• Vigilante Militia: The government is fully aware of these groups springing up in Zombie Plague, and they're not happy about it. Said vigilante militias win out eventually, after The Path manages to overtake a government broadcast.
• The Virus: Zombie Plague centers around the spread of the X.M.N.V. virus.
• Was Once a Man: Victims of the XMNV virus were all normal humans before getting infected and mutating.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Path has good, almost altruistic intentions despite going to extreme lengths (like overthrowing the old Australian government and using missiles to disperse the cure and bombarding the airspace of other surviving communities without warning). Needless to say, this ends poorly not just for them, but for the entire planet.
• Would Harm a Senior: The Japan of 2050 has passed the "Death of The Aged" Law, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Its section of the broadcast centers around seniors not having any of it.
• Zombie Apocalypse: The titular Zombie Plague series details one that resulted from a deadly virus.

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Seek shelter, NOW. Seek a place of safety, NOW.