 The next day , as usual , Henry takes his lunch break in the bank 's vault , where his reading will not be disturbed . Moments after he sees a newspaper headline , which reads " H @-@ Bomb Capable of Total Destruction " , an enormous explosion outside the bank violently shakes the vault , knocking Bemis unconscious . After regaining consciousness and recovering the thick glasses required for him to see , Bemis emerges from the vault to find the bank demolished and everyone in it dead . Leaving the bank , he sees that the entire city has been destroyed , and realizes that a nuclear war has devastated the Earth , but that his being in the vault has saved him . 
