I watched this recently:

https://youtu.be/cDZQsVNZ3SE?is=riVhCHFusAgQlFPk

And honestly I really want to see more media that focuses on the aftermath of something like this, or a modern black death, or something along those lines [reminds me I need to read "between two fires" too]

If you've ever read last train to Hiroshima, I think you'll get it when I say that a nuclear device detonating feels like the actual end. It either detonates or it doesn't. And if it does, that's it.

But its not. For the vast majority of people it isn't. Reading the horrible sights in Hiroshima, the degloving injuries, the buildings sheared off like they were never whole, the sky of horrible sickly colors, the boiling bodies of water, etc. Makes you feel like you've stumbled into hell. But eventually those people got out of hell. And their lives kept going.

I know someone who's wife died recently. I think, for him, the 2nd worst part [the worst part being obvious], is the fact life goes on. He has to call in and ask for leave. He has to send emails, respond to requests, plan correspondence and the funeral and etc. Obviously he's not alone but he's still alive, even though it feels like the end of the world.

Of course it not being the end is a great motivator, but stories always end because they have to. And unless youre dead, then your story isnt over. But the pain will always be there, and it never really goes away. The reminder, the scars, will be there until the very end. And by then you won't have time to enjoy it. Unless, of course, you believe in the afterlife.