In middle school, I wrote a Twilight Zone inspired story: ALIEN AT THE END OF THE WORLD. An alien comes to help humanity leap into the future, only to find us all dead when they arrive. The TZ plot twist was that when we saw the ship coming, we panic-nuked ourselves into oblivion. It was the 80s.

I love it. The premise definitely had that TZ (or maybe the 90s Outer Limits) vibe.