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Remain calm.
    Tansy perched on the edge of the couch. She watched devastated as half of Florida seemed to be covered in torrential water, hurricanes like never before battering the state from all sides mercilessly. At another flash through satellite, Mexico was gone—just gone, barren ocean where it once sat. Tips of buildings could barely be made out over rolling white-capped waves, a frightening testimony of what once was. Another flash and six tornadoes were battering Texas, another three bashing Missouri, hurling homes and property into oblivion.
    Unsure what the next flash from satellite was, the announcer assured them they were looking at Arizona, a massive ball of dust storm so intense those caught unaware perished from asphyxiation. Another flash, California seemed an inferno of billowing flames, rolling up lethally from the ground. Volcanic eruptions spewed instant death from Yellow Stone Park. Image after image assaulted them.
    Tansy could hear the newscaster’s harried voice ringing in her ears, battering her mind, urging everyone to seek shelter. Grab any survival kit they had stored and stay put. Do not venture outside.
    “Shane, Mike,” Tansy whimpered.
    She jumped from the couch and headed to the front door, grabbed her purse, spilling its contents onto a nearby table, snatching up her car keys.
    “No, it’s too dangerous,” Shanie cried out.
    At that moment, Shane stormed through the front door, his normal continence gone, his face ashen, a crying Michaela clutched in his arms. Tansy flew to them and reached for her daughter.
    “Shane.” Tansy clutched at his jacket panicking.
    “I know. It’s bedlam out there. I tried to call, but the phones aren’t working, my cell phone wouldn’t get reception. I had to leave the car in the middle of the highway; traffic’s backed up for miles. When I got to the preschool, Mike was crying off to the side alone; parents were racing, screaming for their kids. The teacher abandoned her class to get her own children. One woman stayed, thank heavens she doesn’t have a family or all the kids would’ve been left alone.
    “Christ, can you imagine an entire class of children three and under left unsupervised? Toddlers, infants abandoned. If the other teacher hadn’t sworn she’d stay, a few of us parents would’ve grabbed some of the children to bring home with us.
    “News of the storms is just hitting the airwaves; at least, what stations are left and not annihilated it happened so fast. Like a damned plague of locusts. They must’ve known; somebody had to have seen it coming. But we weren’t warned because of the fear of mass panic.
    “But that’s what we have now. People are terrified of the unknown; they’re racing for the stores to grab food and supplies. No one’s bothering to pay for anything; they’re just grabbing and running, the employees alongside them. Shopping carts, wagons, bags, all are filled and people are racing down the street with what they’ve stolen...in broad bloody daylight!
    “What police are left can’t control the volume of hysteria; a few were knocked to the ground for their weapons. Some of the police are using their weapons to steal alongside the civilians. Everyone is saying it’s as bad here as it was overseas. They haven’t guessed at the death toll, but states and provinces are missing. Missing, Tansy. How the hell do you lose an entire province or state?”
    “But how could they keep something like this from the public? We need time to find shelter; why did they wait so long? Why weren’t we informed weeks ago this was going to happen when we could’ve prepared ourselves?” Tansy cried out. Shane grabbed her hard, holding her closer; he looked her intently in the eyes.
    “Because there is no shelter, babe.”
    “What’re you saying, Daddy?” They turned to see Emmy standing on the stairs shaking. Shane released his wife and strode over to his eldest; he pulled her tiny frame close.
    “The borders are