Worst Case Scenario Read Free

towards the garage entrance of her friend’s house. 
    “Where are you going?” Anna called after her and then started to follow.  She was suddenly aware of how quiet it was in the house without noise generated by electricity.  She opened and closed the refrigerator one more time.  It was still dark, so she grabbed two Cokes and headed to the driveway where Grace was digging under the passenger seat in her Jeep.
    “This is going to sound weird, but this whole thing is weird already,” Grace said, leaning across the driver seat to reach the other side.
    “What are you looking for?”
    “This,” Grace said, pulling a small green metal box out from under the seat. 
    “What’s that?”
    Grace put it on the ground and popped the locking handle to open the lid.  “It’s a special box that my Dad put together.  He put in here when I first got the car.  All of our cars have one.” 
    Anna looked over her shoulder and then inside of the box.  “It’s lined with tin foil.  Why?”
    “It’s supposed to protect electrical stuff from radiation,” she said, and then paused.  “No, not radiation,” she corrected herself.  “It protects electronics from magnetic fields.  It stops stuff from getting fried, like our cell phones.”
    “Oh,” Anna rolled her eyes.  “Lots of good it did our cell phones!”
    “Well, it wasn’t supposed to protect our cell phones, it was supposed to protect this,” Grace pulled out a small digital two-way radio.
    “Great Grace, we have a walkie-talkie.  You can call Star Trek and see if they can beam us up!”
    Grace smiled at her and turned the radio on.  She was a little surprised when the green LED backlit the screen.  It was on channel 25.  There was no chatter or noise, but at least it worked.
    “So, now what?” Anna asked.
    Grace keyed the mike and tentatively spoke into the device.  “Momma B,” she said, and then let off the mike, not liking the way she sounded.  She cleared her throat and tried again with a little more authority.  “Momma B this is Tardis Blue,” she said, feeling the redness of embarrassment creep up her neck as Anna looked at her use code names.
    “I don’t think I know you anymore,” Anna said, half laughing, half wondering if she was speaking the truth.
    “It’s code.  My Mom and Dad had us all choose a code name a few years ago when they started prepping.”  She looked at her friend; waiting for the next set of questions, but decided to just tell her before she could ask.  “My code is obviously from the BBC show Dr. Who.”
    “Yeah, I remember, you were into that a few years ago.”
    “Yeah, and the Momma B is for Momma Burrows or Momma Bear.  It just depends on the situation,” she said with a smile.  “Momma B this is Tardis Blue do you hear me?  Over,” she transmitted, again.
    “Hey look, there’s Mr. Miller.  I wonder if his phones are out too?” Anna asked, noticing that her neighbor from across the street had also stepped out to look up and down the street to see if the rest of the neighborhood was out.
    “Hey girls, did you see that plane go down?” he asked, pointing at the column of black smoke.
    “No!  Is that what that is?” Anna put her hand to her mouth.  “Grace thinks its terrorism.”
    “Really,” the man said with a hint of allure.  He then started walking towards them.
    Grace shut the radio off and quickly tucked it in her back pocket.

CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
    “Thank God!” Leah Burrows said after hearing the call from her daughter.  She keyed the mike to respond.  She closed her blinds after counting three columns of black smoke rising around the city. 
    “Tardis Blue, this is Momma B, I hear you.  Where are you?  Over.”
    Leah waited 30 seconds.
    “Tardis Blue, this is Momma B, I hear you.  Where are you?  Over.”  She repeated with a little more urgency.  There was no response from her daughter.
    “Where are you Grace?”
    Her eyes scanned the map of the city