Enduring the Crisis by K.D. Kinney Read Free Book Online Page A

knock at the door.
    Charlie started for the door first. “I bet it’s Amanda.” She turned away in disappointment after she looked through the peephole. “It’s not.” She went back to the kitchen.
    “Who is it then?” Tammy asked, far more irritated than she meant to sound. Mostly she was disappointed over who wasn’t at the door. When she checked to see, she had a hard time making out who it was. The peephole distorted people’s faces. Finally, she realized it was a friend when he knocked again.
    “Hello, Mason. Is it pretty quiet out there?” She peered out the door as she dried her hands on her sweats. No Amanda.
    “It seems to be now that it’s early and everyone has no place to go today. How is your family doing?” Mason was always good about coming to check on her at least once a month while Ben was gone.
    “Those of us that are here, we’re doing good.” She wasn’t going to cry in front of him. It was quite a fight to stop the water works that wanted to spill out her eyes again.
    “Who is missing besides Ben?” Mason was genuinely concerned.
    “Amanda never came home. She was in class at BSU.” Tammy folded her arms so she wouldn’t fidget. “Would you like to come in?”
    “I’ll stay here if you don’t mind. We’re checking on everyone and reporting back at the church. From what I’m hearing, there are a lot of people we know that haven’t made it home. It was a little crazy last night. It happened so late in the day, I’m sure it would have been dangerous if everyone at the university and all of downtown started walking home at once.”
    “But
we
aren’t that far from the university.”
    “Far enough though, right along the freeway. Perhaps they’re being cautious.”
    Tammy rubbed her eyes. A little something seeped out of the corners. “Maybe so. Have you heard what this is?”
    “With how prepared you are, I’m surprised you and Ben aren’t HAM radio operators too. The Johnsons haven’t been able to learn a whole lot yet. They had to dig out their spare radio that was in a faraday cage buried under all the stuff they were storing from their remodel project. What they’ve been able to learn is that it has hit the entire country and Canada. No one knows about Alaska though. The Johnsons know that Ben is up there so they’ve been trying. Rumor is it was probably an attack and not a massive solar flare. Not verified though. Sharon said there are some people on there that are always sure someone is out to get them so they always assume everything would be an attack. There are others that are mentally stable and she’s hoping to hear from them before she believes that it was intentional hostility. There is a meeting at the church this afternoon around one. They want to hear who all is missing and what is needed food wise.”
    “I’m sure we’re set.” Tammy didn’t like the idea of leaving her house or leaving her kids there while she went to the church.
    “You should come. He has some good checklists for everyone and you are a great resource. I’m sure the people that aren’t as prepared as you might be comforted by some of what you know.”
    “The stuff I know scares me. How can I comfort them when everything is going to get much worse?”
    “Okay. Maybe that kind of knowledge isn’t helpful right now. I’m sure your presence and what you know will be beneficial.”
    “I’ll try. She gripped the handle and looked past Mason’s shoulder again. “I’m not the best example of how to keep it together in a crisis at the moment. I keep hoping she’ll just come around that corner the moment I look down the street.”
    “I’m sure she’ll be home soon.”
    “Did you hear all the craziness last night? Oh, and some thugs wanted my suburban and another weirdo jumped the fence into our backyard last night. It hasn’t been a party over here with little Ms.Prepper know-it-all.” She pointed at her chest.
    Mason rested his hand on Tammy’s shoulder. “Perhaps