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Charlie also folded her missing sister’s pajamas neatly and placed them on her pillow while barking orders to her younger sisters.
    Holly worried incessantly and vocalized it constantly and muttered to herself after all her sisters took turns telling her to shut up.
    Little Mae would burst into tears over wanting her sister and her father home. Once she calmed down for a few minutes, she was at it all over again.
    Tammy surveyed the room where all her girls were to sleep. The way Charlie kept glancing at her absent sister’s bed made her heart ache all the more.
    She sighed knowing she had no reassuring words of comfort to share. “You all settle in. There’s a gallon of water sitting in the bathroom already so you can brush your teeth.”
    She went into the small living room and kitchen and shut off the battery powered LED lights. They were the best investment she had made along with the nice stockpile of batteries. However, she was already worried she didn’t have enough.
    After she had prayer with her girls, she headed for the door. “I’m not locking this. I’ll just cover the doorway with the swinging bookshelf.”
    Mae jumped out of bed and wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist. “No, you need to stay with us so you’re safe too.”
    “I’m sleeping upstairs so I can hear if Amanda makes it home. We can’t hear her knock if we’re all down here.” She gave her daughter a squeeze. “I’ll be safe and you all will be even safer. Everything is fine.”
    “You should take Buddy with you.” Mae’s eyes were extra large as if she was looking through a magnifying glass because of the tears. “He protected all of us today.”
    “You’re right. I’ll bring him with me.”
    Tammy kissed the top of her daughter’s head and gave her a gentle push to her bed. She called the dog and he obedient followed her up the stairs.
    She gave him a pat on the head. “It’s just you and me holding down the fort. Now if only you could find Amanda and bring her home.”
    Settling in on the sofa, sleep was already eluding her. She heard all sorts of noises through the windows. None of them comforted her much. In fact, she gripped her blanket tighter and tighter as the night wore on and there was no knock on the door. She must have fallen asleep at some point because she jumped when something crashed outside and it sounded like it was right outside on her front lawn and Buddy started to bark.
    She tossed the blanket aside as she lunged for the door. Looking through the peephole, she couldn’t see anyone. She really wished her daughter was home already. Tammy didn’t know how much longer she could wait without totally losing it. And that’s all it took. Thinking about crying. The tears fell, running in endless rivers down her cheeks.
    She desperately wanted her daughter and her husband home. They were a huge part of her foundation for living. If only the electricity would come back on, that it was only temporary, and all the worst-case scenarios when it came to E.M.P.’s were wrong. Or somehow the government and utility companies had been quietly preparing the infrastructure over the years so it wouldn’t fail for long. But that took foresight and embracing the doomsday attitude to invest that kind of money. She sank to her knees and cried into the blanket on the sofa so no one could hear. The strength that she needed left her and she didn’t know if she could go on. She didn’t have to think much more about it because she cried herself to sleep.

10

Tammy
    Tammy woke up in terrible pain. She was curled up on the floor, no wonder. She was too old to sleep on hard surfaces. Once she sat up, she realized it was more than that. She did move a fridge, and all the bulky wood shutters for the windows too. Easing her stiff body onto the sofa, she looked around the completely dark room. She couldn’t see much of course. No clocks or nightlights so she could see what was in the room. She turned on the taplight on the