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Her father didn’t answer. Instead
he was counting again, his lips bumping up and down over numbers
she couldn’t hear.
    “I think we can time this,” he said to
himself. “And I’ve already got stuff in my car, too.”
    “Wait Phil! We’re going together,” her mother
exclaimed. Emily watched her mother fold her arms and straighten
her back, objecting to what he had planned. But her father only
shook his head, resolute.
    They all jumped when an explosion rumbled
overhead, shaking their house. She heard something fall, crashing
onto their roof, and pieces of ceiling fell behind her. But it
wasn’t the roof. Like before, the sound had come from inside. It
was their entire home, quickly succumbing to the outside air like
Ms. Quigly had.
    “So fast,” her father mumbled. His eyes
stayed on the ceiling as if waiting for it squash them. Instinct
brought his arms up to protect his family. “House isn’t going to
last as long as I’d hoped. No stone or brick.”
    “What does that mean?” Emily asked, as
cracking and breaking sounds thundered through their home.
    “Rafters are coming apart… not long before
the roof collapses.” His answer was clinical, like some morbid
diagnosis, and she felt hurt that he could sound so callous about
their home. He looked at their faces and shook his head. “We’re out
of time.”
    “But you’re going with us!” her mother
implored.
    “I’m going to take my car. You take the kids
in your car,” he started to say. But her mother was already shaking
her head, disagreeing. Her father stepped forward and placed his
hands on her arms. “Listen to me. Listen to me, Barbara. You need
to be strong today.” He nodded his head encouragingly. “Get to the
mall, like we did during the last hurricane. The building is safer
than anything else around here.”
    He’s not going with us? Emily became
confused and scared by her parents’ exchange.
    “But how safe is the machine?” she asked,
suddenly realizing the danger. And when she saw her father’s
expression change, a deep terrible intuition struck her. Her lips
began to tremble and she grabbed her father’s arm. “Daddy, no!
Don’t go. You have to come with us!”
    He looked to her then, a desperate fear in
his eyes. His lips were pressed firm, thinning until the color in
them was gone, matching the gray that had taken their world.
    “I have to stop the reactor before it’s too
late.”
    “How much time?” her mother asked. “How much
time before it won’t make a difference what you try to do?” He
pinched the bridge of his nose, and his lips began to move again.
Counting. Revising.
    “An hour… maybe two at most,” he answered.
“But I have to get inside. I have to flood it with seawater.”
    “But if you’re inside?” Emily started to ask,
and felt the first tears before he could answer. Her father took
hold of his daughter, his wife, pulling them both into his arms.
Emily dug her fingers into his shirt, holding onto him, knowing he
might not make it back.
    “I’m going to make this right!” he said, and
then was suddenly gone, leaving them alone.
     
    * *
*
     
    The engine turned once and then sputtered
before dying. Emily’s mother cursed under her breath, thumping her
palm against the steering wheel. The sound of her foot pumping up
and down on the gas pedal came next. She turned the key again,
holding it there while the motor grunted objections. The motor
turned over, sputtered again, and then finally roared to life.
    “Oh my God—thank you,” she sighed, and leaned
in to kiss the steering wheel. “I don’t know what we would have
done.”
    “Call Dad!” Justin cried out from the back
seat. Emily turned to see her little brother tucked away in his car
seat, his blanket pulled up just beneath his chin, a thumb stuck in
his mouth. Out of habit, Emily raised her hand, wiggling her thumb
for him to see. His expression changed, shame filling his eyes. A
distant crash pulled her attention away. When