6:00 Hours: A Dystopian Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rachel’s teeth chattered in her head and she fumbled for something - anything - that she could hold on to. Something that would stabilize her. The earthquake lasted four seconds, but it might as well have been hours. Within a few blinks of an eye, anything that had not been nailed down was on its side or smashed into pieces. When the ground stopped moving, Mark turned on a flashlight. He shone it into everyone’s faces, one at a time, before focusing the beam on his family.
                  “Is everyone ok?”
                  Tara, Alexander, and Lena had dove under the table, clinging to one another and to Caleb, who was squeezed between them and wailing. Rachel had been thrown from her chair near the wall, narrowly missing a picture which had crashed off of its nail.
                  “I think so,” Tara breathed, looking at her children. “Are you guys ok?”
                  The kids looked at each other, squinting in the harsh spotlight.
                  “Mark,” Tara said, her voice steely. “It’s time.”
                  The family sprung into action. They didn’t even bother assessing the damage. Shining the light on the floor, Mark led the way upstairs, gingerly avoiding patches of broken glass. Rachel followed to retrieve her own belongings and watched in silence as the Buckley’s frantically packed.
                  “We should have done this before,” Rachel heard Tara say.
                  “Not now,” Mark responded harshly. “I don’t want to hear it.”
                  Lena hung on her mother, sobbing quietly, almost whining. Alexander had gone to his own bedroom and begun to pack according to the vague and hurried instructions his parents had given him. Rachel wished she could comfort Lena, but she knew the Buckley’s had forgotten her as soon as the earth forgot to stand still.
                  “Go get your backpack, sweetie. The pink one, ok?” Tara told Lena.
                  “I don’t wanna go!” Lena cried.
                  “Alex!” Tara called. “Help your sister!”
                  Alex dragged a screaming Lena into her room where he stuffed clothes into her backpack.
                  “Stop crying,” he told her. “Stop!”
                  “My dollhouse!”
                  Rachel went to Lena’s room to see the little girl standing grief-struck over the tipped house, its eclectic inhabitants trapped beneath its walls. Lena kneeled down to try and set the house right, but her brother stopped her.
                  “We can’t take it with us,” he told her, softening his voice.
                  “I know,” Lena said. “I just want it to sit up for when we come back.”
                  Alexander didn’t say anything, but glanced sorrowfully at Rachel.
                  “You can pick a toy to take with you,” he told her. “One of the people.”
                  After searching through the strewn figures for a moment, Lena drew out the dinosaur and put it in her pocket.
                  Ten minutes later, the Buckley’s circled in the living room, wrapped in raincoats and weighed down by luggage packed hastily with clothes, canned food, water, and whatever else Mark decided was important on short notice.
                  “The radio! What’s the radio saying!” Tara cried, motioning for her family to pause.
                  It sounded like another amateur broadcast. Everyone listened intently with bated breath to the serious voice coming through the speaker.
                  “No official warnings, but I’ve got word from an expert that a tsunami is likely. Consider tsunami warnings in effect,” the voice said. “Evacuate immediately.”