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Elsa heard Loreda breathing heavily through the gaschairs aside, she crawled underneath it

“I’ out

Elsa felt Loreda take her hand They were sitting together, side by side, but couldn’t see each other Thank God Ant wasn’t here

Rose and Tony squeezed in under the table, past the draping of wet sheets

Elsa held her daughter close as boards were ripped away and s broke

The walls shook so hard it seemed the house would shatter

Suddenly it was freezing

ELSA WOKE TO SILENCE; in it, she heard the wheezing cant of Loreda’s labored breathing through the gasout of hiding, scurrying over the floor

She pulled down her crusty, dirt-filled bandanna and peeled away the h Her first unprotected breath hurt all the way down her throat and into the pit of her gnawing, empty stomach

She opened her eyes Grit scraped her eyeballs

Dirt blurred her vision, but she could see the dirty sheets draped around them, and her family, tucked in close to one another Whatever it was, it was over

She coughed and spat out a blob of blackish-gray dirt that was as thick and as long as a pencil nub “Loreda? Rose? Tony? Is everyone okay?”

Loreda opened her eyes “Yeah” The gas mask turned her voice raspy and monstrous

Tony slowly lowered his bandanna