Shaft 37

Erin went to the door crack and saw the front hall had gone feral. Two family members were wrestling a guard. An ice bin lay overturned, cubes scattered and melting under dozens of shoes. A child was convulsing on the floor while the adults around him fought over a crate of bottled water and didn’t even seem to notice. Marcus muttered, “So this is the beginning.” “No,” Lin said. He looked toward the hallway window, where white light washed the world so hard that edges vanished. The heat felt like seawater, except it left everything drier. Sirens wailed from below. Somewhere far off, a transformer burst with a sound like a gunshot.