Things were getting worse. Eric Freeman leaned forward to turn up the radio using his other hand to wipe away the thin layer of sweat that was collecting on his forehead. He was in his kitchen with stacks of plywood cutouts, screws, and stands all ready for swift deployment should the disasters sweeping the world rear their ugly heads in central Texas. Eric wasn’t confident that anything would happen, thus the unbarred windows, but it never hurt to be cautious. His preparations would make putting up the barriers easy enough for even Tonya to quickly achieve in a short notice, on the off chance something happened while he was away from the house. The chances of that seemed unlikely as well however. Freeman hadn’t received a call from his employers since last week, when they canceled his flight into Anchorage, giving him little reason to leave.

	A sense of foreboding had fallen over the local community and state as a whole, even despite the lack of any real calamity there. Stores were picked clean of canned goods and survival gear faster than the businesses could restock their warehouses. Eric could clearly see the signs of growing unease, and remained grateful he’d been pre-prepared before any of this went down. He’d felt the same way some years back after all, which was why he became prepared in the first place. Some sixth sense, or stroke of luck prompted him to ensure his place of residence remained his castle of security, a location where he would not become helpless in the event of a disaster. A way to take care of number one first and foremost, and of course Tonya. Admittedly the arrival of his niece six months back threw a wrench into his survival plans, and he’d been forced to accommodate accordingly. Once again thankfully before the outside world went to shit.

	Finishing up with the windows Eric set aside his tools and walked into the living room, bringing the radio with him. The device rarely left his side nowadays, and its constant blaring of bad news was making him depressed, but it was necessary. Just the other day he’d heard the report on scientists concerns about Yellowstone, and the monumental catastrophe they predicted it would cause, but it was far away as well, hopefully far enough.

	Sitting on the couch was Eric’s tenant, a young man named Peter who looked disheveled and exhausted from lack of sleep. Normally Peter would be at his classes but lately he’d been spending all his time trying again and again to contact his family back in Korea. Over the radio it’d been confirmed that many of the Asian nations had been hit particularly hard by the aftershocks of Toba, and with the world tension at what it was right now the lack of closure haunted the younger man’s every hour.

	“Nothing yet?” Eric probed sitting down across from Peter. The tenant shook his head, bouncing his phone on the palm of his hand with a nervous energy. Eric understood, doing nothing, just sitting around and waiting chewed on the nerves. He’d felt the same way when sitting on an aircraft carrier back when he’d been in the Navy, wishing for something to do. “I’m sure they’re alright.” Eric reassured with false optimism. “There’s just something up with the signals, all the towers are busted or, you know….” [i]Invasion, utter destruction, and massive death tolls.[/i] All things he couldn’t rightly say out loud to Peter.

	“I just hope they’re alive, and safe, and this whole thing would just be a bad memory.” Yawning Peter stood up, rubbing at his eyes. “I can’t stay awake any longer. Please excuse me.”

	“You and me and the whole world agree on that one son. Go on, and get yourself some shuteye. You look like you could use it.” Eric insisted. As Peter departed the room Eric refocused his attention on the radio, listening in as the bad news steadily got worse. He had that feeling again, like things were only going to get worse. And maybe, their current situation wouldn't be recalled as a bad memory of global disaster, but as the calm before the storm.