The local governance had decided that in times of nationwide crisis and martial law the best way to achieve stability was by keeping life going as normally as possible. After all, besides a slightly frostier atmosphere each morning the Republic of Texas had suffered no true calamities over the last couple weeks. Many of its citizens counted themselves lucky to live within the Texan borders and worked doubly hard to ensure their fellow Americans on the Western coast would have a still prosperous neighbor to prop them up in their time of need. Of course it wasn’t like Texans weren’t feeling the weight of international disaster and mass movements of refugees from the west. Still, despite economic hardships, geopolitical strife, and global panic the people of Texas, or at least those in San Antonio area, attempted to go about their daily lives in a somewhat normal fashion. At least to what degree it was possible. Stores remained open, public transport ran smoothly, and traffic was monstrous as usual.

	One of the first and most important things determined by the city council was that public schools needed to remain open and safe. What better way of ensuring normality than to have children attending school on scheduled hours. It was because of this decision after a weeklong break Tonya found herself back in her small middle school in lower New Braunfels ploughing through the repetitive motions of day to day classroom life. Of course if normality was the goal the instruction provided on that first day of reopening seemed oddly counterintuitive in Tonya’s humble opinion. The assembled students were grilled on personal safety and how to contact emergency services among other childish safety lessons for hour after hour. It wasn’t like every kid didn’t know not to play with fire, or how to dial nine-one-one on their cell phone. The simplistic foolishness of it all amused Tonya at first, but she quickly grew bored as each period usually devoted to math, science, and reading was instead filled with nonstop risk management rhetoric that could bore the ears off any normal child. Not that the normal school day was any more entertaining. What didn’t help was Tonya’s eccentric uncle had been teaching her much more interesting and useful things at home, like how to shoot a gun, skin a rabbit, and sanitize water. He’d been getting the odd tips from a radio show he listened too, and they’d proved to be vastly more entertaining than learning to hide in a bathtub should a tornado pass through. Tonya found herself glancing down at her new watch Eric had bought her with increasing frequency urging the slogging time to go faster.

	The hour finally reached three O’clock, leaving only thirty minutes left before the bell released the students to return home. That’s when the first tremor struck.

	Everyone felt the strange rumble, so uncommon in that state hardly anybody fully understood the gravity of the situation. Tonya heard a slight whimper behind her. Frowning she turned to see a girl about the same age as her looking very pale, and clutching at the side of her desk looking almost like she was praying. Tonya didn’t know much about her other than her name was Bianca and a few months ago she’d moved here from California. Right around the same time Tonya moved down from Montana actually.

	“Was that you?” Tonya whispered, the teacher kept droning on about fire hydrants seemingly unconcerned now that the tiny tremor vanished as suddenly as it had come. Tonya kept her voice low as she inquired of Bianca. “What’s wrong?”

	“Didn’t you feel it?”

	“What do you mean?”

	Then the second tremor struck.

	The floor shook and trembled as if the very building had begun dancing to a merry tune. The walls splintered a cracked, the great granite stones crumbling to dust under the immense foreign pressure as an enormous earthquake shook the entire city to its core. Students screamed in panic and the teacher yelled something incoherent as the lights flashed on and off. Tonya had time to watch Bianca duck down low on the floor before the lights went out completely. The only light came from the now shattered windows, out of which some panicked individuals jumped. Deciding to copy Bianca’s actions Tonya crammed herself under her small desk cowering beneath the pitiful cover just as the roof and walls gave way completely, plunging Tonya into total darkness.