Panic choked the residents in Kipford as the floodwaters devoured the town. Furniture, photographs, childhood treasures—all swallowed by the churning brown tide. Thousands scrambled onto rooftops; their screams were lost beneath the roar of water.
Inside the grocery store, Kacy's white cotton dress clung to her thighs, the icy water rising to her waist. Beside her, Anna gripped a shaking shelf, her face pale.
"We need to get on the roof!" Kacy's voice sliced through the chaos.
"Where'd—where'd this water even come from?" Anna gasped.
"Doesn't matter! Move!"
They fought through the swirling debris, shoving aside floating bags of flour. The water stank of sulphur; a mouthful burned Kacy's tongue, her stomach convulsing as she retched.
Anna's eyes darted across the ruined store—shattered jars, sodden bread, a lifetime's work vanishing under the tide. "Kacy—we don't have flood insurance!" Her sob cracked. "We're finished!"
"We're alive," Kacy snapped. They ran to the back of the store and climbed onto a wooden ladder against the red-bricked wall. The wind howled, needling through Kacy's soaked sleeves. Below, the water kept climbing.
Kacy shivered in her bell-sleeved dress.
Bodies. Face-down, limbs tangled in fences, a child's backpack bobbing like a grotesque buoy. Kacy's knees hit the corroded metal roof. "Please," she whispered, tears mixing with river filth on her cheeks. "Please let us live."
Doubt entered her mind like an uninvited guest.