I had been warned about the storms in plenty of time, I managed to get my parents and sister in laws' shelters built in time and had just finished the main section of my own bunker. I was building mine for the worst of the storms, without the valley that the rest of our family had I knew we wouldn't have the same protection since we essentially lived in a field. My bunker was state of the art, built in air and water filtration, geothermal heating and power and I had stocked with enough food to feed my wife and 18 year old daughter for 3 years.
"I don't understand Dad, why are the storms going to be so bad?" Said my daughter, Kelly as I washed up for dinner.
"Is apparently some freak weather pattern, only occurs once every 150 years or so, they're not that sure since we've not been tracking with this much detail in the past but they said it's like 4 super storms all rolled into one. The cities have shelters but I doubt they'd be as equipped as ours." I replied.
"Our house isn't as equipped as ours my love." Replied my wife, Sally.
"Well, if we get stuck down there for weeks you'll be thanking me. I should have the last bedroom finished in a few days." I said.
"You know I'm teasing my love, my sister and your parents love theirs." Said Sally.
"Well I think a few days without internet and Kelly will just dig us out with her bare hands anyways so I'm not worried about rescue." Sally and I laughed.
"Whatever, I'd use a shovel." Laughed Kelly.
We ate dinner together and cleaned the dishes, Sally had arranged to visit her sister that evening to finish off some home touches to her shelter. I got a call from her an hour after she left.
"Honey, the wind is picking up here and it's raining really bad, I have my car in the garage but the weather station said the storm has shifted and is heading your way." She said.
"I've been watching it and was about to call you, get to the shelter with Louise, I'll see how long we have, I love you." I replied.
"Love you too, oh, the house is creaking now, we're headed down okay."
I pulled up the computer I'd just shut off and she was right, the storm had changed direction, had gotten worse. Kelly had already gone to bed but I went to wake her right as the nearby sirens started going off. Kelly came out of her room wearing just her long t-shirt, hair disheveled and a panicked look on her face.
"Relax sweetie, we still have time, grab your bag, put some clothes on and wait for me at the back door." I said.
"Okay." She said then dashed back into her room.
I grabbed my own ready bag, put it down at the bottom of the stairs and was waiting when Kelly came down the stairs, she'd just put on a robe and had her boots on.
"Not what I meant by clothes but we don't have time now, you ready?" I said.
"Yes daddy." She replied. She only ever called me that when she was scared.
"We're going to be fine, lets go."
I pulled on a poncho, handed one to Kelly and we made our way over the short walk to the bunker entrance, wind and rain already picking up and pelting us the whole way there. We closed and sealed the outer doors, powered on my equipment and made our way down to the main living section.
"Uh, Dad, my room has no furniture and just a single light." Said Kelly as I looked over my monitors.
"I thought we had more time honey, I'm sorry. You can sleep on the bed and I'll take the recliner."
"Okay, if you're sure."
My monitors showed me what I'd feared, the storm had gotten worse as it changed to head my way, over the next few hours as Kelly slept, I watched as the worst of it headed over my fields then, like it was made of paper, smacked my house and threw its debris and my own truck all over the bunker entrance. It took out two of my cameras too, leaving one remaining looking at the hole where my house used to stand. I turned my screen off, checked the internal equipment and tested the radio connection to my sister in law's bunker.
"Hey honey, how bad is it?" Said Sally.
"The house is gone sweetie, big gust took it apart and dumped most of it as well as my truck over the bunker entrance. How is it there?"
"Gone? How are you so calm about it?" She said, her voice getting higher.
"Sally, I am safe, as is our daughter, I can't do anything about the house. We will rebuild it and we'll move on." I said, calmly.
"Sorry, I just have my sister on edge, she was watching the camera when her tree landed on her car."
"Well tell her my truck is almost bent in half round one of our trees. I'm going to let you go my love, I want to conserve power."
"Okay, I love you."
"I love you too."
I shut down the radio and checked the weather again, after a few hours the worst of it was over and we just had heavy rain. I checked our entrance and confirmed it was safe then sat down in my chair again. A bleary eyed Kelly came out to see me, she was just wearing her sleeping t-shirt but sat herself down on my lap and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Trouble sleeping sweetie?" I asked.
"Yea, is Mom and Aunt Louise okay?"
"They're fine, Louise is already driving your Mom nuts but I think they got off lightly. Here, take a look." I said, showing Kelly my last camera.
"Holy shit, the house is gone! Is that your truck?"
"Yea, is fine, I was due a new one anyways and nothing in the house can't be replaced. We're safe and that's all that matters."
"Where did the house land?"
"Mostly over our door but I checked it and it's not damaged."
"So we're stuck here for a bit huh?"
"Yea, we'll be okay."
"I think we should take turns in the bed Dad, your back will break if you sleep in this thing."
"Yea, I'll wait until I've spoken to the Army, they were going to be doing the rescues."
"Well I'm going to try sleep again, thank you for the snuggles, sorry about your truck."
I nodded off for a while sitting in the chair, my radio chirping woke me up.
"This is Major Lewis, 5th Brigade, calling any civilian in range." Said the man when I clicked ready.
"This is Marcus Black, Rosemount farm."
"Ah Mr Black, we spoke to your wife and parents, your family is safe but we're having a hard time getting to you, are you safe or do I need to call for a helicopter and get to you sooner?"
"I'm safe, I'm in a grade four bunker but the entrance has what's left of my house dumped on it. I'm good here for an extended period, you can get to those in need first."
"Appreciate that Sir, wait, I'm being handed drone camera footage right now, bare with me."
After about 5 minutes he came back on.
"Mr Black, I wish I had better news, you weren't kidding about the house. I'll need heavy equipment to get you out but the roads leading to you will take time to clear and rebuild. As you can imagine that's going to take some effort on already stretched resources. Grade four means you have food, power and water right?"
"I do Major, I prepped for 3 years for 3 people but since there's only 2 of us I'm good for longer. I know you won't take that long but seriously, please help those in more need first. If my girl doesn't go insane without her internet we'll be okay down here until you can dig us out."
"We'll get to you as quick as we can, if anything changes you ask for me directly okay, your family is well respected in this community and we won't forget you."
"Thank you Major, I appreciate your men and their efforts, I'm sure this is a tough time for everyone."
I turned off the radio and got up out of my chair. I looked over the supplies for the hundredth time and took out some oatmeal to stop my stomach growling at me. I could hear Kelly moving around, I knocked on the main room door, she answered in just a towel.
"I'm making some oatmeal, are you hungry?"
"Oh yes please, I'm going to take a shower if that's okay."
"Of course it is, leave it running when you get out, call me and I'll take one after you so it's not heating twice."
"I remember Dad."
I served the oatmeal and ate mine while she showered, I'd finished by the time she yelled that she was out, as I got to the door I could hear her swearing.
"What's wrong Kelly?" I said, she opened the door in tears, her hair wet and wearing just the towel again.
"I picked up the wrong fucking bag, Amber was giving me some lingerie she got too thin for, I threw it next to my grab bag and got that one instead. All I have is my sleeping t-shirt and a whole lot of skimpy bra's and panties that I'm sure my own father wouldn't care to see me in."
"So you're telling me I need to turn the heat up a little?" I said smiling, holding in a laugh.
"It's not funny."
"I can give you a couple of my shirts to lounge in sweetie, you'll be okay."
"Where is your bag, you were checking everything, I don't remember you having it when we got in here."
"Shit, I know I got it out of my room, put it down to hand you a poncho, didn't pick it back up again."
"Um, I could give you some panties to lounge around in." Said Kelly, grinning.
"Well, I guess we'll be doing laundry more often!" We both laughed
"My shirt smells, I was going to shower and change but with getting over here in a panic I didn't. Is it okay if I just wear my robe until we can wash our stuff?"
"Well, I don't have a robe so laundry will have to wait until one of us are sleeping."
"Meaning when you are sleeping, last time you washed our clothes you shrunk everything and dyed it all green."
"Well I need to change, these clothes smell bad, I'll shower and just sit in my towel and let you wash them.