Waiting For Instructions

"What are you doing?" I asked my oldest girl.
"I'm waiting for instructions" she said back with a scared look in her eyes.

Last night the power went out. Just like I always do when this happens I stepped out on the front porch and

looked around to see how many was out this time. I can see for miles out here and I can even see the nearest town five miles away. Most of the time a glow is on the horizon from all the street lights and the businesses, but this time it was dark.

"The whole town is out of power" I announced to whoever was listening. One daughter was stuck at work and the oldest, along with the wife was at home with me.
I was really dreading this. The hot summer night was just on the other side of the windows and I figured we had just a couple hours before it was in the house. With the whole town out something big must have happen and the wife and I were already in prepper mode.
Without saying a word, we did our assigned tasks then waited.

"This is it isn't it!!!" the girl asked.

"This is what?" I asked back

"The end, it's started"

The wife quickly turned on the police scanner and we sat listening to the hectic rambling coming over the airwaves.
Major power outages and fires all along the highway. Reckless drivers were already out and people were out of their houses and on the move. Police were being dispatched for possible looting and to secure certain areas.

"This is it, OMG" The daughter kept saying.

I looked over at her and she was just standing in the middle of the living room. The flickering glow from the emergency candles lit up only half her face. Even in the dim room I could see she was scared.

With a slight chuckle I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for instructions!" she said back in almost a military like manner.

I don't know if she was wanting me sound the "Call to arms" signal or what, but all I said was, "Don't open the refrigerator." I think she was a little disappointed.

The power outage only lasted an hour. The fires were put out long before they reached anything important. In just one hour without modern conveniences the town went crazy. I can only imagine what would happen if this was "IT".