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Chapter rating: T

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All mistakes are my own. I hope you enjoy :)

13th August

The tropical low is now a category one cyclone named Deanne, the system is expected to intensify over the next couple of days, as it heads towards land, and makes landfall around 50km north of Caprica City late afternoon on Thursday as a category four system. We're expecting to see around 1,000m of rain and winds of up to 215km near the eye of the storm which is expected to span 52km.

"Well it looks like we're going to be in for an interesting few days, we'll have to get the laundry set up, as it's the only room that has completely reinforced concrete walls and a roof" Bill said switching the news off.

"Yeah, I'll head to the supermarket tomorrow morning to pick up some more water and canned goods. I guess the schools will be making an announcement too tomorrow about attendance" Laura replied running through a checklist in her head.

"Sounds good, I guess we should tell the kids when the wake up in the morning, I don't want them to worry about it too much though" Bill said knowing these kinds of big storms, could be quite scary for young children.

"Me either, but they'll feel okay if we're calm" Laura replied reassuringly.

"Come on we better get to bed, sounds like we'll have a big day ahead of us" Bill added helping Laura off the couch and picking up the baby monitor.

"Okay, the twins will probably wake for their next feeding soon anyway" Laura replied following Bill up the stairs.

14th August

"I've got good and bad news for you three, the school just emailed and said class is still on today, but the school will be closed for the rest of the week after that" Laura said walking into the kitchen, where everyone but the twins was eating breakfast.

"Dammit" Zak replied sighing.

"Zachary, language" Bill said giving his son a pointed glare.

"Sorry" Zak replied sheepishly.

"So that means you all need to get a move on, so you're not late" Laura said seriously, while looking at the children with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay" the trio sighed, shoveling down the rest lf their breakfast, before running upstairs to get changed.

"How did you go at the shops?" Bill asked that evening, as the couple prepared dinner.

"Good, I was able to get a couple packets of AA batteries, as well as 10 cans of baked beans, they didn't have any of Zak's favourite kind though, oh an I also got 8L of bottled water, so that plus the bathtub filled up should cover our water consumption for a few days" Laura replied placing potatoes in the oven.

"Good, I know a few people at work were saying all the shelves were pretty much empty, when they tried to go to the store at lunch. Luckily I also got some fuel after I dropped the kids off at school, because I heard on the radio, that this afternoon there were huge queues at every gas station" Bill said checking on the chicken and vegetable casserole.

"Yeah Ellen called this afternoon and said it was chaotic when she went to get some long life milk" Laura replied walking over to Bill and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I haven't spoken to Saul yet, did Ellen say what they were doing during the cyclone?" Bill asked running his hands through her hair.

"They're going to drive to Ellen's parents place and stay there for a couple days. They were going to leave early tomorrow morning though, since it's a five hour drive and they didn't want to be on the roads come afternoon" Laura replied resting her head against his chest.

"That's good, I'll have to give Saul a call before we go to bed, just to make sure he doesn't need any help" Bill said before kissing the top of her head.

"Sounds like a good idea. I hope the twins and Katie don't get to upset during the cyclone" Laura replied grimacing, "three crying toddlers/infants would be a nightmare".

"Oh that reminds me, when I was at the gas station, they had these construction type headphones for children. I don't know how well they'll work, but I grabbed three pairs, and they're adjustable, so we should be able to get them to fit the twins" Bill said smiling.

"Definitely worth a shot, it would be good if we could get the kids to sleep most of the storm" Laura replied kissing him softly.

15th August

"Where have all the birds gone, I can't hear them outside?" Kara asked as she helped Laura pick up the toys scattered over the backyard.

"They must know the cyclone is coming and have gone to a place where they can be safe" Laura replied collecting the multitude of pyramid balls strewn around the garden.

"Oh, I hope they're not scared and the Mommy and Daddy birds have found them all a nice place to stay" Kara said as she grabbed the last of the sand pit toys.

"I'm sure they have" Laura replied walking over to Kara and kissing the top of her head, "come on let's go and put these all inside, then we can check how the boys are going with the laundry".

"Okay, hopefully they brought down my triad cards, I told Daddy three times to make sure he understood" Kara said seriously.

"Well they might not have got them down yet, they have a big job ahead of them setting up the laundry for us all, but we'll make sure they're in there by the time we bunker down" Laura replied rubbing the young girl's back softly.

16th August

24 hours later wind and rain began pounding against their house and the power started to flicker on and off, however they were all comfortable, which was something. With a little bit of force and luck they'd managed to fit two single mattresses in the laundry, so Kara, Lee and Zak had made themselves comfortable one one, while Laura, Bill, Katie and the twins were settled on the other.

"How about we play a board game?" Laura suggested as the kids became restless, and she sifted a sleeping Emma in her lap. It turns out the headphones Bill had purchased worked quite well, and had allowed the twins and Katie to fall asleep without too much trouble.

"Yes, we could play the bucaneer monopoly I got for my birthday" Lee said scrambling up from the ground and over to the stack of items they'd placed in the laundry to keep everyone occupied.

"Yeah I haven't played that yet" Bill added enthusiastically, trying to cheer the children up. Although this wasn't the first cyclone the kids had been through, this was the first cyclone they remembered, so he and Laura were keen to distract the kids as much as possible from the sound of the howling wind and pouring rain.

"I'll set it up" Lee replied pulling all of the pieces out of the box and placing them between everybody.

"I pway too" Katie said sitting in Bill's lap.

"How about you and I play as a team" Bill offered, knowing the little girl had no concept of the game.

"Otay" Katie replied happily, picking up the paper money Lee placed in front of her.

17th August

"You all have to stay in the car" Bill said as the family pulled out of their driveway the next day, and went to survey the damage Deanne had done to the neighbouring surroundings. Luckily it seemed apart from a large amout of debris there wasnt any water or physical damange to the houses in their street, however as they ventured further out of their immediate surroundings and towards the flood plains, they began to see large piles of damage goods on the curbs outside houses, most of which from the looks of the water line were due to flood damage.

"Wow, there's so much stuff on the ground" Zak commented looking at the foliage strewn over the road and sidewalk.

"There is, these people weren't as lucky as we were" Laura replied thankful the only major effects of the cyclone on them, were a loss of power and a massive cleanup needed in their yard.

"Well maybe Dad, Kara, Zak and I could come down and offer to help these people clean up" Lee offered kindly, "I'd say Katie and the twins too, but they'd just get in the wat".

"I Atie" Katie added smiling proudly at the sound of her name.

"Yes you are" Laura replied chuckling, "that's a great idea Lee, I'm proud of you for thinking of that".

"Yes that's a wonderful idea, we'll come down tomorrow and see how we can help" Bill said smiling at the kids through the rear view mirror, he was immensely proud of the young man his oldest son was slowly becoming.

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