Excerpt: Tentative Title: Limen

Ring. Ring. Ring.
“Hello?”
“Casey…Casey – “
“Reine? Honey, what’s wrong?”
Sob. “Turn on the TV. It’s Chicago.”
Click
“ – about four square miles of the Greater Chicago Area. Emergency Response is currently searching through and excavating what little rubble there is in search of survivors. There is currently no word on the official death toll, but authorities estimate it could be as high as 50,000. Again, just under an hour ago, the worst tragedy to happen on American soil occurred; an area of about four square miles of the Greater Chicago Area has disappeared leaving only the rubble and ruins of buildings. The President – “
“Oh my God. Reine, are you OK?”
“It’s my parents, Casey. The phone lines are down. I can’t get through to them. I…I don’t know.”
“I’ll be right over,” Casey said. “Honey, I love you. I’ll be right there.” He stopped himself from saying it would be OK. He could make no such guarantee. How quickly such platitudes had been phased out of the everyday language of the people.