Genevieve sees the silent light begin to flood through the windows and knows it’s come at last. The roaring in her ears follows soon after.

It’s been a slow day and there’s nobody else in Marks General & Sundry, so she doesn’t have to worry. She hobbles over to one side of the counter: there’s a rotary file there, sitting on an ancient school desk.

The light’s beginning to wash away all color as Genevieve, strength fading, topples the desk towards the blast and sits down behind it. Duck and cover, the way her students would recite together. Cover and duck.