6:00 Hours: A Dystopian Novel by Chad Evercroft

like earthquakes or losing power and water.
                  “By naming the risks, you can have more control over your fear,” Danny explained. “You have a better idea of how to prepare, what specific supplies to stock up on. Saying vague buzz phrases like “be prepared for anything” just overwhelms everyone and doesn’t take into account the more pressing dangers for people depending on their location and individual needs. Take ownership of your survival. Focus on surviving well.”
                  What Danny loved most - before teaching or web design - was his family. He was outside playing with his twin sons Jesse and Hunter the day hell took up residence on earth for six hours.
                  The day was humid, nearly unbearably so. Sweat ran down in lines down Danny’s back as he tossed softballs for Jesse and Hunter, who took turns trying to hit it with their baseball bats. Their swings were improving. They scrunched up their identical faces in concentration each time the ball flew towards them. When the bat made contact with the ball, their eyes lit up and they looked to their father for praise.
                  “Great job!” Danny would yell in their direction. “You’ll be hitting home runs in no time!”
                  The front yard was large and more often than not strewn with various toys like softballs, makeshift soccer goals, and horseshoes. Jesse and Hunter were very active children and despite his chair-bound job, Danny made a point of encouraging outside play and participating in it himself. He was in the middle of making a big show of pitching the softball when Miranda called him from the front door.
                  “Danny! Phone!”
                  “Ok, thanks!”
                  Danny handed the ball to Jesse as he headed for the door.
                  “Throw this for your brother, ok? But underhand. And try not to hit him with it.”
                  Danny took the phone from Miranda’s hand and put the receiver to his ear.
                  “Hello.”
                  “Hi, Danny. It’s Bill.”
                  “Afternoon, Bill. What’s up?”
                  “The clients looked over the website and they liked just about everything.”
                  “Just about?”
                  Danny walked into his office and took a seat in his swivel chair. He turned slowly in a circle as he listened to his current boss talk.
                  “They didn’t think the school colors were prominent enough,” Bill explained.
                  Danny winced. His most recent project was for a charter school that wanted to update its web presence. The first assignment was to redo its main website, but Danny hated the color scheme the school wanted: forest green and gold. He had put the school’s logo on the top of the page and kept the rest of the background a cream hue, but apparently the school wanted more.
                  “What do they want instead?”
                  “They weren’t specific.”
                  “Naturally.”
              “I suggested some stuff, like having the tabs be green instead of black, maybe throwing in a gold font here and there.”
                  “Ugh.”
                  “It doesn’t matter if you like it or not, Danny.”
                  “I know, I know, but anything other than simple black font tends to not look professional. Did you tell them that?”
                  “Basically.”
                  “Basically?”
              “Just play around with it a bit. Add more of the colors. Maybe they’ll hate it and go with the original design.”
                  “Sure,