Day 94 by D.M. Slate -- The "true" meaning of house arrest (4.7 of 5 Panic Attacks)

Imagine being trapped inside your own home. You, your significant other, your kids… All unable to leave because you could be infected and then who would take care of your family? Now imagine being stuck inside your house like this for months. No food other than what you have in your home; no electricity; no real running water and, more importantly, no idea of what is really going on or when it will end.

They don't understand, and we don't want to frighten them, so we turned it into a game of sorts. We told the kids it's a contest to see which family can stay inside the house the longest, and that we really want to win. That seemed to work for now… (Slate, Day 94, Eternal Press)

D.M. Slate does just that. She makes you see what life would be like through the eyes of one mother as she survives the results of a meteor strike near her home with her husband and two kids. And Slate holds no punches in this profoundly thought out story.

Slate should have named this story 94 minutes because the reader is pulled into her world and nothing moves slowly when you have crazed people outside your home and two children who need your protection to survive. For a parent of two children myself, this is a must read. Not because of the possibility of some outbreak like Slate describes, but because of the level of commitment a parent feels toward their child…that ability to protect your flesh and blood to the death…even from those closest to you.

And to further the horror Slate describes, she also has an alternate ending listed on her website (http://www.dm-slate.com/)... An ending far darker than the original, yet still portraying that loving spirit of a real parent.

Slate knows what true horror is! It's not gore, but that deep rooted terror that is felt in the direst of moments and Slate has found a way to voice that in Day 94. This story will stick with me for a long time.