Dry

At John Wayne Airport, a boy named Dalton and his sister and mother try to fly to his divorced father’s place in Portland, Oregon. The moment his mother heard news of the Tap-Out, she bought tickets. The airport is incredibly busy, and the flight is oversold. Unfortunately, they’re bumped, and the gate agent barely manages to schedule them for a flight the next day. However, the family keeps losing their spots and being bumped, and they never make it onto a plane.

Day Two: Sunday, June 5th

Kelton’s dad once told him that the world has three types of people: sheep, wolves, and herders. His family members are herders because they navigate between the other groups. Kelton remembers his dad explaining it:

We’re the select few with the power of choice, and when the real danger arises, we’ll be the ones who survive—and not just because we own a 357 Magnum, three glock G19’s, and a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, but because we’ve been prepping, in every possible badass way, since as long as I can remember (29-30).

Since it’s extremely hot outside, Kelton goes to his small bug-out, a fortified treehouse in his backyard. He watches as Mr. Burnside, head of the neighborhood HOA, approaches the house with a gift. Mr. Burnside speaks to Kelton’s father and suggests that the neighborhood pool resources, but Kelton’s dad is skeptical.

After a night of swapping Day One stories with friends, Alyssa wakes up. Out of habit, she tries to shower, only to remember that they have no water. Given the situation, she can’t make herself care about homework. Instead, she walks to her friend Sofia’s house. As she walks, Alyssa thinks about how people’s front gardens have changed since prior water restrictions went into effect. At Sofia’s, Alyssa finds her friend’s family packing. They’re heading to visit family in Mexico, and Sofia seems sad. Back at home, Alyssa’s dad proposes a water ration, and dinner—which was cooked with limited water—is sub-par. Suddenly, the lights flicker, and Alyssa’s father begins to look worried. At night, Alyssa wakes up to find her uncle packing to leave. He says that he doesn’t want to use up more of the family resources, so he’s going to stay with his sometimes-girlfriend Daphne.

KZLA new anchor Lyla Singh, who’s busy with frequent news updates, hears the crew discussing how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is neglecting California in favor of dealing with Hurricane Noah elsewhere in the country. The governor comes on air to say that the government is bringing water in trucks to California from as far away as Wyoming. Lyla’s co-anchor, Chase, thinks that the situation is getting bad. Lyla notices that people are leaving the station and that the water is disappearing. She heads out on the station chopper and convinces the pilot to take her somewhere with water.