There was actually time for thought – I remember thinking how strange that was afterwards – not the panicked sort of thoughts, either, more slight confusion when a prolonged sizzling sound filled the tin tent and there was no logical reason for it. We were not on the mains, not connected to the grid at all. By that stage in our life out in the wilderness, we had a generator that charged up some batteries, but at that moment there was nothing plugged in, no power going to anywhere and the generator wasn’t running – so where was the sizzling coming from?

The thought lasted far shorter than the time it takes to read the above paragraph. The sizzling ended with a loud pop immediately followed by a BOOM!!! At that point instinct took over. One moment I was standing in the middle of the dug out room, wondering what was going on, the next I had hurled myself onto the bed in a curled up position. I don’t remember making the move.

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