He definitely knows how to get to Radio Shack from the school.

They can go there, then!

… It's a bit windy. Shine drops him off at the door.

He runs in - is there still a cashier here or has he been evacuated?

There's someone just about to leave the store with a coat! He brushes past Terry and goes out the door.

So, no cashier anymore, at least.

Eh, he'll make a list of what he took. Maybe. Making lists takes time.

Cheap radio: Get! Cell phone charger: Get! And then to the 'Miscellaneous electrical parts' section, aisles of little boxes filled with tiny chips and resistors and solenoids and so on.

The back rooms have soldering equipment, lucky!

He spends twenty minutes or until Relay tells him things are heating up attaching bits that ought to clean up the signal and, better, widen its effective arc of coverage.

He doesn't need to be in the center of the storm, anyway, it's just that he might be able to help protect a few people where the rest of them can't.

Shine has disappeared but will return shortly if asked to return by Relay.

He tests it, of course, and then fixes the problems that this shows.

Relay, this thing is as good as it's going to get without more parts and hours of work and you'd know more than me where I can help.

And he calls his parents again - cell phones still seem to be working, at least for now, maybe they plan the network structure for things like this, and they're already leaving. That's certainly a relief.

He sends the mental equivalent of a nod and gives a direction for him to go in.

Shine is along shortly to pick him up.

"You know where Relay is sending me." It's not a question. "Thanks."

...He looks a little sick. But determined.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," says Shine. "But you should be mostly safe – you won't be too near the center of it."

"Jes- I'm more worried about everyone around me than me. If my family, all my friends, got out, but even then everyone is someone's son or daughter or mom or dad."

Shine shrugs. "You'll notice I'm doing it – it's just, if you're not sure then you'll likely be more hindrance than help."

But since he apparently is sure, Shine grabs him by the shoulders and accelerates away.

Yeah, he's sure. And he's not about to do something impulsive, he's pretty much going to stand there and be vigilant for flying debris, or whatever Relay says to do.

He's not going to be too near the center of the action, no. Shine puts him down a short distance away from a housing estate – somewhere a bit windier than near the Radio Shack but still safe, out of the way of the danger.

There are storm clouds up above, and the sound of thunder in the distance.

He's directed to make sure people have left or are leaving the area.

He's not subtle about it. Running up to doors and banging on them and shouting 'only bring essentials nothing that slows you down'... He flares his shield for emphasis if it seems like his authority to issue evacuation orders will be questioned.

A lot of people are already leaving! Some seem panicky, some are also trying to notify others, some seem to be having hurried phone calls, and one person is fretting over their flowerbeds but being shouted at by someone nearby.

Most of them are receptive to his authority. The shield definitely adds gravity to his claims, though it might also be helped by the thunder.

Flowerbeds.

If the storm hits here her flowerbeds will be gone whether or not she's still here and they can always be replanted, won't you please evacuate ma'am?

She's worried but she does recognize that it's somewhat ridiculous! It's just– she put all this effort into it and this place isn't very hurricane-prone and she bought the flood protection on her insurance because it was really underpriced for how bad it'd be if it flooded and how frequently it could flood and she read a brochure for what to do in a scenario like this but the insurance company might not cover it because it's an act of god and she's worried about her petunias, she's worked so goddamned hard on her garden!

She does, however, have most of her essentials quite neatly packed and is gradually moving towards her car.

He makes sympathetic noises as appropriate and moves on once she's clearly moving carward, doubling back to check that she actually left a few houses later.

She does in fact seem to be leaving, along with a neighbor who is carless.

Other people have a wide range of problems, but most can be convinced to leave quite easily or are already being convinced by their neighbors. Quite a few houses seem to already be empty, and the whole estate doesn't take too long to check through.

The storm is definitely getting worse. It's darker, much darker than it should be for the time, and the thunder is accompanied by intermittent flashes, though fortunately there is not yet any rain locally, only wind.

And Relay is told that this neighborhood is probably clear and he's now checking again - unless it'd be better to move on?

It'll apparently be quicker for Shine to get there, take a quick sweep through the area for visible stragglers, and then pick him up.

To the next place they go. It's a town a few over, skipping the other, smaller estates in the area that seem mostly done already, and then off Shine goes to presumably help out somewhere else nearby.

People seem to have more pets here. Not all of them are anywhere near as easy to transport – one of them has a small horse.

Agh, pets. 

Don't pack your pets' favorite beds or anything people, bring a little dog food along but your prize great dane's food in individual lunch baggies doesn't do them any good if everyone's still here and the storm gets too strong! He's just about run out of politeness about it, by now, as the urgency keeps going up.

People will move quicker! Angry person flaring their shield, they made a hero angry and their pets might be okay and– that thunder was really loud.

Most of them move along just fine. Some are a bit slow about it, but he can probably keep moving and expect them all to leave, sweep back through after like before.

It's a bigger area to cover than the last time.