The ground didn’t just shake — it warned. Sirens echoed across Kodiak as an 8.2 earthquake tore beneath the sea, sending phones buzzing and families racing into the darkness toward higher ground. For hours, the Pacific felt like it might rise and erase everything in its path.

On Woody Island, children clutched flashlights and songbooks as they climbed into the night, their voices unsteady, matching the fear around them. Staff hauled generators and supplies uphill, building a makeshift refuge under calm skies that felt unsettlingly wrong. Elsewhere, parents stared at tsunami maps, each update a silent threat.

Far away in Cold Bay, a lodge manager felt the floor roll like a slow wave, watching fragile glass sway as if ready to shatter. The land moved, held its breath, and waited with everyone else.

By dawn, the ocean stayed put. The tsunami warning was lifted, and damage remained limited. What lingered was a stark reminder: in southern Alaska, the earth never truly rests — it only pauses between alarms.