EPISODE ELEVEN "out of the burning city/out of the shadows" SEASON 8
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JENSEN BARNES FEBRUARY 2010
"it's useless!" i yell, hitting the radio that is nothing but deserted news stations, void of people who ran at the first sound of explosions in the city, and static. i look to my brother through the open hatchback. his features are shadowed but i can still make out his straight, dark brows and light eyes.
"gas?" i ask, gripping the back of the tan leather seat my left knee is digging into.
"no." ben says finally. he digs his teeth into his bottom lip, mouthing, fuck.
out of gas, stuck on the crowed highway that's backed up for miles. i can't imagine what the highways closer to atlanta look like. we're only a few minutes from of the city and the traffic is already impossible to get through.
ben slams the hatchback door and comes around to the passengers side. "no one's answering either." he says, talking about his friends. "we need to get to dobbins, they'll know what to do there. they'll be there."
dobbins air reserve base.
an explosion so strong it rattles our eardrums comes from a few miles behind us. we duck, and cars around us slam into each other—horns blaring, alarms going off in a repetitive cry.
"we need to get off the main roads."
more fire, more bombs like the ones that first hit the city two hours ago, erupt and an entire neighborhood in the distance goes black from the surge—a power outage i can't imagine will be fixed anytime soon.
"they're gonna bomb past atlanta."
"no they won't."
"they're gonna wipe us all out, they're gonna hit us even if we—"
"look at me." ben grabs the collar of my jacket, forcing me to turn back around. "we're gonna be fine."
"even if we aren't sick, ben, they're gonna kill us! you think all of atlanta is sick with that virus? they're killing people for no reason!"
my brother's jaw clenches, quick breaths in and out of his nose, "we'll walk."
"what?"
"this traffic isn't gonna move." he looks ahead at the highway, everyone's outside of their cars, meandering about in a panic of not knowing what to do next since something miles ahead has blocked us from moving any farther. "we'll walk." he repeats.
"where?" i follow him to the back of our car. "we're gonna walk all the way to dobbins?" i raise my voice over the chaos around us.
"it's not that far." he says, grabbing our bags and hauling them over his shoulders. i quickly help.
