Follow The Buzzards

VIII (Dean's Story)

Dean's perspective.
Moments before the blast.
Just as the doors shut.

×××××

I could see Ellie make it inside. I was somewhere torn between relieved, and heartbroken. I wasn't going to make it.

I limped as fast as I could. My leg was still giving me a lot of pain ever since that officer bashed my knee with his baton. I pushed past people, stumbling over shoes that got left behind, some people left unconscious getting stepped over.

The timer on the screen started to count down to seconds. At this point I accepted there was no way I'd make it to the doors. Anyone who was still left outside was just too far back to make it through the crowd.

4.. 3.. 2.. 1..

I could see Ellie inside, she was slowly getting pushed towards the back no matter how hard she fought to stay up front for me. I stopped running. The doors slid shut before me. I watched her through the glass as she got absorbed into the crowd. Now I don't cry, but if there was ever a time for it, it would be now.

I collapsed to the dirt, ignoring the pain in my knee. What did it matter anymore. I looked around, I saw several people stand there unaware of what to do. Some who were close enough to the doors who just barely made it were pounding on the glass to be let inside. By now it looked like the people inside were being taken underground. That was the last I would ever see her.

Not too far from me was a man, with some kind of marking on his face, maybe a birthmark, holding his daughter, she was so young. He hugged her and wepped, still trying to look brave.

Then it started happening.

I heard a sharp whistle. Followed by a moment of silence. Then almost like looking directly into the sun, a light appeared on the horizon just where the heart of the city was. This light felt like it pierced through my skull. No matter how tightly I shut my eyes, I couldn't avoid it.

I brought myself to my feet slowly and slowly opened my eyes. The light had died down. Myself and the other onlookers squinted towards the source of the flash. Behind the light what was left was a massive mushroom cloud, an inferno raising up from city. Where there was once buildings and towers, was now dust and ashes.

The man with the little girl did not bother to look. The man had his forehead to hers. He was singing her a song to keep her eyes off the terror.

Seconds later, the shockwave reached us. I completely forgot about it. Without being able to brace myself, I was hit by a wall of force that threw me into the dirt. My ears were ringing, I couldn't hear a thing. I laid there looking up as the sky turned a unique hue of orange.

And then it turned... into.. into.. to black...

I woke up to the sound of gunfire. I didn't know how long I was out for. As I flickered my eyes at the sunset, I was startled by a man towering over me.

It was a soldier. A United States soldier. He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me up. He was pushing me towards a truck while aiming his rifle towards foreign gunfire in the distance.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, where are you taking me? What's going on?" I asked while keeping my head down.

He ignored my question and stood me by the truck. Next to me was that man. He look petrified. He was not with his girl. His shirt was torn and he looked covered in dirt and had some burns.

I couldn't bring myself to ask, so I peeked around the truck only to see part of the girls shirt laying in the dirt.

Her shirt scrap, a sandal, a tiny severed arm, a foot, remains of a little body, all laying around a crater. Seemed like what was the aftermath of a grenade.

With my jaw dropped I slowly turned around. The soldier came around the truck shouting orders at us, but only one sentence in his head snapped back. Blood pooled out his nose, and he collapsed before us. Whoever was shooting at us was getting close. We spotted another truck just ahead with two other survivors getting in the back. I made my run for it, but I stopped and came back.

I grabbed the man's arm and pulled him but he refused to go. He had given up.

"Look sir, you can think about what just happened after we leave this place. We have to go." I shouted over the gunfire.

He ignored me and tears grew in his eyes.

"Do you want to die here or live to fight back?" I shouted in his face.

He looked at me with fire in his eyes. Both of us ran after the truck as fast as we could. The truck spotted us as it began driving. They slowed down enough for us to catch up, and two soldiers reached out and pulled us in.

We sat in the back of this truck. Myself, this poor man who lost his girl, and a young couple probably a bit older than myself.

The soldiers told us to keep our heads down, maybe try and sleep, there was going to be a bit of a trip to somewhere safe.