Bennie and I slowly got up from the railing we ducked from. Looking at the "grand fireball" as I like to describe it. As I slowly stood up, Bennie said "My life flashed before my eyes Richie."

My eyebrows twitched. I only seldom hear him call me Richie. It's when something spooked him or bothered him too much that he wanted an outlet to let his emotions calm down again.

I looked at him and I saw him frowning thinking deeply about something. Oh boy. It's that look again. He always gave me the look when thinking about something particularly, despairingly, and utterly important. Then he will shrug it off like it's "None of your goddamn business." and...

"It's nothing," Bennie said.

There it is. As true as the sun might rise from the west. If you don't know Bennie, you'll shrug it off like it's nothing but for me who in particular been saved by his intuition hundreds or even thousands of times. You must not ignore it. Look, call me superstitious or even cultish. Some people in this world calculate things faster than they realize that what they are calculating is important. I for one won't ignore my best friend's dilemma. He's like my traffic light on a busy Monday morning. Time to figure his thoughts out.

"Listen, Bennie," I said while removing my hard hat. "Whatever you're thinking. However useless you think it is. Tell me. Might be important might not but at least it would give you peace of mind letting it out of your chest. Maybe help us even." I'm starting to feel it too. Something is wrong. That explosion. The border lockdown. Fuck I was lucky that wasn't some nuclear fallout I was thinking before but all in all. Something is wrong. We just don't know what.

He removed his hard hat saying. " You might think I'm crazy but something isn't right here." He said. No shit Sherlock! I'm not stupid. You see you don't interrupt people like Bennie while explaining stuff, because his mind will short-circuit and say "Uhm. What were we talking about again?" It's better to let him say it all before discussing it.

" I was browsing the internet for the last few days..." He said. "More like beating your meat over some gay porno." I quipped. "Shut up," he replied while punching my shoulder. What? Sorry, I couldn't help it. "As you were," I replied while chucking. "Okay. They said accidents have risen in the past few days and some fucking fever is going rampant in the city and they also said that border patrol is out on full force." He stated.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"And? How is that our problem?" I replied. We are in a government facility location undisclosed due to NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreements) mind you. A few kilometers away from the city undisclosed too. Yeah, how many backwater dealings do you think the government has like duh at least the pay is good. We were just technicians. Even if we knew what was happening what could Bennie and I do? We were just technical engineers fresh out of college.

"Yeah, you're right." He replied." Come on let's get some sleep. We got work tomorrow." I replied.

As I was gazing in the distance looking at the flaming torrent that was rising from the sky looking like a dragon spewing its fiery breath. "Yup, something is wrong alright. It's not every day someone blows up a gas tanker or a gas station in the middle of the night. Oh dear Murphy."

~~~~~~~~~

Border City, *Redacted*

People screaming and running from place to place. Jumping from the higher floors of buildings. Violence is out in force. Gunshots rang all around, a cacophony of screams crashes, fires, sirens, explosions, and vehicles. It was like an opera. An order in the chaos. There is beauty and certainty that despite the chaos there was an orderly process to it. If you observe closely, flocks of people are running away from another flock of people. Grappling, punching, kicking crying, gurgling and.

.. moaning.

Like a rasp of a whisper. Like a rusted pipe being gritted into another rusted pipe. Never a shout nor just a whisper but a timber. A constant sound that echoes through the night.

Slowly but surely. Slow and steady.

A person lying on the wall of an alley. Like a ragdoll thrown out after being played lay sprawled by the wall. Blood all over his mechanic shirt. He twitched. Like a jolt of electricity after a good night's sleep. He stood but fell on his face. He tried and fell again. Slowly but surely he stood up and moaned. That rasping voice, slow and steady. He walked slowly toward the chaos of the night.