THE TOWER… Write about a city under attack.
The sky was stained black and the acrid smell of smoke hung in the air. Sirens were wailing in the distance, getting closer and closer but not quick enough.
Gasps and moans came from all directions, voices too weak to make sounds any louder than that. The echo of the explosion rang sharply in their ears.
The smoke stung their eyes, tears trying to wash it away but only succeeded in making dirty tracks in their soot-stained faces.
They hadn't stopped it in time. Hadn't seen tell warning signs. Were there even any warning signs?
The world wavered, everything shimmering. Was it because of the heat or because of head injuries? The bomb had flung them back an impressive distance into a metal fence, if the location of what used to be the building's door was anything to go by. The force and heat had burned crisscross marks into the backs of their jackets. He assumed that the force of the explosion had flung them from the door, he only remembered Kensi shouting for them all to get out and shoving the outside door open.
"-llen, Sam!"
"Kensi! Deeks!"
Those voices, they were familiar. Where were they coming from?
"Callen, Sam, do you read me?"
Oh, it was in their ears. They'd had comms in, he'd forgotten. Surprisingly, they hadn't got damaged in the blast.
"Agents Callen and Hanna!" came the same voice in a far more distressed tone. It was feminine.
Nell, it was Nell. Which meant the other voice was Eric.
It seemed like the four of them inhaled in unison. And then promptly coughed violently as the thick smoke filled their lungs. It was pervasive and sickening.
"We hear you," Sam managed to cough out in a somewhat controlled tone.
The world went hazy again and then was sharply in focus. Too much focus. He blinked rapidly. Everything was too bright. Too strong. It was like a movie had been sped up, everyone moving at full tilt but you were standing still. Nauseating, that's what it was.
He felt the world spin again. Kensi stumbled into him or did he stumble into her?
"Deeks," she mumbled, eyes darting all around her, frantic.
The tang of copper filled his mouth. He wiped his hand across it, it came back smeared with blood. Poking his tongue around the inside of his mouth, he found all the teeth that were meant to be there so none of them had been knocked out.
"You good, G?" Sam asked him, his worried face filling his vision.
There was a cut on his cheek. It was oozing, did Sam know?
Callen hesitantly nodded, thankful that the world stayed upright this time.
"Kensi?" he heard Deeks' raspy voice ask from behind.
They all spun around, expecting the worst. Deeks smiling face greeted them. Oh, he was injured but it was like all of them; cuts and bumps as opposed to something life-threatening like they were expecting. Relief flooded through him
"You all look like crap," Deeks joked weakly.
"Better than you," Kensi retorted quickly, her eyes sweeping her partner up and down.
"You always are," Deeks said under his breath as he did the same to her.
"All good?" Callen checked, noticing that their Detective walked with a slight limp.
It was difficult to even form these simple words. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth, like the heat had soldered it down.
"Piece of door fell on my foot," Deeks explained when Callen's gaze fell on said appendage. "It didn't break anything," he assured them, predicting their next question.
Sam hummed next to him in disbelief.
"I'm good, bruised and probably going to be multicoloured tomorrow, but good," Deeks said vehemently.
Callen gave him a long, searching look before nodding sharply. Deeks slumped in relief though Kensi still gave him a worried look as she pressed herself next to her partner.
"You're bleeding," Deeks announced, plucking at her sleeve that was closest to him.
She pulled it and dismissed his concern with a, "Barely."
"Let me see," Sam said in exasperation, reaching for her arm.
Sighing heavily, Kensi peeled back her sleeve to reveal a long gash. Sam turned her arm around to give him a better look.
"A scrape," he announced after careful analysis. "Probably just need to be cleaned and kept covered."
"Thank you, Dr Hanna," Kensi said sarcastically.
Callen was glad for the slight distraction so he could gather his wits about him. His thoughts still felt slow and sluggish in his head, like treacle.
"What the he'll went wrong here?" he asked of them, turning to face the building
"But why plant the bomb here?" Callen asked them. "This was to be a meeting place, there would have been nothing here."
"Knew we were onto them?" Kensi suggested somewhat doubtfully.
They had been very discreet. On top of their game.
"Wanted to get rid of the guy who was meeting the controller here?" Deeks threw his own two cents in.
A bit more realistic but didn't quite fit their suspect's profile.
"Attention," Sam finally said into their silence.
Callen nodded slowly in agreement, his head still throbbing.
"This is downtown," said Callen.
"Always busy," Deeks added.
"For locals and tourists," Kensi finished.
"The perfect place to get a large number of casualties," Sam determined, frowning. "Which they probably got. The media will be all over it."
"If they aren't already," Callen said, pointing to the sky.
There was a media helicopter overhead in all its obnoxious glory. If they strained their ears, the faint buzzing noise of the chopper could be heard.
Kensi shielded her eyes with her hand as she peered at it, "Surely it can't see anything through the smoke."
"How many people do you think were inside?" Deeks asked worriedly.
"It was packed," Kensi reminded them. "Loads of people were outside too."
'CRASH'
They watched a chunk of the building tumble down and shatter only several feet away from them. The pieces skidded across the ground, smearing the blood along their path.
"This whole building's unstable, " said Sam, looking at it critically.
A fire truck flew past them only to come to a screeching halt just around the corner. Help had arrived.
"We need to figure out what we missed," said Callen, rubbing his hand across his face in frustration.
"Who we missed," Deeks added.
They glanced across the street where people were starting to mill around, attracted to the gore or searching for loved ones.
"There still out there," Callen said softly.
Los Angeles was burning and they didn't know what they could do.