-Police Officer-
About five hours ago, we were put on full alert. Somehow, someone was claiming to have planted explosives all over a whole block of buildings. We might have taken the risk, but he blew up one charge 'to prove his sincerity'. He said he'd give us five hours to evacuate the whole block before he blew it up. So evacuate we did. I was put on the job of manning the barricades in the middle of the road. Of course we traced his phone signal - it led to a public phone booth, empty by the time we reached it, of course. The really strange thing about this is that he didn't demand anything - not a thing. No money, nothing. It's like he just wanted to blow something up, without anyone getting hurt. I don't understand. I shouldn't think I ever will; I can't understand most of the people I meet. In fact, I have enough problems understanding some of my colleagues sometimes. I look around. The road here is deserted but for this barricade, two others of us, and of course the car we got here in. I check my watch. We have about five minutes. Suddenly, something streaks past me. I instinctively throw myself flat, as I'm expecting an explosion, but then I notice that it was coming from the other way. That and it was blue. There's only one thing I can think of that's blue and travels really fast, or should that be one person - Sonic the Hedgehog, world-famous hero. Some instinct tells me to look up, and sure enough, there's a speck outlined against the sky that must be his friend Tails. They shouldn't be here; I take out the megaphone and shout up.
"TURN BACK! YOU CAN'T GO ANY FURTHER! IT'S DANGEROUS! NO ACCESS!"
An answering shout drifts down to my ears.
"I can't, we've got to get in there before it blows up, and the hostage with it!"
Hostage?! No-one said anything about a hostage. Tails has sped further on; I'll not be able to hear him if he says anything else. Then I get it. I raise the megaphone again, yelling after him. My two companions cover their ears.
"IT'S A TRAP! TURN BACK!" But deep inside I know they won't, even if they do hear me. A lot can happen in five minutes. I just hope they'll get out.
Four minutes.
Three minutes.
Two minutes. The others have ducked behind cover. I do the same. We can't leave, though, in case anyone tries to come through, not that that's too likely. Still, out here we should be well out of the blast radius.
One minute. I hope they've left by some other road. I stare up to the sky and whisper a wish for luck.
Thirty seconds. I'm very afraid. The palms of my hands are slippery on my radio.
Fifteen seconds. Still no sign of them. I hope they left through another road.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
A tremendous boom shatters the air about me. I feel a tremor through the ground, see a light round the edge of this shelter. It goes as quickly as it came, and I emerge. The suspect block, as well as several around it, is destroyed. The buildings on the edge of the destruction zone are in bad shape. HQ judged our positions nicely; we're just inside the unharmed zone. The ambulances were positioned a bit further away in case of a miscalculation, but I hear their sirens coming now. I hope there was no-one left in there to get hurt.
An ambulance pulls up at our barrier and I let it through. Oh, how I hope that there was nobody in there. Please, let it be so. Let it be so.