"Colette, if you aren't well enough I could walk you home you know, you're really slow and looking pale this evening."
Clement had just about had enough of his sister for the evening. As they walked through the city and Clement being amused with what he had being seeing, Colette only gave bland and empty answers to the things Clement had been telling her, making their walk increasingly boring. He had pointed out the lights reflecting off the glass windows on skyscrapers covering wide ranges to the meeting and cheering happening around them to Colette, but she only seemed more distant to him.
"Oh, I said I'm fine!" Colette said back to him.
"Then why're you being so gloomy, you already missed a lot of great sites around, or didn't you want to come, you predicted this afterall," Clement said.
"I didn't exactly predict this and it was just a question I asked, no need to be dramatic Clement, besides I've already seen all this before," Colette said.
"Well I've seen them also with you in the car, it's just not as top notch when viewing it while walking," Clement said.
"Believe me, you have," Colette whispered to herself as she and Clement continued on their little adventure.
More than two hours passed before they got to the square, and Colette was starting to look more anxious. Her skin felt like she was sweating but the snowy evening froze the sweat before they completely came out of her pores. She was now feeling the chills in the environment more despite her heavy dressing, hoping, praying in her mind that Mercedes' plan would succeed.
They were allowed to join the crowd after being scanned, following their thirty-five minute wait in the queue. Colette was still feeling uneasy, she felt like she was standing on a mine, with hundreds of other people, yet couldn't think of a way to get them off it. People around her had said words of greetings to her, but she had been completely oblivious to them, making her look like some sort of snub. Clement, who had been standing beside her, jabbed her side with his elbow to get some reaction from Colette, to which she responded with a pained yelp.
"What's the big idea," she said to Clement with a frowned face while holding her left side.
"Just wanted to check if there was still life in that body," Clement said. "People have already greeted you and your responses have been quite brilliant, some good old ignoring. Man you've got talent," Clement replied Colette. She turned away from him and looked towards the clock tower ahead…twenty minutes to new year. She turned again to face Clement and let out a fake smile.
"I'll be back," she said, "wanna check something behind."
"What may that be?" Clement said, holding one of his ears to block off the noise from the crowd.
"I want to meet some friends, you just stay here, I'll be back."
"You sure about that?" Clement asked, giving Colette a stern look. Colette thought for a moment. She was leaving Clement yet again, and worse still for another lie, but she just wanted to be alone, away from the noise, away from the crowd. She possessed so much power but could only do little, a d she knew she couldn't tell anyone. She then looked back at Clement and returned his stern look.
"I'll be back, got it! You just don't move from here," she said. She then weaved her way through the multitude around her till she got to the back of the crowd. She asked permission from the security personnel infront of her to come out of the crowd and he opened the barrier around it to let her pass, but told her she'd have to join the queue and get scanned again if she was to enter the again. This made Colette stop and consider her options again, she didn't have another thirty minutes to wait in line again, not with Clement behind and not with eminent disaster about to occur. She started chewing on her thumb nail, and looked at the security man in the face. She thought of begging him, but it didn't seem worth the effort, so she turned around still chewing her nail and looked at the clock tower again…five minutes to new year now. She let out a forced exhale through her nose and looked down, trying to contemplate desperately. The person in her front bumped into her, and quickly apologized after turning to look at Colette's unimpressed face. Colette didn't utter a word. It did feel like she had gone back to freeze mode.
BHAAMMM…!!!
***
The crowd all around almost synchronously bent and turned in the direction the loud sound had come from – the entrance opposite the main one, beside the stands and opposite the train station across the road. A car had crashed into the gates, leaving a lot of people terrified and shocked. The police personnel on duty that night slowly approached the vehicle with their guns pointed to it, those at the vanguard almost on tiptoes. The nearest police to the vehicle peeped into it, but didn't see anyone in the driver's seat. He looked into the back and noticed a small light moving in the back seat of the car. His eyes went wide open, almost to the point of popping upon the realization of what he had seen, and he swiftly turned around and ran, leaving other officers around him perplexed. He then shouted, to his best – "RUN, IT'S A BOOMMB!!!"
All the officers around him near the car took heel and cut, shouting and gesturing to the crowd ahead to run.
Suddenly, the whole square went into a wild mania, with everyone trying to escape through the one entrance opposite the direction of the crashed car. Some agile people resorted to scaling the iron bar fence, while the road outside kept expanding with people, and became a stampede ground.
BOOOMMM!!!
The car exploded in a huge fire ball, making those still left in the square trying to escape to pick up speed and aggression, with more pushing. People were now starting to fall as they rushed out, all everyone cared about was their lives, nothing else at that moment. The car exploded again, this time with a lesser intensity, as the square emptied. People on the opposite side of the road towards the train station had cut heel, now leaving behind a deserted road.
Colette lay on the ground, trying to make out her bearings, but all she saw was blurry, she could not bring herself to stand. Suddenly, someone lifted her up and supported her around the shoulder, and jugged with her to the back of the square towards the government building behind.
"Colette, you're bleeding, the voice said after they settled behind the statue infront of the building.
"Huh?" A drowsy Colette responded. She touched her temple, and the feel felt sticky. She put it infront of her eyes and could make out the reddish outline of blood.
"Any moment now, if they still decide to detonate it," the voice said. It sounded familiar. Colette looked up to see the outline of the person leaning above that was talking to her…it was Mercedes. Mercedes then looked down on Colette. "You did good," she said.
BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!