Nail - 2

 The sound instantly pulled Han back into the reality. As her mind attempted to solidify the perception, she slowly raised her body out of the wrinkled blanket and her eyes regained focus. Beneath the thick lump of uniform, the gleaming blue rays from the screen of her phone were poking their way out. She pushed the lump out of the way, which fell on the dusty floor with little puff sound, knelt down and examined the screen. The piercing sound of discomfort continued to tremble the surrounding air, and Han painfully felt the shudder of her skull as she stuck her eyes on the screen. A blurry text popped up, which said:

Currently, as of 00:12 Standard Time, a nationwide YELLOW ALERT has been declared. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. All citizens MUST stay indoors. If you are outside, find nearby secure building, or stay in your car. All essential civil servants and military personnel must move into predefined positions IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Just as she finished scanning, the annoying beeping sound finally stopped without any prior notice, which somehow greatly amplified the daze. The whole city of Saho suddenly became deadly quiet. No laughter of children, no noise of traffic frantically driving by, no barking of dogs or screeching of cats. The slowly falling remaining sparkles of firework were the only clue of the joyful festival that took place a moment before. To see what is going on, Han pushed her head through the only window in the room, which opened with small creak, but Han felt that that was the only sound in the entire world for this moment. All the people on the street seemed as clueless as her too. Five middle-aged men who were drinking beer at the wooden round table in the front yard of a small pub, which Han never recognized before today but started to hate already for the constant noise, slowly dropped their filled jar, and it seemed hard for them to decide whether they should empty their jars or not. A little boy who had balloons in his one hand apparently took this situation funny, but before he goes scampering around the street, the frightened woman standing next to him grabbed his hand as tightly as ever. An old-fashioned band, which was performing on a public stage at the end of the street, was annoyed because their perfect concert had been interrupted. The lead singer grabbed his microphone in front of the bewildered audience, but soon he forgot what to say. Just when everyone was about to ask everybody else 'what the heck is going on', a single-toned blare covered the atmosphere of the entire city, killing the growing turmoil instantly.

The siren, which seemed to be played from every public speaker available, dumbstruck everyone. Han realized her hands were covering her ears, but that did not dampen the crushing wave even a bit. Han desperately shut the window which seem to be inconceivably stiff and with her wobbly legs started meandering around her small room faster than ever like a broken wind-up toy. Everything progressed rather quickly after that. Occasionally the siren stopped and a man's voice was heard, but it was completely incomprehensible, as the voice was barely sane as anything else above ground. The crowd raced in every possible direction, and the police officers, who barely managed to get dressed in time and were deployed shortly after the siren, were spending hard time trying to explain to the uncontrollable mob stuffs they don't understand either, shivering in cold under heavy bulletproof suits. With a lot of effort, Han managed to find her glasses and get in her uniform, while keep tapping on the floor involuntarily, when eventually somebody knocked on her door.