Abu You grabbed the radio: "All vehicles, try ramming the barrier! Repeat, ram the barrier!"
An armored personnel carrier gunned its engine and charged the rubble pile, smashing aside a few concrete slabs from the top layer, but more debris slid down from above, sealing the gap even tighter.
Yellow smoke poured in from both ends of the street at the same time. Abu You saw the smoke hugging the ground as it flowed, like a living thing hunting for prey.
First it seeped out through the gaps in the sewer grates, then gathered into streams, creeping along the base of the walls; when it met an obstacle it would briefly pile up, then spill over and continue forward.
"Gas masks on!"
Abu You roared, fumbling frantically for his own gas mask.
He got it on quickly, but immediately realized something was wrong.
The mask's sealing strip had aged; there were tiny gaps along the edge, and he could feel air leaking in there, carrying that sickly sweet, acrid stench.
