@mc5punk 21 February 2025 more from that month

Short story: Chronicle of Blood and Ashes in Barranquilla

### I. The Omens of the Caribbean  The dawn of November 4th brought with it a suffocating heat that anticipated a storm. On the third floor of the North Metropolitan Police Station, Sergeant Ramiro Guzmán was dusting off his old Olympia typewriter while reviewing reports. The rusty fan drew dancing shadows on his desk, where a black and white photo showed his father hugging a ten-year-old boy in front of the old Customs building.  Lucia Torres arrived with the aroma of ripe guavas that always preceded her. In his hand trembled a grease-stained envelope.  "Look at this," he whispered, holding out seven satellite photographs. Among the blurred images, silhouettes carrying drums could be distinguished towards the sewage system of La Victoria, the neighborhood that housed the main aqueduct.  Ramiro felt the metallic taste of fear. Twelve years ago, as a cadet, I had seen how a similar attack reduced the Bazurto market to rubble. His thumb instinctively stroked the scar on the collarbone, a perpetual memory of that day.  ### II. The dance of the Shadows  At dusk, disguised as EPMAPA workers, they walked the streets. In the El Pueblo neighborhood, a boy pointed out to them a refrigerator truck parked in front of the church of San Roque. Lucia pretended to ask for directions while memorizing the license plate: KTW-459. The driver, a man with serpentine tattoos on his neck, avoided her gaze.  "It's the third ghost vehicle this week," Ramiro muttered as he jotted down the details in his black Moleskine notebook, a gift from his late wife.  That night, in Ramiro's apartment near the River Embankment, they deciphered codes. The protest songs on pirate stations matched GPS coordinates: the Pumarejo Bridge, the bus terminal, and horrifically, the Mi Pequeño Paraíso kindergarten.  ### III. The Hell at 21:47  The first explosion tore through the silence next to the 72nd Street newsstand. Ramiro, who was buying cigarettes for Lucia, saw how the octogenarian salesman turned into reddish dust.  The next few seconds were a dantesque collage:  - A Transmetro bus turned into a rotating torch in the 53rd Race  - The monumental clock of the Plaza de la Paz stopping at 21:49  - Lucia dragging a mother and her baby between flaming glass  When they arrived at the police station, they found snipers on the roof of the San José school. Ramiro used the gas main maintenance tunnel to flank them, while Lucia created distractions by throwing flares from a stolen pickup truck.  ### IV. The angels of shrapnel  At the La María Hospital, nurse Carmen Ríos conducted operations with a flashlight between her teeth. Among the injured, they recognized Fire Chief Alirio Mendoza, whose left arm was hanging by a tendon.  - There are unexploded devices in the basement! - shouted a practitioner.  It was Lucia who descended with pliers and a borrowed stethoscope. While disconnecting red and blue wires under an operating room lamp, she hummed the waltz she danced at Ramiro's wedding. At 23:18, he deactivated the last detonator.  ### V. The Dawn of the Survivors  The following noon, among smoking rubble near the Metropolitano Stadium, Ramiro found his father's notebook. The scorched pages retained a sentence underlined with dried blood: * "Our victory is not in winning, but in continuing to stand."*  While the helicopters were drawing circles in the sky, Lucia handed him a cup of red wine adulterated with rum.  —The mayor wants a speech—" he said, pointing to reporters climbing over destroyed cars.  Ramiro observed a girl combing her doll between tankettes. He took out his fountain pen and wrote three words on the official report: "We are still standing." Epilogue: 48 hours later  At the Las Flores pier, among fishermen's nets, a man named El Tuerto received an envelope with 200 million pesos. The scar across his left eye flashed under the full moon as he burned the attack orders. Miles away, in the municipal archive, someone was modifying the sewer plans.  The war was going on. Source of the images. Image created with Starryai.