[Intro]
[Fast D-beat drums enter beneath two opposing siren-like guitar bends.]

[Verse 1: Citizens]
We wake to phones repeating, “Remain inside, evacuate,”
Two messages arrive together, each one stamped with equal weight.
The radio says the northern bridge is open at five,
The traffic board says “CLOSED AHEAD” as cars arrive.
A bus sits dark at Market Street, its doors locked from the grid,
The driver breaks the handle loose and frees a frightened kid.
No smoke hangs on the skyline, no aircraft circles low,
Yet every siren has a cause no dispatcher seems to know.

[Chorus: Citizens]
Empty lanes, full sirens, red mouths open, no one knows,
Empty lanes, full sirens, warning every road that closed.
No flame upon the skyline, yet the powerless district glows,
Empty lanes, full sirens—where does everybody go?
Empty lanes, full sirens.

[Verse 2: Citizens]
We push the cars from junction twelve to clear an ambulance lane,
Its navigation sends it back around the powerless block again.
A woman holds a paper map, a stranger holds the light,
A baker rolls his delivery van to block the crossing right.
We hear the fuel yard thunder, then the hospital announce
That only urgent cases can be carried through the grounds.
The city always promised that the system knew the way,
Now people write directions on the shutters in white paint.

[Pre-Chorus: Citizens]
No central voice, no trusted sign,
So hand to hand we pass the line.
When every screen repeats a lie,
We judge the road with human eyes.

[Chorus: Citizens]
Empty lanes, full sirens, red mouths open, no one knows,
Empty lanes, full sirens, warning every road that closed.
No flame upon the skyline, yet the powerless district glows,
Empty lanes, full sirens—where does everybody go?
Empty lanes, full sirens.

[Break]
One whistle means the road is clear.
Two raised hands mean danger near.
Three chalk arrows mark the ward.
Four strong backs reopen the road.

[Bridge: Citizens]
We spent our lives obeying signs
Built by people, fed by lines.
When signs began to contradict,
We learned the streets from hand to hand.

[Final Chorus: Citizens]
Empty lanes, full sirens, now the people make the road,
Empty lanes, full sirens, carrying the human load.
No central screen can guide us, so the painted arrows show
Which lane reaches the hospital and which one cannot go.
Empty lanes, full sirens.

[Outro]
A siren winds down slowly.
No message takes its place.
Someone paints “WARD THIS WAY”
Across the bank’s glass face.
