Operation: Dard and Devotion

15 | Horror & Horrified

Thankyou @SwAgEvEr_ for the mesmerizing chapter art! :)

I clutched Saad tightly to my chest and buried his head in the crook of my neck. Even though he was incredibly too young to understand anything that was going on, I was vehemently against exposing him to this.

"Imran, do it and then go downstairs," Faizan called out to the covered man who was the furthest away from us on the rooftop. A bead of cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck as it dawned on me what Imran was about to do.

With a swift movement, Imran took a few steps back and slammed his foot against the back of the feeble-looking man in front of him. The man landed on the ground below with a soft thud.

"No!"

There was no way he could have survived the fall.

How many stories did this building have? Five? Six? Maybe even seven?

A surge of vomit crept its way up my throat and I spun around to hide myself from this "view" when a strong hand landed on my shoulder, spinning me back around again.

"You will watch everything," Faizan spat at me. "If you divert your gaze for even one second, you will be next."

Fighting the urge to faint, I clasped Saad closely while he stirred in his sleep.

"No, stop, please!" I wailed, but nobody cared. Nobody even turned my way, except Ahsan, who had tilted his head in my direction ever so slightly, but did not make eye contact with me.

"Next!" Faizan ordered and the next extremist in line pushed the second man over the edge.

I can't keep watching this!

Each extremist obeyed the initial order and went downstairs after they had pushed their assigned men over. I dropped my head when the third man was thrown off the building when Faizan hovered over me.

"Oh, Hayat! You can't enjoy much if you're staring at the ground! You just missed one man fly over the edge!" Faizan wrapped an arm over my shoulders and clenched my upper arm, leading me to where the last man was on the edge of the building.

The man behind the last victim, who barely looked old enough to be called a man, was Ahsan.

"Ahsan, now." The last order.

No, Ahsan, don't!

Apart from Saad and I, only Faizan, Ahsan and the last man were on the roof. I felt my face become pale and my mouth was parched; Saad was hanging loosely in my sweaty hands. My heart pounded against my chest, in a desperate attempt to escape. I swallowed and my blood felt as though it were on fire while I painfully watched Ahsan's next move.

Ahsan yanked back the man's head by grabbing a fistful of his hair before he briefly darted his eyes towards me. I slowly shook my head at him, silently persuading him not to kill the man.

But he did not listen.

Just like the others, Ahsan threw the man off the edge of the rooftop and watched as the flailing body crashed into the ground, blood slowly oozing from all limbs.

"No!" My hands rushed to cover my eyes, and only then I had realized that by doing so, I had dropped Saad!

"NO!" I screamed, searching the floor of the rooftop for the small child. When I couldn't, I even peered over the edge to where the five men were thrown down, but Saad wasn't there either!

"Looking for something?" Faizan's sleazy voice erupted from the silence as Saad's wrist dangled from Faizan's grip.

Immensely relieved, I reached out to grab the baby when Faizan spun the child by his wrist to get a better look at Saad, and then suddenly glared at the child and me.