Kartik Khandelwal

Suddenly, the gate opened and three of the terrorist entered the room with their rifles in hands. We all looked at them at once. The first one turned his head from left to right and scanned the whole room for a second. “H-Hey, for how much time are you gonna keep us as hostages?” A chubby man with spectacles asked with a sense of fear in his speech. That muscular man from TES turned his head towards him and glared at him. He said nothing, did nothing. He just stared at him for a minute or so, and it made him kinda nervous. “W-What?” No reply from that man. He just shook his head while still staring at him. Then, he turned back and looked at the two of his men. They looked at him with their blank faces. It looked like they were using some telepathy to communicate with each other so that we may not know what they were planning. One of his men shrugged as I saw him, and then the muscular man looked at me. Then, he looked back, and that man waved his hands in front of his chest, conveying he doesn’t know. “Why the hell are they so conscious about not speaking? I don’t guess they are speaking about something important. Maybe they’re here to find a particular man, so they can do so by using their mouths too. Hmm, maybe they don’t want to speak so that the police might not use their voices to find them,” I was brainstorming. “But, why would they think so? I mean, there are over five million people in Delhi. It’d be a huge back-paining task to find them in such a way. It’d require a large amount of time and money, and the police obviously refrain from doing it if possible.” I suddenly started getting my hands inside the back-pocket of my trouser. The muscular man saw me and glared at me. “What? Can’t I even scratch my ass here?!” I replied.

“Pffpt!” One of the investigators giggled. I looked at that chubby man, who somehow stopped laughing at guilt when I angrily turned my eyes on him. I started ‘scratching my ass’ again and somehow my fingers, finally, reached my phone inside the pocket. I tried to take it out by just the two fingers’ tips, but I lost grip. Then, I tried it again and after coming a little way, I lost the grip again. But luckily, the phone was out enough to be held by my thumb too. The thumb gave support and the phone finally was in my hands. I clicked the turn-on button and it opened. It opened through my fingerprints and I turned my head back to have a look at it. I had agues what app’s shortcut was where, and I clicked on the call button. I turned my head behind again. It was painful for both my neck and my hands, because both of them had to be bent towards each other at the best they can. I had a small glimpse that I opened the right thing. I called Prakash and the bell rang for about a minute. It was a long minute. I started sweating and glared at the two. I was worried about what might happen if they catch me. But, it suddenly stopped vibrating. That was my signal that he’s taken the call. I heard a small ‘Hello’ from the phone which gave me the sign to go ahead. “Hey! You three!” I boldly said. “For how much time are you planning on keeping us tied here?!”

The leader looked at me and, as expected, replied nothing.

“You even know who I am?!” I boldly screamed at the two. I was still sweating, not because of the temperature, but because of the fear inside me. My eyes showed fear and my hands trembled too, but I showed none on my mouth. “I, Inspector Khandelwal, am the LEADER OF ‘THE SUICIDERS DEFENSE GROUP’!”

“I was given the task to attack the jail and free Shahnawaz Khan, but my leader said that we’d go with a hundred extra people. They’re at Select City-walk, so that our suppressed voices can be heard by the police.” I was astonished. My eyes were wide and I was emotional now, but I didn’t know why. “It’s good that I have met the leader of the defense group directly.” He turned his whole body towards me and said, “Just make sure that no innocent go to jail.”

“H-Hey, Kartik?” I heard from the phone. “What-What did he just say? Is what I heard right?”

“Probably right, Prash.”

Naina Sharma

“It was a good one,” The old man sitting in front of the leader of this attack commented as he wiped off his lips by taking the white cloth inside his mask and removing it a little bit from his beard. “Imma come here again if I can.”

“We used to come a lot here,” The leader replied as he looked at a couple walking past them towards the exit. “I liked nothing but the simple cheese pizza, but they’d like blossom sun pizza.”

“I-I guess we should get moving now, sir.”

“Stop calling me sir, Mr. Utkarsh.”

Kartik Khandelwal

Over half an hour left in no time, and I still sat there, tied in the ropes. I was still thinking about his words. “Just make sure no innocent go to jail.”--His words echoed in my ears. “Innocent…” My mind raced. “W-What did he mean by ‘innocent’? I-Is it something like TES is gonna frame somebody else for this stuff? I-I think there must be something on their mind, but what if he’s just misguiding me?” I looked here and there in the dark--just a couple of men sitting silently in front of me and nothing else. “Maybe he wanted to misguide me so that I may waste my time to catch the fake one so that they may escape and carry out their destructive plans in between.” Then, I remember his voice--“… no innocent go to jail.” “No, he can’t speak with such pain and tears in his voice if it were fake. I-I gotta trust my guts. B-But they say no-nothing. I’m blank-empty and like checkmated for the first time. I-I can’t let those words go in vain. What was the real motive of such plans? Kill me? Spread fear among the citizens? Do what? What? What the hell what they want me to do?!”

Suddenly, in the middle of my thoughts, I saw the door opening and a man wearing a commando suit glaring at us. He moved his hands inside his pocket and said, “Seven more men retrieved. I repeat, seven more men retrieved.”

Richa Chaddha

I ran inside the entrance cemented ground of the mall and walked up the building only to get towards the entrance where the treated men lay on the ground. I ran past them and walked inside the mall. It was working just fine--people roaming here and there, shops open in bright light selling high-quality products covered with banners of flashy deals. I turned my head right and then left. “I-It doesn’t even seem like something like a terrorist attack happened here just a minute ago.”