Richa Chadha

“Hey,” Prakash suddenly announced inside the bus. “Can you just leave me here?”

“What?” Ms. Yashika asked. “Don’t play dumb, Prakash. It can be dangerous.”

“I got my guns for that reason, I guess.”

“Having a pistol doesn’t mean that you can survive any attack now, Prakash.”

“See, i-it’s important, Ms. Malhotra.”

“What’s it?”

“I want to visit the jail with the other teams,” He said. “Actually, I’m very worried about Kartik and I wanna check out if he’s all right.”

“You can get this infor--”

“Yeah, I know. But, I can’t wait anymore, ma’am. I-I just feel like something will happen to him, and I’ve to be there to save him. It-It’s just my intuition, but I can’t overlook it anymore because it’s too powerful.”

She face-palmed. “Oof!” She was already irritated by this childish behavior.

“Why’s he acting like this?” I thought.

“Okay. Stop the car.”

Naina Sharma

“Who was her?” The old man asked me. He had his mask on his face, but he had a white and half-bald head and he had a white mustache and beard. He sat in front of me in the pizzeria. The two figures of The Suiciders sat on a two-seat table and the pizzeria was filled. People were still eating, but they were uncomfortable. One of the couples, sitting beside their table, looked at them and quickly ate their pizza.

“Actually,” the young muscular man said, “She was my wife.”

“Oh, so you’re married too. But, why did you make The Murdered Faction if you still have a family?”

“B-Because,” He replied. “No one else knows about them.”

“What do you… mean…?”

“We married secretly. Moreover, they…” he stopped for a while, and then said, “… they have already killed my family. She’s my only family now.”

The old man turned his head down and replied in a low voice, “Sorry, son.”

“It’s okay.”

“Okay, so, uh,” The old man tried to change the topic. “When will the police arrive?”

“For the time being,” He replied, “… lemme enjoy my pizza. Who knows when we’ll get to eat it again.”

That old man looked at him and saw that there were drops of tears coming down his mask. “Hey…” He raised a hand at him.

“I-It’s just that… this pizza is so spicy.”

Kartik Khandelwal

A black car stopped in front of a bungalow with a small garden-like area in between. A man, wearing a black coat and black pair of trousers, got off the car and stood up on the cement road. He wore a black pair of sunglasses from which he looked at the name-plate of the house at such darkness. The fancy transparent name-plate read ‘Virohans’ in golden letters. That man looked at it and said, “I’m at the right house.”

He walked inside through the garden-like area and then ringed the bell of the house. After a few seconds, there came none. Then, he again pushed the button and rang the bell. The door opened and a man, wearing white-colored night-pajama with a white t-shirt opened the door while rubbing his eyes. “What? I was just about to sleep, bruv.”

“You live alone, right? Then why’s there ‘Virohans’ written on your name-plate instead of ‘Virohan’?”

“Don’t confuse me, you son of a bitch. Just tell me what you--”

The man suddenly held his collar tightly and pushed him towards himself. “Whaddya say, Vivek?”

“S-Sir, it-it’s you.” He left his collar from his fist. “I-I’m kinda sleepy, sir. That’s why I didn’t recognize you at first glance. S-Sorry, sir.”

“Where’s the money?”

“What money, sir?”

“That money which was about to be given to Security Head for bribing, dickhead.”

“Oh, oh, th-that money is at Anuj’s, sir. You can take the bag from him.”

“That old white-haired guy, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

The man in black coat-suit nodded and rubbed his chin. “When you knew that the bribing’s already failed, then why did ya not given it back, huh?”

“Uh, actually, sir, I gave him the money to do the same, bu-but…”

“So, whaddya say?” Anuj asked Vivek.

“It’s not good, Anuj,” Vivek replied. “We can’t use TES’ money. If they find out, it’d be a game-ender for us.”

“They deal with billions of rupees every day, so how will they find about just a few hundred thousands?”

“But what if--”

“Just leave it to me, bruv!”

“Sir, I swear I tried a lot to stop it, but I failed repetitively. He just won’t listen to others.”

“So, what did he do with that money?”

“Invested in stock market and about a hundred thousand.”

“And you did nothing, right?” He looked angry now.

“Please spare me, sir. I-I swear upon you that I was not involved with him in any way.”

“That’s a lie, right? Because those shares are bought under the name of both of you.”

“Bu-But, sir...” Vivek tried to explain, but he’d already taken out a pistol from his trouser pocket. He aimed it at him as Vivek tried to beg him. “Sir, please sir! I did nothing and I--”

BANG!

A gunshot was heard in the neighborhood and Vivek lay down on the ground. His left lung was bleeding and a large pool of blood was made surrounding him. “The Suiciders Defense Group knows about this shithead, so it’s better if he’s dead.” He rubbed his face with his elbow and started walking back towards his car. Some neighbors came out from their homes, but because there was no light on the street, no one was able to see what had happened. There was a commotion among them for a minute. “What happened?”

“I guess something blasted.”

“But what?”

Someone shrugged, “Dunno. But it looks severe. We should try calling the police, because there has been a terrorist attack in the city lately too.”

As they discussed and some went inside due to fear, no one noticed a black car going from the streets, except a few who noticed it but didn’t pay any attention.