Battle of Zallab

A bottle flies through. The cloth inside the neck is burning, leaving a trail of light in its path. As it lands on the walls, it breaks away into small pieces of glass. The fire spreads away with the glass shrapnel.

“Fuck Allah! Fuck Muhamad!! Fuck Religion”

The town youth are chanting inside the Sahn (The courtyard inside the mosque). Throwing trash, curses and Molotov cocktails at the walls.

“Fucking opium. We’re far past that shit.”

One of the rioting teens said.

“For real, shit’s stopping us from going to the civilized world. For what? To stay on our knees and suck the dick of some imaginary dude? Fuck that, fuck religion man!”

The crowd cheers. Cheers until they hear a gunshot. A loud and a strong sound, remotely remind of a thunder. For a second, there stands silence. They look around, trying to find the source.

The silence is broken by a scream. The face of the crowd turns white from seeing the blood of a fellow warrior. He holds his AK dearly with a confused face. He doesn’t scream, doesn’t hold the wound in his belly. He stares.

Following the shock, a few more were shot. One was even shot in the head. The sight of blood and even worse – the brain draining out of the bullet hole and the dead eyes popping out of the eye sockets.

Panic has spread in the crowd. Half of the youth ran away, leaving behind their rusty weaponry. The rest have either hidden behind cover, or tried to rush in.

“Abn Alsharmuta!” the rushing men shouted.

They banged on the door of the prayer hall, shot it a few times. The whole group bashed the wooden door and broke it. Wooden debris flew away into all possible directions, some of them even got some splinters.

A knife has pierced one’s neck. Siggie aimed his gun at the man near him and shot him in the face.

1…2…3…4…5. Siggie counted in his mind.

A man aimed his AK rifle at Siggie. He kicked his hand and grabbed it by the barrel. He thrusted his elbow into the man’s throat. The man collapsed. Three seconds have passed.

A man rushed to Siggie from behind and grabbed him by the throat. He threw Siggie down to the floor. He’s lying there, holding his own dear throat, breathing heavily. The man keeps him at gunpoint. His hands are steady and eyes are cold and calm.

He’s more trained. So he finally sent his guys.

From his position, Siggie kicked the man in the crotch and grabbed the pistol from him. Siggie stood right in front of the man.

I need to stabilize my breath. I’m not going to be as strong and fast like this.

The rest shot at Siggie’s direction with their guns. They shot their comrade, but only stray bullets grazed Siggie for a little. That was the closest they could get to kill Siggie.

Siggie held the man from falling, using him he shot at the attackers. He emptied his magazine, but only shot one man. Siggie’s grip had weakened, the lifeless bloody corpse dropped.

The shot man is holding his bloody shoulder, he tries to aim the AK with one hand. The rifle falls down.

Siggie slides on the floor to catch his pistol and knife, but manages to get only the knife. He hides behind a pillar that barely covers him.

The man with the shot shoulder runs to Siggie and points at him his Desert Eagle. His hand is shaking due to how heavy it is, or maybe because of the pain.

Siggie snatches the pistol with ease with a punch to the face. The man is barely standing, and yet he’s smiling.

They’ve gone quiet. Thought Danil.

He sits at the top of the Minaret, holding the SVD rifle.

Damn cowards, few guys got shot and they ran away. Wait hold on, who’s this?

Danil looked closer. He saw a figure in the darkness being followed by other figures, presumably holding assault rifles. They move towards the mosque.

When the light washes away the darkness, he sees a familiar face.

Looks like our John.

Danil placed down the SVD, closed his left eye. He aimed with the iron sights at Saadiq. He noticed how the soldiers surrounding him hold the M16 assault rifle.

They look important. Shit, he’s so small. Why did they get me a normal scope?

Danil steadied his breath. The iron sights are following Saadiq, even when he hides in the shadows of night.

They stop before the entrance. He looks at the corpses with a look of pity and disgust. He raises his hand.

Danil pulls the trigger. The hot shell jumped out of the gun, a smell of metal and gunpowder persisted in the air. His ears were plugged, but even that wasn’t enough for the sound to echo through his ear canal.

Target down. No wait, that’s another dude. Where’s John?

Danil searched the area for Saadiq, but he didn’t find him. Soon, bullets whistled by Danil’s head. So he lied down.

Blyat.

Among the semi auto shots, Danil heard a full auto shooting of a different gun. Soon, the shooting stopped.

He got up and saw Siggie looking at him.

He’s going to nag when I come down?

Siggie pulled the trigger. The gun made a clicking sound, but no shots were fired.
Behind him stood a man with an AK, ready to fire.

He dodged away. On the floor, he was kicked by the wounded man.

“Huna!!” The man shouted.

The rest two walked to them while aiming their weapons. They saw Siggie behind him, holding up a knife to his throat.

“Nar!” The man shouted again.

“Don’t move, or tell your friend goodbye. Weapons down!”

“Mustafa!”

“Nar! Aqtalh!”

“Lakin baed dhalik satamut!”

“Afeal dhalik min 'ajl Zargasta-”

“Shut up! Weapons down!”

The men looked at each other and then slowly put down their guns.

“Kick them!”

“Madha?” One of them asked.

Siggie showed a gesture with his leg, like kicking and then pointed at the guns. They did as he asked.

I’m sorry.

He cut the wounded man’s throat. He rushed forward and jumped kicked the man on the left. While on the ground, he stabbed the man on the right.

The man on the floor looked at Siggie.

“…Min fa… Fadlik la taqtuluni! Law samahta...”

His eyes teared up.

Siggie felt something cold at the back of his head. It was constantly shaking. When he listened closely, he heard heavy breathing behind him.

Forgot about that one.

“Kazem! Ant okeh?”

“Mahyar! Alhamd Allah…”

“White man… No move!”

“My bad, forgot you’re alive.”

“Why? Why kill friends?”

“I mean, you first started it. I was defending myself.”

“You act strange. When war. We don’t want spy. You spy.”

“You got it mixed up, I’m not part of the civil war.”

“You kill friends!”

His hand is shaking. His voice is breaking and also shaking.

“Listen I get it. For you, I’m just some foreigner who invaded your home and killed your friends-“

“Sah!”

For you it maybe personal, but for me it’s not. Sorry it has to be this way.

Siggie bowed down his head and performed a back kick to his guts. He grabbed the pistol and shot down both of them.

…

Siggie just stood there, looking at the bloody corpses of the men. Well, they’re teens at best. They might have already facial hair, but their faces are still juvenile, at least what is left of them.

He just stood there in silence. He searched his pockets for cigarettes, but after looking around he just stopped and sat down.

He heard the shots, he peeked through the broken door and saw Saadiq fleeing away.

Can’t do shit right, and yet barks like he’s some master…

He picked an AK which was lying around and shot Saadiq’s guards with full auto shooting. He had trouble controlling the recoil, so he pushed himself into a wall.

When he saw that everyone was down, he exited the mosque and looked at the Minaret. He waved to him to come. He picked up the M16 and showed with his hand where did he go.

Danil quickly went down the stairs and rejoined Siggie shortly after. He also picked a rifle.

“He can’t go far enough. Stay sharp.”

While walking in the direction the target ran off, he saw a figure looking at him from a window. A second later, it has gone away from the window.

“Watch the house.” Siggie said quietly.

He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He kicked down the wooden door and entered the house.

The interior is modest. There’s a small incandescent lamp hanging from the ceiling. The walls are even more yellow on the inside due to the lamp. The floor is covered with different carpets, most of them are in shades of red.

In the center of the room, an old woman sits on a pillow. She doesn’t even look at Siggie, she looks at the window.

From behind, Siggie was grabbed.

“Let’s take it outside, you bothered mama enough.”

“You’re the one who ran away here though.”

“Well, I’m sorry. I wanted to live. Asf mama, eali aldhahab”

Saadiq dragged Siggie outside. He slightly pushed him.

[Option 2 more serious ending]

“Don’t make mama’s work harder. The door is already a headache.”

“Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Yeah, just finish me. Before that, can I have two favors.”

“It depends.”

“I want to know who sent you. A merc would just blow my brains out, but you saw mama.”

“Nerayo sent us.”

“Didn’t hear that name in a while.”

“You know him?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“…No…?”

“Hah… If it’s that Important, ask him. Or you don’t trust him?”

Danil shows up and aims the gun at Saadiq.

“Wait!” Siggie stops Danil.

“What is it? Wrong person?”

“No, he asked for 2 favorss. Now it’s his second.”

“This animal deserves nothing. He funds Gunkata. Only an evil person would do that. He should be thanking me for not torturing him to death.”

“Thank you for not torturing me to death.”

“Shut the fuck up, I didn’t talk to you.”

“You don’t know what reasons he has. Let him at least die a human.”

“Hmph, fine… Let’s at least hear out what he wants.”

“Alright, Saadiq? Your second favor?”

“I want you to know what I was fighting for. Basically to hear me out.”

“Sure.”

“Keep it short.”

“Your kid’s impatient. I’ll start then. I was born here, in this town, in this house.”

Saadiq looked at the house.

“I had a fairly normal childhood, compared to here of course. Things started boiling in Iraq so we were conscripted. What do you think happens when you give a teen a gun?” He looked at Danil. Danil looked at him with a cold stare.

“Anyway, I met Gunkata. We worked together for a while, then we went separate ways. I saw the sorry state of Zargastan. A corrupted country where the royal family uses religion as an excuse.”

“I traveled the world. I saw different places. That’s when I realized, we lived like in the middle ages. We don’t deserve this. Why do we live like this? I realized it was because of the monarchy.”

“I want to save my homeland, help its people. Now that I see the right path, I want to walk it before my past catches up. This was just a matter of time. Gunkata gave me a little friends discount. Considering our funds, this was the best choice.”

“So you paid Gunkata to save your own people? Yeah sure…”

“When people are enlightened, they’ll bring progress. Just like the Islamic Golden age. Shame we’re still stuck in that period.”

“So you think that trashing and disrespecting religion will solve your problems?” Siggie asked.

“Of course not. In order to make people rebel, they need a reason. It’s just so happened that religion was convenient enough. We had to show some proof, say it’s because of religion and people are now extremists who hate religion. Therefore, they hate the royal family.”

“That just solves the symptom.”

“At least it’s some progress than this stagnation. I sacrificed my chance of a quiet life for the betterment of this country and its people. Be it for today or for the future.”

“Bullshit. You just want to make people suffer. That’s why you’re doing this. Otherwise you wouldn’t work or contract Gunkata.” Danil confronted.

“It is true, I was like that when I was younger. Now I’ve changed.”

“And you spit lies again. All you do is deceive, kill and spread misery. You deserve no redemption. You think hiding behind excuses will make you a better person? Joke of the fucking day.”

Danil aims his gun at Saadiq and pushes the trigger. Every bullet has left its magazine. The body floats in a small pool of its own blood. His face is almost unrecognizable. In the end, Danil spits on his body.

“He deserved this.”

→ To be continued

Author’s note

So this chapter releases with the 6th chapter since I failed to deliver it a week ago.
It was pretty fun writing the action scene, but it was hard to pick music that will fit the tone.

Also, initially I wrote a goofier end to Saadiq. Thought it’s a good idea since the overall mood of the chapter is pretty depressing, but then I realized how it ruins the chapter. In the end, I’m glad I changed it to a more serious end.