Operation: DeadMan

CHAPTER-07: The Hapless siblings

31ST OCTOBER, 2025: 2:11PM

The water splashed onto Zayed’s tan skin. He gripped on to the knob of the tap tightly. His attention was stolen by his own reflection on the bathroom mirror. The marks of the countless sleepless nights gathered under his eyes. It’s obvious that the stress of raising his two siblings alone has taken a toll on his body. The stress marks make it hard to believe that Zayed is just a 25 years old man. The constant flow of water has not reached his attention. His mind is too focused on how annoying his boss at the factory is….

Zayed snapped back to reality when his younger sister Zara called out his name. He came to the dining room where Zara, a second year medical student, was serving hot kichuri on the table where the youngest brother, Zayn, still hungry, was waiting for his meal. Zayn was a brilliant student in Govt. Laboratory Junior Highschool. The teachers considered him an asset for the country’s future as he won countless national and international awards for the school even at the early age of 12. As Zayed was about to take a seat, he got interrupted by the ringing of the bell. Despite Zayed being closer to the door, he ordered Zayn to open the door. Despite being unwilling, Zayn had no choice but to open the door. When he opened the door, he was greeted by an old man in his late 50’s. He had droopy eyes, a kind smile was hanging on his face. His body is well built to the point that old age has yet to catch up with the body. He kinda looks like Santa clause with his beard, if Santa clause hit the gym quite a few times. Zayn knew this old fella as Samad, their gatekeeper, but he was more of a father to them. “Salam, Zayn uncle, how ya doing?” Asked Uncle Samad in a deep gentle voice. “Never been this better! What brought you to our doorstep?” replied Zayn. ‘Smell of the khichuri, perhaps, perhaps I just came to hand over the electric bill” “Well feel free to join us, It’s been quite a while since you ate at our house” “pardon my uninformed visitation,” Uncle Samad said as he took off his shoes. He headed towards the dining table with Zayn and took the seat next to him. Zara plated him khichuri.

Just another holiday lunch. It has been like this since the passing of their father. Shortly after giving birth to youngest sibling Zayn, their mother passed away due to severe blood loss. A few years later their father passed away due to a car accident. When fate itself stood against the siblings, the one who brought the ray of hope upon them was their gatekeeper Samad, who had a great relationship with their late father. Samad managed to ensure their education fees and expenses through the monthly rents from their leaseholders, because there was no other relatives they could turn to. He also ensured that Zayed got a job after his HSC examination to keep the family running. He was their gatekeeper since the very day their father built the house. Now he is their mentor, and their father figure.

As they were idle chatting Samad brought out his phone and called the assistant gatekeeper. “Have you filled the generator yet?” Samad asked. “I dropped the oil tank in the oil filler, It will give a signal when its filled.” The assistant replied. “Make sure that it doesn’t overflow.” Samad said. “Okay, sir”

Samad hung up the phone. “So, as I was sayin…” He suddenly got interrupted by the screams of a woman. “What was that?” Zara exclaimed. “I don’t know, Imma go check it out.” Samad left his seat, he walked towards the main balcony. As he looked down, sweat streams started dripping down his neck. He saw a woman getting torn apart by a few people. The people looked a little off to him.

Zayed saw that Samad was getting paranoid. He quickly ran up to Samad to see what was going on. He looked down the window and instantly froze. “We need to lock up the windows, and doors. Hurry!” Samad said anxiously. “Why, what’s going on?” Zara asked. “I don’t know, bunch of fanatics are running around outside killing people.” Zayed replied. They ran around the house and locked all the windows. “I don’t understand, what’s going on? Why are you guys freaking out?” Zayn panicked. “Oh no, nothing is wrong, we just have to wait a few minutes until the protesters are gone.” Zara replied firmly. But as the screams of people and growling noises were getting louder, Zara covered Zayn’s ears with her hands. They all stood at the center of their living room. Zayed picked up a chopper from the kitchen and Samad picked up a metal pipe. The fatherly urge to protect these children even at the cost of his life spiked in Samad’s heart. “I have to stop those people, it’s my duty.” Samad said as he reached out to the door. “You aren’t going anywhere. It is too dangerous out there.” Zayn stood in front of the door blocking the door. “Now’s not the time to be selfish, Zayn, let me help those people,” “But uncle-” Before Zayed could protest Samad raised his hands and stopped him, and with a charming smile, easing the tension amongst them, he said, “Can you put your faith in me this one time?” As he said that, Samad gently pushed Zayn off of the door and stepped out, “Zara, lock the door, I’ll be back in a minute.”

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The tension between the siblings only rose from then on. Nobody exchanged a single word. Zara and Zayn sat on the sofa and Zayed kept strolling around the house.

As Samad placed his eyes on the closed collapsible gate, his heart sank. The craziness outside got quieter as the people begging for help were either dead or tearing flesh from other dead bodies like wild lions. Their faces were distorted with skin peeling off of their faces, eyes falling off of their skulls and hair loss. He could barely move after watching the madness up close, even though he was desperate to help those people. Just what can he do? Whom can he help? Can they even be saved from this? As his brain filled with question he couldn’t ponder, he smelled something other than the rotten smell of the corpses. The smell of gasoline burning. He instantly looked over to the generator and saw the oil tank being overflown and gasoline leaking all over the place. It seemed that the assistant didn’t take the gasoline tank off the generator filler. ‘Could the flow have reached the engine?’ He ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He needed to save them, He needed to get them out of here as quickly as possible, because this place is about to blow up. The sudden thought of the helpless leaseholders struck his mind. They probably are still locking themselves up inside of their house, waiting for help. But to him, the safety of the siblings mattered the most. He made up his heart and reached the main door of the sibling’s house.

Zara and Zayn simultaneously stood up as the bell rang. Zayed ran down to check through the peephole. He saw Samad, gasping for air out of desperation, standing outside. He quickly unlocked the gate and let him in. He said, “Quick, come with me,” Without having a clue of what’s happening, the siblings blindly followed his back, as they always did. He went to the biggest balcony which faced a narrow alley with barely any people. The alley connected the house to the main road. In the opposite side of the main road is the main gate to the most famous neighbourhood in Mirpur City, named Rakin City. They all followed Samad to the balcony, watching him in terror made their tension rise up even more. Samad suddenly broke the silence, “I’ll jump down first, I’ll look around and tell you when to jump, understand?” “What, what are you saying, why are you jumping down two stories?” Zayed questioned. Before he could say anything else Samad jumped over the railings like it was nothing and landed right in the alley, avoiding the nearby apartment. It was as if he was in the movies, playing James Bond. He looked around and shouted upwards, “Jump down one by one, if you don’t quickly, you will blow up with this entire place too!” Zayed was shocked, but he knew that there was no time to question about it. “Zayn, Zara jump down, I’ll go after you guys,” without even thinking about it, Zayn dropped down, which Samad caught him easily. “Now, hurry up!”, He shouted. Unfortunately Zara had severe acrophobia and even thinking about jumping down two stories made her tremble. “I..I possibly can’t jump that far down,” Zara said. Without a second thought Zayed picked her up and threw her down to Samad while she was screaming continuously. Zayed knew there was no time to calmly make her understand right now, They had to act quick as Samad had warned. Finally, when Zayed landed successfully, Samad ordered them, “Run, chase after where I go, NOW!”, As they all ran after Samad, the burning scent of gasoline only became more and more intense. Zayed could kinda guess what actually happened, his intuition has been as sharp as ever. Zara and Zayn held hands as they ran down the ever so narrow alley. They could all feel the change in the intensity of the loud city. They reached the end of the alley, into the main road chaos. So called zombies ran after people, some were licking dead carcases. Some were in a group having a feast. As cars and trucks came in, crashing into each other, tearing apart the sidelines. Suddenly, a massive explosion went off behind them. Smoke clouds went up towards the horizon surrounding their building. The ear-splitting bang was heard after a spine chilling shockwave that swooped by. The building crumbled apart, as Samad was thinking about all the people inside the building, blown off, losing their lives to the explosion. He felt tremendous guilt forming in his heart, he let all those people die…to protect the children he swore to protect with his life. But now’s not the time to regret, as a sea of so called zombies, attracted by the massive explosion, busted towards them. They quickly ran down the main road, but all of a sudden, a recklessly driven car came by and crashed into the abandoned truck a few meters in front of them. From the back seat, a boy around 16 came out, looking terrified. As zombies chased after him the second they could, he tried to run, but he quickly tripped over and fell on his face. He was getting surrounded by zombies as he was trying his best to crawl up. Samad ran to his direction. He couldn’t let another soul die, he couldn’t take the guilt of it, after he gave away the lives of so many, he needed to save this one.