“Are we all set?” Salman looks directly at me.
I nod without saying anything, hardly even giving him a glance.
“Then let’s go.”
Head hanging low, I follow Salman through the foyer and outside. It’s so… silent right now. It’s almost scary. As I step onto the dirt, I lift my gaze. I did not pay attention to the road when we arrived, but I can’t ignore it now. Completely engulfed by the thin smog, I see the hazed scene all around me. A bomb must have hit this road before we ever came here. A crater is smoldering just down the street. It’s wide and looks deep. Chunks of concrete rubble surround it like shattered glass. A few of the buildings on this street are utterly demolished. Some are still smoking. Any one of those could have easily been us. With everything that’s happening, I’m starting to wonder if there’ll be any landmarks left for us to recognize if we ever do get home.
Salman and Fatima are looking at the crater. Maybe they’re having the same thought. Turning towards them, I break the eerie silence. “Which way are we going?”
“North.” Salman tears his gaze off of the scene and motions in the direction. “We’ll be trying to stay along Highway 214. It’ll just about take us right where we need to go.”
I almost say that I hope ‘where we need to go’ is still standing when we get there, but I stop myself. Tugging on my sack’s strap in a vain effort to realign it, I send Salman a slight nod. He knows what I mean and makes the first move, walking in the direction we’re headed.
Keeping Fatima between us, I fall in line behind her. I feel all the soreness settling in within the first few steps. This is how it always begins. Within a couple of hours, my feet will be begging for rest, but I won’t be able to give it to—
I stop. So do the others.
There’s a whistling sound. I instinctively look towards the heavens. Is it coming from up above? It’s faint, barely audible. It sounds so far away, but… it’s growing louder. The noise seems to be headed for—my eyes widen.
“Take cover!” I roar.
It’s too late. The bomb falls right on top of us.
Chapter 20
Raining Fire
Smog surrounds me. I can’t breathe. The smoke is too thick. Dust is everywhere. Stumbling down the road, I violently cough. My gaze is wild. Where is Salman? Where is Fatima? I can’t sense their presence.
I don’t remember anything—the last thing I heard was the whistling. Then there was an impact. After that—it all happened so fast. Everything became a daze. Next thing I know, I was sent sprawling onto the ground. I scarcely even remember the explosion. The piercing ringing is echoing in my head, and I can’t think straight. My breaths are quick. So is my heartbeat. My mind is so stunned that I almost can’t even keep my legs under me.
I madly look to the left and right, trying to cut through the smoke and ash raining down. There are people everywhere. I didn’t see any before, but now they’re coming out of the woodwork. I hardly see anything more than their outlines in this smog, but I hear their screams. However, over the cries, I sense their panicked steps as they race right by me. Were there this many people here the whole time?
There’s no sign of my friends anywhere. They just disappeared. I keep staggering through the smog, praying to find the end of it. The ground beneath my feet is hot, and the ashes fall like snow.
What’s that sound? It—it’s more bombs. Even through all the chaos and confusion, my heart begins panicking like never before. They’re just faint whistles at first. But they’re growing louder. Sudden gunfire breaks out behind me. It’s relentless. The bullets are shrilling. It’s close—no, it’s distant, but not too far behind me.
My mind screams one thing above the rest: Run, Zaid, run!
Catching control of my feet, I break out of my stumbling and into a jog. Then a sprint. My feet beat against the ground like madmen. Tearing through the mist and into a clearing, I arrive only to see the sky raining fire. It showers down on Aleppo.
The heavens are blacker than any night. Crowds of people flee from the shooting, their yells echoing through the street. Gunfire roars from all around me. It’s everywhere. It’s closer than I thought. A bullet whizzes out of the smoke and rushes right by me before clanging against a burned vehicle. Another inch and—don’t think about that now, Zaid.
Dashing through the street, I hear bombs falling from the sky. How can there be so many of them? They grow louder with every passing second.
Then it starts again. Deafening explosions rock the city. Men and women topple over as the bombs and missiles erupt. Buildings go up in smoke. Chunks of debris are blown into the air before spilling down on the city, crushing anything in their path. I feel the heat of the blasts crash against my skin. I witness walls and entire buildings ferociously collapse, kicking up enough dust and smoke to rival a sandstorm.
A building’s wall creaks as I run under its shadow. It breaks off in the next instant. Avoiding the falling debris as I leap over rubble, I witness the city that I call home—the city I grew up in—again turn to ashes. But I can do nothing. Like the rest of them, I can do nothing but flee. Some flee to shelter. Others flee away from the battle. However, there is no escape from this. My mind continues to scream one thing through all the madness: run! Run and don’t stop! Run until your feet fall out from under you!
The Judgment Day that the Imam always spoke of is upon us. It is the end.
I hear nothing but the ringing of the earsplitting destruction all around, sense nothing but the insurmountable heat. Black ash covers me. I wipe my eyes of the dust, desperate to clear my sight. My vision is tunneled ahead as I try to escape the bombs. My feet are numb, but I don’t stop. My heart pounds against my chest like a mad drummer, threatening to burst out at any moment. But I don’t slow down. I can’t.
It’s chaos. Madness. The rockets are plummeting onto the street at random. Homes and shops go up in a blinding blaze. The explosions are everywhere: in front, behind, and on either side. There’s just chaos as the bombs strike the city. Blackness shrouds the heavens. I can’t see ten feet ahead of me. There’s so much thick, toxic smog. I w—
I’m suddenly sent lurching forward before crashing on my side. My head is spinning. The ringing is louder than ever before. I lay there a moment longer, unable to muster any strength. What just happened?
My thoughts still in disarray, I stagger to my feet. I almost topple over immediately, but I maintain my balance. The ground is shaky, but I somehow keep it under my feet. Was that a bomb? It almost hit me. A few more feet to the left and I would have been caught in the eruption. Instead, a truck was set ablaze. The fire is scorching. That could have been me in it.
A man dashes right by me. Then a boy who’s nearly my age. Neither one gives me a second glance. Keep running, Zaid. Don’t stop!
The explosions aren’t slowing down. Neither is the gunfire. Continuing to retreat from the bullets, I shake my head in an effort to diminish the disarray. The endless barrage almost drowns out the screams. Some are of the people—my fellow civilians—being engulfed by the explosions and debris. I hear their thunderous cries before they are cut short. Others are of those like me, those fleeing their homes in terror. People run right over one another.
The gunfire grows closer with every second. A bullet shoots right by me. Then another. Followed by a third. Don’t slow down, Zaid. Keep running! The smoke is so thick now that I can barely even see where I’m stepping. However, it only makes me run faster.