“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page, from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Tel Saki, Syria.
A Present for ISIL
“Go kill me a terrorist,” said the armorer as he kissed the smart bomb.
Nizar watched his son, Hussain, as his football ricocheted off the bullet-pocked walls of their block of flats. His wife, Amena, had shooed them out while she fed the baby. Nizar glanced at the sky, clear, pale blue, and empty of warplanes.
He shuddered as he remembered last night’s encounter. He’d gone downstairs just as masked men with guns barged into the lobby. He’d tried to hide, but one of the men called, “Nizar. Say nothing of this. We know where you live.” Quaking, he had obeyed.
The warplane rocketed off the flight deck. Twenty minutes to target.
Nizar heard the plane.
“Hussain, come now!”
“Aw, Dad!”
Hussain turned away and chased his ball. Nazir followed.
“Now, Hussain!”
The rubble of their home pursued them as it collapsed under the shattering blow of the smart bomb.
