by Mainak Dhar
An old woman stepped forward and shouted in a hoarse voice.
'Get the boy to safety. The Biters know about him and will come again for him.'
Purohit and David leaned out and thanked everyone for their help and assured them that Abhi was fine. Mayukh felt Swati grip his hand, her face reflecting the same panic he felt creeping up his spine. She spoke slowly, as if afraid that saying the words would somehow make them more real.
'They can't be thinking through this, can they? They're just crazed with the infection, right?'
Mayukh would have liked to reassure her, but he had seen enough to tell him that the Biters were not just the bloodthirsty, random zombies they had initially seemed to be. There was slowly but surely a method to their madness, as if more elements of whatever collective memories or intentions that had formed the original infection were coming back, beyond just a reflexive desire to wear a turban and attack others. David was now looking Mayukh straight in the eye, and Mayukh saw the soldier motion for him to come to a corner. Swati held onto Mayukh's arm and spoke to David.
'David, I know you're going to talk about Abhi. Whatever it is, let's say it in the open.'
David sighed.
'Fair enough. We're all in this together now. Look, even if there is a slim chance that indeed they are trying to target Abhi, we all need to get out of here fast. We almost had it last night, and if they come in greater numbers, we won't stand a chance.'
Hina had been trying to keep Abhi busy in a corner, but the boy now knew that they were all talking about him. He looked at David, growing fear in his eyes.
'Are those not-nice people coming to get me?'
Mayukh wanted to hold him tight and tell him that everything would be fine, but he realized that kind of innocence and simplicity in his life was long gone, gone the night the infection began spreading, gone the moment his family had been shattered. He picked Abhi up and held him close. For several moments, there was an awkward silence as they all considered David's words.
Purohit broke the silence.
'I don't know whether they came for him or not, but the boy is the biggest threat to them, and the biggest hope for all of us. So he must be protected.'
Hina asked him what he meant.
'For whatever reason, he is immune to the infection. If scientists or doctors got a look at him, they may find out why, and be able to get a vaccine or cure for the infection.'
Mayukh said despairingly.
'Doctors? Scientists? All that's left are these goddam Biters and people trying to stay alive like us.'
Purohit shook his head.
'No, Mayukh. There is more than that-and it all starts with people regaining hope. You saw what happened last night. Total strangers, people who till now had just been hiding like rats, came out and fought to protect us. They did it because Abhi gives them hope that things can be better. We of all people cannot give up hope now.'
David interrupted him, speaking in little more than a whisper.
'Mayukh, he's right. Don't you remember the radio transmission we heard yesterday?'
A flash of realization came over Mayukh. They now had a destination.
Ladakh.
***
Their first stop was back to the bookstore, where they picked up maps and guides. When they learnt that the temperature could be near freezing at this time of the year, they went into a shop selling winter clothes. For a minute, they all stood there, looking at the jackets and sweaters strewn on the floor.
David spoke for all of them.
'Never thought we'd have to steal.'
Purohit scoffed.
'You're getting soft, soldier. You're trained to live off the land, and now this is what we have to live off.'
They started picking up clothes and trying them on. Swati emerged from a changing room with a new sweater on.
'How do I look?'
Mayukh was about to say that they had more pressing worries than to shop around, but one look at Swati's face stopped him. She was smiling. This one simple pleasure of being in a shop looking for clothes had perhaps brought back memories of a normality that they had scarce little of in their lives anymore. Mayukh walked up to her and kissed her on the forehead.
'You look amazing, sweetheart.'
He could hear Abhi groan and he turned to see the boy sticking out his tongue.
'Yeeeeks…he kissed her!'
What had been a moment of shared intimacy soon became the cause of laughter for the whole group, and they left the store in good spirits. Next up was getting enough fuel for the ride. Delhi to Leh was a thousand kilometer drive, and even in perfect weather could take an experienced driver a full day of driving non-stop to get there, given the mountain passes and roads in Ladakh. David, who had fought and lived in the cold, mountainous terrain of Afghanistan knew what they needed.
'We need some metal cans for the fuel. At high altitude, plastic jerry cans will leak the odour of petrol and together with the thin air is a recipe for throwing up. Any idea where we could get some of those?'
Mayukh thumbed through the guide in his hand.
'Sadar Bazar.'
They drove in silence, watching what remained of a once bustling city. Here and there people were wandering around in small groups, mostly scavenging for food or warm clothes. A frail woman with a toddler in her arms walked in the front of the car, pleading for help.
Mayukh realized, not without a tinge of shame, that under normal circumstances, he ignored a dozen such beggars on the streets of Delhi every day. Somehow, with all that had happened, that did not seem right. He asked David to stop, and he saw that Swati was thinking much the same. She took a couple of packs of food and pressed them into the woman's hands. The woman thanked them, and then took a look inside the SUV. She looked at Mayukh with her vacant eyes, and leaned forward to whisper.
'Take care of the child. They are looking for him.'
Mayukh recoiled as if struck, and the woman scurried away. He didn't say anything to anyone, not wanting to spook Swati any further, but he clutched Abhi tightly to his chest. The stakes were now much more than just his personal survival.
At the best of times, Sadar Bazar was a chaotic warren of shops put together haphazardly as if a giant had taken them all, juggled them and then strewn them around at random. Now, with no lighting, and no signs of anyone around, the area looked positively creepy to Mayukh. Purohit and David had gone inside a shop, and were looking for metal cans that might be useful. Mayukh was near the SUV, standing guard with Purohit's remaining friend. He finally learnt the man's name, Lamba. While they waited, Mayukh asked him what his story was.
'I was a Brigadier in the Army before I retired. I served under Purohit Sir for some years, but my health did not keep up with my plans.'
The man was wheezing slightly, and Mayukh wondered how hard it must have been for him to lose two of his friends in the fight the previous night. Suddenly, he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, and he had the uncanny feeling that he was being watched. He turned around to see an abandoned car repair shop that had all its windows and doors latched, save a small gap near the floor. He looked closely, and he swore he saw eyes peering out. Thinking it might be a frightened survivor, he came closer, his gun at the ready. He knelt down, and looked through the hole, and while whoever was inside had retreated into the darkness, he thought he could hear breathing. He came even closer, and then the familiar stench hit him. He fell back, scrambling his way to the vehicle, where Purohit and David asked him what had happened. When he told them, David simply took out his pistol.
'Only one way to find out.'
He fired a single shot through the hole, and they all heard not one, but several of the unearthly shrieks that had come to haunt their nights. Everyone hurried inside the vehicle and they drove off. Hina spoke to nobody in particular.
'They hide during the day.'
It was now almost noon and they all knew they would have to stop somewhere before Sunset. They briefly debated
whether they should wait another night, but Swati insisted they push on.
'If they are really after Abhi, I want to get as far away as possible.'
They took stock of their food, fuel and warm clothes and were about to set off on the long drive when Purohit tapped David on the shoulder.
'Soldier, drop us where we were.'
Everyone started protesting all at once but Purohit raised a hand to silence them.
'Look, you have a more important mission that tagging along a couple of old men. Get that boy to someone who can figure out why he's immune and use it to help all of us.'
Mayukh told him that his not coming along would make them much weaker. Purohit smiled.
'Young man, on the contrary, we would be a liability. Lamba's got asthma and I have a busted leg from an old war wound. We would just slow you down especially in the hills. No, my friends, this is where the Bartender makes his last stand. Go on now, Lamba and I need to get ready before Sunset. You see, we old fogeys will do some hunting tonight.'
David whispered.
'He's right.'
Mayukh saw that despite his words, the American soldier looked almost choked with emotion. As they dropped the two old men, David got out and saluted both of them, standing at attention.
'Captain David Bremsak requesting orders to proceed on mission, Sir.'
Purohit saluted back, smiling broadly, his eyes glinting with a hint of tears.
'Happy hunting, Captain.'
***
David drove for the first one hour or so, and then Mayukh relieved him at the wheels. Swati was in the front seat next to him, with Abhi on her lap, and the boy kept up an incessant chatter that had everyone distracted, something they were all thankful for. Otherwise, they would have perhaps dwelt more on the desolate landscape they passed. The National Highway they were on was normally a death trap at night with its heavy trucks driven by over-worked and often drunk drivers. Now those same roads were eerily empty. A few trucks lay by the roadside, abandoned by their drivers the night the chaos had enveloped the world, but there were no more moving vehicles or people in sight. Abhi was looking out the window and giving a running commentary on what he saw.
'I saw a big red truck.'
'There's a giant blue truck which is broken.'
Mayukh smiled along at Abhi's exuberance, trying to suppress the anxiety he felt inside. He caught himself looking at Swati now and then, and though her eyes were creased with fatigue and stress, she smiled back. He wondered about the convoluted ways in which fate worked. He had lost everything he took to be his own, only to find someone like her in the midst of all this chaos. The feelings he had for her, and the trust Abhi had placed in him both made feel incredibly protective, and also woefully under-qualified for the task of protecting them. He took a glance back at David whose face was an inscrutable mask as he stared out the window.
David was consumed with the logistics of the task they faced. As much as he would have liked to believe otherwise, he knew their chances were slim. He was down to two clips for his M4, and while he had a lot of ammunition for his handgun, that was of little use at long range. Mayukh was down to ten rounds, and while he had proven himself to have guts, he was no trained soldier. Add to the motley crew an old woman, a young girl and a toddler, and he figured their chances of making it through a hostile landscape teeming with psychotic zombies didn't look that good. That, of course didn't mean that he wouldn't do his damn best to get himself, and everyone else out alive. He had Rose to get back to, and if what they all figured about the kid was indeed true, then perhaps there was something worth fighting for after all.
Mayukh thought that Hina was handling the stress the best of them all, fussing over all of them, handing out regular installments of cookies and snacks, and telling them they needed to keep their energy and spirits up. Hina would never have admitted it to any of them, but her enthusiasm came from an unlikely source. She had been used to years of living in solitude with nothing and nobody to care for but herself. She had secretly longed to fuss over her grandchildren, to once again pester her children to eat well, to say good night to someone else but herself before she went to sleep. Now, she realized, for better or worse, she had people to take care of. She so wanted to believe that getting Abhi to safety would indeed lift the darkness that had enveloped the world. That would at least mean that all the loss and suffering had somehow had some meaning. Also, the romantic in her so wanted to make sure that Mayukh and Swati got a chance to live a normal life together, a life where they would not have to fight to survive from one day to another.
Their journey thus continued, each of them consumed with their own hopes and worries, except perhaps Abhi, who simply delighted in looking at the trucks he saw littered by the roadside and in gobbling down the cookies that Hina passed on to him on demand.
They had driven for just over three hours and it was past four in the evening. David suggested that they start planning on where to spend the night. The map he had open on his lap gave him an obvious answer.
Karnal.
It was a small town on the way to Manali, the popular tourist hill station that was the gateway to the mountainous passes that led to Ladakh. None of them had been there before, but it was a safe bet that they would find an abandoned home where they could seek refuge for the night.
They drove past a few old houses when Mayukh saw something totally unexpected. A few hundred meters away on the roadside, a bright neon sign lit up the otherwise barren and darkening landscape. As he drove closer to the sign, he saw what it proclaimed.
'Zilmil Restaurant. Five star food, one star prices.'
He looked at David, who was also staring at the sign, and he shrugged as if to indicate 'why not'. Mayukh brought the SUV to a halt in the narrow driveway outside the small, non-descript shack that made the grand claim through the neon sign. David asked for the others to stay in the vehicle and stepped out, his rifle at the ready. He approached the building cautiously, sweeping the area in front of him. He flattened himself against the wall and peered in through the open window. Satisfied, he signaled to Mayukh and the others to join him. As they came closer, he whispered to Hina and Swati to stay a few steps behind with Abhi and asked Mayukh to cover him. He then kicked open the door, and dove in, rolling on the floor and coming up in a crouch, his weapon at his shoulder. Mayukh was at the door, his pistol in front of him, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it. The little roadside eatery with five-star pretensions had five cheap plastic tables and chairs and a kitchen area in a corner blocked by a large counter. There was a slight humming noise, probably coming from the generator that was powering the neon sign outside.
Mayukh thought he heard something, and he looked at David to confirm that he wasn't just imagining it. David nodded to indicate that he too had heard it. Mayukh heard it again, and he would have found it almost funny had they all not been so much on edge.
It was the sound of someone hiccupping.
David pointed behind the counter, and Mayukh nodded, moving slowly behind David as he approached the counter. David leaned over, his gun at the ready, and then lowered, it, yanking out with one hand the person who had been hiding there.
The man was scrawny to the point of looking like a famine victim, wore torn shorts and a vest that must once have been white, but was now coated a dirty brown. His hair was matted, and his face looked like he had been smeared with soot. Despite all that, his eyes shone brightly and he was smiling broadly, revealing white teeth.
'Welcome to Zilmil Restaurant. We offer five star food at one star prices.'
He hiccupped again, and Abhi giggled.
The man's eyes lit up as he saw Abhi, and he laughed out aloud in delight, and moved towards Abhi.
'Hello, little one. Do you want some ice cream?'
Abhi was about to go over to him when Swati held his hands tightly and David tensed, half bringing up his rifle. As if oblivious to the fact that he was facing two armed men, the man suddenly pirouetted and faced
Mayukh, holding out his hand. Mayukh just stood in silence as the man continued.
'I have totally forgotten my manners. My name is Freddy, and welcome to my humble little restaurant.'
Then he skipped over to where Hina stood.
'Madam, would you like some coffee?'
Hina nodded, just wanting the strange man to shut up or get away. He almost ran over to the counter and pulled out a cup and went over to Hina, handing her the empty cup.
'Be careful, it's very hot.'
Abhi was enjoying the man's antics, and he piped up.
'Blow into it to cool it!'
Freddy clapped his hands in delight.
'Smart boy!'
David had now lowered his weapon and walked up to Mayukh.
'The poor man has lost his mind.'
Freddy turned to David, speaking in immaculate English.
'No, no! I have not lost my mind, sir. I assure you that I am fully in control of my faculties. Here have some tea.'
He had now taken another empty cup and handed it to David, and then disappeared into the back of the shop, mumbling something about finding some food for his guests. Swati and Abhi were now next to Mayukh and he reached out for her hand. Hina said softly.
'Poor, poor man. I wonder what he must have gone through for him to go over the edge like this.'
They heard Freddy call out to them to join him in the back. They moved there cautiously, and saw that he was moving a carpet on the floor. They watched in astonishment as he reached down to the floor, revealing a trapdoor that he opened with considerable effort. He then looked at them.
'The Sun is about to go down. Now they will come out to play hide and seek. Will you play with me?'
David motioned for the others to stay up and climbed down the ladder he found under the trapdoor. A few seconds later, he called for the others to join him. They found a small room that had been created to store supplies, and it was currently stocked with bags of rice, sugar, biscuits and other staples, but there was enough room for all of them to sit down. Freddy was the last to come down, and they saw him adjust the carpet before he closed the door. He scrambled down the ladder and then flipped a switch on the wall, and a single bulb lit up the darkness.
