by Dhar, Mainak
'And then, we sing, we party, and...'
Alice watched wide-eyed as he kissed her. Jane didn't seem to mind all that much. Maybe kissing wasn't such a disgusting thing, after all.
Ravi put on his backpack and gathered his rifle and left. Alice followed him to the gate and saw that small groups were heading out. She knew that the rumors of Biter bases were spreading, and perhaps it was important to look for them, but she wasn't sure she would want to go out there, actively looking for Biters. It was one thing to defend yourself when a Biter appeared, quite another to seek them out, especially when they were supposed to be capable of hiding underground and appearing out of nowhere to attack humans.
Junior was at the gate, talking to his father. When he saw Alice, he smiled.
'Hey, what are you going to be doing all day while we're out there having fun?'
Alice smiled back. Junior knew the answer only too well, and probably just wanted to needle her. Nobody had asked her if she wanted to go out on these patrols. Indeed, kids her age were never allowed out on offensive patrols or sweeps.
'I'll be watching for real Biters while you poke into empty holes.'
As he passed Alice, he said in a whisper, 'Happy Valentine's Day. I'll bring some flowers back for you.'
Alice smirked.
'I don't want flowers from you!'
***
Alice spent much of the rest of the day feeling a greater sense of anticipation than she had expected. A few days earlier, she hadn't even known that something like Valentine's Day existed. It had taken someone like a Ravi, with his songs, poems and dreams and his talk of a better life and the effect he had on Jane, to bring the idea of such a day into her life. Alice had grown up knowing fear and conquering that fear in the only way she knew how—by fighting back. While she could not wish the Biters or the violence that permeated their lives away, it did seem a pleasant idea to spend even just one day thinking of better things, of simpler pleasures like someone giving you a flower, or a chocolate, or indeed, a kiss.
She passed a group of the youngest kids being taught about Biters. She had been to the classes so many times she knew the lessons by heart. Everything the kids needed to know could be summed up in three simple truths.
If a Biter bit you, you would become one of them; if a Biter bit someone you knew, it didn’t matter whether that person was your best friend, they were now a Biter and would rip your throat out in a heartbeat; and if you could take only one shot, aim for the head. Only the head. Nothing else would put a Biter down for good.
Many of the kids were looking on goggle-eyed as they were told tales of how people would seem to die on being bitten and then come back as a Biter.
'What happens when you become a Biter?'
Alice had asked the same question herself and never got a satisfactory answer, because the simple truth was that nobody knew. Did Biters have memories? Did they retain anything at all of the humans they had once been? Did they sleep or dream? Why did they attack humans the way they did?
So many questions, and not a single answer. However for Alice, what was enough was the simple truth that the Biters threatened not just her but everyone and everything she had in the world—her home, her family, her friends. That was enough to tell her that the only right thing to do with a Biter was to destroy it.
She came home to find Jane combing her hair, whistling a tune. Normally, Jane was always quiet and dour. If Alice was the troublemaker of the family, she would counter by saying that Jane was a bore. But something had changed in Jane since she had met Ravi. She smiled more often, she sang to herself and she actually laughed. If Valentine's Day could do all that, again Alice decided, it was a pretty good thing. Not that Jane's romantic life concerned Alice, but a happy and distracted Jane was one who told on Alice less often and got her in trouble less often.
It was late afternoon when the first signs of trouble emerged.
Jones ran up to Gladwell. 'Sir, Sunil's patrol was supposed to be back an hour ago. No sign of them yet.'
Gladwell didn't look up from the piece of paper where he was going through inventories of food and supplies. 'They'll be back. Sunil's been out there countless times, and he's got two newcomers with him, but those guys can shoot pretty well.'
'Sir, they're not the only ones.'
That got Gladwell's attention. He followed Jones to the community center where Jones had put up a rough map of their surroundings with pins to indicate the zones where different patrols were supposed to be scouting. This was supposed to have been a cakewalk—go out in force and come back to reassure people that the mythical Biter holes were just that. Three patrols were already late reporting in.
'Sir, should we send out more men to scout for them?'
Gladwell thought it over. It was a terrible choice. The patrols out there could well be in trouble but in sending more people out from the security of the settlement, he would be exposing even more people to risk.
'If there's trouble out there that they can't handle, sending a few small patrols out won't help. Let's get the defences ready just in case.'
Word was passed around and within fifteen minutes, everyone gathered around as Gladwell addressed them.
'Everyone, there's no need to panic, but as always, we need to err on the side of caution. Some of our patrols have been late checking in. I'd like to believe that Sunil is out there, challenging them to another round of cards, but we need to be cautious. We lock down the settlement for now. Close the gates, get everyone inside and set up defences. No need to get everyone armed, but Jones will set up guards on all the walls, and just be ready.'
Alice could see worried glances all around. There were many families there with members out on the patrols, and in particular, the newcomers were reacting with rising panic. They had come to the settlement seeking safety after rejecting Zeus, and now they were learning the hard way that there was no lasting security in the Deadland.
Alice stood on a platform on the wall near the front gate. She was still young, but she was a very good shot by any standards, and certainly far better than any of the kids. So, while her father would never allow her out on offensive patrols, when it came to defending the walls, it was a good bet that she would be picked for duty.
For a few minutes, she saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary. Then the faint popping sounds began. At first, in ones or twos, and then going off in quick succession. She looked around, and everyone had heard them. Her father was scanning the area outside with his binoculars. When he put them down, she could see concern in his eyes.
'Were they ours?'
Gladwell didn't even turn to see who had spoken, but kept his eyes on the horizon as he responded.
'Too many guns. Far too many. Could be a Zeus patrol, but it would have to be a very large one.'
Nobody said anything as the popping sounds continued, and then began to die down—from the sustained barrage down again to single pops. And then it abruptly stopped. Everyone had the same unasked question on their minds—had their patrols just been wiped out by a Zeus force? The tensions with Zeus had been very real and increasing over the years, but by and large, Zeus had avoided any direct confrontation. Could that have just changed?
Alice now had her rifle on her shoulder, her eyes glued to the scope. Jones had spent many hours teaching her how to enter the zone. How to blank out everything and everyone around her. How to focus so intensely on the task in front of her that she would act more on reflex or muscle memory than with any conscious thought. When he had discovered her skills with a gun, he had honed them further, making her stand at attention, her eyes glued to the scope, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for two, scanning for him. He would patiently stalk her and at first, he would surprise her, but as the months wore on, she would almost always spot him, her concentration unflagging, and then she would pull the trigger, the rifle clicking on empty as she shot him with an imaginary bullet.
That was why when she caught her first glimpse of a figure walking towa
rds the settlement, she almost pulled the trigger, but she caught herself in time. There was something familiar about the man, with his broad shoulders and imposing bulk.
'Dad!'
Gladwell saw the man too and as he looked through his binoculars, he whispered, 'Sunil.'
Jones raced out on a bicycle and fetched Sunil as the other settlers kept an anxious watch out for the others who had gone out into the Deadland. A dozen men and older boys were out there, divided into four patrols. Their mission had been easy enough—scout out no more than three or four kilometers from the settlement in all directions and head back. A show of force, and also meant to reassure the settlers that there were no secret Biter hiding places near their settlement. As Gladwell watched Jones cycle back with Sunil behind, he felt sick. He had agreed to send all those men and boys out and there, and he was responsible for whatever had happened to them.
As the bike entered the gates, Sunil fell more than got off the back seat. People had gathered around him, anxious for news of what had happened. Someone passed on a jug of water, which Sunil drained before he began speaking.
'It was simple enough and we were getting bored of walking around, but then we spotted a large force of Zeus troopers. Must have been a hundred of them. They weren't just out on patrols, they were hunting Biters. We thought the holes that Biters came from were a joke, but it seems Zeus takes it seriously enough. They were lobbing grenades in any holes or tunnels they found. We lay low, since with those troopers, you never know when they'll turn on you, and I told the two guys with me to head back to the settlement. As I circled back, I passed two more of our patrols, and I told them to get back individually, since moving in a group would make them easier to spot.'
'Are they...'
'I think they'll be fine. There was no danger to them but I just told them to lie low and take their time before they headed back.'
'So what was all the shooting about?'
It was then that the look in Sunil's eye changed. Alice had known him ever since she had been a little girl, and she had seen him stand shoulder to shoulder with her father and fight Biters with a knife and axe in the darkness of night, but she had never seen him scared. Till today.
'There was one patrol I hadn't got in touch with, and so I moved back to try and see if I could spot them and warn them. I never did get to meet them. The Zeus troopers were getting careless, they were laughing, a few were drinking as they lobbed grenades. This was maybe five kilometers away, near the old factories. And then it happened. I never even saw them coming—they seemed to come out of some construction tunnel behind the troopers—dozens and dozens of Biters. The troopers took position and shot many of them, but then more Biters came out of some drainage pipes. It was a slaughter. They killed every single trooper—maybe a hundred men, all dead.'
There was utter silence around him as everyone digested the implications of what he had witnessed. Someone cried out.
'They're heading back!'
Almost as one, everyone rushed to walls, and sure enough, they could see figures walking back to the settlement. Gladwell looked at Jones and nodded, and several men rode out in bikes to fetch them. Several cheers went up and the tension lifted.
As they came back through the gates, their friends and family members rushed to hug them. Jane had come up to stand next to Alice, and was anxiously scanning the returning men.
As the last of the returning men was brought in and the gates closed, Jane said in barely a whisper, 'Where is Ravi?'
***
As they did a headcount, Alice felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Ravi was not the only one who had not come back—Junior was also missing. Jones was asking everyone who had gone out on patrol where and when his son had last been seen. Most of them were clueless, either not having been in the same area or having been in a hurry to get away from the battle that was unfolding out in the Deadland. One man had been with Junior and Ravi, and he spoke up, his eyes pointed at his feet. He was one of the early settlers, and had been paired with the relatively inexperienced Ravi and Junior to provide them guidance and leadership.
'We heard the shots and thought some of our people were in trouble, so we went over to help. When we got there, the massacre had started. There was nothing we could do to help the Zeus troopers so we set out on our way back, but there were Biters everywhere so we split up to keep a lower profile. I didn't see them after that.'
Jones stood there, impassive as usual, but his eyes were moving, considering options. Even at her age, Alice knew he faced a terrible choice—the safety of his son or that of the settlement. She knew how he must have felt, since part of her wanted to pick up a rifle and take a large patrol out there to look for Junior. With the number of Biters out there, that would however mean exposing them to severe risk. She had heard about how her father had faced a similar choice when she had been younger, and he, Jones and Sunil had gone out to rescue her, potentially sacrificing themselves but not risking anyone else.
Gladwell had been thinking along similar lines, and as he looked at Jones and remembered all the times that Jones had put his life on the line for the settlement, he knew with certainty that he could not just wait for the boys to get back.
'Jones, gear up. I'm coming with you to go look for them.'
Without being asked, Sunil hefted his rifle, but Gladwell stopped him.
'Not you. If things go wrong, we'll need your experience back here. Jones and I'll go out and look for them. We sent them out and we're responsible for bringing them back.'
Alice walked to her father and tugged at his arm.
'Daddy, I'm coming with you.'
'Alice, no...'
'Daddy, it's Valentine's Day. I told him I didn't want his flowers.'
Alice didn't know quite to put into words all that was going through her mind—that she was afraid that the last thing that she would ever say to Junior was her nasty, flippant remark about not wanting his flowers, when she actually wanted him to return, wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day with him, wanted him to give her flowers. All that came out now was a stream of tears.
'You know how dangerous it is out there. We never allow kids to go out so far, not when we know what's going on there today.'
Alice wiped her tears, and they were replaced by a look of defiance. 'You can waste your time trying to stop me, or we can go out now.'
Gladwell looked at Jones, seeking some help. Jones shrugged.
'Let's go.'
The three of them set out on bicycles, Alice sitting behind her father. She had her handgun and knife at her belt. She had wanted to take a rifle but her father had explained that if they did get into a running battle out there, a rifle would be too heavy and unwieldy for her to handle. It was one thing to be in the settlement, with the wall to support the rifle, quite another for an eleven-year-old to run around with a loaded assault rifle.
At first, the Deadland didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary but then Alice began to notice the change. The first indication was not anything she saw, but the smell.
The smell of death.
Anyone alive eleven years after The Rising would have seen enough death to not get squeamish at its sight or smell, and so Alice analyzed the smell with the kind of detachment that would have been unthinkable for someone her age before The Rising. Many men had died recently, perhaps the Zeus troopers they had heard of. There wasn't much wind to carry the smell, so they had to be close to the scene of the massacre.
Gladwell and Jones had also come to the same conclusion and they stopped their bikes. Gladwell just nodded at Jones and turned his head slightly to the right. Jones got off his bike and, assault rifle at the ready, crept to their right to get a better look. He went past a few abandoned buildings and was back within five minutes.
'Nothing left there but the bodies, or rather what's left of the bodies. Looks like the Biters were in a frenzy, and I can't imagine any trooper got out alive. Payback for the attacks Zeus has been launching on the Biters.'
/> Gladwell looked around anxiously. The Biters could be anywhere around them, and as the Zeus troopers had just learned, they could attack from hiding.
'No point hanging around here, let's go West, where Ravi and Junior were last spotted.'
They began pedalling again, and Alice kept looking around her for any sign of Ravi or Junior. She thought she spotted some movement behind a tree. Something looked familiar, the backpack, the rifle across the shoulder, the tall, lean and gangly physique.
'Daddy, Ravi's over there!'
Gladwell stopped to take a closer look, and Alice caught up in the excitement of having found him, called out.
'Ravi!'
The figure that turned to look at her was no longer quite Ravi, and indeed no longer quite human. The Biter who had been Ravi had a big, bloody wound on his neck where he must have been bitten. As he came closer, Alice saw that the dreamy eyes that had so enamored Jane had been replaced by a vacant, yellowed gaze. The soft voice that had perhaps sung songs and recited poems for Jane had been replaced by the grunts of a wild animal. As he approached them, he opened his mouth and roared.
Alice was paralyzed. She had killed Biters before but she had never come face to face with someone whom she had known after he had been turned.
On instinct Gladwell's hand went to the pistol at his belt. Then he remembered Jane, his little girl who had smiled so little over the years, the girl whose laughter and pranks from before The Rising had given way to a sullenness that never quite seemed to leave her. The young woman who seemed to have finally rediscovered love and laughter in the young man who now stood before him.
'Daddy, are you going to shoot him?'
Gladwell considered that question. He had put down many people he had known after they had been turned, and his head told him this was no different. It was better for people to die rather than roam as the bloodthirsty monsters they became after being bitten. Better dead than undead. But then, what would he tell Jane?
As the Biter came closer, Gladwell took out his pistol and shot him once in the head. The Biter went down and didn't get up. Alice was watching, a thousand things going through her mind, but most of all, how Jane would react. Then, another thought flashed through her mind.
