'They are coming.'
Abhi had said the three words in no more than a mere whisper, but Mayukh, David and Swati stopped in their tracks. Mayukh put him down and knelt before him, looking into his eyes.
'Abhi, who is coming?'
Abhi pointed to the cluster of huts a few kilometers to their left.
'The not nice people are coming.'
David took a good look in the direction Abhi was pointing and then turned towards Abhi.
'Abhi, I don't see anybody out there. They're not coming so don't worry.'
Abhi didn't look very convinced and muttered, barely audible to the others.
'But I can feel them coming.'
Swati had been trekking through the hilly terrain with the others, gamely trying to keep up and not slow the others down for the last hour since they had abandoned the van and proceeded on foot. The Sun had just begun to set, and David had just told them that based on what he remembered from the guide they were still at least a couple of hours walk away from the Thirse Monastery. They had taken turns carrying Abhi through much of the journey, with Mayukh taking on the lion's share of the carrying, but even Swati had volunteered to carry her brother when she had seen Mayukh tiring. But now she seemed to lose much of her composure at Abhi's words. She grabbed hold of Mayukh's arms.
'What if they're really out there?'
Mayukh tried to sound confident, but was too tired to do a convincing job of acting.
'Look, we haven't seen a soul for hours. The best we can do is to just keep walking. Come on, Swati. Hang in there, we're so close.'
David was watching their exchange, and suddenly he picked up the small bag filled with apples and water he had been carrying and started walking. Mayukh called after him.
'David, where are you going?'
He turned towards them, his face all business.
'After all we've been through to get so far, I am not about to quit. If we do, all that pain, all that loss, Hina-all of it would have been for nothing. Now, are you coming or not?'
Swati said nothing, but picked up her own small bag and followed, and Mayukh picked Abhi on his back and was but a step behind.
It was now almost pitch black, especially with no lights on in any of the adjoining villages and the cold was now almost unbearable. They were all wearing gloves and caps and had bundled up Abhi as much as they could, but as Mayukh walked, he could feel the cold breeze bite into his face like a thousand needles. Swati keep casting anxious looks at Abhi, wondering if there was any truth to what he had said, but for now, Abhi seemed content to be riding on Mayukh's back. They stopped for a short break, both to have a bite to eat and also plan the last leg of their journey. Mayukh's relief at getting a break from marching with Abhi's weight on his back was matched only by Abhi's visible disappointment as he pouted.
'But I want to go piggyback again!'
Swati hushed him, bribing him with an apple that he began munching into immediately. David had siphoned off some fuel from the van and filled three bottles with it. Mayukh carried one of the Molotov cocktails, and he carried two of them. He and Mayukh broke off two sturdy branches from a nearby tree, tore one of their bags into two and fashioned crude torches from them. David had also taken a lighter from the van's glove compartment and he poured some of the fuel on the torches and set them alight. They were all instantly grateful both for the warmth and the fact that they were now no longer walking totally blind. David carried one and Swati the other, with Mayukh continuing to carry Abhi on his back and with both shotguns slung over one shoulder. As they proceeded, David whispered to Mayukh.
'I know we had to make the torches but I have a bad feeling.'
'Why?'
'Because if anybody is actually out there looking for us, now we're practically lit up like a neon sign.'
Swati had overheard him and spoke up, more hope than certainty in her voice.
'But if there is a government base out there, they'll also see us more easily.'
As soon as she said it, she clammed up, and none of them brought it up again. They had been proceeding so far on the leap of faith that there actually was a base here where they could find safety. All they had to go on was that one radio broadcast, and if they were wrong, they would likely all die in this snow-covered wasteland. Mayukh sensed what Swati was feeling and walked next to her, holding her hand. He wished he could have spent more time with her, wished he could have told her how much he loved her, wished he could have done all the things a young man would have done for the young woman in his life. But for now, all he could do was to hold her hand wordlessly as they continued trudging through the road that was now frosted over with snow.
Mayukh could feel Abhi's head now resting against his back. The boy had no doubt fallen asleep and he wondered aloud how long it would take for them to get to their destination. David looked at him and sighed.
'Not really sure. There aren't any road signs I can see and we don't have a guidebook with us any more. At the rate we're going, it could be anything from thirty minutes to an hour more.'
They saw a fork in the road with a small temple or pagoda drawn on a sign by the roadside. David remembered from the guide that they needed to keep going straight as the smaller path to their right supposedly led to another smaller monastery a few miles away. Seeing the sign gave them all renewed hope since it meant that they were on the right track and they were not far from their destination.
They walked for a few more minutes when suddenly Mayukh felt a jerk as Abhi sat upright.
'They are coming.'
Mayukh paid him little attention, assuming the poor boy would be terrified and exhausted after all he had gone through, and looked wordlessly towards Swati. She took the hint and tried to distract Abhi with a story, but he was not going to be consoled and began crying, and then David stopped.
He had not seen anything. Indeed in the dark with only their makeshift torches for light, he couldn't see beyond a few feet anyways, and he had not heard anything. But he had felt it. The same feeling he had experienced several times in combat, the instinct that had come from years of training that told him that there was danger.
'David, you okay?'
David looked at him, and Mayukh saw that same inscrutable, stony gaze that he had seen on David's face when he had been in action before-in front of the bookstore, at the Ashram. One evening, when he had mentioned it to David, he had jokingly called it his `war face', but on a more serious note, had told him that was when he was intensely focused on action, reacting with instinct and training. Abhi once again insisted that `they' were coming, but more than the boy's insistent pleas, David's expression scared Mayukh.
Swati could also sense the change in David's mood, and was about to ask him if he had heard anything when they all heard it.
It was the sound of a mob on the move, the shuffling and stomping noises of many feet coming towards them. In the utter silence of the mountainous wasteland, that was further amplified and Swati felt her own pulse quicken as she heard the sound.
'Could it be government soldiers?'
David shook his head.
'The sound is coming from behind us. Someone is following us.'
They were all standing in the middle of the road, and suddenly they felt totally naked and exposed. David seemed to be thinking over something, and then as if making up his mind, sighed and turned to Mayukh.
'Mayukh, see that high snow bank there? Take Swati and Abhi and hide behind it. Swati, give me your torch so they don't see you moving there.'
He held his torch tucked under his left armpit and took the torch from Swati, who was not sure what he planned to do. Then it struck Mayukh.
'David, no! We're in this together.'
David looked at him, his eyes softening.
'Kid, you've been more than a brother these last few days. You're like family now, and as much as I'd like for all of us to make it together, what matters is that Abhi gets to safety. The only way any of this will be worth anything is if someone can figure out why he's immune to the Biters and help others. Now go.'
Swati was now crying and Mayukh felt himself choke up as he called out to David.
'I can't let you fight them alone. Remember what you said about the guy next to you?'
David turned to him, dead serious now.
'Mayukh, the fight's not over. You still need to get Abhi to the Monastery. I'll just try and buy you some time.'
Then he turned towards Swati, touching her face gently.
'Take care of yourself and the two men in your life. And don't worry about me-I'm a hard guy to get rid of so easily and I do want to get back to Rose. Chances are you'll hear from me one day. If not, know I tried my best and tell my Rose about me.'
He handed her a small piece of paper with a name and a telephone number.
Then he was gone.
***
David walked back to the fork in the road and looked back once to ensure that Mayukh and the others were safely behind cover. In the darkness, it was hard to see much but he could barely make out the outline of the snow bank, and he could discern no movement. If his eyes, which were trained to operate in darkness couldn't make them out, he had to bet on the fact that the Biters wouldn't figure out their plan either.
The thump-thump of the approaching Biters was now louder than ever, even though he couldn't see them yet. He knew that there was a turn in the road, blocked by a small hill that they had passed minutes ago, and as the sound of approaching footsteps grew ever louder, he judged that they would be about to turn around the bend any minute. The turn, bordered by a sheer cliff on one side and the hillside on the other, was such that even a very large mob would have to pass through two or three at a time.
He cocked back his right arm and threw the torch with all his strength. The torch spiraled into the sky, lighting up the ground below it like a flare and in its dull orange glow, David saw a sight that chilled him. The first Biters had just emerged from the turning and behind them, he could see the pass packed with so many Biters it was hard to count them all. As the first Biters saw the other torch lit in David's hand, they bared their teeth and screamed, a cry that was taken up by the others till their unearthly howling filled the valley.
David ensured his pistol was tucked into his belt, and looked back once in the direction where Mayukh, Swati and Abhi were hiding.
Then he did the single most absurd thing he had ever done in his life. With one broken hand, two makeshift Molotov cocktails that he was not even sure would catch fire in the cold and frost, and a pistol that had only four rounds left in it, he turned towards the hundred or more Biters closing in on him. Then David charged towards them, screaming the battle cry of the US Navy SEALs.
'Hooyah!'
Mayukh heard David's yell, and as much as his heart cried out for him to go to his friend's assistance, he knew what he needed to do. He grabbed Swati by the hand, and with Abhi tied firmly to his back, he began running up the road as fast as he could. His ears were ringing with the screaming of the Biters and when he looked back, he saw several fiery shapes flicker in the night before disappearing. He kept running, wanting to put as much distance as possible between them and the Biters. He could hear Swati gasping and panting, trying desperately to catch her breath, but he had her wrist in a vice like grab and literally dragged her along.
He then heard four shots ring out in quick succession.
And then silence.
As he ran, tears streamed down his cheeks and he could tell from Swati's sobs that she was also crying. David was gone. With that stab of grief came a realization. Now he was all that Swati and Abhi had.
For the next few minutes, the Biters seemed to be quiet, and all he heard were his own jagged breaths, Swati's panting, and the scraping of their shoes on the frosty road. Abhi was quiet and clinging to Mayukh's neck so hard that Mayukh could feel the boy's nails bite into his skin. He could only guess how terrified Abhi must have been. Mayukh had not the foggiest idea how far the Monastery must have been, but now was not the time to stop and check where they were. Doing that would have meant using some form of light, even if only the lighter in Mayukh's pocket, and he didn't want to risk that. All he was focused on was going as fast as he could along the road they were on.
He suddenly felt Swati's hand jerk free of his, and he tried to hold on, grabbing a fistful of her jacket sleeve. Swati screamed loudly once, and then perhaps aware of the dangers noise could bring, did not say a word more, though Mayukh could hear her gasping. She seemed to have fallen, and dragged him down till he was on his knees. His eyes were now more accustomed to the dark, and in the moonlight, he could see that Swati seemed to be hanging from the edge of a cliff.
Mayukh cursed himself-he had been so focused on a headlong flight and had taken for granted the straight road they had been on that he had not considered that they might be in for more of the treacherous terrain they had passed earlier. He grabbed her with both hands and inch by painful inch, pulled her up till he could grab a handhold. Swati hugged him, crying, and now that Mayukh was sitting on the ground, he realized just how little he had left in him to carry on. All he wanted to do was to lie down, Biters or no Biters.
Abhi was now crying, and Mayukh was just too tired to tell him to be quiet. Swati burrowed her head into his chest.
'Mayukh, I can't go any further. I can't even breathe properly. Just leave me.'
She never got to finish as Mayukh kissed her.
'No, not you. Not you as well. I've lost too many people. I will not lose you.'
Abhi spoke up, his voice barely audible to Mayukh even though the boy's head was inches from Mayukh's ear.
'Don't be sad. I won't cry. I promise I'll be a brave boy.'
Swati hugged her brother and closed her eyes, trying to will herself to carry on. Mayukh had never felt so helpless and weak as this. His body was about to give up on him, and he had nothing left to offer Swati by way of reassurance.
'Swati, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't do more.'
She was now hugging both Mayukh and Abhi and her voice seemed composed.
'All that matters to me now is that we're together. No matter what happens, we will face it together.'
Abhi was now smiling, happy that Mayukh and Swati were in better spirits. He was cold and scared, only too aware that the not nice people were somewhere around. He wanted to also reassure Mayukh, to make him feel happier, but his toddler vocabulary wouldn't let him say much, so he remembered the story Mayukh had often told him.
'I'll be brave like the boy in the story. I'll remember what his daddy told him.'
Mayukh heard Abhi's words just a split second before he heard the thumping and shuffling of several feet behind them. Any doubts about who they might be were dispelled when he began to hear their screams.
'Jiiiiiiiihaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad'.
'The boy give us'.
The sound of the footsteps seemed lesser than before, so either David had thinned their ranks, or only some of them had taken this road, the others choosing to take the fork in the road they had passed earlier. Or perhaps only some of them had heard Swati's screams. Mayukh knew that no matter how many of the Biters were there, it was now too late to run.
Abhi's words triggered the memory of what his own father had told him. Indeed, what had been his last words to Mayukh.
Be the man I always dreamed you would be.
A clarity came over Mayukh, and he somehow felt physically lighter, as if a burden had been lifted from him. He began to untie Abhi from his back.
'Mayukh, what are you doing?'
Mayukh ignored Swati's pleas and tied Abhi to Swati's chest, the boy facing her. Then he held Swati with both hands.
'Sweetheart, I know you are tired. I know it hurts, and I know he's heavy for you. But you must go on. You must make it.'
She was now crying.
'I can't leave you. I love you!'
Mayukh felt his own eyes well up.
'I love you too. More than I can tell you now. But that's why you need to go. That's why Hina and David did what they did for us. Whatever happens, Abhi must make it.'
He kissed Abhi on the forehead once, and then kissed Swati hard, lingering to feel her one last time. Then he dragged her to her feet and pushed her to get her started on her way. She was crying with every step, but Mayukh was glad that she began to run down the road.
He kept looking in her direction till the sound of her footsteps faded. Then Mayukh turned to face the Biters.
***
Mayukh was surprised to find that he felt no fear. If anything, his mind was more at peace than he ever remembered. As he heard the thumps and scrapes of the Biters approaching footsteps get louder and closer, he thought back to all he had been through. Seventeen years of indulgence and not taking anything seriously, of throwing tantrums over what now seemed to be trifles; and then in seven days, experiencing life more intensely than in all those preceding years combined. He had found love, learnt the meaning of responsibility, learnt what it was to sacrifice for others, learnt what true friendship meant, and above all else, learnt how good it felt to live for someone else for a change. The howls of the mob of Biters seemed ever closer, and he thought he heard a voice whisper in his head. He could have sworn it was David.
You've learnt to be a man, soldier.
Mayukh smiled and took out his iPhone from his pocket. It showed the battery to be 30 % charged, which was far more than he figured he'd need. He tapped on the Flashlight app. He had downloaded it for fun some months ago, and not used it once after the first day of fiddling with it. The app was on Strobe Mode, casting a brilliant blue and white glow around the phone. The Biters must have noticed the glow for they screamed louder than ever and he could hear the sound of running feet.
He knelt and skipped his phone along the road, thinking that even if it broke now, he had no use for it any more, just praying that it stayed screen up. The phone bounced off the road and came to a halt a dozen or so feet away, lighting up it's surrounding area like a small beacon. Mayukh could see the first of the Biters now, a gnarled, deformed face with a turban tied on top. The Biter seemed to be dressed in the torn remains of what seemed to be a Police uniform of some sort. Three more dressed like him were just behind him.
Mayukh took the bottle filled with fuel that he had tied to his belt, and lit the bit of cloth extending out it's top with his lighter. He fumbled once or twice, and realized that in the cold, the fuse was not catching fire as he had hoped. The First Biter was now less than six feet away when Mayukh put the lighter to the neck of the plastic bottle itself. He felt a flash of searing heat for a second before he flung the bottle at the Biter.
The flaming bottle hit the Biter in the chest and he screamed as he fell. One of those behind him tripped over him and was also engulfed in the flames. By the light of the fire, Mayukh now saw what he was up against. There were about two dozen Biters rushing towards him. The good news was that meant David had either distracted or killed a huge number of the original pursuing force. The bad news was that at such close quarters, even a dozen Biters were a dozen too many.
Mayukh unslung a shotgun and pumped it, chambering a round and firing, seeing one Biter, a ghoul who looked like he had been a chef, still dressed in his white uniform, get cut in two. He swiveled towards the next one, and realized this Biter was no more than a boy, perhaps no more than seven or eight years old, and wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. Or rather, he had been a boy, Mayukh corrected himself as he pulled the trigger. He fired three more times, not aiming at anyone in particular, but sure that at such close range, he couldn't miss. Then the first of the Biters reached him-one who had been an elderly woman, with wisps of grey hair still sticking out from under her turban, her face a yellowy, bloody mess that was barely visible in the light that the pyres of the two burning Biters still threw up.
Mayukh reversed his shotgun and slammed the butt into her head, and as she rocked back, he turned it around and fired, all but obliterating her. He fired twice more before his shotgun ran out of shells. A strong hand gripped his right arm and another ripped the shotgun from his hands. He kicked out, and felt his foot connect with something, but then another hand reached out and grabbed his foot in a vice like grip.
Mayukh went down on one knee, and as a Biter jumped on his chest. Mayukh was thrown back, the wind totally knocked out of him. Flat on his back, he could only see the outline of the Biter's head, but he could smell it's fetid odour, a foul, reeking stench that made him gag almost involuntarily. The Biter was now closing in on Mayukh, it's open mouth seeking his neck. Mayukh fished in his pocket with his free left hand and took out the lighter, bringing it up between him and the Biter before flicking it on. He caught a glimpse of a yellowed, deformed face with a beard before the Biter shrieked and fell off him, fire enveloping his beard.
Mayukh tried to get back to his feet but a blow to his head sent him down again. He could feel blood flowing down the side of his head, and wondered if a Biter had hit him with a rock. He tried to reach for the second shotgun slung at his left shoulder but a kick racked his body with pain, as he heard his ribs crack.
He felt arms grab his hands, and then his feet, till he could no longer move. The Biters were now screaming again, excited at the kill, and Mayukh thought that perhaps it was just as good that he had pissed them off as much as he had. He knew that they tore apart those who fought them, but that was a fate far better than being bitten and transformed into one of them.
He saw a Biter move in for the kill, it's sharp teeth bared, ready to tear Mayukh's throat out before the others cut him to ribbons. Mayukh rocked his head forward, catching the Biter completely by surprise by smashing his head into it's face. Mayukh felt a rush of pain, and then a free flow of blood down his nose. He was sure he had broken his nose, but he was not done fighting yet. It wasn't about saving his own life-he had already reconciled to being a dead man. It was the simple fact that every minute he delayed the Biters was an extra minute that Swati and Abhi had to get to safety.
As the Biter above him growled in fury and brought his mouth down to bite again, Mayukh smashed his head into the Biter once again. Mayukh didn't know if the Biters felt pain or not, but the Biter was at least knocked off balance enough to be thrown off Mayukh. As for Mayukh, if he had not broken his nose the first time, this time around he was sure he had succeeded.
Infuriated by this unexpected resistance, another Biter picked up a rock and hit Mayukh with it. Mayukh saw the blow coming and held up his right hand in front of his face, taking the full strength of the blow on his elbow. He screamed in agony, sure that some bones had broken where the rock had connected. When his right hand dropped uselessly to his side, the Biter brought up the rock for another blow. In the melee, the grip on his right leg had loosened and Mayukh kicked out at where he judged the Biter's groin to be. He connected with something soft, but the Biter didn't seem to notice.
Armed with the useless bit of trivia that Biters were not fazed by a kick to their balls, Mayukh felt the rock connect with his head. As his head flopped back on the cold road, a deep sigh came from Mayukh's lips. He had done the very best he could have. Now he had no more fight left in him.
Bruised, bloodied and battered, Mayukh looked up at the stars in the sky, hoping that the end would not be too painful, and hoping that he had bought Swati and Abhi enough time.
As he saw the Biter's silhouettes loom over him, he thought he saw shooting stars crisscrossing the sky, and then the sound of firecrackers bursting. Whatever it was, he had neither the curiosity nor the energy to find out; perhaps it was some Biter with a gun.
He felt cold, clammy hands close around his neck, and he closed his eyes. His last thought was that perhaps it was good that he was going to be unconscious when the Biters tore into him.