In the darkness, Mayukh's shoulder slammed into the corner of a bookshelf, but ignoring the stinging pain, he dragged Abhi along as fast as he could. He could hear Swati screaming now for her brother and as he got closer, he could see Swati, Hina and David silhouetted against the open back door.
David knelt down and through the night vision optics of his assault rifle, saw two of the creatures just behind Mayukh. He fired a single shot at each, the bullets whizzing inches past Mayukh's face as they slammed into his pursuer's heads. Both went down in a heap.
Mayukh stumbled on a book and fell forward. Even as he fell, he tried to cushion Abhi's fall with his body.
'You okay?'
'I'm still brave.'
Despite the danger in which they were in, Mayukh couldn't help but smile at the boy's innocent courage as he got up and started for the door again.
That was when a hand clamped around Abhi's left leg.
'He's got me!'
Abhi's shout was echoed by a scream of dismay from Swati. Mayukh picked up the flashlight the boy had dropped and shone it down. He saw what had once been a young woman, but was now no more than a feral animal. Her right hand was holding Abhi's leg and she was opening her mouth to bite down on his leg. Mayukh fired at her, hitting her several times till his gun clicked empty. She fell back and in a second was about to get back up when Mayukh lifted Abhi in his arms and ran towards the door. As he reached it, David stepped forward, kneeling to fire his rifle on full auto at the woman, sending her down again.
They ran out the door and sprinted down the spiral staircase, David bringing up the rear. That was when Mayukh skidded to a stop. In front of them stood at least a dozen of the infected, no more than twenty feet away. They began to wail, a sound that struck terror into Mayukh.
'Jiiiiiiihaaaaaaaaaaad…..'
He pointed his gun at the nearest one and fired, and then realized his clip was empty. David came up next to him, his rifle at his shoulders.
'Shit, they are learning faster than I thought. They knew we'd come out here.'
Swati was now gripping Mayukh's left hand and holding Abhi behind her. David took a deep breath and inserted a fresh magazine into his rifle, and selected full auto. At this range, there was no way he had any hope of stopping all of them, but maybe he could buy some time for the others to get away. Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen-he had lived through all of them-only to die in a parking lot in Delhi. He took a step forward towards the wailing creatures.
'Folks, run to the front and get our car. I'll try and hold them.'
Mayukh took Swati's hand and pressed it into Hina's. Swati tried to hold onto him, but he stepped away, trying to ignore her sobs and pleas. Abhi was now crying, all his courage gone.
'Swati, you must live. For Abhi.'
Mayukh then stepped forward next to David.
'You're the man next to me now, David. Remember what you told me?'
David grinned. In another life, this kid could have been a good soldier.
'Nice knowing you, kid. Let's give 'em Hell.'
When the creatures saw Hina and Swati run, they screamed and thundered down on them. David knelt and emptied his magazine, sending four of them tumbling to the ground. Mayukh was firing as fast as he could, and thought he hit two of them, but there was no time to check. He put in another clip as David fired again. They were now just feet away from their attackers and Mayukh put his gun down, knowing that the end was near. David was still firing and shouting obscenities at their attackers.
Mayukh flinched as the nearest attacker launched himself at him, teeth bared. That was when the SUV ploughed into them, scattering their attackers and running over two of them. Hina was at the wheel.
'Get in!'
Mayukh and David dove into the open back door as Hina sped away, smashing aside a bike that was parked near the exit. She turned towards them.
'Did I tell you that I never got a Driver's License because I was scared of driving?'
Just then, they heard a cry of anguish from Abhi, and they all turned towards him, wondering what was wrong. The little boy looked at Mayukh, tears welling in his eyes.
'I left McQueen in there.'
They all laughed, and then sat back, each of them thinking of their narrow escape. As the Sun slowly rose over the city, they realized they had survived one more night. Not only survived but formed bonds forged in battle that meant that now each of them was sure that no matter what lay ahead, they would face it together.
'Oh my God!'
Mayukh sat up at Swati's shout. He could hear her begin to cry. He leaned over to the front seat to see what was wrong. She was cradling Abhi in her lap, and was looking at his left leg.
'Swati, what happened?'
'They bit Abhi.'
SIX
They were all sitting inside a Pizza Hut. Though they were all starving and dog tired, food was the last thing on their mind. Abhi was sitting in front of them, his expression showing just how confused he was at how the adults were suddenly behaving. Unconsciously all of them, even Swati, sat a couple of feet away from Abhi, who was scratching his left leg near the knee, where they could all a red welt where one of the creatures had sunk it's teeth in. It had not been a deep bite, but the skin had broken and there was some bleeding.
'It hurts here', he said with a pout, puzzled as to why he was not getting any more sympathy from the adults. Swati was in tears but Mayukh was also totally gutted, as he began to blame himself for not having taken better care of Abhi. There was a knot in his stomach as he began to feel that once again he had let someone down who had depended on him. Hina was trying to console Swati while David sat impassively, cradling his rifle in his hands. He was the first to break the ominous silence.
'It's been at least two hours since he was bitten. How long do we wait?'
Mayukh saw David move the rifle in his hand and he walked over and sat with Abhi, taking him in his lap. Abhi hugged him, grateful that finally someone was acting like normal.
'David, we keep waiting. If anyone is worried, they can leave.'
Seeing Mayukh stand up for her brother, Swati also joined him and Hina walked over to them a second later. David put his rifle down on the ground, realizing that Mayukh had assumed the worst.
'Jesus, folks, don't be so frigging melodramatic. What did you think….'
He couldn't bring himself to say it, but he gestured towards his rifle, making his meaning obvious, and then continued.
'But look, he should have turned into one of them by now, and he hasn't. I don't understand it, and it freaks me out. And if he does turn into one of those things, what do you propose we do?'
They were all silent, since they had no answer to that very question which had been plaguing their minds for the past few hours. Hina got up and walked to the kitchen.
'Look, we can sit around and wait or we could at least get something to eat. Now, who wants cold pizza?'
The pizza was cold and stale so they all gave it a pass, but they gorged on soup and pasta. David discovered that the place had a working generator and they had their first hot meal in three days. It made them all feel a bit more human again, and it took their minds off Abhi.
Abhi was listening to Hina sing nursery rhymes when Mayukh decided to stretch and walked to the front of the restaurant. He felt someone behind him-it was Swati.
'The little boy's mother would have real proud, for her little boy is a man.'
He looked at her and smiled, and they sat down together.
'Swati, tell me about your folks.'
'We were hardly the perfect family. Mom and dad fought all the time, so it was pretty much me and Abhi. With our age difference, I was part mother, part sister for him. When they came to our house, I saw my dad run away. He didn't even try and protect us.'