44
NARROW ESCAPE
[The water will be very rare. Certain areas of some countries will oppose others. The sacred books will not be respected any longer. The people will have no morals, and they will have a tendency towards sectaries. In the Kali Yuga, the false and deceiving doctrines will spread more and more. The ruling classes will confiscate all proprieties and will use it badly. They will cease to protect the people. The predators will become more and more violent, and the rulers will be no less than those predators.]
-Puranas
PADMA:
Inside the bus, we gather food, some of the food packets are in plastic bags while some are in paper bags. I fill my bag with biscuits and bread and dry food. Jalpa does the same, sobbing.
In no time the bus is out of food. All teenagers run inside the building where experienced are waiting for us. They have imprisoned Jagapati and his troop inside the basement so the coming troop won’t doubt on him.
“What about these dead bodies?” I ask as soon as we find Akhil uncle.
“We have killed them and imprisoned others.” I see the smile on his face, “that’s the plan. “Look, I have got a curved sword too.”
“Nice,” I say.
“Children go out of the building.” Uncle Akhil says, looking over the teenagers, “use the back door and walk along the wall.”
Everyone nods.
“Aren’t you coming?” Jalpa asks, even she knows the answer.
“Yes, I’m coming. Just not yet, soon, though very soon.” He says, “We will catch you once we kill all Nirbhayas.”
I laugh in my mind – no one can speak such lie other than him. I know it is impossible still I hope he isn’t lying. He pulled Jalpa into his arms. Last Hug.
“You be a good kid now.” He says, “You do what Padhma says you to do and stay with her, Okay?”
Jalpa nods and slips one of her hands into mine. Uncle looks at me, “you… -” The throat of the snarl of engines and cries of horns cut him off.
“They are here,” I say and run towards the window.
I see exactly what Jagapati has told us. The thing I’ve never expected to see. – Big Jeeps and motors loaded with Nirbhayas. Troop has come.
I run back to Uncle and clutch Jalpa’s hand, let’s go.”
“No.” tears stream down her beautiful cheeks, “I can’t leave my father.”
“Jalpa go.” Uncle reaches for the sword, and looks at me “I’ll meet your father in the heaven.”
“Please father, don’t do this,” Jalpa says but Uncle doesn’t answer her. She understands it’s not going to work. The hard look in Akhil uncle’s eyes tells her that she has to leave him.
“Padma…” he says, “Go my child.”
I clutch Jalpa and run towards the back door from where others are leaving. The last words I say to my uncle are: I’ll protect her. I’ll watch her. I won’t let anything happen to her. But all in vain the experienced have started shouting and running towards the front door and among these shouts and battle cries my words are too slow to hear.
With these words, I pull Jalpa and run outside the building, our legs barely visible. Into the fear, our breathing is twice faster than usual. Teenagers around us, still crying and shouting and sobbing, and clutching the bags of food in one hand and one or another tool to use as a weapon.
What will happen to people inside the building? This thought is calling us back but we keep going, determined to save ourselves.
“Jalpa,” I say, running, “keep running. We can make it.”
She is right next to me, running with all her strength, her eyes stay glued up ahead.
“Can we?” she asks, panting.
“We’ll be fine, just stay close to me.”
“I’ll,” she says.
Outside the building, we run towards the water channel. The voices behind us are terrible – sounds of metal against metal. Cries of pain – battle cries of Nirbhayas.
“They are killing our people,” Jalpa shouts, “Do you hear that?”
“Don’t hear that,” I say, my heart thumping, sweat slicking my skin, “they are fighting to save us. We have to make it. We can do it.”
I say but the wall which seems near in the morning seems me too far now. We are still several yards away. Ear- scorching cry behind stops us running. I look back and what I see makes my heart stop.
Half of the Nirbhaya troop has circled around the building and now they are exactly besides us. They have understood our plan. Half of them are fighting inside the building while more than ten are at the back of the building.
The enemy is about to reach us – about to outrun us. The ear-scorching cry was of a teenage boy. Arrow of a Nirbhaya has caught his back. He was still on his feet, but unsteady as if his feet are on the water, not the land.
“Run,” I shout, “run.”
With my shout, other teenagers also shout the same words and again we run towards the water channel.
“There are creepers covering the wall of the channel,” I shout without looking who is listening to me, “if we can reach there we can climb the wall and jump in the water.”
“It’ll kill us,” Jalpa shouts. Her hand is still in mine. We are running side by side, “water will kill us.”
“I know how to get out of the channel.” I shout again, “believe me I’ve jumped in channel more than thousand times to get fish. I know how to survive in water.”
“Run and climb the channel wall.” everyone starts to shout, running to the channel. I slowly look back, still running, fighting the fear as I take it all in.
All teenagers are running – No, not all. Some are overwhelmed by fear. More than ten teenage girls and boys are compressed into a tighter group and looking at Nirbhayas. They are trembling. They are crying. They sobbing but not running. I understand they are shocked.
I stop running and so does Jalpa.
“What are they doing?” she looks at feared teenagers and then at me, “what are they waiting for?”
“They are feared and out of their sense,” I say, “we need to do something or they will kill them.”
I look at a troop of Nirbhayas walking at them.
“Run,” I say but none of them hear me.
“Do you know anyone of them?” I ask, looking at Jalpa.
“Yes,” she points at them, “he is Chandan and he is Savan.”
“Just stay here,” I say, releasing her hand, “I’m coming.”
She nods.
I run to the stunned group and as I reach near them I show two boys falling to the ground, arrows made of metal in their chests.
“Run, Chandan,” I shout, I don’t know who is Chandan or who is Savan but I know if some of them would run the remaining would come in sense and do the same, “run Savan.”
Instead of responding me, two boys start to run and the remaining do the same.
I glance at the Nirbhaya troop, advancing towards us like a pack of wolves. That’s how they seem to walk, their eyes on us. I’ve never seen anything as scary as them. The only word I can use to describe them is Rakshasa of old tales. I turn in a circle, running and reach near Jalpa. I clutch her hand again and we run following that feared group.
I run ahead, pulling Jalpa behind me, running at full speed, seeing teenagers around me catching arrows in their backs. Towards the Channel.
Then Noise behind us increases suddenly and I look back to see the reason. I see my people rushing out of the back door and leaping on the Nirbhayas shooting arrows at us. The battle begins there.
My people are fighting two sides: inside the building and outside the building.
I keep running. Refuse to look back whenever I hear a scream. The screams behind us are increasing in number with each passing second. The screams in pain, screams of my people, screams shattering the air, screams scorching my ears, screams overpowering any other sound, even the sound of our running footsteps. With each step, I hear a scream and with each scream, I hope it wasn’t uncle Akhil.
I’m becoming selfish. I’m thinking about just the person who helped me but others –
I don’t want to think or maybe I know there is no meaning of thinking about them.
“Our people are dying.” Jalpa looks back and shouts, “Two Devatas are killing them with magic.”
Devata – I feel my heart will explode.
If Devata is in the battle my people can’t stand more than some minutes. No one can – they have magic to kill people.
“I know,” I say, without looking back but pulling her behind me, “just keep going.”
I don’t look back, I don’t feel anything, I fight back the urge to go back and help my people as I know I can’t do it. I just keep running until we make it to the channel. I skid to stop and Jalpa bumps into me, almost making me fall. But I kept a creeper and keep myself steady.
“Climb the creepers and just jump in the water, don’t fear,” I shout and start to climb the creeper, Jalpa does the same.
In a split second, I see teenage girls and boys climbing up the wall.
Once we are on the channel wall, I look back, the sight is horrible – Devatas are killing my people mercilessly. Teenagers who have been caught by arrows are crying in pain. Some Nirbhayas are removing clothes from captured girl’s bodies. Girls are being raped among the battleground.
The scene behind is awful, horrible. I feel guilty for not helping them. I feel like a coward, I’ve never felt myself as a Sunya but this moment I feel as a Sunya, but I know that any fighting, any death – would be in vain if w can’t make it if we can’t escape if we can’t survive.
“Jump in the water,” before anyone can argue, I grab Jalpa and jump into the channel. Jalpa screams as we fly through the air, down at the water surface.
We hit the water and then is see other teenagers hitting the water before water drags us with it, into the direction of its flow.
***
to be continue...
