The Children - 25 (FINAL)

**Please look at the attachment for the front cover**


Part One:

June 15th
4.30 pm local time

The woods started to fade into plains with few trees scattered here and there. They still had a mile to cross to get to the road.
Things were fine but Dave looked restless. Inba could make out the difference by the stiffness of his back. He also kept watching his back.

“Is something wrong Dave?” Inba hissed from behind.

“Sh..” he silenced him and started to make an abrupt turn to the left towards the densely wooded area.

“What are you doing?”

“Shut up and follow.” Dave hissed back. Thendral didn’t understand why Dave suddenly changed path but she could pick up the anxiety in his voice. Is something wrong? We haven’t even gone into the mine yet, she was thinking when Dave suddenly stopped in midstride. “Thendral get down”

“What?”

“I said get down”

Swooosh….

A bullet spewed past her face and the force made a small wind that pushed her short hair to the front.

“S***. Get the hell down you stupid”

Thendral didn’t have to be asked twice after that. She fell splattered on the ground. Inba was already on the ground and pulled her to his side. Dave had ducked behind two closely hung trees and had positioned his gun in the gap.

Silence..

‘Load the gun and be ready’ Dave said in sign language all the while looking firmly in her eye. He touched his two fingers on his eyes and pointed his index finger at a distance and then at her.

“What is he saying now?” She asked in a whisper to Inba.

“I think he says that they can see us, probably our heat signature or something. We should hide behind that huge rock, come here” He moved along with her behind a huge rock without making any sound. “Be ready with the gun”

With thumping heart she pulled out the gun and cocked the hammer.

They lay watching and listening to the muted forest.

A distant rustling, Thendral could see Dave’s gun position towards something she couldn’t quite see.

“Swoosh…”

A man fell down in a distance. And then it was bullet shower.
Dave was firing his gun with full force that she could see many bullets grazing the tree trunks and branches.

Inba too had worn his night vision goggles and was shooting at random on all shadows he could see. The used shells showered on her like popcorn. They could hear few short screams and thuds.

But still the shooting continued. How many damn men are there?Her hands shiver as she tried to shoot. She couldn’t.

“Thendral get up and run. Inba give her cover from back”

“Yes.”

Thendral sat like a statue.

“They are gaining on us you idiot, get up and get the hell out of here. Otherwise we will be sitting duck for them.”

And she ran.

Her mouth went dry in thirst and fear, she gulped. Her fingers were numb and her eyes had this weird buzzing in front of her.

She couldn’t see clearly but she had her loud heartbeat as the drum rhythm for which she was running. She knew not how long she ran but she ran until her heart threatened her to fail and her throat killed in drought.

She knew Inba and Dave were coming close behind her. There few yards away, she could see the road. And what was that she saw there??

Barricades and cops??

Damn…

4.00PM

Undisclosed location

Debbie and Becca sat in silence. A huge reptilian looking hybrid was watching them.

When Debbie tried to say something to Becca she got a sound slap across her face that bruised her fair skin. She kept quiet after that.
They had sat like that for hours now and the hybrid was still looking at them in eye. Becca badly wanted to pee. She cleared her throat and the thing looked at her like ‘what?’

“I need to pee.”

The thing showed her a vacant room with no door in one corner.
She stood up on shaky legs and made a move. The thing followed her. She took one look and understood that it was going to be with her till she finish. With a spark in her eye she looked at Debbie and gave a subtle signal for the door.

Debbie looked at her and then at the thing and looked at her again.

Becca again signaled at the door and went inside the toilet. The thing stood comfortably in the open toilet door front and exactly at the same time Debbie bolted for the exit door.


5.04 PM

Somewhere in the woods


Thendral made a sharp turn and ran inside the woods again.

“What the hell are you doing? The road to the mine is on the right.” Dave asked in breathless voice.

“Cops”

“S***”

“Dave, cops on the road. We need to take cover. We cannot face two enemies at the same time, however prepared we are.”Inba said as he stopped them behind a thick bush.

“No we cannot. But we can, if we split”

“What?”

“Yes. It’s silly to get away from these f******. They will come wherever we go. I will finish them. You both take the short path near the cliff, you just might escape without getting into the cops. Try to make it inside the mine. I will catch you up there.”

“Dave. How can we go without you?”

“What? Am I your bloody shadow? Get lost” he didn’t speak any further. He jumped up the shrub and went in the direction of the snipers.

“Inba what do we do?”

“We have no choice Thendral. Come on.”

They swiftly made their way to the end of the cliff. To their right, little farther up they saw the cops on the road.

“What now?”

“Look we are to their back now. We can make it across the road here where it is narrow and it is really dense on the other side. If we do it the right way I think we can make it.”

“Ok.. I am ready”

They tucked in all loose stuff into their bags. Thendral put her one foot on the gravel road and her heart was pumping in Delphi sound.

“Come on. Ten seconds max. You have to be behind that tree. Can you do that?”

“Why don’t you do it first?”

“No. I need to give you cover, if you are seen”

“huh..”

She cocked her head and looked at the cops. She could see huge red barricades across the wide road and at least three to four black and whites (patrol cars) parked on the side.

More than a dozen cops were standing there all positioned to look at all directions like the ‘navagrahas’. Well they did leave the choppers behind, good for them.

“What are you waiting for?”

“How do you expect me to go? They are watching in all direction”

“We have to take a chance, Thendral.”

“Wait. I got it.. a car is coming. I hope their attention will be there.”

“Yes..do it”

She kept her eyes glued at the cops. A red Cadillac came near them and a bunch of cops went near it, including the one who was looking in her direction. And she made a run for it.

She sank down on the damp forest floor and sighed in relief. Now it is his turn. She watched him with fleeting heart. He made it through quite casually; lucky for him they were still engrossed in the Cadillac and its driver.

“huh..Well that was breezy”he sat beside her.

“I guess that was because they are not expecting us to cross this way, they are expecting us to cross the county.”

“Mmm..Could be. You think we should wait for Dave?”

“No, every minute we are outside, it is a ticking time bomb for us. Let us move”

They made their way through the woods in the direction of the mine.

Thankfully the mine was rather pushed inland from the road.

The cops were completely out of earshot and a bit out of sight too.
They can finally make it through without any problem. Letting out the guard a little bit, they walked towards the dark entrance of the mine.

Swoosh..

“oh s***. Get down”

“Damn…It’s the snipers. They are gonna get us” Inba pushed her into a crevice of a rock and pulled his gun out.

His eyes strained and he could see two forms coming towards them now. Then it became three ..four…five.. ”s*** that is a f****** army. Where did they come from?”

“Oh god not now..If they are going to make noise the cops will join them to” Thendral pleaded.

“Thendral you get inside the mine and stay safe, I am going to push them in back into the forest. I will try to take them all out and I think Dave will be there. Between us we can crush them. If not, just go ahead as we planned. Ok?”

“Inba don’t”

But he was gone.

end of part 1

Dear readers..please wait to post your replies.
I have to post three more parts.
You can reply after fourth part.
Thank you

 

Part 2:

With very little time and luck already running out he had to make sure at least she made it through into the mine safely.

Thendral could hear subtle sounds of silenced bullets grazing and leaves crunching under foot. She kept her eyes wide open in the fear of losing them.

Five minutes ten minutes only sound that she could hear now was the slow breeze that rustled the leaves on the ground.

‘What happened to them?’

Suddenly Inba came from nowhere and ran towards her. Thendral saw a sniper coming fast behind and aiming at him.
“Inba watch out” Thendral screamed. As Inba turned the stream of bullets came and hit.

It hit him in the left arm as he fell down.

Inba fired at the lone sniper for one long minute with his submachine gun before he bent down to Dave who was hit. He had pushed Inba at the last minute out of the line of fire and took the bullets.

“Why did you do it?”Inba asked miserably.

“Oh enough of your soap opera and do me a favor” Dave said in a tough voice wincing in pain.

“What?”

“He looks so odd lying there on the open ground. Please throw him off the cliff. It will give some extra time.”

“What?”

“Don’t you want to walk freely inside the mine?”

“ah yes..”

Thendral carried Dave’s bag for him as he said “Let us get inside”

Dave caught his wound tightly and ran inside the mine making sure that the blood didn’t fall anywhere on the ground.

Thendral looked at the wounded man and said in small voice “I am sorry”

“What for?”

“I saw him and I had time enough to shoot him. But I was…”

“That’s ok. Next time please do shoot. I will be happy with your action than your sorry”

“I get it”

Thendral looked in the direction of the entrance.

“Wondering what takes him so long?”

“..”

“We will leave if he is not coming in five minutes” Thendral looked startled at Dave’s words. At the same time a dark form closed the bright entrance of the mine.

“Speak of the devil”

“Inba. Are you alright?”

“I sure will be, until I see my son fine.”

“That is one damn good father and what is that?”

“Oh this. I got it from the man, just to help us understand who exactly we are fighting against.” He gave the bag and other stuff he had taken from the sniper.

“Wow…just exactly as I had suspected”

“What is he?”

“ah… That is not necessary right now except that we are not in light hands. Let us move”

“No we don’t. We will take care of this wound before we move into the darkness” Thendral said.

“That sounds sensible but how do you propose we do it?”

“I don’t know. You tell, we do it”

“Listen to me. Let us first get safely in. I don’t want to get surprise visits from some stupid cop whilst we are digging my wound and besides we really need to get in as far as inside as for now.”

“ah..Ok..”

“Then come along. We will see if we can find some water source, here. And remember this is an abandoned mine. There are certain things you need to remember before waltzing off into a mine, but I don’t want to bore you with details. Just follow me I will tell you one by one as and when necessary.

Lesson 1: Never assume the huge looking rocks and boulders are sturdy. They might be loose and waiting to fall over.”

They walked in single file in the wide passage of mine that was dimly lit by the open entrance. They walked for about five minutes on the slightly sloping passage. When they reached the end of a low narrow path that branched out into three different routes they stopped.

“Which one should we take? Eenie..meenie..mainee..”

“Dave, are you serious?”

“Of course not. This way, can you see the arrow mark in white paint” he took them through the far left branch that looked to be the narrowest darkest path. It soon stopped in dead end.

“What do we do now?”

“Oh look..we are going down.” Dave showed them a dark hole.

“In there? Can you climb down with your hand? Dave it is bleeding so badly”

“Yeah..yeah I know. We must f***** get down fast”
It had a rusty but strong looking metal ladder. He took the lead and climbed down the vertical shaft. He had his head lamp on which illuminated on light brown limestone rocks. After about ten minutes they heard a cry from below.

“I am safe down. Come on Thendral your turn. One at a time.”

It took almost half an hour for all three to walk down the aisle that took them from the vertical shaft to the huge wide open space. It was really huge, the size of a school indoor auditorium.
“Wow..”

A clean looking stream was trickling past their feet. She gingerly touched the water. It was ice cold.

“Dave at least now. You lost so much blood, you are looking pale.”

“Alright alright. Take that medi-kit from my bag. Can you sew Inba?”Dave was all business.

“Me? no.”

“How about you? Young mom. Can you make a stitch?”

“Oh god..”

“He won’t come for this. You have to do it”

Dave used his other hand to tear off the sleeve before he closed his eyes and felt his wounded hand. “Hmm..I should be really lucky to get hit by just one bullet from that bloody uzi..” He tenderly washed the external surface with the cold water.

“Damn that stings. Inba use that knife and pull out the bullet. Here can you see it?”

“What?”

“Why are asking ‘what’ for everything? Just do it.”

“ok..” Inba used the razor sharp knife to slowly pull out the bullet that had found its way into the flesh. Dave kept telling him how to push the blade softly out of the flesh.

“Good it is just a flesh wound no fractures. Ah, I feel better already. Now you mam, are you ready with that sewing thing?”
Thendral’s hand shook as she bent near his hand with the needle and synthetic thread.

“Would you be looking like this if it was your son who was losing blood?” Dave asked in a cold voice as Thendral looked at him. Her face hardened and she went to work. Her hand went up and down mechanically and in minutes she had made a perfect stitch.

“Will that do?”

“I couldn’t have done it better myself” Dave smiled.

“You think this is enough. What if it was some internal..”

“Nothing. I have had enough wounds to know that this is nothing. Don’t worry. I might not use this hand aggressively for a while and luckily this is not my dominant hand. Can you gauge it for me?”

“Of course.” She cleaned the now sutured wound with a cloth dampened in cold stream water and gauged it neatly and tightly.

“Fair job mam. Now we need to move.” Dave took a pain killer, injected himself with something in the wounded arm and stood up. “You can fill up your bottles with this water. It is pretty good and safe to drink, I checked.”

They started to walk down another narrow stretch of passage. It looked like a triangular hole that went deep. Thendral felt the change in the air. It was getting cold. She pulled up the zipper of her coverall.

They came to halt at one point. It was the dead end of the tunnel.

“That’s it? We have been walking for almost an hour. “

“This is the end of the coal mine”

“Whatever does that mean.?”

“This mine is a part of a natural cave system that yielded good coal. They sealed the lower part deep below, years ago for reasons unknown. This is all we can go as far the sign board outside. But we have to go down. Things will be tough. You guys ready??”

“yeah..”

Dave pulled a small machine and went near a metal trapdoor on the floor. He used it to cleanly cut open the aged lock.

“There…we are entering the sacred part of the mine. I have to warn you though, about the sole inhabitants of the mines. The bats”

Thendral peeped into the trapdoor and she now knew how a death trap will look like.

“Ah guys. In..ba, you think you can take a weight. I am little..off” Dave looked too pale.

“Dave..Dave are you alright?”

“Yeah..yeah.. it’s the medicine. I might doze off a little “

“Then we will go a little later”

“No..no..we need to go down now. We will be safe down. I can take rest there.”

“huh..ok..Thendral can you go down first?”

“What ? me?”

“Yeah, I need to handle him. No choice dear”

“o..ok..”

Thendral put her right foot first as she peeped inside. It was like hell hole.

She could hardly see anything. She switched on her headlamp and wished she didn’t. She nearly had a heart attack on seeing a bat in close up. She would have slipped if she was not clinging to the ladder tightly.

“You okay” Inba asked from above.

“huh..i ..i guess. It’s just a...just a bat”

She went down. She tried to concentrate on the steps. The steps..it went on and on. She had counted to 250 and yet she didn’t see anything.

Suddenly she saw something.

She bent down to look clearly and was shocked to the core. She saw a person with headlamp and all staring up at her from few feet below.

end of part 2...........

 

Part 3:

4.03 PM


Debbie ran across the room to the door and Becca felt content. She closed her eyes and wished at least she would get out. When she opened her eyes she saw the hybird animal thing on the floor and Debbie standing behind with a small spray can.

“What did you...??”

“I just used some bug spray on him. Weirdly it worked.” Debbie grinned.

“Oh Debbie”

They both ran outside and started walking calmly all the while praying that they would not be noted by the security cameras.

“What now?”

"I don’t know. Any idea where Ishwar is?”

“No..”

“Who got you here?”

“Gregory. You?”

“Yeah Gregory”

“You think we can make it outside.”

“I don’t know but I just feel that we will. But we need to find Ishwar first”

They walked down swiftly to the containment room where they usually hold the unruly units before treatment. They tried to peep inside through the peep window. Was Ishwar there? Becca saw a BW(Blue warrior) come towards them.

Unusually it smiled at her. She recognized it to be a unit which she had in control for several weeks before activating. She casually went near and made small talk with it as Debbie tried to look around through the hole. Suddenly her eyes fell on a pad and a sheet of paper the BW had in its hand. Debbie tried to cock her head and read what it was.

Sure enough she saw the name ISHWAR near the finger of the BW where it held the pad.

What is this thing? Debbie tried to look at the letter header. Her heart stopped.

“Becca”

“Yeah.”

“You are needed at the lab, remember? “

“Oh..yeah..we need to go”

“Did you get anything at all from inside? Was he there?” They scurried past several humanoids as they went near the lift.

“I know where he might be”

“Where?”

“Termination chamber”

Becca stopped short.


6.00PM

Dave’s Den

“What do you think we should do?”

“Just what Dave said.”

They kept watching the screen in which three new bright green dots were moving. Sean looked at it and wished them good luck.

‘Bing’

“What is it?”

“Oh no..Sean. I think we have visitors”.

“So soon? You be here Pavi. I will be back. If I am not back..”

“Sean?”

“If I am not back and you see anyone else coming, you remember what Dave said. Don’t hesitate to use the door”

“Sean” He suddenly bent down and kissed her.

“I am sorry.”He ran up.

Ten minutes..twenty minutes. Clock ticked as her heart ticked.

The door opened and a scared Pavi sank back in relief.

“God you killed me”

He smiled. He looked rather ruffled.

“So we are safe?”

“For now.”

“How many?”

“Just three”

“Will there be more?”

“I don’t know.” He looked at the bright green dots on the screen and then at the radio longingly.

It woke up suddenly

“Earth is damp”

“Ah..Good they are in the mine now. Pavi can I have a cup of coffee?”he sagged back on his seat.

“Sure, honey” she smiled and he chuckled.


6.31 PM

Deep in the mine


Thendral sucked the cold air sharply as she saw the other person. Then she blinked her eyes and looked again. She started laughing hysterically.

“What the hell? You are going to wake up all the bats”

“Oh.. Iam sorry. I thought…I was …Inba?”

“What?”he shouted from above.

“I don’t know how to get down”

“What do you mean?”

“It is water all over. I can see my own image down there, it is crystal clear. I don’t know how deep it is.”

Thendral could hear him swear.

“Try locating some dry place where you can jump to.”

Thendral looked down with her head lamp full. Few feet to the right she could see an edge. Yes, it was ground. It looked dry but sparse. She had to be extremely careful to jump exactly on the ground.

The clear looking water was not exactly honest and so she didn’t know how deep that was. With one leg and hand perched on the ladder she tried to stretch her other leg to the ground. It touched the tip. Fair enough. She let go of the other hand and made a jump.

She fell face down, hard on the rocky surface. She got an instant taste of the decades old mildew and bat guano that made her puke. She hurriedly took some water from her can and washed her mouth. Dave had told that guano might sometime be fatally infectious.

She then stood and yelled “Safe on ground. “

9.30 PM

They stood in the middle of the mine that stood over 150 feet tall and spread over a football field wide.

It looked magnanimous yet terrifying to say the least. But it had this weird kind of beauty attached to it. Thendral couldn’t help but notice the unusual color of damp aging rocks contrasting the bright limestone rocks.

The high ceilinged arches formed by the huge rocks that cut into several levels of arches looked like some kind of corridor for a naturally built palace . The crystal clear water that formed a beautiful blue line across the floor seemed divine.

If sunset at the hills and sunrise at the beach were Nature’s realistic art masterpieces this was a stunning masterpiece in abstract art. It didn’t fail to create a mood as well.

It was damp and daring and life looked so unreal down here.

“What next?”

“I don’t know”

They stood still unable to shake off the goose bumps that nature had thrown upon them suddenly.

“ahem” Dave cleared his throat as he was getting more dizzy by the minute.

“I suppose we rest for the day” he said from the rock on which he reclined.

“What?”she looked shocked. “How will we find our son then?”

“Give me an hour at least baby. My brain cannot do over duty. I am very sleepy” and he dozed off. Thendral sat near Inba. She produced two energy bars which they munched without saying anything.

The cool air and surreal surrounding urged Inba to look at her. He tried not to and so he walked up to Dave and laid down beside him.

“Doze off Thendral. We need to have energy for tomorrow.”

4.30AM

Inba woke up with a start. The rustling woke up Dave who was nearby.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I think I just had a night mare. Thendral?”

“huh.”

“What is this? You didn’t sleep?”

“huh. I just woke up early”

“How early?”

“…”

“Oh Jesus” Dave fell back again. He then jumped up. He looked perfectly alright now.

“What were you doing till now? You could have taken some rest”

“I am alright really and I did something useful while you were asleep”

“Like what?”

“I studied Ishwar’s sketches; I guess he might have some clues for us here. I am postive.”

“Well that sounds promising. Anybody care for breakfast? I am starving”

In less than an hour they were climbing again.

5.30AM

Sean woke up with a start.

“Oh damn I slept”

“No you didn’t. You just dozed off. Don’t worry they have not moved yet. Oh I am sorry, they are just up I guess. Shall we say good morning?”


6.30AM

The cave looked like a humongous maze.

Dave had to refer with sean who used sonar imaging to help avoid dead ends but still they almost side tripped twice.

They also checked on Ishwar’s sketches which seemed to take them through to the destination.

“It’s amazing that he drew all these without being here really. Is remote viewing possible like this? I didn’t know” Dave kept telling. They kept walking on more dangerous path.

Inba almost lost his foot in one dreadful looking pit that ended nowhere near.

When it was about quarter to seven they saw a little light of hope.
Thendral found a location similar to one of the last sketches. A huge triangular rock overlooking a water pool.

“This is the place. We should see what we can find here. Does anybody see any opening?”

They searched up and down and still couldn’t find anything. Thendral looked at the picture again carefully.

“Ish had drawn the water body as the main subject in fore ground. Could the opening be under water?”

“What?” Inba looked at her incredulously.

“That was genius”

Dave dived in instantly.

He came back in few minutes.

“Well that was refreshing. And I needed a bath anyways”

“Doesn’t your wound hurt?”

“Did you find anything?”

“No and yes. As for you, the injection I had yesterday it is a new drug, it kills the pain instantaneously and numbs the exact wounded area until it heals. It sounds crazy right, but this is now next to the gun necessity in wars.”

“And for you, yes I did find the passage. So swimming?” he smiled.

Swimming under water in a 100 feet deep underground cave is nothing like your everyday pool dive. Thendral had to keep Ishwar’s picture in mind to put her thought and body focussed. Inba, a swimming champion didn’t find it very hard after all it was just a lapse under water and they reached another part of the cave which looked quite clean and sparkling like it had everyday housekeeping services. And it was loaded with boxes and boxes of something.

They climbed out and came out of their plastic jump suits.

“What are they?”Inba asked Dave pointing at the huge crates.

“Explosives if I am not wrong.” Dave said casually.

“Wow..”

Dave took out his radio and said “Pearl gate so beautiful”. Inba chuckled at that.

“What?”

“Nothing, just that it sounds silly”

They made their way cautiously towards a rock and watched ahead. It was kind of a loading dock with few motorized water bikes and boats. It was totally deserted. Probably it was off hours for this place. After looking out for security cameras and finding none, they slowly made their way to the huge lift.

There was no power.

“I knew it”

“What?”

“This place is not used anymore, at least not in the recent past. That’s why no power”

“If there is a lift, there must be a service stairs” Thendral thought aloud.

Dave grinned at her “I like the way your brain works”

Inba smiled and walked along the wall. They sure did find one door. Dave used his tool to cleanly open the door. They climbed up about four floors and then found themselves before a door.

“Ok..this is it guys. Time to party.”

7.00 AM

Storage yard

“Debbie, You awake?” Becca whispered.

“Yeah”

“What happened?”

“Last night? We tried to go to the termination chamber but that green thingy came after us. He chased us. I lured him to the cryogenics chamber and…”

“and he slipped into that huge cryovat. Right? “

“Right, but not before you hit the security cam with that pod table.”

“How did we get here?”

“We ran like hell. That thingy spit on us, before we could knock him down. It made us both dizzy I guess so we slept in here instead of hiding”

“Ok.. now what?”

“I don’t know. Don’t you think the whole system will be alerted by now?”

“How, that thingy is dead now. We are not spotted in the security camera in any unexplainable position. We were taken legally by Gregory. So nobody will search for us. If we didn’t face Gregory we are still ok. I guess”

“Good logic. Hope it is right. So we go now where?”

“Ishwar is not in the termination chamber, that leaves us only one choice and that is Gregory’s living quarter”

“uh..oh"

End of part 3..............

 

Part 4:

Dave had to crawl beneath the long tables until he reached the lockers there. He found some lab coats hanging on the hook.

He came walking lethargically to them in a polished white lab coat. He handed them two more. They had left their things and guns under a box down in the loading dock. So now they walked out of the room into the facility facing the cameras unarmed except for a single handgun each.

One particular camera zoomed in on Thendral.

Debbie went about with the cleaning trolley she had taken out and Becca walked beside her as if they didn’t know each other.

They slowly made their way to the security cabin. It was an automated security room with authenticated access system.

Debbie had taken the access card from the hybrid thing. They used it to open and went inside.

Becca sat down and searched for the location of Gregory’s living quarter. After getting that she made an extensive look out for escape route. ”Hurry up, I hear someone coming” whispered Debbie.

“Yes..Yes..I am trying”

Just then someone opened the door.


“Dave what are we doing?”

“What do you think I am? f****** 007? I am trying to figure out just that. Look we must first find out where Ishwar is”

“Not necessary.”

Startled they turned back to see the humongous looking man. He was looking down at them with his green eyes.

Thendral gulped.


“What are you doing?”

“hck…” Becca and Debbie were scared to death in seeing a BW.

“I ..we came to see if we…”

“Who are you?”

“I am Dr. Rebecca, I am …”

“I didn’t ask your designation. This place needs special clearance. Who gave you that?”

Debbie silently gave him the access card to him.

“Elixir gave this to you?”

They just nodded.

“Huh. Ok. But he might have been in booze to do such a thing. Come with me, you can stay here no longer.”

They followed him like sheep.

They came near the lift. He turned around to push them into the lift and what the hell, where did they go?


Debbie and Becca were running in full speed, oblivious of the cameras.

“Becky, cameras?”

“f*** them. Two more doors, we will be in Gregory’s room”

They dashed into the room and saw Ishwar playing Rubik’s cube.

“Hey doc, hey Debbie. Why you are punctual” he smiled chagrin.

“Yeah..yeah..get your ass out NOW..”


They ran out and saw that BW running in full speed at them. He lunged at them.

Debbie ducked and Becca slipped a leg under. The huge blue warrior fell down hard on the floor. Debbie pulled a huge ceiling to floor cupboard on his head before turning around.

“Come on..Come on..we need to go to level subzero. Can’t use the lift.” Becca pushed them towards the stairs.

“Ok where are we now?” Debbie asked breathlessly.

“At level sub33”

“oh s***”

Dave could have easily punched a hole on this guy with his handgun but he also knew that the bullet might not make even a scratch on his exoskeleton.

“ahmm..we are looking for ..”

“I know who you are looking for. He is in my room. I am Gregory. Follow me and don’t look at anyone. Look down, ok?”

Thendral suddenly pulled his hand in hers.

“Thank you so much” she said with eyes full of tears

“ah.. we don’t have time for that my dear” Inba pulled her out and walked off.

Crang..crang..crang..

Alarm screeched in all floors.

“What is happening?”Dave asked

“Security breach alarm. Someone is caught” Gregory went to full alert.

“Oh god”

“Don’t worry come with me.” Gregory took them to a different set of lifts with his access card and took them straight to his room. He went in and it was empty.

He pulled out his watch and called on someone.

“10109. Helius. Come on. Helius. What is the status? What is going on?”

“Greg. 10109 here. The human unit assigned for termination and two other units are getting away”

He closed it shut and looked at them.

“I knew all about Doctor’s plan about escape. I was just trying to help them. I had taken enough risk by making legitimate termination orders for all three of them so that there won’t be any questions on their disappearance.

I had made a safe plan worked out for them. They couldn’t wait for me? Look what they have gotten into.Humans are always in hurry and spoil plans.”he spoke as he walked hurriedly.

“That’s about right”Dave said.

They reached the security room and Gregory went in. “Stay here till I come back. I will try to jam the locks of the doors for the stairs. I will make it able to open only from inside so that no body can come for you once you are inside. you can get down without problem.” he said and went in and the door locked.

People kept running here and there.

They stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

“Do they know where they are?” a lab coat clad man asked another.

“No idea, They are juggling to lift and stairs in random. very clever. Last seen on couple floors up” someone said excitedly.

‘They are going up! and doors will be locked from out.' Dave thought.

Just then a security guard (human) came near them. “Put your heads down and discuss something” Dave told them and tried to act normal.

He came closer.

“Hey you.”

“..”

“Show me your id”

“..”

“I said show me your id”

Dave pulled his gun in split second and shot him on the temple.

“Run for the stairs now.”

They ran like hell. Dave opened the door and as Inba went in last a bullet came scratching the door.

“Get in fast”

They were literally falling down.

It was a wonder that the stairs doors were locked from inside just as they went in.

“Must be Gregory, he must have seen us running.” Thendral said.

“Good guy for a blue guy” Dave said as they ran past the floors.

Suddenly Thendral hit hard on someone that she fell down and her nose bled instantly. Her head went dizzy.

“Mom!!..”

‘Ishwar??’Her eyes flew open.

“Ishwar?” Inba stood with a whisper. Time seemed to have stopped for them. He stood there, his eyes shedding tears shamelessly. Ishwar ran to his mother in an instant.

“Mom..I missed you”

“Oh honey..”he kissed him infinite times and stopped suddenly.

“Ishwar..”

“I know mom” He jumped up to his father who took him in his large arms and wept like a baby.

“Guys I hate to interrupt but, can we have the family reunion perhaps an hour or so later if we are still alive please? Hi I am Dave by the way”

"Debbie"

"Becca"

"Lets go"

Dave and Inba guarding them on both sides they ran up, they were mere two floors to subzero.

“We are going through the loading dock right?”

“Can I say something?” Ishwar said suddenly

“Yes boy. You can”

“Please stop in this floor”

“What?”

“Here” he stopped and went to open the door.

“Stop it are you out of your mind?”

“No.. This is my floor”

“What do you mean your floor?”

“Other kids are here “

“So?”

“Mom..I can’t leave them here”

“..”

“He is right” Thendral opened the door in a flash.

“Oh s***. This is suicide”


The floor was empty. “You guys stay here, we will go. Come
Debbie.” Becca went in.

“No I am coming too.”Thendral went with them, Gun in hand.

“Thendral..”

“I know what I am doing Inba”

They walked few feet and a humanoid came in front. It saw them
and was about to lift a gun.

‘bang’.

Thendral shot it point blank, at least it is not a human being. It fell down severed.

She shot the security ring in the entrance and the bio metric door opener. It gave off and started to sound the alarm.

“come on kids, we are going home”

They all ran into their arms.

Inba and Dave covered them from behind and used their hand guns on all approaching entities alike, humanoids and humans.

Ishwar was holding the door open for them. They went into the stairs and locked the door from inside.

“Gregory my boy please, help us here. Keep them all closed.”

“Run..run..”

They all ran like mob of deer running from the predators.

LEVEL SUBZERO.

"There it is."

"Come on."

"Bang."

Someone had cracked open the door below.

“Hurry up hurry up..”

They all ran into the huge loading dock.

Inba locked the door from outside once they were out and with Debbie’s help pulled a few boxes in front of them. They retrieved their guns which they kept under a box.

There was a big enough motor boat in the dock.Dave ran to it.

“Thendral bring them here. Inba give us cover. I will bring it to the mouth of the cave. You can jump in then”

“Alright”

Thendral, sixteen of the kids, Debbie and Becca clambered into the boat along with Ishwar. Dave started the engine.

But would it be that easy to escape a multimillion dollar secret government project facility? No it was not.

In a second they saw hundreds of them coming in from front , all with guns showering them with bullets.

Debbie called the kids to buck down. Dave gave the wheel to Thendral and jumped in front with his uzi along with Inba.

Inba was hit twice and Dave thrice.

There in that huge playground of life..Nature stood watching the two brave men trying to save nineteen souls from tens of guns and thousands of bullets. The nature stood watching as the number of gray uniforms increased in size.


“Sean..Sean what is going on?”

The three green lights had started to dim slowly.
‘bing’

“Oh sean, look at this” They peered into camera 023 window.

Up above the space in front of their log cabin was getting filled in by cars.

Not black and whites, all unmarked black sedans.

“So many to confront Sean and no one to live for ”Pavi’s voice lost all life as she saw the three dots now where totally off.

"What now, plan B- to the door?"she asked without interest.

“No..Plan C”


The end…

Readers...please read the epilogue too...:thumbsup

 

Epilogue

EPILOGUE


“Chennai egmore se Madurai thak jaane vaali pandiyan express platform number chaar se ravanaa hogi..Your kind attention please....”

“Dad, Can you buy that comic for me?”

“Comic? For you? I thought you are too big for that”

Ishwar pouted his mouth.

“Ok..ok.I will buy.” Inba came back with Ben10 alien force book and sank beside Thendral who looked a typical Indian woman in a plain pink cotton sari and sindhoor on the tip of her forehead.

He looked at her for a moment.

“What?”

“Nothing” She smiled away shyly and he opened his laptop and connected to the free Wi-Fi.

”One message waiting”

He opened it. It read, come to chat now if you are online. With a smile he opened the infamous social networking site and opened a private chat box and connected the mike.

“Hey Inba how are you?” Dave’s voice sang behind the surge of waves. He could hear Sean’s hoot in the background.

“Dave you are in Malta?”

“What can I say? my beautiful house and Sean’s beautiful girlfriend, made me come.”

“Sean, I am gonna kill him.”Inba chuckled at Pavithra’s words.

“Your friend “Inba said and Thendral sat closer to his face to the mike.

“Hey pavi how are you di?”Thendral’s voice still was vulnerable.

“Oh. Thaen. Come out of it already.”

“It’s too much to forget.”

“ Hey Sean here to talk to you. Here you go.”

“Hello Thendral my dear, How are you?”Sean's voice carried so much affection for a guy.

“Great Sean. How are you up with her?”

“I wish I had stayed back with those gun men” Dave laughed in the background and Pavi slapped him with something.

“We would have been dead Sean”Thendral said.

“Yeah that’s right. If not for your husband’s presence of mind, who shot at the explosives, you would all have been dead in their hands.”

“If not for your great mind who used the alternative route to come to us than to escape we would still be dead even after the explosion. You know, When he shot the explosives I thought that’s the end of us. The whole place went up in flames. ”

“Yeah we even lost your signals in the cabin. And that’s when I decided to come to you than to leave.”

“Hmm.. It was the strong will of you, Dave, Debbie and Inba that you guys come out of that place alive to the shore and we were there to meet you."Sean said.

"Yeah It was good that you followed our GPS signals. Then we left that place hurriedly with the kids, went in to Rony again for help who helped Dave and Inba out of their wounds.

We stayed in that basment for a week remember?"

"Yeah weird days and with kids in tow. That was crazy."

"Yeah crazy and scary"

"And then we got split. Dave and Debbie taking the kids, you and Pavi and then us, then we got fake ids and flew off. Ah..so many things happened. I still can’t forget the fear that day in the airport. Only after touching down in Chennai did I feel better.
But the worst is that we lost Becca there.”

“No we didn’t”

“What?”

“Yeah, she somehow escaped and not only that, she had managed to copy some tapes from the security room when she was there sometime. She loaded them all in you tube with location.

She had also published her journal with it. She is on the run now but her act had made quite a stir here in the US. Didn’t you see the TV? That is what actually we called you for. It’s huge news now. The Oasis is in great problem.”

“They will cover it up Sean, besides I don’t know any Oasis. What is it?”

Inba laughed at that.

“Yeah you are right. They will cover it traceless like they covered the explosion as the accidental mine explosion”

“Got any contact about Becca then?”

“No, nothing except that she is safe with someone strong like Dave. I am thinking it’s probably Gregory”

“Ok..ok..enough of flashbacks. Give it to me I need to talk to my friend. Hi di Thaen. You know what? I am having fun here as Ms. Meenakchi Durai Singam. That is my new name. You like it?”

Thendral laughed.

“What is Sean’s name?”

“John Wood Wirth”

“Woodwirth? Sounds kinda brit”

“Yep he is. But he looks like Scandinavian now” they laughed again.

“How is Ish?”

“I am great Mrs. Wood Wirth.” he grinned from his seat.

“That naughty boy, oh I so miss you guys. Guess what. We are planning for a trip to India soon and where are you guys going?”

“We are off to my hometown Madurai.”

“So are you still Ms. Thendral now?”

“No. I am Mrs. Uma Bharath.”

“ooh..Mrs. again. What has Mr. Bharath to say about that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it just official?” Inba gave an instant sound kiss on Thendral's cheek and Pavi laughed on the other end.

“Ok..Ok.. I get it. Next genius is getting ready?”

“Oh shut up. By the way, has he asked you yet?”

“Who Sean? Nah..he is too damn shy. One of these days, I am going to ask him.”

They laughed.

“Any word from Debbie?”

“Oh yeah. Dave and Debbie left the last kid with their parent before turning up here”

“Debbie is there with you in Malta, with Dave?”

“Yeah. But that idiot is not into women, I mean he is not into men either..oh whatever…I don’t know what is brewing between them, but they are pretty much hung up on each other. What say? Care for a second honeymoon. The house is quite huge here.”

“We will see dear.”

They talked some more about Kevin and the colonel and then switched off. The train slowly and lethargically pulled to a start.

Thendral looked out.

The night looked quite and beautiful. But she looked troubled. The darkness outside still reminded her of the ordeal.
Ish came near her.

“What is it mom?”

She hugged him as Inba pulled him towards him.

“Guys..discuss among yourselves. Who wants me now?”Ish asked.

"I"
"I"

“Both”they said in unison.

“Ok come on Group hug”

“Ish?” Thendral asked while hugging.

“What Mom?”

“Life will be good from now on right? I mean no more dangers ..”

“Mom..You want a lifetime guarantee for life itself? That is silly.”

“..”

“ Look mom, The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything.”

“Does that mean there will be dangers in the future for us?”

“I don’t know, I don’t care and it doesn’t make any difference. And besides I am going to be with you this time.” he grinned like a ten year old.

“Well that makes a lot of difference for us my little Einstein. Come here” Inba pulled him into a tight hug and Thendral laughed.

They came, at last…