Ch:2 The realization of the doom

It's been one and a half months since the asylum incident. Dr. Raghav was still on that escape boat, with no idea of where to go or how to survive the small, but seemingly endless channel surrounded by dense woods. Dr. Raghav has been floating around these woods for quite some time, it was spooky at night at first, but now they are just trees at night. The food cans were almost empty, he was out of water and there were no signs of humans for all this time. So, Dr. Raghav decided to lay down with his eyes closed until he either gets somewhere or life gives upon him. The sun was shining directly over him, he was thinking about everything he did right and everything he did wrong in his entire life. Dr. Raghav was from a medium class family from Mumbai, raised in a very strict environment. Even though his real passion was boxing, his family pressured him into becoming a doctor. Growing up he hated the fact that he had to do something that he hated with every fiber of his being. He started to hate doctors when his mother passed away due to wrong treatment and neglect of the doctor, it kept growing when his younger brother was sick and the treatment cost was overwhelming for a man from the middle class. But even though his hatred towards the medical field, he became a doctor, the only reason that happened was that once his mother told him that no matter what, it will get better in the end. These same words popped into Dr. Raghav's mind, a tear started to roll from his eye. He got up immediately and started to look for anything that he could use to signal anyone nearby. A few moments later he found a flare gun, it had shots in the case. He fired one right away and waited for some sort of response. A few hours passed by and he decided to anchor by a forest side. It was starting to get dark, Dr. Raghav decided to fire another flare. He pulled out the flare gun loaded it, and was ready to fire, " Hey, you alright there?" someone shouted from a distance. Dr. Raghav was happy to hear someone's voice in months, but he didn't let his guard down. Dr. Raghav freaked out and turned behind really fast, he saw a man standing under a tree, Dr.Raghav pointed the flare gun towards the man and said, " If you move one step closer to me, I'll light your face like street light". " Calm down, gun!" said the man standing under the tree, he was about 6ft tall with dark and short hair, he had blue eyes which looked like the ocean and he had fair skin with a scar on his left side of the face. Dr. Raghav still a little nervous, asked the man, lowering the flare gun, " Who are you?". " My name is Abhinav Tripati, I was here for a picnic and now I'm lost", said the man in a very calm tone. Dr.Raghav had a feeling that something is not quite right about him, " I too was here for a fun time, but I got lost too." Dr.Raghav lied. " Why don't we help each get out of these woods? asked Abhinav. Dr.Raghav agreed and both of them hopped into the escape boat and started moving forward. A few days later the small channel was getting wider and the air was getting moister. Dr.Raghav fired the second flare, he looked at Abhinav and asked about their next food stop. Both of them had decided to stop in the woods every other day to restock the food supply and boil the water they collected from the channel.The sun was shining bright and the weather was warm and cozy. " Wake up doctor!", shouted Purva. Dr.Raghav jumped out of his bed they made out of straws. "What happened?, Is someone here?" Asked Dr.Raghav in a startled voice. " It's almost noon idiot." Replied Purva with a frown on her face. Dr.Raghav and Purva packed all the necessary items they will need till they find their next stop. Dr.Raghav had no idea of where they were going, he was still a little afraid of Purva. Purva was not like she was once, even in her killer state, she was a chat loving and smiling person. Dr.Raghav wanted to ask her about her mother and her boyfriend but was too afraid of turning her back into "That". " Where are we going next?" asked Dr.Raghav out of his curiosity. "We're going to meet the survivor who helped me get out of the Asylum, She went ahead to gather more info on the situation.". Suddenly they see a person running towards them, Dr.Raghav gets ready to run away from the person, but Purva recognizes the person immediately, it was captain Manasa Nair, the survivor who helped and cured Purva. " What are you doing here Manasa ?" asked Purva in a surprised voice. " It's the end, we're all going to die it's the work of the devil himself!" said Manasa with a terrified expression, before she drops to the ground unconscious. Purva and Dr.Raghav looked at each other with a terrifying gaze. They both decided to carry Manasa to the cave since they weren't far from it. Dr.Raghav carried Capt. Manasa to the cave, Purva went to get some water from the channel downhill. Dr.Raghav started to think about what was Capt.Manasa was talking about. He started to sweat at the thought of something terrifying enough to make a Captain of the military lose her mind. Dr.Raghav decided to examine Capt.Manasa, he didn't have any medical equipment with him, so he had to check her pulse with is hand, he also checked for any injuries, soon he realized that he will have to check her chest with his, at first Dr.Raghav thought that there is no need for further examination and he should wait for Purva, but then he remembered his oath as a doctor. He started to check for any injury in the abdominal and chest region. Suddenly, he felt a swift smack on his head, It was Purva and she was furious. " What do you think you're doing you pig!" shouted Purva. " I was examining her for any injury, and she has a stab wound on her chest." Replied Dr.Raghav rubbing his head. "Is it too serious?" asked Purva." That wound should be dressed immediately, but we don't have any medical supplies and the Asylum is too far away for us to travel and get any supplies." Replied Dr.Raghav with a serious look. After thinking for a few moments, Dr.Raghav had an idea to check Capt.Manasa's bag, as she is in the military, she might have some supplies. So Purva checked Capt.Manasa's bag, she found enough medical supplies for three of them, few antidote shots, ammo, and a few types of guns. "All this is enough for all three of us to travel back to any human settlements, but again, the question is how far is the nearest one?" said Dr.Raghav. Soon Dr.Raghav was done with dressing the wound. "Is she okay now?" asked Purva. "She is out of danger but she will need some rest before we move. Purva had bought some berries and fruits along the water when she went to fetch water for Capt.Manasa, both of them ate the berries and fruits before calling it a day and sleep. The next morning Dr.Raghav woke up early to check on Capt.Manasa. To his surprise, she was already up and ready to leave, she packed everything necessary for their travel and was working on a travel plan. " You should rest more." Said Dr.Raghav. "Oh, good morning Mr., sorry but we don't have time to rest if we need to survive this." Replied Capt.Manasa. "What is going on Captain? I mean something made you cry like a baby, and what was that scar?" asked Dr.Raghav. "Wake Purva up, I'll tell you guys the whole story." Said Capt.Manasa. Dr.Raghav rushed to Purva and woke her up. Both of them walked up to Capt.Manasa. "About 8 months ago, I was contacted by the main HQ, I was task was to assemble a squad and eliminate the "Devolving", at first I had no idea about what I was doing. So I decided to just eliminate the target that I have in my sight. But one day, my target was in the city of Mumbai, it's a crowded city, so we had to chase on foot. My squad was left behind and I had my eyes on my target, so I decided to eliminate him myself. I was almost done when he started to tell me about how he hated when someone tells him about their success, that got me thinking. Every target I had hated something and only targeted those who were somehow connected to it, so I did some research and found that there are millions of reports of this world wide, this phenomenon somehow triggers the affected person hatred and turns it into murderous intent. And my theory is that someone has the resources and the tech to pull something like this off." Explained Capt.Manasa. " Come to think of it Abhinav was saying something similar, he said how he hated when someone rejected him." Added Dr.Raghav, to which Purva replied, " When you're in that state, all you want is blood and kill the person who has done you wrong or opposed you.". "All the governments are abandoned, there is no authority, people are trying to save one another, but they can't trust anyone much as there is no difference between them and us." Said Capt.Manasa. "So how do we fight back?" asked Dr.Raghav. " I have some friends who are researching on this matter, I can contact them right now to and if you guys agree we can join them, if we're with them our chances of survival will increase significantly.". Both Purva and Dr.Raghav agreed without a moment's delay. Capt.Manasa pulled her satellite phone out and contacted someone over it. "You've reached THE NEW DAWN" Said the man on the other side.

To Be Continued...

-Ritik Varhade