Zombiestan (27 page)

'Drink it. It tastes like shit but will give you strength.'

Mayukh looked at him, wondering how he was expected to drink it with a drip attached to his left hand and his right hand in a cast. The Gurkha produced a straw and put it in the bowl. He held the straw in place while Mayukh bent over and drank it.

The soup was hot, watery, tasted of frozen vegetables and preservatives, had way too much salt in it, and all things considered, was the most delicious meal Mayukh had eaten in the last ten days. He slurped it shamelessly and then fell back on his bed, tired from the exertion of even drinking. The Gurkha patted him on his left shoulder.

'By the way, did really head butt a Biter and kick another in the balls?'

Mayukh wondered how he knew, but his expression must have told the Gurkha what he needed to know, and he grinned.

'Get well. There are many soldiers here who want to hear your story, and buy you a drink.'

As soon as the Gurkha left, another soldier came in, though this time he was wearing a stethoscope around his neck and to Mayukh's surprise, was American. He smiled at Mayukh, looking at a clipboard in his hands.

'So, Mayukh, I'll give you some morphine for the pain and then we'll put you under some anesthesia. We still need to finish the stitches on the back of your head and I think today's when we try and reset your nose.'

Mayukh was about to ask more, but realized that with all the damage he had suffered, he didn't really want to know just how messed up he was. He sat back as the doctor put one injection in his left arm, and then another one on his hip. He grimaced a bit, but in a few seconds, he felt light-headed.

'Just close your eyes and lie down.'

Mayukh did that and soon he was fast asleep.

***

It was a utilitarian room, stark metal grey with long benches and metal chairs in front of them. The food in front of them was the soup Mayukh had earlier and what looked like instant noodles. He had Swati sitting next to him, Abhi on her lap, and her fingers intertwined in his. Mayukh still hurt in a dozen places, and had been amazed he was alive when the full extent of his injuries was revealed to him. Three cracked ribs, a fractured hand, a broken nose, and nineteen stitches on his head and face. When he first looked at himself in the mirror, he had nearly jumped in fright at the heavily bandaged apparition that stared back. The American doctor had been laconic about it.

'Wounds heal, and chicks dig scars.'

The room was filled with soldiers in uniform, a mix of Indian and American faces, and Mayukh saw General Vij standing up in a corner, dressed in what seemed to be his full dress uniform, with medals and ribbons across his chest and stars on his shoulders. Next to him was a middle aged American soldier, dressed in a blue uniform with similar stars on his shoulders.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our briefing. Finish your soups and we will begin.'

Mayukh had thought that Swati was the only woman around, but as he looked around he saw at least a dozen American women in uniform, and a few Indians as well. That morning, he had been allowed visitors, and he had spent the whole day reveling in Swati's company. With Abhi awake, it was tough to do anything more than keep him entertained, but when he had taken a nap in the afternoon, Mayukh had finally gotten around to doing what he wanted to do ever since he had woken up.

He kissed Swati and told her that he loved her.

He had learnt a bit of what had happened here. American and Indian troops had been doing joint Mountain Warfare exercises when the first trouble broke out in Afghanistan. As things got worse, Vij and his American counterpart locked down the base and secured Ladakh airfield. Over the next few days, more soldiers flew in seeking safety, and now there were more than ten thousand troops in the base and the airfield, about two thousand of them Americans. Swati had bumped into an advance recon team and they had watched Mayukh hold off the Biters on their night vision optics before they were ordered to intervene and kill the Biters with their high powered sniper rifles.

General Vij now spoke up again.

'This will be our first briefing in three days. As you know, once our latest guests arrived, we have been rather busy.'

Almost every pair of eyes in the room turned towards Mayukh and Swati, and when Mayukh looked back at several of them, he saw only welcoming smiles on the faces of the soldiers. The Indian General continued.

'Over the last three nights we faced no less than sixteen waves of assaults by the Biters.'

One of the soldiers put up his hand.

'How did we do, Sir?'

Vij smiled.

'I don't have sharp teeth, decayed skin, do not wear a black turban and am not trying to bite you. So in summary, we survived.'

Many in the room chuckled, and Mayukh found himself liking the General's easygoing manner as he continued.

'We estimate more than three hundred Biters killed- with no losses on our side. They've never attacked us after the first day, and the fact that they did shows how desperate they were to get to our guests.'

He paused to drink from a glass before continuing.

'I know the last couple of weeks have been tough. We all left friends and families back home, and I know how difficult it has been for each and every one of you to stay here and do your duty as well as you have. But the tide is turning. Let me share some updates from the outside world.'

At that, everyone seemed to be paying attention, and Mayukh heard one of the soldiers near him whisper that they had no idea what was going on outside for several days.

'First, the Indian Prime Minister is alive and well, and is currently on board the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, where the Government of India is currently based.'

Many of the Indian soldiers present cheered.

'They have established radio contact with us, and with the other Indian Armed Forces units like us still holding out.'

There was a palpable buzz of anticipation in the room, as Mayukh guessed many of the soldiers must have wondered if there were others like them.

'The Government has declared a State of War, and while we have been holding out for so long, now we are ordered to take the fight to the enemy. As of tomorrow, we will start coordinating with other units in commencing offensive operations against the Biters.'

Several cheers began echoing through the room as the General continued.

'And this time we will not have to fight the sons of bitches with our rifles and in some cases, our heads alone.'

He glanced at Mayukh and smiled broadly- and many of the soldiers cheered and clapped.

'Air strikes from the INS Viraat and at least four airbases which are still in our hands are beginning, and paradrops are taking place today to occupy and sanitize other airbases so we can bring more air power to bear. Now I pass on to General Edwards for his portion.'

The American General took up where Vij had left off.

'Some good news for the Americans here as well. The President is well and like the Indian Prime Minister, on an aircraft carrier. The same goes for the British, French and Russian leaders. The good news is that the bulk of our strategic arsenal- our naval assets, strategic missile forces, and long range aviation assets are all intact. Together, we are declaring war on these monsters and will reclaim our world. Our first co-ordinated move is to restore control over gas and electricity, so that we can both restore those essentials to humans stranded in enemy held territory and also restore communications.'

More cheers as he continued, with a more somber tone.

'As you have heard and have seen, the Biters are learning- either evolving or remembering memories. So we've faced Biters with guns and in their last waves, one or two actually fired RPGs at us. Well, the bad news is that in what was Pakistan, we now know some Biters tried to activate their nuclear assets.'

Mayukh could feel the tension in the room as Edwards continued.

'To avoid an escalation and given the real possibility of Biters launching nuclear weapons against human targets, in consultation with surviving world leaders, the US President ordered tactical nuclear strikes against all known nuclear weapons locations in Pakistan.'

He paused as that sank in, and Mayukh heard more than one gasp, as the severity of that decision sank in. He looked around and saw that most of the soldiers had not even touched the food placed in front of them. Swati was gripping his hand tight, and he could feel her head on his shoulder. Edwards continued.

'We will all meet later for detailed orders and deployments for upcoming combat operations, but thank you for all you have done.'

Vij now looked straight at Mayukh.

'Can I request our guests to come up and join me?'

***

As Mayukh, Swati and Abhi walked to the front, he felt really awkward, having thousands of eyes focused in on him. He passed the Gurkha who had served him food, and he smiled. The Gurkha saluted and started clapping. Soon the entire room erupted in thunderous applause as the three of them walked to join the Generals. Edwards shook their hands and patted Abhi on the head, while Vij gently nudged Mayukh to the front.

'First of all, I wanted all of you to see these remarkable young people. You have all heard their story in one form or the other, but what they have achieved is amazing. When we put out our radio broadcast, we were hoping to attract people from nearby areas- and we did get several thousand, who are now at the airfield. But they made it all the way from Delhi, with all the adventures you have heard about.'

He glanced at Mayukh.

'You don't know this, but while the Internet is still not up, the ham radio operators are as active as any chat forum, and for the last few days, all they have been chattering about is your adventure.'

Mayukh flushed a bit at all this unwanted attention. He certainly didn't want any attention, and nor did he feel particularly brave. He had done what he had done for those around him and without Hina or David to share the moment with them, it all seemed somewhat empty. Vij must have sensed on what was on his mind, and spoke again for all those assembled in the room.

'More than anything else, you have all heard tales of the boy who could not be bitten, as the ham operators called him. And every step of their journey was relayed and amplified by those willing the boy on to safety, hoping like all of us, that this boy could indeed hold out some hope.'

Abhi was now holding onto Mayukh's left leg, looking more than a little intimidated at all the attention. When Vij turned to him and smiled, he dug his face into Mayukh's leg.

'I must be honest, I had my doubts to begin with. Perhaps it was all an urban legend. Perhaps people were just trying to grasp at straws. But after having seen this little boy with my own eyes, it's obvious he was bitten but was not turned. We have sent samples over to an American base for testing, and we will have results soon.'

The next morning, Mayukh was sitting in the small room he was sharing with Swati and Abhi. She had her head nestled against his chest.

'What now?'

Those two words were simple enough for Swati to ask, but Mayukh didn't know how to answer it. Their ordeal may have been over, but it was obvious the world was still very much at war, and that war was only going to get uglier and more destructive as the human forces now organized themselves and retaliated against the Biters. There was no question of going back to any of the big cities, which had been the worst hit by the Biters epidemic, so he really didn't know what lay ahead for him and Swati. As he thought that, he corrected himself. No, he did know what lay ahead. He had been thinking in terms of where they may live, what they may do with their lives, but not about what they would do with each other. And if there was one thing he took away from the ordeal they had shared, that was all that really mattered.

'Sweetheart, we've known each other just about two weeks, and we're both not yet out of school. So this may sound crazy, but maybe in a world gone crazy, this is the only thing that make sense.'

Swati was now looking at him, and from the expression in her eyes, he got a feeling that somehow, she knew.

'Swati, will you marry me?'

She just smiled, with tears forming in her eyes and whispered.

'Yes'.

He brought her closer to him when Abhi spoke up.

'Once you finish kissing, can you talk about cars with me?'

Mayukh picked up the boy and the three of them hugged, laughing together.

There was a gentle knock on the door and when Mayukh opened it, he saw General Edwards there.

'Son, they finished the tests from Abhi's blood samples. The reports will be with us any minute. I thought you'd want to be there.'

They were about to file out the door when Mayukh asked him if they had any news about David. The previous evening, he had relayed the full story of their trip and of the role David had played in it.

'Thanks to your detailed debriefing, we've already sent out search parties for Captain Bremsak. We recovered more than eight burnt Biter corpses where he made his stand, and then the trail indicates he jumped off the cliff, taking at least a few more with him.'