Zombiestan (9 page)

'Your radio's working? Someone's still transmitting?'

Abbot shrugged and took a swig straight from the bottle.

'Don't get your hopes up. Just a burst this morning, telling all overseas personnel to stay where they are, and that people are working on plans. Basically, we've been left to rot.'

David walked out, and Hina immediately saw his downcast expression.

'David, what's wrong?'

'Looks like we're on our own.'

***

David had asked the Marine if he wanted to come along, but the young soldier had said he'd stay by his post. David thought he was being stupid but had to admire his courage. They drove around for a few minutes, all of them silent, trying to reconcile to the fact that there did not seem to be any help headed their way. If there was a government in control anywhere, it had given up on this corner of the world. Finally, Hina broke the silence.

'David, it's past noon now. We need to have a plan for how to survive the night.'

David stopped the car and when Hina looked at him, she was truly frightened for the first time since she had met him. So far, he had exuded nothing but quiet confidence, and with his obvious training and firepower, she had come to regard him as something of a safety blanket. But now she saw that his eyes were downcast, his shoulders slumped, and he slammed his fist against the steering wheel in frustration. Hina looked on, ever more afraid as she saw the first cracks appear in David's confidence. Then, as if with a conscious effort of will, David took a deep breath, and his settled, calm look was back.

'Let's take it one step at a time. First, we need a place to stay where we can be safe.'

They were now driving past Delhi's Connaught Place, and Hina saw the Imperial Hotel to her left.

'How about a hotel?'

David shook his head, with a slight smile.

'I'm sure we could get a room or two. I doubt they're fully booked. But it's not a good place to hide in. Too many entry points, and if we're cornered, we've got no place to run.'

They drove around at a slow crawl, turning around the cars left abandoned haphazardly on the road. Hina saw the Oxford Bookstore and lingered on it, a part of her mind wondering how her new novel was faring. Writing had been such an integral part of her life, yet after just one day, it seemed like it had been a totally different life altogether. David saw what she was looking at and misinterpreted what was going through her mind.

'Hina, you should have been in the Army! That's a perfect place- slightly off the main road; just one main entrance and that too through a staircase, and I'm sure they have a back exit in case we need it.'

Hina didn't bother correcting him, happy that they seemed to have a refuge, and also because she thought being near books would in some way bring back her life the way it had been.

David decided that leaving all their supplies in the vehicle was too risky, so they carried all the cans and bags inside. Mayukh did his part in silence, but when they were inside, he retreated to a corner and sat down. Hina stood in front of the Bestseller rack, looking at her novel, currently placed in fifth place. She took a copy and felt the soft edges, ruffled the paper, and it was almost easy to believe that the world had not been transformed into a place roamed by bloodthirsty maniacs infected by some unknown disease; that people still had the time and luxury to spend hours reading stories like the one she had written- of an English traveler finding adventure and love in Mughal India. David walked up behind her, and looked at the novel she had in her hand, with its cover of a topless man and a voluptuous woman in a torn saree.

'I was never much of a reader, but I could never figure out how anyone could read trashy romances like that. Some dirty old man must be sitting somewhere churning out stories like that.'

Hina almost choked at the words, and David wondered what he had said to set her off like that. She looked at him, a broad smile on her face.

'Captain, the trashy novel I hold in my hand was written by a very dirty old woman. Me.'

He looked at Hina, sure that she was pulling his leg. When she didn't flinch, he exclaimed.

'No frigging way!'

When she told him her secret, he doubled over laughing, and she joined in, the two of them laughing so hard they thought their stomachs would burst. David spent the next few minutes barricading the rear exit and satisfying himself that the front entrance could be secured. The store's main door could not be the primary point of defence since it was set some feet away from the head of the stairs. So he decided to leave the main door open, which would likely serve to make anyone feel that nobody was inside. Instead, he set up a firing position just outside and to the left of the main door- a podium stacked with books, with enough space in between for him to fire through. He also placed his single Claymore anti-personnel mine just outside the main door, facing outwards, but did not activate it. That would be the last resort in case they were faced with a last ditch defence situation. When he came back in, he found Hina curled up with a book in her hand. So far, he had been very impressed with how well she had coped with the situation, given her age and what she had been through. But then he spotted Mayukh sitting glumly in a corner. He remembered the scene back in the SUV when Mayukh had failed to cover them, and trying hard to control his anger, walked over to the boy, sitting down next to him.

'How are you doing?'

No response.

David took a deep breath, trying to control himself. He had no kids, and in the company of hard men in the SEALs, the way to deal with a young rookie who was losing it involved several push ups, runs with a heavy pack, and throwing them out if they could not make it. None of those were options before David, so he tried to see if he could get through to the boy next to him.

'Look, kid, I know you've been through a lot, but now we need to pull together if we have to survive.'

Mayukh looked towards him and simply said.

'I'm not a kid. Stop calling me that. My name is Mayukh.'

David wanted to reach out and slap him, but he controlled himself.

'Okay, Mayukh. You do realize we aren't in a normal situation, don't you? What you did in the car could have got us all killed. Do your realize that? We've all been through crap- but now, we have to stick together and you need to help out.'

Mayukh hid his head in his hands, and when he raised his head, David saw that his eyes with beginning to well up with tears.

'David, do you know the last thing my father told me? He said he hoped I could be the man he had always dreamt I would be.'

David watched in silence and Mayukh continued, finally opening up, finally coming to grips with what he had gone through.

'Forget being a man, I couldn't even protect my mother. She's gone because of me. I've always been useless. What the hell am I good for anyways? You're the big, bad soldier who knows what to do. I'm just a screwed up kid. Maybe I should just take my gun and kill myself.'

It finally dawned on David just what demons the boy was dealing with, and he held him gently by the shoulder.

'Mayukh, I don't have a son, so I can't begin to understand everything you're going through. But my Dad passed when I was about your age, and I've been holding a gun and going into harm's way since I was not much older than you. I've led young men like you into battle, and I've been young and scared enough to wet my pants when I first saw combat.'

Mayukh was now listening.

'Look, I'm no braver than you are. But what I've learnt is that being a man boils down to one simple thing- watching out for the guy next to you. That's what kept me and my boys going even when the shit the fan. And now, whether we like it or not, this is our unit. We need to look out for each other, even if we hardly know or even like each other, but just because we have nothing or nobody else. I can fight, but I don't know the city or the language that well, so I need you as much as you need me. Think about that.'

David walked over to another corner, leaving Mayukh alone to consider what he had just heard.

It was now five in the evening, and Hina and David conferred and decided that they would not risk any light at night, and would have an early dinner. Dinner was a can of baked beans and some potato chips, washed down with apple juice, and when they finished, David turned to Hina.

'You guys rest inside. I'll be outside watching the road.'

He knelt behind the podium, with his rifle ready, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was Mayukh.

'David, why don't you rest for a change? I'll watch for a while.'

David looked over Mayukh's shoulder to see a slight grin on Hina's face.

'Sure. Look, right now we can still see with the naked eye. Once it gets dark enough that we need to use the night vision scope, I'll replace you. Cool?'

Mayukh nodded, and with his handgun beside him, took up position.

David passed Hina as he went inside the bookstore.

'The kid's tougher than I thought.'

Hina smiled in reply.

'David, none of us is tough till we are tested. I think he'll be okay. Get some rest now.'

As David went inside, she heard him chuckling.

'What's so funny?'

David turned, trying not to laugh.

'I can't get over the fact that
you
write that stuff. Man, I flicked through a few pages.
He ripped open her saree and enveloped her in the pleasures of Kama.
Yikes, you are a dirty old woman!'

Hina laughed as the soldier curled up in a corner and in less than five minutes was sound asleep. Hina herself read for a while, and then when the light got too dim, she also decided to rest. She had no idea what the hours or days ahead held for her, but at least for the first time in two days, she felt relatively secure.

David had been dreaming of Rosa and of talking to his own son, telling him to be a man. David knew Rosa wanted kids, and he had always been noncommittal, and in his dream, he remembered swearing that if he got back to her, they would have an army of kids.

That was when he was awakened by the sounds of screaming outside.

***

FIVE

His instincts and training on autopilot, David picked up his M4, switched off the safety and went outside in a crouch. He saw Hina near the doorway, looking out in the fading light. He asked for her to get down, and then he reached Mayukh, who was sitting behind the podium.

'What's going on?'

He heard the scream again, and then he looked for its source, to see three figures struggling on the road some twenty meters away, just outside the perimeter fence of the complex where the bookstore was. David looked up and saw that the Sun had still not fully set.

'It can't be
them.
At least it shouldn't be yet.'

He looked through his scope to see what was going on, and it soon became obvious what was happening. Two men were trying to grab a young girl, who was doing her best to fight them off. Mayukh asked to see as well, and when David put the rifle down, Mayukh looked at him, as if seeking direction. David was torn as to what to do.

'Mayukh, people are probably going crazy all over the world. They are looting, raping and murdering at will while daylight lasts, since they figure there's no more law to punish them, and not much of a future to look forward to. We can't stop them all.'

He looked again and saw that the girl was putting up a hell of a fight, but it would be just a matter of time before she was overpowered. Before he could think anything else, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eyes. It was Mayukh running towards the road.

'Mayukh, stop!'

David raised his rifle, but with Mayukh directly between him and the men, he did not have a clean shot. With the Barrett, he could have risked taking out the men without harming the girl, but all he with him was his M4, and he could not guarantee a clean shot at such range, with the girl and the men so closely mixed up together. He groaned and then ran after Mayukh.

The two men had been so intent on overpowering the girl that they did not see Mayukh run at them. Before they had a chance to react, Mayukh had raised the handgun and fired one shot in the air. Everyone seemed to freeze for a minute as the unnatural quiet of the city further amplified the gunshot.

'Get away from her!'

Mayukh had his gun pointed at the men, and while he had never shot a person before, and certainly didn't want to do so now, he hoped that the threat would be enough to deter the two men. As he walked closer, he observed several details. The girl was no older than him, and was dressed in a school uniform, which was now torn at the right shoulder. She seemed to have blood covering most of the right side of her face. Hiding behind her was a toddler, a boy no more than two or three years old, clutching a toy car. The two men were now facing him, and both were swaying unsteadily. As one of them spat in his direction, Mayukh realized that both were blind drunk. One of them slurred in Hindi as he walked toward Mayukh.

'The demons will be out again in a few minutes. Let's have some fun with her while we can. Join us if you want.'