Extinction

Introduction to the blood city

Jaipur, the city most people refer to as the ‘Pink City, is now turning quickly into the ‘Red   City’ at an unimaginable rate. Since the outbreak 4 months ago, the virus has quickly spread throughout the world and has strong roots in Iraq, the country of its origin. At first, the abnormal behavior patterns were thought to be a nervous breakdown because of the war. But a nervous breakdown does not plague an entire city. Wadiya, where the virus first had its impact was soon under lockdown. But a lockdown is not effective in a state of war. People escaped to take shelter in other countries as refugees carrying the lethal virus with them and you can imagine the rest. Europe fell in a few days and so did Asia. They call it the ‘Olum virus’. Olum is a word meaning death in the Azerbaijani language.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when we heard that the dreaded plague had reached our city. Naturally, there was a panic and soon a curfew was in effect. No one could leave or enter the city. This wasn’t a state of war, so the curfew was effective. Nevertheless, the virus spread like a riot. As you might know, India is a religious country and Jaipur is no different. People spread rumors about the virus being a weapon of god for all the harm man has done to the environment and his only salvation was to be one of the “god’s soldiers”. Social media apps were like a seasoning to the cake. Crazy as it seems, people literally sacrificed themselves to the bonies. Even if salvation came from being eaten alive, I would prefer being cooked in hell. Some people like to call them vampires but I prefer bonies, seems less intense. Anyway, I am an atheist, so I didn’t believe a word of that bullshit and in a doomed world full of superstitious people, it is one of the crucial reasons that I am alive, for now.

Once you accept that there is no getting out of this godforsaken place, you have to make a few rules to stay alive and not be eaten for as long as you can. But people eventually fall. Anyone can go crazy in a world crawling with your friends, family, and relatives ready to tear your heart open and suck every last drop of blood from you. Imagine a world where your life is in constant danger, where you don’t know if you will have food for another day. The ones with kids suffer the most. One scream from a child means a banquet to the bonies.

Presently, I’m at the Triton Mall with my friend Rishabh. I met his group down at the railway station. We are currently camped in the building of Children’s Academy, a school in Banipark. We used to be fifteen strong but now only four survive. Himanshu and Mandeep stayed back at the school while we came here for food, fresh water, and medicines. We prefer to move in the night, this reduces the risk of being seen and facilitates stealthy moving.

I signal Rishabh to stop as we approach the building. We have made up some hand signals to keep talking to a minimum. For example, open hand means stop, closed fist means be ready. When someone defies orders, we use the middle finger, which means………well you know what it means. The front entrance looks clear, I signal Rishabh to take a peek in the main building through the glass windows as I grab my Khukhree (Nepali dagger) tighter and tighter. My hands sweat and my heart pumps like a wild horse. I struggle to catch my breath when Rishabh pulls out two fingers from his hand, meaning two bonies at the entrance. Two bonies at the entrance means at least five more in the building. I somehow control my emotions and make up my mind to go into the slaughterhouse.

As we make our way in through the broken glass entrance, we take a final look at each other, reassuring that we got each other’s back. Now, you may think that the undead is stupid, then let me tell you that you are absolutely right. They are dumb as f**k and have bodies as weak as paper. But make no mistake, they are as deadly as the child soldiers from the Taliban, weak but fatal. You are screwed from just one bite. But to kill them, you have to detach their head from the body. Body shots are as good as throwing a stone at a gorilla, don't make a difference but attract the herd.

 As we approach the bonies from behind, one of them turns with a groaning sound. His one hand is ripped off and I could easily make out the veins in the dim moonlight. I froze to death at the idea of him spotting us. But soon enough my instincts kicked in and I slipped behind a toppled table. I am not sure if he saw me or not. A bonie roars when it sees an alive prey, alerting all other bonies nearby. We sure as hell weren’t willing to take that risk. We may be able to take down four or five bonies but what if there were more? If we tumble down here, our friends back at the school automatically die, either from starvation or while searching for supplies without weapons. Anyway, as the bonie turns to face the entrance, I see his face (or what’s left of a face). I can feel the blood in my veins going cold. I let out a cold sigh as I stare into Naman’s face. Naman was my childhood friend. Well, look at him now, a hand missing, blood oozing out from the eyes and neck tilted at almost 90°, broken. But if this nightmare ever taught me anything, it was to control my emotions. In fact, I was pleased to observe that he could not see. I stole a glance at Rishabh who caught this too and crawled slowly towards Naman. He became aware of the fact that I was staring at him and looked at me. I told him to stop right there. He looked surprised and his face dropped. He struggled to breathe at the thought of me spotting more bonies around. I signaled him to take care of the other bonie. He wanted to hit me for taking his breath away but eventually gave in to priorities. My childhood friend ought to die with honor. So I slowly sneak onto him to give him a quick death. Presently, his blood-soaked eyebrows frowned. He was aware of my presence. I quickly grabbed him from behind and slit his throat and whispered in his ear as I lay him on the ground. What I said that day……………you’ll never know.