Chapter 24
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As I entered her room, I could see wrappers upon wrappers of potato chips.
I turned to look at Neha in a incredulous manner and realized that her face had suddenly turned red.
"I like potato chips. You got a problem with that." She said as her shame turned to anger.
"Pffft…" I looked at her read face and started laughing uncontrollably. She picked up her pillow and started thrashing me with it and only stopped after she got tired.
I stood up with a wry smile and said "It seems like you've not eaten anything good for a while. Worry not, I'll prepare something good for you."
I sighed in my heart. When Rahul was at home, he would be the one doing all the cooking. But since he had to leave home frequently because of his job and Neha was too young at that time, I had to learn how to cook for both of us.
Since then, it had become a norm of our family and even though I continued with my mischiefs, I slowly started becoming a responsible person.
I went to the kitchen and found that it was covered in dust. It took me a good while to clean it before it could be properly used. While I was cleaning the kitchen, Neha came inside and sat on a chair while she looked at me foolishly.
"What?" I asked.
"That dress of yours. It looks so weird. Where did you buy if from?" she said and giggled.
I looked at the Basic Defensive Suit and smiled wryly. Although it was very comfortable to wear and provided great defense, it was too eye catching.
'Perhaps I should wear something on top of it' I thought. Otherwise anyone who looks at me will think I was some kind of pervert who had let loose his imagination after the apocalypse.
"It's called Basic Defensive suit." I said. "It has a great defense. When Big bro comes back, I'll buy one for you too."
"No. I don't want it." She said decisively. "I don't want to look weird like you."
"Oh! You meant sexy." I mused.
"No. I definitely meant weird."
I sighed. This little girl has no sense of fashion.
"What do you know? If you were so wise then why didn't you cook yourself some proper meal while I was away." I chided softly "Look at yourself. You've become so thin."
"What? You want me to get fat." She retorted.
"Yes. I want you to turn into a little piggy. Only then will I be satisfied." I smiled as I started cooking some rice and pulses.
After we made fun of each other for a while, we got tired of talking and the kitchen went back into silence.
"So… What have you been doing since that day." I asked breaking the silence.
"You mean the day of the Eclipse. And the… Black fog." She said with a hint of fear in her voice.
It seems like I was not the only one who was scared by it. I felt a little better at this. But then I realized that I was gloating at my little sister's misery and started feeling a bit guilty over it.
"Yes." I said.
"Well… I did as Big bro said. I brought enough… food and water for one week and closed all the doors and windows in the house."
"After that… I stayed inside. Till you arrived."
"It must have been hard on you." I said as I patted her head. The more I listened to her the more I felt that I had failed as a good elder brother.
'Don't be so hard on yourself now.' Lily reminded once again in a sweet voice.
'I understand.' I smiled warmly and sat down beside Neha.
"Brother." She suddenly held my hand in fear and said "When the black fog passed. After the pain… I heard the screams of a lot of people."
"At one point in time, I even heard someone screaming in front of our house. And when I looked outside, I… I…" at that time she suddenly started crying as I gently hugged her and patted her head.
After the death of our parents, I had never seen her cry this much. It seemed like this whole incident had left a deep shadow in her heart and left her fearful of these things.
"Brother… Those people. Who were they… And why would they… eat other people?" She asked "Is this some kind of virus. Big bro told me to not come out of the room no matter what happens and not to make any noises either. Does this virus only spread by contact?"
"But… even if I stay inside, I could still hear them. The noise they made…" she said and drank some more water.
"I was afraid. But I didn't go out as Big bro and you told me time and time again to remained inside."
"Two days ago, the army came here as well. I could hear them calling for the survivors. But I knew you'd come back for me so I stayed here. I could not call you since my phone had no battery and there was no electricity anywhere."
She said and suddenly looked up and asked. "Brother. Did I do the right thing? Should I have gone with the army?"
I felt a wave of terror pass through me when she asked that question and immediately said "No. Never. You did the right thing by staying here."
She noticed my sudden change in expression and became curious. "Why? Something wrong with the army? Aren't they doing a good thing by taking in the survivors. And they also lured away all those… crazy people from here as well."
'Well, I couldn't tell her the horrible deeds of those people from the army. But I'm glad she made the right choice.'
"Neha. Listen to me very carefully now." I said in a serious tone. Looking at my serious expression she wiped her tears and listened intently.
"From today onward. You cannot trust anyone else except for me and Big bro. Understand?"
"Why?" She asked in a confused manner.
"Well… I…" truthfully, I didn't really knew how to break the news of the apocalypse to her.
From what she has seen so far, she must have come to her own conclusions. I had no doubt about that. But under such conditions, with so little information, not even the smartest of people would understand how horrifying the Black Fog actually was.
I myself had learned everything I knew from Big bro but even after experiencing hell for the past few days, I sometimes wake up in the morning and expect that everything I had witnessed till now had just been some sort of nightmare. That all of it would just go away.
But that never happened
I suddenly realized that I was not the right to explain the situation to her since even I didn't knew everything regarding this Apocalypse.
I sighed deeply and then said to her. "When Big bro comes back, he'll explain everything to you. Till then, let's not talk about this subject okay." I patted her head with a smile.
"Okay." After that, she went back to her cheerful personality.
The food was cooked and we both ate our fill. We also prepared a plate for Rahul but by the time we finished our food, he had yet to come.
By this time, I was starting to get a little worried.
Although I had wanted him to torture that soldier for a long while, deep inside my heart, I felt that he would come back soon since he was also worried about Neha and wanted to meet her as soon as possible.
Thus, his long absence worried me a little bit.
'Maybe something happened.' I thought for a moment but then, quickly banished the thought from my mind.
'What could happen to Big bro.' I kept this thought in my heart to assure myself that everything was alright. But I still felt a bit uneasy.
Perhaps Neha sensed my uneasiness so she asked "Is everything alright brother."
"Yes. Of course." I said and threw the uneasiness back in to my mind. After that, we started to chat about random things that didn't touch on the topic of the apocalypse.
But then, one hour passed and Rahul had still not come back.
Just as I was about to go look for him, I suddenly heard footsteps from the outside.
I had a high perception so I was able to heard these faint footsteps clearly. But Neha, who was a normal person and definitely could not hear it.
'Two. No, three different footsteps.' I thought in my mind. 'Definitely not Big bro. Then who is it?'
"Neha go hide inside the locker." I whispered in her ears. "Don't come out until I tell you to do so. Understand. No matter what you hear outside. Don't come out."
She was obviously a bit surprised by this but still nodded her head and did as she was told.
After I had confirmed her safety, I went close to the wall and tried to listen to their conversation.
"Navin. Are you sure this is the house." One of them whispered in a low voice.
"Yes. I personally saw him go inside the house. And then the girl came out. She was quite a beauty I tell you."
"Damn! How come we never saw her before." A third voice came. "She definitely didn't came with the boy. That means she was already here. How come we didn't know about her till now."
"Maybe she remained hidden inside the room." The guy named Navin whispered. "After all, it's not like we checked inside all the buildings or something."
"Well, whatever, it's not important. What's important is that we're going have a lot of fun tonight." One of the guys said in a lewd voice which provoked my anger. But I controlled my anger and tried to understand their intentions in coming here.
"We can't." The third person said with a sigh. "If we did her in before we presented her to the commander, then we won't receive much rewards. In fact, he might even punish us for taking her virginity."
"But… We don't necessarily have to give her to that bastard you know. We can keep her for ourselves. If we hide her properly then no one will know." The first one said.
"And then what. Do you want those supplies or not. Don't forget, without the supplies and ammunition from the army, our little group ain't worth shit." The third guy said.
'Hmm… Ammunition. So the army is supplying them with guns? For what? Is it because that commander guy wants control or is just because her wants some girls.'
'And these guys here are the bastards who sell those girls to him. I think I have a rough understanding of the situation now.' At this moment, I had already considered these three guys as dead in my mind.
And this commander guy. When Big bro comes back, I'll tell him about this as well.
At that point, the guy named Navin said "Guys… the guy who was on the lookout said that he had seen the boy in this town before. He's most likely a person from this town. And maybe the girl is as well. Is it really alright for us to do this."
His words brought forth a moment of silence in their little group. After a while, the third guy gritted his teeth and said "This is not about right or wrong anymore. The world has gone to hell. And only the strong will survive. Do you think that Raka bastard would have been able to take control of the town if he did not had that rifle in his hands."
After his rebuke no one said anything else. Finally, he continued.
"Suraj. You go from the back. Make sure they don't run out from the back window. Navin, you come with me. Make sure not to let the girl escape. If the boy resists too much then… then you can stab him."
'Stab him huh! Seems like the military had given the guns to only a few people. It seems like their commander is not a total fool.' I thought and went to the back window.
I had decided to deal with these guys one by one. I knew for sure that one of them had a gun. But I did not knew what weapons the other two carried. I had to be careful when dealing with them.
I quickly went out of the back window and climbed on top of the roof of the opposite house.
Soon enough a 16 year old guy with a dark complexion came and stood outside the window.
He looked inside for a bit when he found no one, he stood beside the door quietly.
There was a knife in his hands which brought me some comfort.
'As long as it's not a gun.'
I came down from the wall quietly and before the guy named Suraj could understand what was going on, he was already caught tightly in my grip.
I held the knife in his hands tightly and gripped his neck with my other hand.
His eyes suddenly went wide with shock and fear and he swung his free hand around wildly while making strange subdued sounds from his throat.
He tried his best but how could his strength compare to mine who was twice as strong as him.
After a few seconds, his futile efforts stopped and his body went limp.
I wanted to bind his hands and feet so that he would not run away after I left, in case he gained consciousness. But I realized that I had no time as the other two had already entered the main gate of the house.
So I brought my legs high in the sky before dropping it down fiercely on his legs.
CRACKKK! The grotesque sound of bones being crushed rang in my ears. I was finally relieved as this guy would not be able to escape anymore even if he gained consciousness.
'Now it's your turn.' I thought and focused on the two guys who had yet to face my wrath.
"Hey! Did you heard that?" the third guy, who now appeared to be the leader of their small group whispered in a quiet tone.
"Heard what?" Navin asked.
"That… No nothing forget it. Just my imagination." He said.
'This guy is observant and cautious.' He reminded me of my big bro. This duo reminded me of me and big bro when we were performing our missions.
Just that, even a thousand of this guy combined together won't be able to match my big bro.
I sighed in my heart and based on their footsteps, I stood behind the door which they were just about to enter.
It was just that… Neha was hiding in this room as well.
'Shit! I should have sent her to some other room. Such a careless mistake. I must not make it again the next time.' I criticized in my mind but then focused back to the task in hand.
"Slowly." The third guy said. "We don't want to scare them too early or too much, in case they tried to run away or fight back desperately. Understand."
"Yes." Navin said. Before a large amount of blood was sprayed on his face. He stayed stunned for a while as he looked at the scene in front of him with terror. Then a yellowish thing stained his pants both at the front and back as his fell backward.
He was so afraid that he couldn't even shout for help.
'Shit! What the hell happened.' I cursed in my mind as I looked at the corpse in front of me.
Since this guy had a gun on him, I had to take him seriously. So, in order to incapacitate him at once, I had punched at his face with all my might.
Who could have guess that such a simple punch would break his skull in an instant. Not only was his skull broken thoroughly, he neck snapped from the force as well and bent down backward, letting out a stream of blood all over the place.
'What the hell! This never happened when I fought Abnormals.' I thought in my mind as I looked at the scene in a dumbfounded manner.
Then I looked at the guy named Navin whose whole body was shaking in fear.
'At this point, he resembles me even more perfectly.' I cursed in my mind as I thought back to the day when I had encountered my first Abnormal.
At that time, I had fallen on my back in fright and shivered in fear just like him.
Looking at all the similarities in us, I decided that I would not kill this guy. Just break a leg or two.
"Ple… Please… don't kill me." He stuttered in fear.
"Don't be afraid." I said as I choked his throat "I have decided to be magnanimous and spare your life."
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As I entered her room, I could see wrappers upon wrappers of potato chips.
I turned to look at Neha in a incredulous manner and realized that her face had suddenly turned red.
"I like potato chips. You got a problem with that." She said as her shame turned to anger.
"Pffft…" I looked at her read face and started laughing uncontrollably. She picked up her pillow and started thrashing me with it and only stopped after she got tired.
I stood up with a wry smile and said "It seems like you've not eaten anything good for a while. Worry not, I'll prepare something good for you."
I sighed in my heart. When Rahul was at home, he would be the one doing all the cooking. But since he had to leave home frequently because of his job and Neha was too young at that time, I had to learn how to cook for both of us.
Since then, it had become a norm of our family and even though I continued with my mischiefs, I slowly started becoming a responsible person.
I went to the kitchen and found that it was covered in dust. It took me a good while to clean it before it could be properly used. While I was cleaning the kitchen, Neha came inside and sat on a chair while she looked at me foolishly.
"What?" I asked.
"That dress of yours. It looks so weird. Where did you buy if from?" she said and giggled.
I looked at the Basic Defensive Suit and smiled wryly. Although it was very comfortable to wear and provided great defense, it was too eye catching.
'Perhaps I should wear something on top of it' I thought. Otherwise anyone who looks at me will think I was some kind of pervert who had let loose his imagination after the apocalypse.
"It's called Basic Defensive suit." I said. "It has a great defense. When Big bro comes back, I'll buy one for you too."
"No. I don't want it." She said decisively. "I don't want to look weird like you."
"Oh! You meant sexy." I mused.
"No. I definitely meant weird."
I sighed. This little girl has no sense of fashion.
"What do you know? If you were so wise then why didn't you cook yourself some proper meal while I was away." I chided softly "Look at yourself. You've become so thin."
"What? You want me to get fat." She retorted.
"Yes. I want you to turn into a little piggy. Only then will I be satisfied." I smiled as I started cooking some rice and pulses.
After we made fun of each other for a while, we got tired of talking and the kitchen went back into silence.
"So… What have you been doing since that day." I asked breaking the silence.
"You mean the day of the Eclipse. And the… Black fog." She said with a hint of fear in her voice.
It seems like I was not the only one who was scared by it. I felt a little better at this. But then I realized that I was gloating at my little sister's misery and started feeling a bit guilty over it.
"Yes." I said.
"Well… I did as Big bro said. I brought enough… food and water for one week and closed all the doors and windows in the house."
"After that… I stayed inside. Till you arrived."
"It must have been hard on you." I said as I patted her head. The more I listened to her the more I felt that I had failed as a good elder brother.
'Don't be so hard on yourself now.' Lily reminded once again in a sweet voice.
'I understand.' I smiled warmly and sat down beside Neha.
"Brother." She suddenly held my hand in fear and said "When the black fog passed. After the pain… I heard the screams of a lot of people."
"At one point in time, I even heard someone screaming in front of our house. And when I looked outside, I… I…" at that time she suddenly started crying as I gently hugged her and patted her head.
After the death of our parents, I had never seen her cry this much. It seemed like this whole incident had left a deep shadow in her heart and left her fearful of these things.
"Brother… Those people. Who were they… And why would they… eat other people?" She asked "Is this some kind of virus. Big bro told me to not come out of the room no matter what happens and not to make any noises either. Does this virus only spread by contact?"
"But… even if I stay inside, I could still hear them. The noise they made…" she said and drank some more water.
"I was afraid. But I didn't go out as Big bro and you told me time and time again to remained inside."
"Two days ago, the army came here as well. I could hear them calling for the survivors. But I knew you'd come back for me so I stayed here. I could not call you since my phone had no battery and there was no electricity anywhere."
She said and suddenly looked up and asked. "Brother. Did I do the right thing? Should I have gone with the army?"
I felt a wave of terror pass through me when she asked that question and immediately said "No. Never. You did the right thing by staying here."
She noticed my sudden change in expression and became curious. "Why? Something wrong with the army? Aren't they doing a good thing by taking in the survivors. And they also lured away all those… crazy people from here as well."
'Well, I couldn't tell her the horrible deeds of those people from the army. But I'm glad she made the right choice.'
"Neha. Listen to me very carefully now." I said in a serious tone. Looking at my serious expression she wiped her tears and listened intently.
"From today onward. You cannot trust anyone else except for me and Big bro. Understand?"
"Why?" She asked in a confused manner.
"Well… I…" truthfully, I didn't really knew how to break the news of the apocalypse to her.
From what she has seen so far, she must have come to her own conclusions. I had no doubt about that. But under such conditions, with so little information, not even the smartest of people would understand how horrifying the Black Fog actually was.
I myself had learned everything I knew from Big bro but even after experiencing hell for the past few days, I sometimes wake up in the morning and expect that everything I had witnessed till now had just been some sort of nightmare. That all of it would just go away.
But that never happened
I suddenly realized that I was not the right to explain the situation to her since even I didn't knew everything regarding this Apocalypse.
I sighed deeply and then said to her. "When Big bro comes back, he'll explain everything to you. Till then, let's not talk about this subject okay." I patted her head with a smile.
"Okay." After that, she went back to her cheerful personality.
The food was cooked and we both ate our fill. We also prepared a plate for Rahul but by the time we finished our food, he had yet to come.
By this time, I was starting to get a little worried.
Although I had wanted him to torture that soldier for a long while, deep inside my heart, I felt that he would come back soon since he was also worried about Neha and wanted to meet her as soon as possible.
Thus, his long absence worried me a little bit.
'Maybe something happened.' I thought for a moment but then, quickly banished the thought from my mind.
'What could happen to Big bro.' I kept this thought in my heart to assure myself that everything was alright. But I still felt a bit uneasy.
Perhaps Neha sensed my uneasiness so she asked "Is everything alright brother."
"Yes. Of course." I said and threw the uneasiness back in to my mind. After that, we started to chat about random things that didn't touch on the topic of the apocalypse.
But then, one hour passed and Rahul had still not come back.
Just as I was about to go look for him, I suddenly heard footsteps from the outside.
I had a high perception so I was able to heard these faint footsteps clearly. But Neha, who was a normal person and definitely could not hear it.
'Two. No, three different footsteps.' I thought in my mind. 'Definitely not Big bro. Then who is it?'
"Neha go hide inside the locker." I whispered in her ears. "Don't come out until I tell you to do so. Understand. No matter what you hear outside. Don't come out."
She was obviously a bit surprised by this but still nodded her head and did as she was told.
After I had confirmed her safety, I went close to the wall and tried to listen to their conversation.
"Navin. Are you sure this is the house." One of them whispered in a low voice.
"Yes. I personally saw him go inside the house. And then the girl came out. She was quite a beauty I tell you."
"Damn! How come we never saw her before." A third voice came. "She definitely didn't came with the boy. That means she was already here. How come we didn't know about her till now."
"Maybe she remained hidden inside the room." The guy named Navin whispered. "After all, it's not like we checked inside all the buildings or something."
"Well, whatever, it's not important. What's important is that we're going have a lot of fun tonight." One of the guys said in a lewd voice which provoked my anger. But I controlled my anger and tried to understand their intentions in coming here.
"We can't." The third person said with a sigh. "If we did her in before we presented her to the commander, then we won't receive much rewards. In fact, he might even punish us for taking her virginity."
"But… We don't necessarily have to give her to that bastard you know. We can keep her for ourselves. If we hide her properly then no one will know." The first one said.
"And then what. Do you want those supplies or not. Don't forget, without the supplies and ammunition from the army, our little group ain't worth shit." The third guy said.
'Hmm… Ammunition. So the army is supplying them with guns? For what? Is it because that commander guy wants control or is just because her wants some girls.'
'And these guys here are the bastards who sell those girls to him. I think I have a rough understanding of the situation now.' At this moment, I had already considered these three guys as dead in my mind.
And this commander guy. When Big bro comes back, I'll tell him about this as well.
At that point, the guy named Navin said "Guys… the guy who was on the lookout said that he had seen the boy in this town before. He's most likely a person from this town. And maybe the girl is as well. Is it really alright for us to do this."
His words brought forth a moment of silence in their little group. After a while, the third guy gritted his teeth and said "This is not about right or wrong anymore. The world has gone to hell. And only the strong will survive. Do you think that Raka bastard would have been able to take control of the town if he did not had that rifle in his hands."
After his rebuke no one said anything else. Finally, he continued.
"Suraj. You go from the back. Make sure they don't run out from the back window. Navin, you come with me. Make sure not to let the girl escape. If the boy resists too much then… then you can stab him."
'Stab him huh! Seems like the military had given the guns to only a few people. It seems like their commander is not a total fool.' I thought and went to the back window.
I had decided to deal with these guys one by one. I knew for sure that one of them had a gun. But I did not knew what weapons the other two carried. I had to be careful when dealing with them.
I quickly went out of the back window and climbed on top of the roof of the opposite house.
Soon enough a 16 year old guy with a dark complexion came and stood outside the window.
He looked inside for a bit when he found no one, he stood beside the door quietly.
There was a knife in his hands which brought me some comfort.
'As long as it's not a gun.'
I came down from the wall quietly and before the guy named Suraj could understand what was going on, he was already caught tightly in my grip.
I held the knife in his hands tightly and gripped his neck with my other hand.
His eyes suddenly went wide with shock and fear and he swung his free hand around wildly while making strange subdued sounds from his throat.
He tried his best but how could his strength compare to mine who was twice as strong as him.
After a few seconds, his futile efforts stopped and his body went limp.
I wanted to bind his hands and feet so that he would not run away after I left, in case he gained consciousness. But I realized that I had no time as the other two had already entered the main gate of the house.
So I brought my legs high in the sky before dropping it down fiercely on his legs.
CRACKKK! The grotesque sound of bones being crushed rang in my ears. I was finally relieved as this guy would not be able to escape anymore even if he gained consciousness.
'Now it's your turn.' I thought and focused on the two guys who had yet to face my wrath.
"Hey! Did you heard that?" the third guy, who now appeared to be the leader of their small group whispered in a quiet tone.
"Heard what?" Navin asked.
"That… No nothing forget it. Just my imagination." He said.
'This guy is observant and cautious.' He reminded me of my big bro. This duo reminded me of me and big bro when we were performing our missions.
Just that, even a thousand of this guy combined together won't be able to match my big bro.
I sighed in my heart and based on their footsteps, I stood behind the door which they were just about to enter.
It was just that… Neha was hiding in this room as well.
'Shit! I should have sent her to some other room. Such a careless mistake. I must not make it again the next time.' I criticized in my mind but then focused back to the task in hand.
"Slowly." The third guy said. "We don't want to scare them too early or too much, in case they tried to run away or fight back desperately. Understand."
"Yes." Navin said. Before a large amount of blood was sprayed on his face. He stayed stunned for a while as he looked at the scene in front of him with terror. Then a yellowish thing stained his pants both at the front and back as his fell backward.
He was so afraid that he couldn't even shout for help.
'Shit! What the hell happened.' I cursed in my mind as I looked at the corpse in front of me.
Since this guy had a gun on him, I had to take him seriously. So, in order to incapacitate him at once, I had punched at his face with all my might.
Who could have guess that such a simple punch would break his skull in an instant. Not only was his skull broken thoroughly, he neck snapped from the force as well and bent down backward, letting out a stream of blood all over the place.
'What the hell! This never happened when I fought Abnormals.' I thought in my mind as I looked at the scene in a dumbfounded manner.
Then I looked at the guy named Navin whose whole body was shaking in fear.
'At this point, he resembles me even more perfectly.' I cursed in my mind as I thought back to the day when I had encountered my first Abnormal.
At that time, I had fallen on my back in fright and shivered in fear just like him.
Looking at all the similarities in us, I decided that I would not kill this guy. Just break a leg or two.
"Ple… Please… don't kill me." He stuttered in fear.
"Don't be afraid." I said as I choked his throat "I have decided to be magnanimous and spare your life."
As I entered her room, I could see wrappers upon wrappers of potato chips.I turned to look at Neha in a incredulous manner and realized that her face had suddenly turned red."I like potato chips. You got a problem with that." She said as her shame turned to anger."Pffft" I looked at her read face and started laughing uncontrollably. She picked up her pillow and started thrashing me with it and only stopped after she got tired.I stood up with a wry smile and said "It seems like you've not eaten anything good for a while. Worry not, I'll prepare something good for you."I sighed in my heart. When Rahul was at home, he would be the one doing all the cooking. But since he had to leave home frequently because of his job and Neha was too young at that time, I had to learn how to cook for both of us.Since then, it had become a norm of our family and even though I continued with my mischiefs, I slowly started becoming a responsible person.I went to the kitchen and found that it was covered in dust. It took me a good while to clean it before it could be properly used. While I was cleaning the kitchen, Neha came inside and sat on a chair while she looked at me foolishly."What?" I asked."That dress of yours. It looks so weird. Where did you buy if from?" she said and giggled.I looked at the Basic Defensive Suit and smiled wryly. Although it was very comfortable to wear and provided great defense, it was too eye catching.'Perhaps I should wear something on top of it' I thought. Otherwise anyone who looks at me will think I was some kind of pervert who had let loose his imagination after the apocalypse."It's called Basic Defensive suit." I said. "It has a great defense. When Big bro comes back, I'll buy one for you too.""No. I don't want it." She said decisively. "I don't want to look weird like you.""Oh! You meant sexy." I mused."No. I definitely meant weird."I sighed. This little girl has no sense of fashion."What do you know? If you were so wise then why didn't you cook yourself some proper meal while I was away." I chided softly "Look at yourself. You've become so thin.""What? You want me to get fat." She retorted."Yes. I want you to turn into a little piggy. Only then will I be satisfied." I smiled as I started cooking some rice and pulses.After we made fun of each other for a while, we got tired of talking and the kitchen went back into silence."So What have you been doing since that day." I asked breaking the silence."You mean the day of the Eclipse. And the Black fog." She said with a hint of fear in her voice.It seems like I was not the only one who was scared by it. I felt a little better at this. But then I realized that I was gloating at my little sister's misery and started feeling a bit guilty over it."Yes." I said."Well I did as Big bro said. I brought enough food and water for one week and closed all the doors and windows in the house.""After that I stayed inside. Till you arrived.""It must have been hard on you." I said as I patted her head. The more I listened to her the more I felt that I had failed as a good elder brother.'Don't be so hard on yourself now.' Lily reminded once again in a sweet voice.'I understand.' I smiled warmly and sat down beside Neha."Brother." She suddenly held my hand in fear and said "When the black fog passed. After the pain I heard the screams of a lot of people.""At one point in time, I even heard someone screaming in front of our house. And when I looked outside, I I" at that time she suddenly started crying as I gently hugged her and patted her head.After the death of our parents, I had never seen her cry this much. It seemed like this whole incident had left a deep shadow in her heart and left her fearful of these things."Brother Those people. Who were they And why would they eat other people?" She asked "Is this some kind of virus. Big bro told me to not come out of the room no matter what happens and not to make any noises either. Does this virus only spread by contact?""But even if I stay inside, I could still hear them. The noise they made" she said and drank some more water."I was afraid. But I didn't go out as Big bro and you told me time and time again to remained inside.""Two days ago, the army came here as well. I could hear them calling for the survivors. But I knew you'd come back for me so I stayed here. I could not call you since my phone had no battery and there was no electricity anywhere."She said and suddenly looked up and asked. "Brother. Did I do the right thing? Should I have gone with the army?"I felt a wave of terror pass through me when she asked that question and immediately said "No. Never. You did the right thing by staying here."She noticed my sudden change in expression and became curious. "Why? Something wrong with the army? Aren't they doing a good thing by taking in the survivors. And they also lured away all those crazy people from here as well."'Well, I couldn't tell her the horrible deeds of those people from the army. But I'm glad she made the right choice.'"Neha. Listen to me very carefully now." I said in a serious tone. Looking at my serious expression she wiped her tears and listened intently."From today onward. You cannot trust anyone else except for me and Big bro. Understand?""Why?" She asked in a confused manner."Well I" truthfully, I didn't really knew how to break the news of the apocalypse to her.From what she has seen so far, she must have come to her own conclusions. I had no doubt about that. But under such conditions, with so little information, not even the smartest of people would understand how horrifying the Black Fog actually was.I myself had learned everything I knew from Big bro but even after experiencing hell for the past few days, I sometimes wake up in the morning and expect that everything I had witnessed till now had just been some sort of nightmare. That all of it would just go away.But that never happenedI suddenly realized that I was not the right to explain the situation to her since even I didn't knew everything regarding this Apocalypse.I sighed deeply and then said to her. "When Big bro comes back, he'll explain everything to you. Till then, let's not talk about this subject okay." I patted her head with a smile."Okay." After that, she went back to her cheerful personality.The food was cooked and we both ate our fill. We also prepared a plate for Rahul but by the time we finished our food, he had yet to come.By this time, I was starting to get a little worried.Although I had wanted him to torture that soldier for a long while, deep inside my heart, I felt that he would come back soon since he was also worried about Neha and wanted to meet her as soon as possible.Thus, his long absence worried me a little bit.'Maybe something happened.' I thought for a moment but then, quickly banished the thought from my mind.'What could happen to Big bro.' I kept this thought in my heart to assure myself that everything was alright. But I still felt a bit uneasy.Perhaps Neha sensed my uneasiness so she asked "Is everything alright brother.""Yes. Of course." I said and threw the uneasiness back in to my mind. After that, we started to chat about random things that didn't touch on the topic of the apocalypse.But then, one hour passed and Rahul had still not come back.Just as I was about to go look for him, I suddenly heard footsteps from the outside.I had a high perception so I was able to heard these faint footsteps clearly. But Neha, who was a normal person and definitely could not hear it.'Two. No, three different footsteps.' I thought in my mind. 'Definitely not Big bro. Then who is it?'"Neha go hide inside the locker." I whispered in her ears. "Don't come out until I tell you to do so. Understand. No matter what you hear outside. Don't come out."She was obviously a bit surprised by this but still nodded her head and did as she was told.After I had confirmed her safety, I went close to the wall and tried to listen to their conversation."Navin. Are you sure this is the house." One of them whispered in a low voice."Yes. I personally saw him go inside the house. And then the girl came out. She was quite a beauty I tell you.""Damn! How come we never saw her before." A third voice came. "She definitely didn't came with the boy. That means she was already here. How come we didn't know about her till now.""Maybe she remained hidden inside the room." The guy named Navin whispered. "After all, it's not like we checked inside all the buildings or something.""Well, whatever, it's not important. What's important is that we're going have a lot of fun tonight." One of the guys said in a lewd voice which provoked my anger. But I controlled my anger and tried to understand their intentions in coming here."We can't." The third person said with a sigh. "If we did her in before we presented her to the commander, then we won't receive much rewards. In fact, he might even punish us for taking her virginity.""But We don't necessarily have to give her to that bastard you know. We can keep her for ourselves. If we hide her properly then no one will know." The first one said."And then what. Do you want those supplies or not. Don't forget, without the supplies and ammunition from the army, our little group ain't worth shit." The third guy said.'Hmm Ammunition. So the army is supplying them with guns? For what? Is it because that commander guy wants control or is just because her wants some girls.''And these guys here are the bastards who sell those girls to him. I think I have a rough understanding of the situation now.' At this moment, I had already considered these three guys as dead in my mind.And this commander guy. When Big bro comes back, I'll tell him about this as well.At that point, the guy named Navin said "Guys the guy who was on the lookout said that he had seen the boy in this town before. He's most likely a person from this town. And maybe the girl is as well. Is it really alright for us to do this."His words brought forth a moment of silence in their little group. After a while, the third guy gritted his teeth and said "This is not about right or wrong anymore. The world has gone to hell. And only the strong will survive. Do you think that Raka bastard would have been able to take control of the town if he did not had that rifle in his hands."After his rebuke no one said anything else. Finally, he continued."Suraj. You go from the back. Make sure they don't run out from the back window. Navin, you come with me. Make sure not to let the girl escape. If the boy resists too much then then you can stab him."'Stab him huh! Seems like the military had given the guns to only a few people. It seems like their commander is not a total fool.' I thought and went to the back window.I had decided to deal with these guys one by one. I knew for sure that one of them had a gun. But I did not knew what weapons the other two carried. I had to be careful when dealing with them.I quickly went out of the back window and climbed on top of the roof of the opposite house.Soon enough a 16 year old guy with a dark complexion came and stood outside the window.He looked inside for a bit when he found no one, he stood beside the door quietly.There was a knife in his hands which brought me some comfort.'As long as it's not a gun.'I came down from the wall quietly and before the guy named Suraj could understand what was going on, he was already caught tightly in my grip.I held the knife in his hands tightly and gripped his neck with my other hand.His eyes suddenly went wide with shock and fear and he swung his free hand around wildly while making strange subdued sounds from his throat.He tried his best but how could his strength compare to mine who was twice as strong as him.After a few seconds, his futile efforts stopped and his body went limp.I wanted to bind his hands and feet so that he would not run away after I left, in case he gained consciousness. But I realized that I had no time as the other two had already entered the main gate of the house.So I brought my legs high in the sky before dropping it down fiercely on his legs.CRACKKK! The grotesque sound of bones being crushed rang in my ears. I was finally relieved as this guy would not be able to escape anymore even if he gained consciousness.'Now it's your turn.' I thought and focused on the two guys who had yet to face my wrath."Hey! Did you heard that?" the third guy, who now appeared to be the leader of their small group whispered in a quiet tone."Heard what?" Navin asked."That No nothing forget it. Just my imagination." He said.'This guy is observant and cautious.' He reminded me of my big bro. This duo reminded me of me and big bro when we were performing our missions.Just that, even a thousand of this guy combined together won't be able to match my big bro.I sighed in my heart and based on their footsteps, I stood behind the door which they were just about to enter.It was just that Neha was hiding in this room as well.'Shit! I should have sent her to some other room. Such a careless mistake. I must not make it again the next time.' I criticized in my mind but then focused back to the task in hand."Slowly." The third guy said. "We don't want to scare them too early or too much, in case they tried to run away or fight back desperately. Understand.""Yes." Navin said. Before a large amount of blood was sprayed on his face. He stayed stunned for a while as he looked at the scene in front of him with terror. Then a yellowish thing stained his pants both at the front and back as his fell backward.He was so afraid that he couldn't even shout for help.'Shit! What the hell happened.' I cursed in my mind as I looked at the corpse in front of me.Since this guy had a gun on him, I had to take him seriously. So, in order to incapacitate him at once, I had punched at his face with all my might.Who could have guess that such a simple punch would break his skull in an instant. Not only was his skull broken thoroughly, he neck snapped from the force as well and bent down backward, letting out a stream of blood all over the place.'What the hell! This never happened when I fought Abnormals.' I thought in my mind as I looked at the scene in a dumbfounded manner.Then I looked at the guy named Navin whose whole body was shaking in fear.'At this point, he resembles me even more perfectly.' I cursed in my mind as I thought back to the day when I had encountered my first Abnormal.At that time, I had fallen on my back in fright and shivered in fear just like him.Looking at all the similarities in us, I decided that I would not kill this guy. Just break a leg or two."Ple Please don't kill me." He stuttered in fear."Don't be afraid." I said as I choked his throat "I have decided to be magnanimous and spare your life."
