Mainak Dhar - Zombiestan

'We just passed some place called Keylang, and up ahead is Baralacha. The guide had said that the roads there suck.'

Mayukh laughed.

'Could our navigator be a bit more specific about how it sucks?'

David slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

'It can be dangerous since at this time frost has started appearing and the roads are narrow to begin with. Now can our fearless driver concentrate a bit more on driving instead of singing?'

Five minutes later, Mayukh was no longer smiling. If anything, the guide's warning had been an understatement. Looking down to his right he could see the valley hundreds of feet below while up ahead, he could see no more than a few feet before the road turned again. He thanked his stars that at least he didn't have to worry about traffic coming from the other direction, but with the bumpy, narrow and winding road, he was having more than his share of trouble in managing to keep them in one piece.

David's joking had also stopped abruptly, and he was looking nervously at the road ahead as well, and Swati was trying her best to not shout out warnings to Mayukh. She knew that the last thing he needed at this time was backseat driving from her. If there was one saving grace, it was the fact that Abhi, bored by what he saw as the sudden lack of interest from the adults, had curled up in Swati's lap and fallen asleep, oblivious to the bumps.

As Mayukh turned a corner, the van lurched hard and he struggled to keep it from veering off the cliff to his right. David leaned over and with his right hand helped Mayukh pull the steering wheel so the van did not swerve out of control as Mayukh applied the brakes and the van came to a halt, one wheel almost at the edge of the cliff.

David got out of the van, hoping that it was not what he feared it would be. He exclaimed loudly and let loose a stream of expletives.

'What's wrong?'

Mayukh was now next to David and he shouted in exasperation when he saw what David saw.

Two of their tires were flat, and in the hurry to get away from the Ashram nobody had even checked if they had spare tires, a fact that Swati soon confirmed.

So some eight thousand feet above sea level, in biting cold, with one hour or less to go to Sunset, the four of them gathered together to face what the night might bring.

'They are coming.'

Abhi had said the three words in no more than a mere whisper, but Mayukh, David and Swati stopped in their tracks. Mayukh put him down and knelt before him, looking into his eyes.

'Abhi, who is coming?'

Abhi pointed to the cluster of huts a few kilometers to their left.

'The not nice people are coming.'

David took a good look in the direction Abhi was pointing and then turned towards Abhi.

'Abhi, I don't see anybody out there. They're not coming so don't worry.'

Abhi didn't look very convinced and muttered, barely audible to the others.

'But I can feel them coming.'

Swati had been trekking through the hilly terrain with the others, gamely trying to keep up and not slow the others down for the last hour since they had abandoned the van and proceeded on foot. The Sun had just begun to set, and David had just told them that based on what he remembered from the guide they were still at least a couple of hours walk away from the Thirse Monastery. They had taken turns carrying Abhi through much of the journey, with Mayukh taking on the lion's share of the carrying, but even Swati had volunteered to carry her brother when she had seen Mayukh tiring. But now she seemed to lose much of her composure at Abhi's words. She grabbed hold of Mayukh's arms.

'What if they're really out there?'

Mayukh tried to sound confident, but was too tired to do a convincing job of acting.

'Look, we haven't seen a soul for hours. The best we can do is to just keep walking. Come on, Swati. Hang in there, we're so close.'

David was watching their exchange, and suddenly he picked up the small bag filled with apples and water he had been carrying and started walking. Mayukh called after him.

'David, where are you going?'

He turned towards them, his face all business.

'After all we've been through to get so far, I am not about to quit. If we do, all that pain, all that loss, Hina-all of it would have been for nothing. Now, are you coming or not?'

Swati said nothing, but picked up her own small bag and followed, and Mayukh picked Abhi on his back and was but a step behind.

It was now almost pitch black, especially with no lights on in any of the adjoining villages and the cold was now almost unbearable. They were all wearing gloves and caps and had bundled up Abhi as much as they could, but as Mayukh walked, he could feel the cold breeze bite into his face like a thousand needles. Swati keep casting anxious looks at Abhi, wondering if there was any truth to what he had said, but for now, Abhi seemed content to be riding on Mayukh's back. They stopped for a short break, both to have a bite to eat and also plan the last leg of their journey. Mayukh's relief at getting a break from marching with Abhi's weight on his back was matched only by Abhi's visible disappointment as he pouted.

'But I want to go piggyback again!'

Swati hushed him, bribing him with an apple that he began munching into immediately. David had siphoned off some fuel from the van and filled three bottles with it. Mayukh carried one of the Molotov cocktails, and he carried two of them. He and Mayukh broke off two sturdy branches from a nearby tree, tore one of their bags into two and fashioned crude torches from them. David had also taken a lighter from the van's glove compartment and he poured some of the fuel on the torches and set them alight. They were all instantly grateful both for the warmth and the fact that they were now no longer walking totally blind. David carried one and Swati the other, with Mayukh continuing to carry Abhi on his back and with both shotguns slung over one shoulder. As they proceeded, David whispered to Mayukh.

'I know we had to make the torches but I have a bad feeling.'

'Why?'

'Because if anybody is actually out there looking for us, now we're practically lit up like a neon sign.'

Swati had overheard him and spoke up, more hope than certainty in her voice.

'But if there is a government base out there, they'll also see us more easily.'

As soon as she said it, she clammed up, and none of them brought it up again. They had been proceeding so far on the leap of faith that there actually was a base here where they could find safety. All they had to go on was that one radio broadcast, and if they were wrong, they would likely all die in this snow-covered wasteland. Mayukh sensed what Swati was feeling and walked next to her, holding her hand. He wished he could have spent more time with her, wished he could have told her how much he loved her, wished he could have done all the things a young man would have done for the young woman in his life. But for now, all he could do was to hold her hand wordlessly as they continued trudging through the road that was now frosted over with snow.

Mayukh could feel Abhi's head now resting against his back. The boy had no doubt fallen asleep and he wondered aloud how long it would take for them to get to their destination. David looked at him and sighed.

'Not really sure. There aren't any road signs I can see and we don't have a guidebook with us any more. At the rate we're going, it could be anything from thirty minutes to an hour more.'

They saw a fork in the road with a small temple or pagoda drawn on a sign by the roadside. David remembered from the guide that they needed to keep going straight as the smaller path to their right supposedly led to another smaller monastery a few miles away. Seeing the sign gave them all renewed hope since it meant that they were on the right track and they were not far from their destination.