Zombiestan

'Are you the one, little boy?'

Abhi looked up at the man, and said, with defiance in his voice.

'I am three, not one. I am a big boy now.'

Despite the tension in the air, Mayukh, Swati and David couldn't help but smile and the man in front of Abhi also laughed out loud. The tension seemed to dissipate as the man whistled and his friends seemed to ease up and lower their weapons. A dozen or more women now appeared from within the trees, many with small children tied to their backs and others leading children by the hand. The girl they had seen on the road was there, still carrying her apples. The man who had spoken to Abhi motioned to the girl and she gave them an apple each, which they bit into gratefully. The man looked at some of the others standing behind him.

'Four of you stand watch.'

Then he sat down, and Mayukh and the others followed suit.

'My name is Ganesh. We were all workers in the orchards here before the….problems started. The first night the demons came to our village and took many of us so those that remained hid in the orchards.'

'Ganesh, how have you stayed safe so long?'

The man seemed a bit surprised at how fluent David was in Hindi, not knowing that as a Special Forces operator, he was fluent in Urdu so he could blend into the local populace of Pakistan, and that was close enough to Hindi for him to be understood.

'We have all grown up in these orchards since we were children, so we hid during the day and at night, we climbed up into the trees.'

Now that he mentioned it, Mayukh took a closer look at the trees and saw thatched areas on each tree, almost looking like nests. He smiled in admiration at the ingenuity Ganesh and his friends had shown to survive so long.

'Uncle, can you swing from one tree to another like Tarzan?'

Ganesh looked at Abhi, puzzled since he had never heard of Tarzan, and so Abhi tried a different tack.

'No, no, maybe like George of the Jungle!'

Now, his stomach full with an apple in it, Abhi was back to full form as he began singing.

'George, George, George of the jungle, friend to you and me…'

Swati was trying to hush him in vain as everyone smiled. Ganesh's eyes suddenly turned serious.

'We heard about the Ashram and the fact that the boy was there.'

Mayukh was now really curious about how everyone seemed to know about Abhi so he asked Ganesh.

'Everyone knows. At a time like this, any flicker of hope spreads like a wildfire. One of our women supplied apples to the Ashram in return for food supplies, and she heard about the boy who cannot be hurt by the demons.'

Two women brought forward a meal of rice and boiled potatoes and placed it in front of Mayukh and the others, ladling the food onto leaves. It was a simple meal but as Mayukh put the hot rice in his mouth, he thought it was the most delicious meal he had ever had. Swati spoke to one of the women serving them.

'Thank you. I know you must have limited food, so thank you for sharing it with us.'

The woman looked at Swati and gently tousled Abhi's hair.

'Daughter, I am an uneducated apple picker, and I don't know or understand many things, but in the midst of all this darkness, this boy is the only sign of hope we have.'

Ganesh touched Mayukh's arm gently, almost pleading with him.

'Keep him safe and see if he can help us remove this darkness that has fallen upon us.'

It was now close to ten in the morning, and Mayukh heard from Ganesh that Ladakh was a good five hour drive away. He wanted to get going as soon as they could, but they were all dead tired and badly needed some rest and sleep. Ganesh and his friends laid out some blankets in the orchard and they slept, asking to be woken up in a couple of hours. For the first time in many days, Mayukh slept peacefully and when he was awakened by a gentle nudge from Swati, he woke with a smile on his face.

'Why are you smiling?'

Mayukh sat up and held her hand, trying to remember and savour every detail of his dream.

'I saw us-me, you, Abhi. Together. Walking into a mall, eating fast food, watching a movie, doing the small things we took for granted.'

Mayukh could see Swati's eyes start to fill with tears, when Abhi cut in.

'If we're having fast food, I want French Fries.'

They laughed and got up to prepare for what they all hoped would be the last leg of their journey.

***

It was now just past one in the afternoon and they had driven for almost an hour through a landscape that saw the lush orchards of the Manali area slowly but surely give way to long stretches of barren rock, a forerunner of the desolate mountain passes they were headed towards. Swati was still driving, with Mayukh sitting in the back, playing the role of part babysitter and part gunner, with Abhi on his lap and his shotgun by his side. David was watching all the road signs and was trying to ensure that they did not get lost in the hilly passes. Despite it being in the middle of the afternoon, the cold was already getting so severe that they stopped once to put on an extra layer of clothes, and eat some more apples to give them more energy.

David saw Swati's breath quicken as she seemed to be gasping for air, so he asked her to pull over.

'Swati, we're now at much higher altitude than you may be used to, and the air will keep getting thinner. So the oxygen may not go to your brain as efficiently as it normally does. Don't panic, just take slow, deep breaths and you should be okay.'

As they restarted, Swati tried to heed his advice, but she found it tough going. Mayukh seemed to be coping much better with the altitude and they swapped places. There was no sign of anyone around, so they did not really think twice about not having the extra firepower of the shotgun readily available.

Abhi was in high spirits, no doubt boosted by the apples he had eaten. While all the others were worried about what lay ahead and also thinking of Hina's loss, he was exhibiting that wonderful and most envious of traits of children-the ability to live fully in the present. So he delighted in pointing out birds he saw, and screamed in delight when they saw what appeared to be a deer dashing into the trees. Despite the hilly terrain, Mayukh was trying to go as fast as he could, conscious of the fact that they needed to reach Ladkah before Sunset.

David suddenly shouted in triumph.

'Just saw a sign. Ten kilometers more to Rohtang Pass. We're well on our way!'

Mayukh knew that was both good news and bad news. Good because they were making steady progress; bad because from what the guide had said, after Rohtang Pass, they would well and truly be in mountain terrain. The roads would not allow them to go as fast, and he was also increasingly worried about how Swati would cope with the altitude as they went higher.

After half an hour more of driving, they decided to stop for a break. Mayukh's arms and legs were cramped and aching from the sharp turns and he was exhausted from always having to watch that they did not fall off the edge of the road. David was of course not in any position to drive, and Swati bravely volunteered, but one glance between Mayukh and David told both of them that they thought she was in no shape to drive. David handed each of them an apple.

'Eat and rest for ten, then we start again. We'll get through Rohtang in a few minutes, and then it should be no more than a couple of hours.'

Mayukh sat down on the ground, his back to the van, preparing for the home stretch. Swati came over and sat beside him, resting her head against his shoulder as he pulled her close.

'I'm so sorry. I'm not helping at all.'

Mayukh held her hands and looked at her.

'Swati, you've been just amazing so far. We just need to hang in there a little bit longer and we're safe.'