Rudra remembered the vow he had made to himself to seek justice for the innocent people of Chandapura, people who had been mercilessly slaughtered by the Krasurs. He remembered promising himself that he would avenge their deaths and get to the bottom of everything.
Having travelled with Kavya, Lingaraj, and the others through perilous circumstances, Rudra had grown close to them. He still had not completely recovered from their deaths, especially the way they had been taken from him so abruptly.
However, that vow and promise gave him the determination to keep looking ahead instead of wallowing in self-pity and feeling guilty for what he could not have done.
Looking around and seeing only the people who had survived the rain walking alongside him, Rudra understood a profound truth. Only the strong could survive in this new world, while the weak had no other choice but to depend on the strong.
Rudra had never thought the previous society was fair. The fact that his uncles and relatives had been able to split apart hundreds of acres his grandfather had earned, leaving Rudra with scraps through the help of local sub-registrars, police, and other people, was enough to show him that even in modern society, it was still people with money, power, and connections who got ahead. For those at the bottom, every step forward was an uphill trek.
However, at least in that society, there had been hope for a weak person to become strong. There had always been a path forward, no matter how difficult it was. But in this new world, where not everyone could even survive the rain, some people’s fate was sealed from the very beginning, leaving them with no chance to move ahead.
It was a suffocating realisation, yet Rudra decided to live with it. He decided to get stronger, so strong that no beast would be able to take the lives of fellow humans and look at their corpses as if they were toys accidentally broken.
He clenched his fist, and his eyes blazed with flames of determination. He still didn’t know how he could get stronger, but he would do it. He would do it if it was the last thing he did.
With the ants running towards the town, the journey was much simpler, so simple that it even gave birth to a feeling of absurdity.
"Finally made it. Heh." Prabhu said with a wry smile, his eyes hiding their anger.
Everyone became quiet. Despite being the youngest of the five and having an entire generation gap in thinking, everyone understood the emotions behind those words.
To reach halfway, Rudra and Prabhu had to literally slaughter their way through an endless swarm of ants, while the others had to push a truck weighing several tons through the bumpy terrain all by themselves.
Throughout their journey, their hands and feet grew sore from the effort, only for a burning sensation to suddenly spread throughout their bodies, followed by a surge of energy that revitalised them. Yet the relief never lasted for long. Soon, their bodies would grow sore again, forcing them to repeat the same process over and over.
Yet even with the struggle, what they ended up with was the truck being destroyed and the people within it being killed by the rain. It was almost as if fate was playing a joke on them, showing their wasted efforts, laughing right in their faces.
In the end, they were able to complete the rest of the journey in just a few minutes with only the five of them, while not killing even a single ant along the way.
Rudra’s eyes finally recovered some vitality, and he inspected the surroundings.
Where there would normally be lanes upon lanes of cars parked next to each other, there was a bunch of tyres without rims, broken glass without a frame, seats without seat buckles, and steering wheels without a steering rod.
It was the sight of the cars they had seen throughout the town, but seeing so many cars of the same place did give an unusual image.
"Brother, do you think there would be Krasurs here?" Prabhu asked.
Rudra stayed silent, but his eyes showed a dangerous glint. "Probably not, but I wish there were." His words riled everyone up, and they prepared their weapons to butcher the Krasurs to their hearts’ content.
However, after inspecting the entire building, apart from blood stains and broken human pieces, no Krasur could be found.
Rudra was disappointed, but he did not intend to stay in the hospital for too long either.
"Let’s stock up on the food, medicines, and anything that’s useful."
"Prabhu, see if there’s an ambulance or something unaffected by the rain; look for a tarpaulin or something that’s waterproof as well."
Rudra started loading a bunch of high-energy foods into his bag and looked around at the surroundings, seeing if there was anything else that was of use.
However, right at this time, the sound of Laila was heard.
"Hey guys, come look at this."
Rudra looked up at the excited face of Laila, and his head tilted to one side in confusion.
Rudra put aside his bag and walked towards the stairs, and he was joined by Prabhu and Ranga.
Pranay was already on the top floor, and he joined in as well.
"What happened?" Rudra asked.
Laila didn’t answer his question. Instead, she made a silent gesture and motioned for them to follow.
They were taken into a luxurious, clean room with sofas, tables, and an air conditioner. The AC was not working, of course. However, to their surprise, on the other side of the clean room was a girl, maybe 12 or 13, lying on a bed.
She was thin, malnourished to the point of looking like nothing but skin and bones. However, everyone could see the heaving chest.
She was alive.
Albeit barely.
"How is she alive?" Pranay asked, his face filled with disbelief.
"Probably because this is the most remote corner of the hospital, and it’s behind a steel door. The Krasurs can’t open locks, can they?" Ranga answered, then continued, "I also suspect that the Krasur didn’t think she was worth it. We all saw that red giant in the sky. We saw that tower of blood and the crimson tree as well."
He hesitated before speaking again.
"Those are made from human flesh, weren’t they?"
"Maybe they thought her flesh wasn’t worth it."
Rudra became silent. It was indeed a speculation he had in his mind, and it was what everyone was thinking as well.
"So, what do we do with her?" Prabhu asked in concern.
There was no answer.
"With no electronics working, her heart rate, blood pressure, and other vital signs cannot be monitored. But it looks like the IV fluids and enteral nutrition were the only things keeping her alive for so many days," Laila muttered as she opened a compartment above the girl, where the tubes were connected.
The way she examined the girl so naturally made everyone look at her in surprise. Noticing their expressions, Laila gave a short sigh.
"I trained to be a nurse."
Once the compartment was opened, they found two empty bottles inside, one containing a yellowish liquid and the other containing a cloudy white liquid.
"One is an IV fluid, and the other is a nutritional solution. Both are empty, and from the looks of it, they have been empty for several days."
Laila scoured through the paperwork beside the girl’s bed and found information about her condition.
"She’s paralysed from the neck down. She’s also in a coma. Without fluids and nutritional support, she won’t survive for long."
"Tell me the name of the medication, sister. I’ll go get it." Prabhu said.
Laila looked annoyed and shook her head. "The liquids she needs are temperature-sensitive. They spoil without being kept in a cool place. With no electricity since the first rain, it would have already gone bad."
An atmosphere of gloom engulfed everyone, and their faces looked so black that they looked like coal.
Rudra let out a turbulent breath and shook his head. "There’s only a single solution left, isn’t it?"
His words cast a dark shadow over everyone’s hearts, but they had no way to refuse it. They understood what Rudra implied: it was to let her come into contact with the rain. If she’s lucky, she won’t die and might even recover from her illness. But if she’s unlucky, which was most likely the case, she would die.
Unfortunately, with them not acting, she would die either way.
As Rudra said, there was only a single option left. It was just that deaths within the truck were inadvertent, and it was something they had no control over, but this was different. They were passing their judgment on a living person. They were dooming her to her death without her consent.
Rudra knew everyone had to reach their own conclusion, so he did not force them to make a choice. Surprisingly, it was Laila who was first to agree; Prabhu came next, and then it was Ranga’s turn, but right before Pranay was about to nod,
A deafening cry was heard from the direction of the town.
They looked at each other with sombre expressions and immediately ran towards the glass window.
"God."
The flying ant, despite rushing towards the giant bloody humanoid monster in the air, did not immediately attack.
It seemed to be biding its time and waiting for something. Sure enough, the moment was here.
The monster within the curtain of clouds made a move.