It was a messy workshop. Large industrial equipment was installed in a corner, and a girl of about seventeen or eighteen huddled behind the machines.
Kavya’s pupils were dilated as she covered her mouth with both hands.
She was trembling like a frightened deer hiding from a predator.
She tried her best not to make a sound, but it proved to be a daunting challenge.
(Bang)
The sound of a hammer slamming into metal reverberated throughout the workshop, and she couldn’t help but shiver with every hit.
She came to her family’s printing press to help out her father with cleaning the workshop and getting it ready for the festival, but the rain came, and everything changed.
Thanks to the workshop being a warehouse with a single point of entry, she, along with her father, escaped the last few days without any incidents. However, it looked like they were not so lucky this time.
The dents in the door deepened with every hit, and it looked like whatever was hitting it was actually strong enough to break through.
Kavya looked at her father standing before the door and holding a spare power shaft from the printing press. She could tell that he was feeling uneasy, and seeing him like that only made her more worried.
However, just then, with a sudden bang, a claw tore through the metal door, causing her to tremble. Her breath caught as the claw receded and a grotesque face appeared through the opening. Its skin was an ominous, dark gray, with six bloodthirsty purple pupils gleaming with a maniacal light.
"Oh god!" her father exclaimed, and feeling as though the monster was staring right through her soul, her breath became ragged.
The door was ripped apart, and the beast stepped inside with a triumphant roar. Kavya’s face turned pale and bloodless.
The monster lunged forward, rushing straight toward her father, and she was completely paralysed.
"Father," she cried as she watched his swing prove utterly useless, the monster effortlessly flicking the rod away.
Just when she thought everything was over, a tall, muscular man suddenly ran into the room. Before either the monster or her father could react, he slashed out with a white stick at the monster’s back, and the monster miraculously stiffened.
(Pfff)
Blood shot out from the back of the monster’s neck like a pressurised stream escaping from a puncture, and the next moment, the monster fell down lifeless and didn’t move an inch.
Kavya was still shell-shocked and didn’t know what to think. Her mouth was agape, and her gaze remained fixed on the muscular man. She felt as though if she stopped looking at him for even a moment, she would realise that everything was just wishful thinking, and that her father had actually been brutally butchered by the monster.
Rudra looked at the bald middle-aged man with a greasy appearance and then at a young girl and nodded in satisfaction.
He was able to save two more people. It had been several days since he left his street, and although it hadn’t rained since then, he did encounter dozens of monsters and found several people who were in desperate need of help.
In the middle, Prabhu also woke up, and as he suspected, he had grown stronger as well. Although not as strong as him, he seemed to be as fast as him.
Rudra suspected it had something to do with how wind had engulfed his body when he was unconscious.
After pondering it for a long time, he speculated that the rain was like a special agent that destroys the limiters in people’s bodies, allowing them to grow stronger than they normally could, but not everyone could survive the process of their limits being broken, and they unfortunately died.
Though he didn’t know whether he was correct, it did explain why some people survived while others didn’t.
Rudra stretched out his hand and supported the middle-aged man up.
"Th-thank you." The man said.
Rudra learned the man’s name was Lingaraj, and his daughter Kavya and briefly relayed the information about his small survival camp.
"Linga ji, we’re going towards the circle. If you want to follow us, you’re welcome."
Lingaraj hesitated. He was wary of the situation outside, but at the same time, looking at the door that had been torn apart, he understood that he couldn’t stay behind closed doors any longer.
He went through a struggle in his heart but ultimately nodded. "Thank you for your kindness."
Rudra smiled and motioned the father and daughter to follow.
"Linga ji, you haven’t gotten drenched in the rain, have you?" On the way, Rudra asked.
Lingaraj didn’t know why such a question was asked, but he still shook his head and responded. "No, we hid in the workshop for the entire duration." He looked around at the surroundings in surprise. His view from the workshop was limited, so he didn’t know what the streets had become, but looking at the almost melted cars, blood stains, and overgrown weeds, he didn’t even know how to react.
Kavya was no different. She gasped and clutched her mouth in fear.
Rudra could understand them both.
Even he was surprised at how rapidly the surroundings were changing.
The trees grew taller, the weeds were now up to his knees, and small decorative crawlers in people’s gardens were now breaking through the walls and taking root in the very foundation of the house.
As if the environment was becoming more hostile towards humans, everything gave him an ominous feeling.
As soon as they approached the temple, Prabhu came out running like a bolt of lightning. Seeing that it was Rudra, the caution on his face disappeared, and a smile took over.
"Welcome back, brother. Oh, you brought survivors as well."
Lingaraj and Kavya were looking at the young teenager with curiosity, and Rudra introduced them both.
"This is Prabhu, my upstairs neighbour’s kid."
Going into the temple, he saw everything was as he had left it. The pandit was still reciting mantras as if he was possessed, and several people he had rescued had gathered around the pandit and frantically prayed to a local deity named Patalamma.
He felt helpless witnessing such a scene, but he knew people needed something to believe in during desperate times, so he let them be. However, his attention was focused on the three people who were manning the compound.
A middle-aged man who was a teacher at a kindergarten, named Balram; a housewife whose husband had died right before her eyes but who had luckily survived the rain, called Laila; and a chubby teenager doing his bachelor’s, named Deepak.
This was the small stronghold he had constructed within the temple, but sadly, he knew everything had to end.
"Clap."
Everyone’s attention was directed towards him, and that included the pandit and his followers.
"It’s time to move. Let’s go." He motioned.
The people guarding the perimeter showed cautious expressions, while those huddled with Pandit Ji looked as though Rudra’s request wasn’t for them to follow him, but to march to their deaths.
"Rudra brother, taking such a hasty decision is not good. You can’t put everyone’s life on the line without a reason." A spectacled middle-aged man advised. And the others nodded in support. Even the Panditji stayed silent and stared at Rudra to hear his response.
Rudra let out a turbulent breath and explained. "You see that foggy cloud in the distance?"
The spectacled middle-aged man absent-mindedly looked in the direction pointed by Rudra and nodded. "Yes?" He was still confused as to what Rudra was trying to convey.
"If I’m not wrong, there’s a gigantic monster or something of the like within." He spoke with his expression showing weariness. "It’s capable of turning buildings into dust, and I see no way of escaping its clutches."
The spectacled man’s eyes widened and looked towards the distance with his heart palpitating. The others were no different. However, the thought of moving from the temple, their protective bastion, left them weak in their legs.
Rudra could tell these people were having a hard time imagining his explanation, so he had Prabhu tell them how they got out of their neighbourhood.
Hearing how the building was turned into rubble right before their eyes, they seemed to trust Rudra a little more, but the unwillingness they had shown had not been reduced.
Rudra was getting impatient. "Look, it hasn’t rained for two days, but it only makes me more uneasy. That thing in the clouds advances when it rains, and I don’t even know how far it could advance. For me, Prabhu, and sister Laila, we can move in the rain, but for you all, it’s no different from waiting for death."
"So I want to go as far as the looming fog as possible, preferably to the northernmost point of the city."
"The choice is yours to make. Either way, I’ll be leaving in half an hour."
Silence engulfed the temple, and the gloomy atmosphere was palpable.
Lingaraj and his daughter were the first to stand by his side. After all, he had never found comfort in the temple’s safety and was still uneasy. Hearing the threat of the white fog, he was even more determined to stay close to Rudra.
Laila, the only other person who had gotten wet in the rain and survived besides Rudra and Prabhu, and was also saved by Rudra from a flying monster, naturally decided to follow Rudra’s lead. As for everyone else, they were eventually forced to follow along.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t gotten a few hundred meters, and the sky began to rumble.
Rudra looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, and his expression turned gloomy.