He looked at the others, and felt something that he had not felt in some time. The intense pride, almost love, a combat soldier feels for the mates fighting next to him, willing to die for each other. He could not have had an unlikelier group of mates to go to war with-a young girl, a schoolboy and an old woman-but right now, he would have chosen them over a platoon of SEALs. He stepped towards them and they rushed towards him, and for a minute they just stood there, holding each other, aware of just how much they meant to each other.
Then they heard a crescendo of howling and they realized the Sun had set and the Biters had come out. Just a day ago, they would have hidden in the dark, trying to keep themselves alive, but now they just looked at each other, an unspoken consensus on what needed to be done, no matter what it meant for their own lives and safety.
Mayukh said what was on everyone's mind.
'Let's go get the little guy.'
***
Swami Vinesh shivered despite the fact that he was wearing a thick coat over his saffron robes. Looking at the dozens, possibly hundreds of Biters gathered outside the Ashram walls, he knew that it was not the cold that was causing the shivering. The torches along the walls had all been lit, and in the darkness, they cast a faint glow over the gathering horde outside. He tried not to look, but could not help himself. The ghouls gathered outside could have been people he had met in the local market just a week ago, or even people who had come to his Ashram seeking instant salvation. Their clothes seemed to indicate that they came from all sorts of backgrounds. He saw a tall, thin man, or rather the deformed remains of what used to be a man, dressed in a tattered suit, his tie still around his neck, standing right next to a yellowing, decaying woman who was dressed in rags, of the sort beggars on the roadside wore. Vinesh looked on in mortified horror, wondering if the plague or infection or whatever it had been, had been the great equalizer after all. Men, women, rich, poor-all brought together by a mindless blood lust, and yes, those damned black turbans.
Walter poked him in the shoulder.
'Vinesh, this is not a good time to go soft. Vineet has the kid just below and we know the Biters mean business.'
Walter had in his hand a crumpled note that had been tied crudely to a rock and tossed over the wall. It read.
Vinesh looked down below the platform to see Vineet trying to hold onto Abhi. The little boy had proved to be more than a handful. Walter was still sore where Abhi had bitten him on the forearm, and he had pulled Sharma's hair so hard the man had actually cried. But he was a little boy, a boy whom Vinesh was about to hand over to the mob outside.
'Walter, give me a minute. I need to…prepare.'
Walter snorted derisively as he understood just what the Swami meant. Vinesh hurried back to his villa, meeting several of his disciples lounging around the Ashram, most with glazed eyes and vacuous smiles. Vinesh went into his villa and lit up a joint, inhaling deeply. After his second joint, he was feeling lightheaded enough to contemplate carrying out what he needed to do. As he began to leave his villa, he saw a woman sleeping in a corner. He tried to remember her name, but it wasn't important-another young devotee who had wanted to believe in someone, or something, so bad that she was willing to bed him for it. The Marijuana he used to spike the food and drink served to all his visiting devotees certainly helped. When times had been good, that had made people go away lightheaded and feeling instantly better, and he picked up more devotees. It obviously helped that Manali was a major hub for the drug trade and the likes of Walter peddled more than just guns. Now, with the threat of the Biters outside, extra doses meant that his hardcore devotees were ever more hooked to him and his offerings. Of all the dirty secrets that supposedly existed about Swami Vinesh, he chuckled as he wondered what the Press would have made of this one. Oh well, it no longer mattered. Now, it was just a case of keeping himself alive as long as he could.
Swati almost broke from Mayukh's grasp and ran as she saw Abhi in the man's hands, and he struggled to hold her back.
'Swati, I know how you feel, but we cannot just rush in. There are four armed men there.'
Finally Swati settled down, but her eyes remained fiery with rage as they started to put their plan into motion.
The Swami was now back on the platform, looking down at the Biters, who unlike their mad rushes of the past, were standing well clear of the electrified fence. Looking at the yellowed, bloodied faces looking up at him with lifeless eyes, the Swami could not discern any sign of humanity, let alone intelligence, yet the so-called Biters were learning and evolving.
That point was made most clearly when three Biters stepped ahead of the rest of the crowd. They were all tall and well built, and the Swami could see them wearing the tattered remains of what had once been Police uniforms. All three of them carried automatic rifles, which they were pointing in the general direction of the Ashram. Upon their arrival, the mob started howling-a keening, high-pitched sound that made the Swami want to cover his ears.
One of the armed Biters took one step forward and pointed up at the Swami, and screamed just one word.
The Swami had no idea whether the legend of the boy being immune to the Biters was true or not, as some of the half-crazed radio broadcasts claimed, nor was he sure how the Biters had found out. He had heard of all the stories and had heard of the group with the boy setting out from Delhi in an SUV. When Walter had chanced upon them, he had considered finding out whether the legend was true and whether that would give him any bargaining power with whatever authorities claimed to still be in control in Ladakh. But then, the Biters had arrived on the scene, apparently aware the boy was with them, asking for him, and now suddenly able to fire guns. How the Biters knew of the boy was beyond him. Was it possible that some of those who had learnt of the boy and then been infected had retained the memory? Walter nudged him again, and whispered that they did not have time to waste.
A dozen feet behind them, David crouched behind a villa, watching. His left arm was now numb, though it had hurt like hell when he had forced his shoulder back into its socket. With one hand useless, he could not hope to use a shotgun effectively, and so had taken Mikhail's pistol, an old Makarov that still seemed to be in good condition. Their plan, as hastily concocted as it was, had been set in motion. Mayukh and Swati were to gather as many of their provisions as possible and load them into Walter's van, which Hina was to drive. David would lead the assault, and Mayukh would back him up, with Swati for added cover.
David smiled to himself as he contemplated their chances. Walter and the three men with him were armed with shotguns, and seemed to know how to use them. For all he knew, the Swami could be armed as well. That left them facing at least four armed men, and hundreds of Biters, an unknown number of them now armed with automatic weapons. David's army, as it were, consisted of a one-armed commando, a boy with a weapon that he had never fired before, a girl who did not know how to unlock the safety on her pistol, and an old romance novelist to drive their getaway car.
Mayukh and Swati edged closer to the platform, hidden behind another villa about fifty meters from David's hiding place. They had been able to find most of their winter clothing in Sharma's office, a revelation the man readily made when Mayukh threatened to break something else other than his already broken nose. However, all their food and provisions had been stored with the Ashram's stocks, and with many of the Swami's disciples around the villas that were used for food storage, they could not risk trying to get them. Mayukh hefted the shotgun in his hands, feeling its weight. He had never fired one before, and despite David's five minute tutorial, he was not sure he would be able to do much with it. The other shotgun they had recovered was slung around his back, so that he could fire more times before having to reload. Swati had a pistol in her hands, which she was trying hard to keep from shaking. They were both terrified, yet they were more determined to do something than they ever had been before about anything. That stemmed from the little boy who now stood just a dozen feet ahead of them.
Vineet was holding on to the Abhi, cursing the boy after having suffered yet another bite. He wondered where his boss, Sharma, was. Figuring he was either hiding or asleep, he cursed having to be a part of this. He wanted to live for sure, but he was not sure he liked the idea of having to hand over a kid to the Biters.
'Vineet, give him to me!'
