Naira

"Keep it safely with you", Kartik instructed me, handing me a walkie talkie. I looked at it perplexed and then raised my head to look at Kartik with questioning eyes.

"There's one with me too", Kartik said showing me his walkie talkie, which he then tucked inside his jeans. I was still unanswered.

"What's the need of this? I mean we are gonna stay together only, right? Then why this communication device?", I asked him doubtfully. He sighed and held my arms, staring directly into my eyes.

"I know Naira. I'm never gonna leave you. We'll never part, but babe try to understand. This is an apocalypse. We can't promise anything. Our phones are dead, they're useless. God forbid but...(sighs) if any of us gets separated from the other under serious circumstances, we can talk to each other through this walkie talkie. We can gather help. We can be saved, right?", Kartik tried to explain me with so much softness like I was some kid. He made sense. But I didn't want any of the above possibilities to be true.

"Ok", I murmured nodding my head and staring down at the forest floor.

Kartik smiled and raised my head, keeping his finger on my chin. I looked into his eyes and he stared down at my lips. We continued the eye-lock for a few seconds, until he locked his lips with mine. He bent down a little and I stood on my toes to reach his height. We continued kissing each other slowly and passionately, under the shade of the tree.

Kartik broke the kiss and leaned closer, so that our foreheads could touch. There was so much proximity between us, we could feel each other's breath. It just enhanced the beauty of the moment. It made me feel so safe and cared for.

"I ain't leaving", he spoke as he closed his eyes and kissed my forehead.

"Mhm", I replied as I felt his touch on my skin.

I was standing under the shade of the same tree, with the walkie talkie in my hand - trying to contact Kartik. I knew he was alive, safe somewhere. I just needed to get a clue, a slightest clue that would take me closer to him.

"Kartik....", my voice quivered and eyes brimmed with tears as I spoke his name.

The man that I love....

"This is Naira. I know you aren't dead. You're alive, safe somewhere, with good people", my voice shook as I spoke over the walkie talkie. I was shattered and scattered into pieces.

"Please reply Kartik. Give me some clue that you're alive. I'll talk to you regularly through this walkie talkie. We're still at the Colonel's House. We haven't moved. The situations are manageable there. So if you hear me, please come back soon. I'll wait for you", I informed him, my voice heavy with tears. I waited for his reply to come from the other side but the signal wasn't clear and it continued to buffer.

I closed my eyes and sighed in defeat. I wiped the tears off my face and turned back to Watson. A biter was lying on the ground and snarling. Its legs were thrown somewhere away from its upper body, or we could say that it was just a biter head as its body was fully torn apart. Watson grunted and stabbed its skull with the machete. The biter gurgled but slowly its movements stopped and it died.

Watson looked at me and sighed.

"He's gone", he said referring to Kartik.

"I remember I left him right here yesterday. Maybe some of these creatures took him deep into the woods and-", Watson began to speak but I interrupted him in between.

"He's alive", I spoke and Watson sighed in disbelief. I looked around myself. We were surrounded by biter dead bodies and blood splattered on the tree barks. A suffocating, rotten smell engulfed around us. I started feeling dizzy.

"We should leave", I said as I started walking on the dry leaves that were lying on the forest floor. Watson followed me to the Colonel's House.

Kartik

I was lying on a mattress. It felt soft, yet rough as the small pebbles on the ground, kind of poked me in the back. I could hear the sound of a waterfall. I was a little conscious, not completely but I still was. I could sense the things going around me but wasn't able to respond to them. I could hear muffled, unclear voices. There was a sharp, unbearable pain throughout my body.

Am I still alive?

Naira...

Where's my family?

I wanted to open my eyes, but couldn't. It was like I was paralyzed. I couldn't move any part of my body - eyelids, fingers, feet. They weren't moving with the slightest of strength. I just felt like the weakest man on earth. I was frustrated.

I need to go to my family.

I started panicking. My breaths became slower and heavier. I started wriggling. I felt so horrible. It was like I was gonna die.

I managed to open eyes with some strength. I could see that some people were using needles on my body, sharp needles to stitch something. This was all the sharp pain was about. The pain was unbearable.

"He's sinking", I heard the panicked voice of a man.

My breaths had become slower and my vision got blurry.

Just then, the man injected something into me and it was painful....very painful. I winced in pain, wriggling my body and then after some seconds, everything blacked out.

Naira

I walked into the Colonel's House in disappointment because I could not find Kartik. There was an intuition that was telling me that he's safe. I should just be hopeful and continue with my search.

As soon as I walked into the frontyard with a teary and dull face, I looked at Kairav sitting on the stairs and looking down at the floor, so focused. I sighed. I haven't talked to him nicely about this whole thing. I wasn't in my senses yesterday. How was I supposed to explain him?

He had never looked so serious before. The childish innocence had flown away from his face. He was so deep in thoughts.

I should talk to him....

Don't know what he must be suffering through?

Kinda worse shit compared to me.

I gathered courage to face him and walked towards him. I sat on the stair beside him and looked down at him.

"Hey champ", I spoke, trying to be casual and cheerful.

'Hey", he replied not interested, engrossed in his own thoughts.

I sighed and caressed his soft, dark brown hair that he had inherited from Kartik.

"Daddy's okay champ. He's out for some mission as he always is. He's out there to keep us safe", I tried to explain him and he looked at me with ridiculing eyes.

"He's dead", he spoke so casually, yet in a authoritative and confident tone. He had resigned himself to the fact that Kartik is no more.

No...I can't.

I can't let him surrender to this fact this soon.

It sounded like he was prepared for this. Like, this was supposed to happen.

I looked at him in shock.

"No he's not Kairav. Who put all this stuff into your mind? He's alive baby. He'll be really upset if he sees you like this", I ran my hand gently through his hair and he sighed in disbelief.

"I'm gonna go learn how to use guns from Watson", Kairav said standing up and starting to walk away that I stopped him.

"Ho-Ho-Hold a second. Who gave you permission to use a gun? You aren't allowed anywhere around it, not in centimeters, millimeters or decimals. Stay away from that thing", I warned him standing up and towering above him.

Kairav scoffed.

"You want me to die, don't you? How can you restrict me from learning combat in this zombie-filled world? Dad is not here to protect us. We should take up our arms and learn to defend", Kairav spoke, sounding like a teenager all of a sudden. He was just nine....and no more my old, innocent, shy, nervous Kairav.

I took a deep breath and bent in front of him, holding his arms tightly.

"Kartik is not dead. Your dad is not dead. You get that?", I told him and he looked at me unbelievably.

"Dad is dead. He is dead. Will you stop living under illusion? Be practical and stop fooling around or keeping expectations", Kairav shouted at me and I don't know what came over me that I slapped him tightly.

"Just stop.....stop using the "dead" word for your dad, will you?", I asked him frustrated, as I stood up and looked down at him.

He didn't answer anything. He was just looking at me with red, watery eyes.

"And yeah....do not, I repeat do not hover around the gun or any kind of weapon", I instructed him and he walked away in anger, giving me dirty, angry glares.

I sighed and turned away to look at Watson. He was just looking at me. I ignored him and started to walk away.

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