BALI 100 KM (Book 1) ✔

Chapter 7

Everything happened instantly, leaving him no time to grasp the situation. His assailants blinded him with a cloth over his head and tied his hands behind his back. Subdued by force, his assailants were now dragged him up and bashed him. When it stopped, a voice rang in his ears, instructing him to not fight back, for his life in return.

Being tall and well-built, they had found it difficult to subdue a struggling Bandu and finally threatened him. They made him walk for quite a long time through the woods, crunching the dry leaves under his feet. Thoughts from mistaken identity to bandits, many theories flashed up in his mind and dispersed in front of one question, "WHY?" for which he had no answer.

But a sense of dread preceded all. Did the ghost of the past finally catch up?. Would so many years of running and hiding be in vain? Was there no escape this time?

He stumbled to the ground many times, but they pulled him up again until they had covered a considerable distance and then stopped. After another bout of bashing, they forced him to his knees. He never encountered such torture in his life. After the initial shock, a muffled scream escaped his lips.

They then slapped and kicked him on his back, stomach, and face. Only then were they able to bring down the man to the ground. He could feel his warm blood trail down the nose. They quickly uncovered his face and blindfolded him with a thick, coarse piece of cloth.

"Now, you better answer our questions truthfully, or you will die." said one of the attackers pulling him by his hair extracting a painful groan from Bandu.

"Where are the documents that Rana gave you?" one of them asked.

There was another pull when he lagged in answering them. It was a relief when they uncovered his head, and he tried to catch some fresh air into his lungs.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, and who is this, Rana?"

Not satisfied with his answer, they began to kick him. Following that came the repetition of the previous question.

"I said I don't know who this Rana is,"

"Rana is the fellow who died in front of your shop. Where are the documents he gave you?"

"I have no knowledge about any documents...and this person...Rana has not given me anything. I only provided him with shelter for one night in my stall, and that too a year back, that is all. I had never seen him before that and even after that. You must believe me, please, let me go." Bandu tried to reason with them.

Not believing him, they resorted to beating him again, raining blows and kicks. That was all that he could take, and the torture was weakening him. He was losing all sensations, and the voices were fading. It was then the sound of a gunshot rang into the air, and the beatings suddenly stopped.

Bandu heard shouts and more shots, followed by a painful groan. There was a sudden commotion, and he could hear footsteps coming towards him, but they just whizzed past. He could faintly hear someone calling out to him before he fell unconscious.