Nature's Comeback

11- Ex- Best friend

Without any particular direction in their mind, researchers and their children started walking in the opposite direction of the water flow. Even though they were tired, they kept moving to get far away from that current water.

After an hour or so, they found a small restaurant. They would have missed it, if it weren't for the two men standing outside and yelling out to buy the dairy products at half price.

Noticing a huge group, the men ran towards the researchers.

"Would you like to have something? We are selling the products at half price," one of them urged with hopeful eyes.

"I thought people sold products at double the price at times like this," Rewa blurted out, before palming her mouth with wide eyes.

"Haha yes," the other guy laughed, before explaining, "Electricity has been cut out with no intention of coming back. So we are trying to sell out all these perishable products before they get ruined."

His explanation made sense to everybody. Selling it at half price was better than letting them get wasted altogether.

"Do you have other food too?" Ayaan asked, as his stomach growled with hunger.

"Yes, yes, please come inside. But will you be okay? I mean fans and air conditioners won't work," the restaurant guy asked, praying that they would say yes.

Before Ayaan could even think, the elders said yes and hurriedly entered the restaurant with kids in tow. They too were hungry. Right now, nothing else mattered to them other than food.

"We will do this. Please start making the food," Reyansh told the restaurant guys who were adjusting all the chairs of the restaurant so that the whole group could sit together.

Reyansh knew cooking for so many people would take time. And he didn't want to wait a minute longer than it was necessary.

Few more researchers joined Reyansh and started moving the chairs. Kids too joined them, finding the task rather enjoyable.

"Does anyone know how all this happened? Our research building was one of the finest. How could such a thing happen?" One of the researchers questioned.

"The people who were in charge of the reservoir could tell us but they are already dead," Reyansh replied in a low voice.

"People died?" Rewa asked, shocked to the core. She thought everyone was saved.

"Yeah, they were too near the water to be able to run away. We should just be thankful that even in their last moments they tried to save us. If they hadn't notified us, then we all wouldn't have been here," Tej responded.

"If only they would have rang the alarm bell too, we would have got out far earlier," Sarah mumbled, earning a glare from Tejas and Rewa who heard her.

"They were dying yet they thought of other people in their last moments," Tejas hissed in a low voice.

"How were they supposed to know that we idiots would be on the terrace and wouldn't get their notification?" Rewa questioned back in an angry whisper, appalled by Sarah's mind set.

"Okay okay, sorry," Sarah surrendered, understanding her blunder.

"Does anyone have a phone? We need to contact the Director to know how to proceed from now on," Reyansh asked, taking the role of team leader again once some food was gone inside his stomach.

"We have phones but there's no charge," Rewa answered her father cheekily, while waving her phone.

"Working phones, anyone?" Reyansh asked again, looking pointedly at his daughter.

"Here," Payal's husband forwarded his phone. "But there's only 10% battery left. So you might have to hurry," he informed.

Thanking him, Reyansh called the director. He was glad to have written down all the important numbers, or else they all would have been left stranded.

Kids were peacefully eating but the elders had stopped, waiting for the team leader to finish his talk with the Director of the research organization.

Cutting the call, Reyansh faced the researchers of other teams. "Your teams have already been stationed. You can join your teams as soon as I receive the address."

"What about our team?" Kriti questioned.

"Apparently they didn't think we all would survive. As our whole team was here, they didn't bother finding a place for us," Reyansh replied.

Kriti scoffed at the absurdity. Reyansh was angry too but he had to maintain calmness for his team.

"Don't worry, they have started finding a workplace for us. We all will be notified soon," he reassured his youngest team member, even though he too wasn't really hopeful about the outcome.

"We will miss you," eleven year old Jhanvi said to her friends, knowing that they all would get parted soon.

The kids hugged each other tightly, not wanting to leave each other after becoming so close.

"Sir, will it be alright for us to leave? We don't want to leave you behind like this after having fought this battle together," one of the researchers spoke in a guilty tone.

"Don't worry about us. We all will be assigned soon. Please go with a peaceful heart and work your hardest to save the world," Reyansh assured.

"And if it is possible, I would request you all to keep the elements and what happened today a secret. We can do this much for them in return for them having saved our children," Sarika, a middle aged researcher requested.

She had wanted to work with the elements, but putting them into harm's way was never on her mind. She knew that once their identity was out, those elements wouldn't be left alone by the desperate people.

Everyone nodded in understanding and vowed to take that secret to their grave.

Soon the team leader received messages of addresses where other teams were stationed. He wrote down all the addresses on the spare paper he received from the restaurant guys and forwarded it to the respective researchers.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Kriti asked Tej, who was still seated, eating his food without a care.

"I am not going back to the team, who easily left their member behind," Tej answered, after swallowing the bite.

"Why should we suffer for that? Go and meet the director if you are unhappy with your team. Don't be a pain in our neck," Kriti snapped.

"Why are you butting in between? Let the team leader decide. I will go if he asks me to," Tej retorted.

The two youngest researchers in their  field glared at each other, making the elders uncomfortable and confused.

"Don't worry about them. They have a love-hate relationship since their school days," Tejas informed everyone, already knowing the past between his elder brother and Kriti, who had been his brother's ex-best friend.