The Valley || ONC2023

Prologue

Bhairavi's breath came out in puffs. She had not physically strained herself so much in a while. Or, you know, ever! Pulling out her phone, she checked the top left for the signal; still nothing. 

"Please," She blinked, releasing a lone tear that made its way down her cheek and joined her sweat-soaked neck; her grip on her phone tightened. "-give me a break!" she cried, fighting the urge to throw the useless piece of technology in a landfill reserved for it a few years before its time. 

Clutching her chest, she looked at the two bodies slumbering on the gurneys she had stolen from Them. 

She needed to get away, far away, before They could catch up with her. Her life and the lives of countless others depended on her making it out of their reach. 

She eyed the empty road. 'Even if someone comes along, where can I ask them to drop us!? Will anyone be willing to help me, especially when I tell them I need to take them too?'  She glanced at the unconscious bodies, 'Would I help someone in my condition?' Bhairavi contemplated. 

The feeling of helplessness wrapped itself around her like shackles. She wanted to break free but couldn't. In an unknown location, with no one by her side, Bhairavi was alone. All alone.

Bhairavi gulped thickly. 'There is always a way. Think. There must be something you missed. There must be a place that They can't reach or control. A place that can shelter us-' 

A place untouched by evil.

Could it really be the place she was looking for?

The words she had heard not long ago echoed in her mind. 'That's it! Kashyapi Hillock. I need to get there. To Kashyapi Hillock.' she had heard this name before.

No, she had read it! 

Her eyes widened with realization. The place, her destination, Bhairavi had known the path all along. 

Bhairavi's moment of joy was cut short as the sounds of frustrated men: the guards, reached her, growing clearer and louder by the minute. 

She needed a vehicle. Now. 

Where was he when she needed him!? He had promised to return to her, had he not? His car was still parked where he had left it, but she had not bumped into him again after he had left, asking her to wait for him.  

Her eyes moved along the length of the road. In the roughly fourteen minutes she had stood there, not a single vehicle had passed by her. 

The guards had almost caught up with her. She could hear them now; there were four, at least.

Bhairavi contemplated running for the only cover: the reserve she had just left behind, but it would be like running into the arms of the enemy. Literally. 'That wouldn't do.' She scanned the area and concluded that they were sitting ducks out in the open like this. 

Tears rolled down her cheeks, "If only I could turn back time," She chided herself for the umpteenth time. "I shouldn't have kept the truth from her." she shook her head. "And now it's too late."

Four days ago, Bhairavi had landed in The Valley, and a day after that, she had captured something in her camera which had shocked her to the core. It had pushed her on a path that had led her here: in this place, at this moment. 

Now with her strength failing, and at the crossroads of life, in a race against time, there was only one thing she could trust: her faith in her God. 

Bhairavi ground her teeth. "No. It's not too late. I will make it there. I will save them. I have to!" Wiping her tears, the woman pulled in a deep breath. "Bhagwanta, you have never let me down. And I know you never will."

Taking confident strides, she walked to the middle of the road; looking heavenwards, she requested, "So, either give me a chance to save us all or bring me to you." Then joining her hands in prayer, Bhairavi closed her eyes. Her loud, war-cry-like voice echoed through the dark, piercing the ice-cold heart of The Valley, as she called upon her Lord to take the reins of her life in his hands, "Jai Shree Ram!" 

Word Count: 716