Shadows Of The Stumps

What's the Cost of Life?

The valley, usually hushed under a cold Kashmiri night, now trembled with an eerie silence — not of peace, but aftermath. The air reeked of smoke, mud, and the sharp metallic scent of blood. Trees stood like sentinels, watching the scattered remains of what had once been a confident unit.

Meera crouched against the jagged wall of a half-bombed-out stone bunker, her breath shaky, her leg at a sickening angle and wrapped tight in her own torn jacket. Blood had seeped through. A field dressing had been attempted, but there wasn't much to work with anymore.

They had lost Anamika.

They hadn't just lost her — she had been brutalized. Tortured. Her screams still echoed in their ears, even though the forest had long gone still. Meera hadn't said a word since Shaurya pulled her away from Anamika's body, half-conscious and dragging herself back into cover under heavy fire.

Maithili sat beside her now, her fingers trembling as she tried to refill the syringe with the last dose of painkiller they had. Her eyes were swollen — from tears or smoke, no one could tell anymore.

"She's burning up," Maithili whispered, voice cracking.

"She needs rest," Shaurya muttered from the other side, his shirt tied tight around a bullet wound to his side. "We all do."

"But we don't have time," Jeet finally said. His voice was hollow. He hadn't looked anyone in the eye since Anamika. He hadn't even cleaned the blood on his boots.

"Someone betrayed us," Meera finally said, her voice ragged, her eyes blank as she stared at the ceiling of the broken shelter. The words dropped like a stone in water.

Everyone froze.

Jeet finally raised his head. "What?"

"They were waiting," Meera rasped. "They knew our exact entry point, our patrol pattern, even when we'd be halting for food. This wasn't just a lucky ambush. Someone back home gave our route away."

"That's not—" Maithili began, but Shaurya cut in.

"She's right. We changed direction last minute. That update went through just one secure channel. Someone on our side leaked it."

There was a long silence. Outside, the wind rustled through dead leaves. Inside, the silence was broken only by the labored breathing of five wounded soldiers.

Meera clenched her jaw, trying to sit up straighter. "Anamika died because someone wanted us gone. And if they're jamming our comms, we're on our own until we find a way out."

Maithili's hands hovered helplessly. "You can't even stand properly."

"Then I'll crawl if I have to."

"You're not moving," Jeet said, his voice louder now. "You're not. We're not leaving you behind."

"I never said you should," Meera whispered. "But I'm also not going to sit here waiting to bleed out."

Shaurya leaned his head back against the wall. "Closest base is still a full ridge away. We can't make it till first light. Even then..."

"We wait," Meera said. "We recover. And when it's time... we move."

"And then what?" Jeet muttered. "What's left to go back to?"

Meera didn't answer at first.

Meera looked up at them, her voice steadier now, harder. "Anamika didn't die for us to give up. We are not going to die here. Do you understand?"

Shaurya gave a curt nod, jaw tight.

Jeet just closed his eyes.

And Meera leaned back against the wall, blood still soaking through her makeshift bandage, lips pale.