They Breathe

Chapter - I

"It was written on my pal's shirt; earth is another planet's hell. What you say about it?" I asked Karan. The cigarette was almost finished. The smoke was rising towards the zenith with a familiar feeling inside me. Karan and I was sitting on the bench. It always looked so peaceful from there. You could look at the vast land. No motor vehicles and a busy life.

The wooden badge inscribed with number ten hanged on Karan's blackened white shirt. The thermal power plant was never a place to wear white.

"I don't know. I feel a lot better now. Those days, people knew only one language and that's money. People killed for it. Once I heard about mother selling their sons and daughter for money in the Middle East region." He stopped and took the cigarette from my hand.

He took a long breath and smoked the remaining at one go. "There were hospitals who took millions to plant fucking hairs on your skull. The walkers don't see it. They see the muscles and blood running inside your vein. And today, without money people actually care about others. They don't have money to care about. Don't they?"

I looked at Karan. He always used to work in the plants with the badge. Three years had passed since the breakdown. The badges showed the no. of months you were out there all alone. Karan had the highest. Ten months he was fighting alone to those walkers, or in technical term 'zombies'.

"By the way, why did you call me" I asked him, looking at the plant. "Is everything okay?"

"C.B is gone; again. After we extended the line towards James Street. The CB was gone. You are the one who knows how to fix it. Just go and do that"

"Sure." I said and got up.

I looked at the colonel who was waiting for me near the main gate. I signaled him that I was going towards the electrical yard. He at once sent two soldiers behind me.

After the PURGE by Indian Government, people with some ideas about any technology were assigned anything they could have their hands on. Government had to make the life back. And they were working hard on it. It looked like everything was going to be normal.

I was about to enter the grid when I saw it. The Circuit Breaker didn't break due to some power line extension. Blood ran cold in my veins. The soldiers aimed their rifle ready to fire.

"What is it" Karan cried.

"It's the SPROUT" I cried. "Category A. Shut the grid off. Right now"

I looked at the sprout. The green thing and dome shaped was grown all over the circuit breaker. One slight disturbance in power line and the sprout would have burst into pieces. And if anybody came in contact with it, bullet was the only option. For the victim would have turned into the walkers - the dangerous one.

"Bring the fire hose" I said...........