After Annihilation - Would you want to survive?

Chapter 6

The only light in the tunnel was that from the vehicles. Our trucks were moving along the queue at a slow pace. I started seeing other healthy people around, a rare sight. The three trucks belonging to Double A were stopped at a barrier. Four of the men from our truck got off to see what was going on, and the others peeked out to get a look. Vishwaroopum was at the helm, talking to a group of army men with rifles strapped around their shoulders. Three army men came, and all of us were asked to get off the truck. The women were taken to a small outpost at the barrier, and the men stood outside.

Two women officers, masks across their faces, frisked us and passed a metal detector over us. Once they were satisfied, we were brought back out across the barrier, where the rest of our group was assembled. Roshan handed over the key to the truck to the officer in charge, and the four drivers of the other two did the same. From here on, we were to go forward on foot.

There were 295 of us in total. All rounded up, we were taken to a small building. Here, inside this building's lobby, sat at least a hundred other survivors. All were covered in dust and had small bruises or cuts, some were vomiting, some lay down on benches, holding their heads in agony. But there were still some healthy.

In another wing, some survivors lay on stretchers. Their wounds were being cleaned and tended to. Among our Double A group, the ones with wounds had been separated. Kirtani's boy with the fractured leg was being carried inside on a stretcher. He'd had a tough time, and I was glad to see an expression of relief on his face.

All the healthy survivors in the lobby were grouped according to genders. Our women's group made up almost eighty women. We were directed inside the building to a shower area. Here, we were asked to wash up with soap and water and were given a change of clothes and a hair tie. All our old clothes were to be discarded. The new set of clothes were arranged in packets of two, with three sizes available, each having a white kurta and a salwar in different colours. I chose the smallest size with a black salwar. The kurta was loose and fell an inch above my knees. I was impressed by how systematically something as small as clothing had been arranged.

Among the group, most were middle-aged women with small kids. One girl around my age came up to me and introduced herself. It was such an ordinary greeting that it made the events of the past twenty days seem bizarre. I suddenly had the crazy thought that I was at a new job and was meeting a colleague.

"Hello, I am Ananya," she said.

Her hair was tied in a ponytail, which fell to her upper back. She was taller than me by two inches, around five feet four. Dressed in the same short white kurta but with a light blue salwar, she had a wide smile and a pleasant manner of speaking. I felt an instant affinity with her.

I smiled. "I'm Madhavi. Where are you from?"

"I am from Matsyar. I arrived just an hour ago. The army saved me, but not..." She faltered, then continued. "How did you come here? I don't think I saw you alight from an army truck."

"Yes, well, I came with a survivor's group," I said. "They picked me up from a cave, and now here I am."

"A cave?" She looked at me, puzzled.

"Yes," I said. "Are there people from Rajgar and Varshi here?"

"There must be, probably inside the city," she answered.

We were being rounded up and directed back outside in queues. Ananya and I kept talking.

"Are you alone?" I asked her.

"Uh... yes..." she said, her eyes welling up.

"Yeah, me too," I replied empathetically.

Neither of us wanted to talk about what was inside the city. It felt like a different life would start, and somehow, we wanted to hold on to this one with all its memories for as long as possible.