Chapter 08: DUSK TILL DAWN Matured

Well this might be long but hope you all enjoy it. I want to give you all the in depth feels of the chapters and I hope I was able to convey.

Warning: Has Triggering content of rape which might give discomfort. Please read at your own risk.

CHAPTER-08:

Dusk Till Dawn Language: English

Not tryna be indie
Not tryna be cool
Just tryna be in this
Tell me, are you too?
Can you feel where the wind is?
Can you feel it through
All of the windows
Inside this room?

'Cause I wanna touch you baby
And I wanna feel you too
I wanna see the sun rise
On your sins just me and you

Light it up, on the run
Let's make love tonight
Make it up, fall in love, try

Baby, I am right here

But you'll never be alone
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here
I'll hold you when things go wrong
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here

I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here

Your life in the daytime is over. There's eyes on you everywhere. You know that, right? I'm watching you. My crew's watching you. You know your little homies? They pissed off. They mad at you, bro. Your name is mud on the streets. Oh, I know who you are.

You don't know me.

We were shut like a jacket
So do your zip
We would roll down the rapids
To find a wave that fits
Can you feel where the wind is?
Can you feel it through
All of the windows
Inside this room?

'Cause I wanna touch you baby
And I wanna feel you too
I wanna see the sun rise
On your sins just me and you

Light it up, on the run
Let's make love tonight
Make it up, fall in love, try

Baby, I am right here

But you'll never be alone
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here
I'll hold you when things go wrong
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here

Girl, give love to your body
It's only you that can stop it

But you'll never be alone
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here
I'll hold you when things go wrong
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here

I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
Baby, I am right here

DUSK TILL DAWN

It was a full fledged storm without any rain in Pagdandia as the night deepened. As Harshit was driving, Imlie thought about how everything she planned during the afternoon had completely changed and now she was leading her life to the way of uncertainty. Her plan was just to make friends with Harshit but now she made sure that he brings her and Niti to Pagdandia. When they were only one kilometer away from Pagdandia’s peripheral, Imlie asked Harshit to stop his car in the middle of the highway.

“Why do you want me to stop the car here?” asked Harshit.

“Don’t go to Pagdandia straight way rather go through that kaccha road”

“You want me to go to Pagdandia through a path that I am unaware of” asked Harshit.

“Else once you enter the radius of their spectrum you will be observed, there are terrorists spying the village”

“Okay, so where will this road lead us to?”

“To the base of Giri Parvat on which Sita Maiyya’s temple is located.We will head to the east. Amma said the base was there”

“Your Amma?”

“Yes in her last call”

Harshit didn’t say much and took a left turn. They made their way through the small kaccha road and soon they were deep inside the forest. The forest was roaring like a lion with the influence of the storm and winds.

“Niti, do you remember the route?” Imlie asked.
“Yes, but why do you ask that Imlie?”
“Soon you will get a task”

Harshit gave a glance at Imlie quite amazed. He asked, “Don’t tell me you are planning…”

“Yes, I will guide you to the base.”
“That would be risky”
“I can handle it but let me ask her first; Niti, can you drive?” asked Imlie turning her face towards Niti who was sitting on the back seat.
“Actually yes, Mousa taught me,” replied Niti.

“Isn’t your problem solved bro?” asked Imlie looking at Harshit.
“Don’t bro me…I don’t even know your name” Harshit replied amused.
“Half information is unhealthy indeed, the CCTVs in the fighting club could give in my identity but not my name. What a shaggy-dog story…”
“I might know yours but don’t know your friend’s also you are an exception as only few are aware of the CCTVs but you found it by yourself, that indeed makes you worthy of applause”

Imlie chuckled and asked, “Niti tera naam kya hai Niti? (Niti what’s your name Niti?)” [Sholay Basanti Reference]

“Niti Sharma Sardar(Chief)” replied Niti.

Harshit smiled because the sudden change of tonality of both the girls to a comedic one cracked him up. He was surprised that he brought such two strange personalities with him where one is joking when her own family members are hostages and the other is just… he remembered how Niti kept on staring at him.

“The other is just a clueless soul” he muttered under his breath.

“Bro and Niti both of you please call me Khatti once you reach there. And I will also act like a mute person”

“Why mute?” asked Harshit.

“Because I don’t want my family to know that I am there, not even the villagers. Also this list includes Aryan Singh Rathore”

“Don’t tell me you know that guy” remarked Harshit.

“He is someone I know but that’s none of your business” replied Imlie.

“Okay” both Niti and Harshit replied.

“Stop here bro, we need to walk on from here. I am sure the abandoned big house is their base” said Imlie

Harshit stopped the car and three of them came out.

“What would be my task?” asked Niti.

As Imlie was getting her knives from the bag she replied, “Ask that from bro; also brother for your kind information this girl remembers everything… even quotes of pamphlets pasted on some random walls”

“Imlie you noticed?” asked Niti

“I am a good gem detector”

“I hope she is indeed the gem you think of, I can only see a naïve young girl in front of me.” said Harshit handing Imlie a bullet proof jacket.

Niti was taken aback, all the attraction she started to feel looking at this man became numb the moment he tagged her as just a ‘Naïve Young Girl’. She saw him wearing his bullet proof jacket and handing a pair of glovelettes to Imlie. She even heard Imlie saying him a ‘thankyou’ which made her angry because he was a guy who neither seemed to understand what kind of risks they are taking by being there nor value their courage. She saw him approaching her with a bulletproof jacket but for the darkness she couldn’t even see his face. They had drove inside the forest only with the park lights of the car and now when the car has no role to play the three of them are doing their stuff in darkness. The wind was warning to run indoors to be safe with it low voice screams. As he forwarded the jacket, she gritted her teeth and replied in a soft voice, “This naïve little girl has no need for this”

Harshit noticed a dissatisfaction in her voice, but he was not someone who had time to play the fancy game of you-need-but-I-don’t-need like some movie leads.

Hence he replied with a stern and low voice, “Look I have lives to save, don’t waste your time. You also have things to do”

“So you would try to dominate me with your voice?” she backfired but tried her best that Imlie doesn’t hear this strange rift between them.

“What kind of domination did you see here? I was just being rational” Harshit replied.

Imlie was ready with everything so she went towards the couple and asked, “Are you guys done with your discussion of the bulletproof jacket? I can hear everything to be honest”

Niti looked at Imlie baffled when Harshit held her hand and slid the jacket on her body. Niti’s eyes went to Harshit who was looking at her, their eyes met and Niti couldn’t think of anything. Her senses only returned when she heard Harshit pulling the zip up. He said looking at her eyes intently, “If you remember the route, go back to the highway. I have messaged the longitude and latitude of this road’s entrance to the forces already, you will lead them here to that house which looks empty from outside. Also take this, it’s my identity with a government seal. Show them then only they will trust you but remember I don’t trust you, a girl with no knowledge so don’t disappoint me by losing this card.”

Niti looked at him with disgust because though she gets lost in his attraction his words bring her back to reality and this was the second time. She grabbed his hands which were still on the hem and zip of the jacket and shrugged them off. She forwarded her hand without breaking eye contact and he handed her his identity. She went to the car and started the ignition keys looking at him. After taking an U-turn Niti left with the car.

“Got your weapon bro?” asked Imlie.

“Yes, let’s move forward. But make sure not to kill anyone till the last moment. Only kill if it is needed but you can rip skins” said Harshit taking his gun out of his handgun holster.

“Only to the extent the soul doesn’t go out of the body. Isn't it?” uttered Imlie.

“Yes”

Both slowly move forward making almost no sound. Their feather steps said a lot about their predator nature. Harshit was a person who didn’t like to think about other things when he does his work but Imlie’s way of working surprised him. She was indeed leading his way like some trained agent, holding her knives in reverse to have the biggest impact in softest touch and also her feather like footsteps amused him. He could easily conclude her as some trained assassin if he hadn’t done any background check on her. She felt like puzzling to him, a girl whose whole life was simple without any major loopholes; how did she know this is the way to function in such situations? But he kept his curiosity to himself as they were in a mission and she decided to be a mute person. And Harshit was not a person who would have interest in making other people’s lives hard, his own was hard enough.

Imlie hit a terrorist’s head with the handle of one of her knives and made the other lose his consciousness with her carotid punch. Harshit did the same with his gun’s bottom and one by one they made six terrorists fall unconscious. They followed the corridor and could see a ray of light through a broken window. They decided to go and have a look at that room. As they reached the door they saw it was a big hall and many men were there, some eating and some were playing cards. In the middle of the room they saw Aryan tied up and his mouth was covered with a tape. He was struggling as his hands which were tied behind and so his legs but his whole body was also tied with a chair. The ropes tangled him like some python and the man who was sitting in front of him, his back and hair was visible to Imlie and Harshit. He was saying something to Aryan.

Imlie noticed the rope which tangled Aryan was a twelve strand rope which is mostly used in construction and the rope was made of cotton.

The man said, "You are the duck who would give us eggs made of gold. You will fund us, that city reporter Aditya Kumar Tripathi would clear our name and make us the freedom fighters in front of the public and the villagers as hostages will make the government hear our every single demand. It's our gain from every side when that fool Aditya arrives"

As he uttered Aditya's name twice Imlie saw Aryan's eyes giving bewildered expressions, they were big enough to pop out of its sockets. Imlie and Harshit understood the terrorist leader was up to no good, getting Aditya to write articles for mass sentiments as he was known for his journalism in bringing out critical situations and unseen heroes, getting Aryan for funds and using villagers as hostages to get the government listen to his demands; this man had set things up well.

Harshit looked at Imlie and gave a hint to her that they need to find the other terrorists first, this room itself contains more than twenty people and if they enter right now only two of them, they would be in a situation which would be hard to control. They both left to find the other terrorists so that whenever they enter this room their number of opponents doesn’t increase.

As they move towards the left to see other rooms, three men saw them and one of them was about to shout to call others when Imlie ran towards him and hit his head with her left elbow and stabbed one of her knife in the shoulder of the other man, and when he was about to fall on the ground she twisted his head almost killing the man. Meanwhile Harshit hit the third man with his hand and made him faint. He noticed Imlie had twisted one of the man’s head and looked at her as if he was warning her with his eyes. She expressed a silent sorry and moved forward. She had assured Harshit before that killing would be the last option but the man whose head she twisted would eventually die at any cost for the tearing of his tissues and internal bleeding.

Imlie tried her best to restrict her next attacks to knives first making her opponents bleed and then when they would wince in pain she would struck their heads to make them lose their consciousness. Harshit had also changed his weapons to knives and was using the same techniques to have a straight way with minimal damages. By these methods they got rid of almost twenty men.

As they proceeded they saw two men guarding a door. Imlie looked at Harshit for directions, he blinked his eyes giving an indication that both of them will go for one versus one. Imlie decided to take on the person on the left and Harshit went for the right. As the two men were guarding the doors, they suddenly saw a pair of knives came flying from their left which was the left side of the corridor with a timing difference of thirty seconds. The first knife hit the left arm of the left guard sideways and he sat on the ground in pain, the gun in his hand fell down on the floor. And as the second guard on the right turned to see what happened to his partner the other knife hit on his left shoulder. Before they could get a grasp of what was happening, their heads were bumped against the wall so hard that it made a painting of blood. Harshit looked at Imlie and nodded his head in annoyance, this time even he did it like her.

“That was a reckless move!” he muttered under his breath.

He was sure that the men in the hall would be dead in their hands hence wanted to save up these terrorists for giving statements and to get information about their other sister organizations. But here even he ended up killing one; both Imlie’s and his clothes were drenching in blood. Harshit slowly opened the sliding bolt of the door with one hand and holding the knife with the other meanwhile Imlie got ready with his gun which gave her to clear the path if situation requires. As he opened the door no one came out to attack, they moved forward slowly and their eyes went to the kerosene lantern on the floor. As their eyes moved to the side they saw men, women and kids all sitting there with their hands tied and their mouths covered with duct tape. They were all injured badly but could move; Imlie moved her eyes across the room real quick and got relieved to see her mother and grandmother in the crowd.

Harshit and Imlie looked at each other, the people were looking towards them frightened. The people had started to show breathing problems as they were all put together in a small room with no ventilation, also they were sweating vigorously. Imlie returned his gun back to him and took out her knives which made the people tense up more. Suddenly Imlie and Harshit heard footsteps outside and they leaned on the wall near the door with their weapons. Both of them just wished that the terrorist whoever was making his way there isn’t loaded with guns, else a room with no ventilation could end up with all the people dead with no place to run.

They saw two men jumping in and as the men noticed them they pointed their guns. Imlie didn’t retaliate and stood straight whereas Harshit removed his mask. The men in the paramilitary costumes gave a salute to Harshit. At that moment even Niti entered with another man, she looked at both of them.

“Sir, this is Dhanesh Sisodia Sub-Commander reporting, would you like to take over the command?”

“Yes, Harshit Khurana on duty taking over the Commanding position”

Dhanesh handed over a pager and his identity card to Harshit. Meanwhile Imlie cut the ropes of the people and removed their tapes and Niti silently took some pictures of it but she made sure only Imlie’s back is visible in those pictures. As the moment was about to lead to a panic state Niti said to assure them, “Please don’t be scared the police forces have arrived”

Niti made them calm down and many started to cry. Harshit came towards Niti as she was looking at the villagers and said her a thank you softly which Niti didn’t hear.

Niti turned towards him and asked, “Did you say anything?”

“Nothing”, he replied back and gave her a mask from his pocket so that no one knows her face. It would be hard for him to explain to senior officers if anyone informs that he had involved two civilians. Right now they were thinking of her as a volunteer who helped their officer during an emergency.

“Sir, she is?” asked a paramilitary officer pointing towards Imlie.

“She is with me” Harshit replied and the officers thought her to be a secret agent of the special police force.

Another officer who counted the number of villagers inquired, “Sir only eleven people are here”

Harshit replied, “Count again there should be twelve”

“No Sir it’s eleven”

Meethi and Dulari felt like Sita Maiyya had saved them as the police forces had arrived already but both of them noticed the girl who was of similar height of Imlie; the one who cut their ropes. She had a scary appearance, she was in joggers and hoodies with a bulletproof jacket on top but she was stinking of blood more than the man she entered with. Her face was covered with a mask, she had a black cap on her head and she wore spectacles which had a black frame and her hair was tied in a low ponytail.

Dulari whispered in Meethi’s ears, “Meethi doesn’t she looks like our Imlie a little”

Imlie's ears twitched a little as she heard her grandmother taking her name. She pulled her hoodie a little upwards to cover her neck and jawline.

“No Amma, have you seen the girl’s eyes? It was so scary to look at, as if there were no emotions left. She might be from the police force. How could she be Imlie? Our Imlie is sweet and a simple common girl, people like her are mostly merciless and cold blooded. Only her height is similar to our Gudia”

“You may be right…How would Imlie kill people? She looks like she took a bath with blood.”

“Dulariji she looks like Devi maa’s avatar to me, the only difference is Devi maa has Trishul and she has knives in her hands. But her figure do looks like Imlie and so her skin color.”

“You are right Nanda, she might be a Devi’s avatar”

“Yes Nanda kaaki she would be Devi's avatar but not our Imlie who is a normal human. Maybe Imlie had sent the police forces as I gave her the location but we should not think Imlie has come here herself. My daughter is an empathetic person she could never have such cold looking eyes''

Imlie felt sad, here she came to save her family but she couldn’t show them this side of hers as they would start fearing her. She expected this kind of thoughts a little but to this extent that they would either make her a Devi’s avatar or a cold blooded monstrous person, this very thought made her upset.

“Does anyone know where the twelfth person is?” asked Harshit to the villagers.

One of them replied, “Sushmita was with us but two men came and dragged her somewhere”

“Who is Sushmita?”

“Sushmita is Harilal’s daughter-in-law. We call her Sehri Bahu(City daughter in law) as she came to this village from Delhi after marriage. But Harilal’s son died last year, she is a widow now and she is twenty seven or twenty eight. The men came and dragged her out, she is a beautiful girl” , said Nanda.

Harshit and Imlie looked at each other and almost panicked at the thought of what they did with her. Imlie ran and asked for the dupatta to a sixteen year old hostage using sign language. She understood the emergency and gave Imlie her Dupatta and both Harshit and Imlie made their way to find where Sushmita was taken. The forces made their way to capture the other terrorists except the hall as Harshit restricted them to enter there till he commands and Niti with seven other officers guided the villagers out of the abandoned house.

Imlie and Harshit went through every possible room and at last saw a locked door at the end of the corridor. Light was peeping out below the room’s door. Harshit and Imlie stood out and he gave an indication of three two one with his fingers. On the countdown of three, Harshit and Imlie broke the door with their bare hands and entered the room.

The next scene they saw sent shivers down their spine, three men tying the threads of their pants and Sushmita was there in a trance state lying on the ground with her torn white saree and her whole body covered with assaults. She was bleeding from her hands, neck, forehead and her saree was red with blood with the cuts on her legs. Her legs were wide open which had turn blue and black from beating and her saree was up to her thighs; her mouth was tied with the end of her pallu and her hair was scattered on the floor, her strands of hair which was torn lied around her. Her blouse was torn and her eyes screamed like those were the eyes of the dead.

Imlie ran towards her whereas Harshit attacked the three men himself after cursing at them. Imlie covered her with a dupatta which she asked from another kidnapped girl when they said Sushmita being dragged by terrorists, also untied her pallu and removed from her mouth. She pulled her saree down and checked her pulses because she wasn't breating.

“Thank goodness she is alive. Shushmita please breath, breath for yourself. '' exclaimed Imlie. She couldn't keep her silence after seeing this.

Imlie made her sit by leaning her on the wall when she heard a terrorist say, "This is Raghu's world and no one can harm him"

Imlie looked in that direction and saw Raghu choking Harshit as he was trying to get hold of his gun. The other two had been slashed by Harshit’s knife but it fell down when Raghu attacked him from behind and now he was trying to get the hold of his gun to shoot Raghu. Imlie ran towards them and pushed Raghu with force.

"This prey is mine brother, don't shoot him"

Harshit looked at Imlie who spoke to him for the first time after entering the mission. As he held his neck to soothe the area Raghu choked he saw Imlie who was standing against Raghu.

“Do you remember the words you said in the post office?” Imlie asked Raghu.

He looked at her baffled and Imlie continued, “I am the girl whom you threatened to rape you rapist”

While delivering her words Imlie had walked towards Raghu and now she was only an inch away from him. And the next moment before he could estimate what she would do, Imlie stabbed one of her knives in his left chest. He winced in pain and forwarded his right hand in defense, Imlie held that hand and stabbed three times once near his knuckle, second on his elbow joint and third on his shoulder. She did it within a few seconds and as he started to feel the pain he tried to push her but she pulled him towards her holding that injured hand and stabbed his belly’s left side. He tried to kick her with his left leg, she countered the kick with her knife’s pointed tip and his force backfired as the knife slashed his skin and went inside his thigh. Imlie smiled as tears rolled down Raghu’s eyes, she twisted the knife which was stuck in his thigh and brought it out of his flesh. Fresh blood started rolling down his thigh.

Imlie whispered in his ears, “Remember my name it’s Imlie, and this is the Imlie Aryan Singh Rathore’s style of getting rid of motherf**kers like you.”

As Raghu looked at Imlie’s eyes he felt like he saw death in her eyes; cold, pupils dilated and intimidating. The next moment the single knife which she was using with her right hand this whole time went from his left to right side and everything turned black for him. Imlie had pierced his throat with a single, sharp and clean movement.

Sushmita saw everything as the corner of her eyes filled with tears, she smiled; smiled and clapped her hands like some person who had left her sanity behind. Harshit was bewildered at the techniques Imlie used against her opponent, it was no less than trained agents.

The next moment Niti came to that room with some officers, she had sent one troop of officers with the villagers and came with two officers to rescue the woman whom she predicted had seen the worst nightmare of her life. Niti looked at Imlie who was cleaning her knife by rubbing it on the clothes of Raghu’s dead body. Niti went to Imlie and whispered, “Khatti I don’t want to take any picture of this event”

Imlie nodded her head as an ‘okay’ to Niti’s proposal of not taking pictures. As she was about to go to Sushmita Imlie grabbed her hand and enquired with a soft and tired voice, “Are you not scared of me?”

To which Niti looked at her puzzled and replied, “Why should I be scared? You are my friend”

Niti gave her a smile of assurance and a gesture with her eyes that whatever she does she is still her friend Imlie and went to help Sushmita who has already fainted after giving a smile of satisfaction at Raghu’s last moment.

“Are you ready for the real battle?” asked Harshit looking at Imlie after Niti took Sushmita with the help of the two officers.

Imlie nodded her head and Harshit took his pager out from his pocket and asked the officers who were keeping an eye at the hall what they were doing. The information came from the other side that most of them were asleep by now and only the leader was talking something with Aryan.

Harshit exclaimed, “I and my partner will enter the hall within five minutes the whole force should enter the room after exact fifteen minutes”

A voice came from the other side, “Copy that Sir”

Imlie looked at the time on her mobile. It was almost 2:45 am.

“We need to get Aryan out of those ropes within ten minutes. Else once the forces enter there would be gun fights. And I have special instructions from Seniors to keep Aryan Singh Rathore safe.”

“Roger that” Imlie replied and both of them made their way to the hall area.

Aryan couldn't understand what went wrong that his trip for business has taken such a drastic turn; now he was not only captured by terrorists but also heard from that man that his enemy will also be in a similar position like him. Aditya Kumar Tripathi and him being in the same situation, this thought made his blood boil. Why not? If both are victims they would need to be companions and cooperate with each other to escape from this place. The tape on Aryan's mouth was removed.

"Want to say something?" asked Kedar.

"I will give you any amount just let me leave in one piece"

"You are an intelligent lad"

Aryan thought of entertaining him with words because he knew the police forces would come to rescue him at any cost.

‘I am Aryan Singh Rathore, I am rich as well as influential and these terrorists had call my family already for money which means my family had informed Nishant even if they fear to call the police themselves for my safety. And Nishant won’t sit straight after he gets the news of my abduction; I just need to lengthen the time by not provoking them.’ , thought Aryan.

When Aryan was estimating how to stretch the time he saw a glass bottle flying in mid air and the next moment it hit Kedar's head hard from back. He saw a girl entering with a man walking next to her with a gun. Both of them had black masks on their face but the girl had a cap over which she was wearing her hoodie and a pair of spectacles too making it almost impossible for anyone to know her face. He looked at her awestruck because he never expected a woman to enter and as the two men in the room, who were not asleep proceeded towards her shouting in the top of their lungs to wake up the others that girl just took another glass bottle from the floor and threw it at one of the man, he fell down as his head started to bleed for the glass bottle which shattered into pieces after hitting his head but he took out his gun and before he could shoot at her the man who came with the girl shot him. All the men woke up and Kedar was screaming in pain; suddenly three of his men ran towards the girl to attack but when the first one reached the girl, she just held the man by his right arm, took out a knife from her pocket and slashed his throat immediately making him fall on the ground lifeless.

Aryan saw this and his blood went cold because all the things she did right now was done without even glancing at that man, she had kept an unwavering eye contact with him instead.
This time Imlie took out her second knife, when the second man was about to attack she sat down on the floor and slashed both of his knees and as that guy fell down, she took the revolver from his hand which he didn’t use to shoot her as she was fast with her steps. She shot him in his heart's area and shot the third one also right through his heart.

Harshit was dealing with the others as except Kedar none of the group were important and he shot two men to lessen the number of opponents. Imlie reached Aryan’s chair, a man came running towards her with a knife but, she kicked the man in his neck area which made him lose his balance and fall down, it was an Axe kick. She cut some of the ropes with her left hand, slashing them like a butcher on the wooden chair without hurting Aryan’s back and shot the man on the ground with the revolver in her right hand. She looked at Aryan’s eyes which were puzzled and confused, but when Imlie took and pounced the knife at him, he looked at her and then glanced at his legs without blinking. He was no longer tied, he was free from the strong cotton Python. He removed the duct tape from his mouth and looked at Imlie, she was still looking at him.

‘My man is brave, he didn’t even faze with the knife being so close to him,’ thought Imlie.

Aryan heard many footsteps and gun shot sounds, he looked at his right and saw the paramilitary forces barging in the hall. Then he noticed the girl was still staring at him and when he looked towards her he saw a man who was aiming to attack her from behind.

“Hey behind you” he screamed.

Imlie gave a side glance, reversed her knife which was in her left hand and slashed the man’s belly without turning. The next moment she turned around and then she pushed him a little back while getting his revolver out from his kurta and shot him with her revolver. She turned around and gave the spare revolver in Aryan’s hands and gestured in sign language and expressed with her eyes that if he wants to survive he needs to fight. Aryan looked at her and then at the gun, as he was getting familiar with it and how to use it; Imlie saw a man coming with a knife from behind him. She stretched her gun towards Aryan who was baffled with her act and the next moment the gun was fired. He heard a muffled scream behind him and turned around, he saw a man was standing behind him and he was shot in between his eyebrows; the knife from the man’s hand fell down and when the man’s body was about to fall on Aryan, Imlie pulled him towards her. As he bumped against her bulletproof jacket he looked at her and found she was looking at him, her hoodie had slide down making her cap visible. Her eyes seemed cold but there was warmth in it too. He had lost his balance as he was staring at her and was about to fall when Imlie made him stand straight; the next moment he saw her opening her bulletproof jacket and she slid it through his arms and zipped it up for him.

At that very moment he realized she hadn't made any sound with her mouth for once.

‘Is she mute?’ thought Aryan as he looked at her eyes, which was the only thing visible in her whole face.

Imlie was lost, lost being in such a close proximity to Aryan. She was lost at the thought of how he would react if she told him that she knew every mole present on his body, his parts of every uneven skin and even his smell. She was in that state of mind which would make anyone go crazy, she wanted to touch him, kiss him, bite him and stroke him with love. Imlie noticed an opportunity and hugged him without saying anything. Aryan was taken aback at the sudden hug and didn’t understand why she was doing it, at that very moment his eyes fell on the nape of her neck which was quite visible to him and he flushed immediately at the sight of it. He didn’t understand what was wrong with him to get so flustered with a female’s neck but he suddenly felt the hands around his torso tightened and heard a gun’s trigger pulling sound which was in the girl’s hand. Imlie was in comfort, she could smell his familiar cologne which felt like home to her. though the smell got mixed with his sweat and blood but it was his at the end. She first rested her face on his chest and then pulled her face out; she rested her face on his right shoulder and looked at the scenario taking place in front of her. She pulled the trigger of her gun and aimed at Kedar’s right calf and shot it straight.

Kedar who was trying to escape by holding himself at gun point fell on the floor. He knew that the police would let him go if he played this card of self harming as they wanted him alive but Imlie shot his leg at the last moment and he couldn't run away. Harshit and the other officers arrested Kedar; Aryan understood the hug was to shoot the man but he was confused why the girl didn’t let go of him immediately after shooting. Imlie took her precious little time and pulled her hoodie up again even covering her cap. Then she slowly let go of the hug and grabbed his right hand. She led him out of that hall and he looked at her as if he was lost in some different world. She was walking in front of him and he could see nothing of her as her clothes covered her in every possible way. Once they were out and in the open it was past 4:00 am and the sun was rising, the storm had ended but clouds were still visible making it obvious that it would rain today too. The night was long and Imlie wanted to assure Aryan that she would stay with him from every dusk till dawn but as she was trying to hide her identity which she failed miserably for her emotions she let go of his hand. He looked at her for the sudden detachment of her hand and Imlie noticed Niti coming there to take Aryan to the village as an Emergency Care was set up with medical aids at the Pagdandia village’s square. The nearest hospital to that village was in another village called Chautaalgarh which was at least at a two hour distance by vehicle and hence this temporary set up was pulled off. Ambulances were coming for severely injured people of the village.

As Aryan looked at Imlie, she gave a glance at him and proceeded to the opposite direction of the corridor, one step two step and within a few minutes she disappeared from the horizon Aryan could capture. As Aryan was trying to analyze the girl he just met, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Niti asked, “Aryan Singh Rathore?”

“Yes”

“Please follow me and this officer to the village square, first aid would be provided there” 

As Aryan was leaving with Niti he again looked to his left with the hope to see the girl he met today. But alas she was nowhere to be found.

Songs Used:

~Dusk Till Dawn(Zayn and Sia)

Well how was the update? It was long right... Please take it as a gift of Eid and Akshay Tritiya from me. Also do tell how was the update... I wait for your comments like a person in desert for water.

With love,

Yours Mimi