Chapter 20
Bang! There was and explosion and another just after the first. In a matter of few seconds they heard at least eight to ten explosions depending upon how fast they woke up. All of them were surprised to find themselves out in the world again, in the ruins. As they stood up rubbing their eyes and trying see through the dust and smoke which was all over the place, they were surprised to that the ruins they we in were not the same where they went in. Most of them even did not remember if it was a different ruin. Something happened when they slept thought the two who had remembered everything. They were surprised and felt some what betrayed for letting them say good bye. They were thrown out of the paradise when they were sleeping. How ironic of it. They slept thinking that the worse is over but now when they are awake everything seems to back as they started. “Keep them safe” someone was shouting “What is happening” Amit heard Narendra asking “I do not know” said Amit “There was some kind of explosion” In next few minutes they were all safely out of the ruins. They all sat in a group. The team which was dispatched to destroy this place had nothing left to do other than helping these people they found when they arrived. As the team was approaching the ruins, they heard explosions. They all ran towards the ruins and found that everything and collapsed and these people were the ones left behind. They were glad to see the men safe and unhurt even though they were confused as how they came out of the explosions totally unhurt. The sound and amount of damaged inflicted on the round suggested that the explosions were very powerful and they did not thought that they would be able to find any survivors. “Have you accounted for everybody” asked some one “No one of them is missing” said other “We were told that we would find ten people but here they are only nine.” They all looked at each other to see was missing among them. They were surprised to see mama ji missing. “Mama ji is not here” said Amit standing up and looking around desperately to find him. “Amit sit down” said Lal Singh “Your mama ji has sacrificed himself to save rest of us. Don’t let his sacrifice go in vain” He was thinking why is he feeling that the words coming out of his mind did not made any sense. He was confident that it would be Amit who would be asked to make that sacrifice an not the his old friend. His mind was in total confusion. “What happened out here” asked the man in charge of the team. He had acknowledged Lal Singh and was sitting with them, trying to make sense of what happened here. “They were terrorists.” Lal Singh was saying “They had developed some sort of mind altering device and had also made this place their hideout. We were captured by them. With help of Amit and his mama ji we were able to free everybody and his mama ji triggered the explosions when we made out the place safely.” “Where is that place?” asked the man in charge “I can only see some debris and nothing is making sense.” “Everything was completely destroyed in those explosions. Don’t you hear them? How can you expect something to be around for you to salvage and report when the explosions were of that nature” said Lal Singh feeling a ting of sadness on the loss of his dear friend. “Ok let’s move you out and we will do what is necessary here” said the man in charge. They were taken to the place where they had left the vehicle in which they came. Then they were taken back to Haridwar. All of the were having doubts on the story told by Lal Singh and every one was sure that the ruins were farther from the place where they left their vehicle but all decided to keep quiet till they were left alone. In an hour when everybody had given their statements and everything was duly recorded by the men who came there on orders given by someone in Delhi they were left alone. Now safely away from the men who were asking various questions they were able to air their views freely. “What the hell happened out there?” Narendra was the first to say anything “Hell happened” replied Lal Singh “What else you think happened? I have lost a dear friend and Amit his loving mama ji. But did it have to be him. I would have done a better job in saving all of you and he had insisted that it have to be him.” Lal Singh was dejected that he was not able to save his friend and mentor who had done so much for him. “But I think there is something else which we are all missing” said Dr. Singh (junior) “I don’t think that the way be were brought in Haridwar was the same way we went out and according to my memory the distance to the ruins was also less when we came to the vehicle than we the distance we had to cover to reach those ruins from the place we left the vehicle. Is it just me thinking or everybody else feels the same” “I think that you are growing old, my dear brother” said Dr. Singh (senior) Everything happened fast after this. Dr. Singh (junior) went to his home feeling somewhat unsure about the whole thing and rest of our team went back to Delhi. The next morning brought more surprises for every one of them. The news papers were having headlines of a terrorist cell being destroyed. They ran a story which vaguely told that it was related to the case of Amit and his disappearance. The story also told that it was Mukesh Gautam, a distant relative of Amit who had sacrificed his life in saving the other members of the group who bravely went to find the real truth behind the strange happening which was going on since Amit had returned. It accounted for everyone in the group not telling the names of the government agents but gave the actual number of people in the group. It also told the readers that the government has sealed the area and has made it out of bounds to public so as to keep them safe from any danger. What the danger was not told and no one was interested in knowing it as every body was busy feeling safe them asking questions.
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