Chapter 04: Whatever

As Nate was praying silently, Rohit and Susan were lost in conversation. From a distance, Cecil watched as Susan was making quick, fast gestures. Rohit sometimes nodded his head in agreement, and at times, disagreed. Cecil was watching. But he did not notice it. Life seemed to have been stuck in glue, with all movable elements paused. Cecil’s thoughts were on one person only – Sudha. Where was she? Was she fine? God help her. Almost like a flash of lightening, the thought entered his head and was immediately sent up in prayer. He hoped. Again.

Having finished his prayer, Nate was walking back to the edge of the Highway, where Susan and Rohit were still lost in their conversation. Rohit was heatedly putting forth his own points.
“Hey guys. What’re you discussing?”
Rohit glared at Susan as she spoke up.
“Rohit feels that someone should go away. I disagree.”
She gave Rohit a sour look. She could be mean too, if she decided to be.
“Go away? I don’t understand. Where to?”
“Well, since this place obviously doesn’t have any mobile phone network connectivity, he thinks we should go off to someplace nearby which would have connectivity, and then call for help.”
“I only feel that we should do something about this, since standing here isn’t helping anyone. We’re just wasting time.”
“Oh, pipe down, Rohit. You don’t know the first thing about wasting time!”
“Really? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nate broke in.
“Guys, we’re all tired. We’re all a little unsure of what’s going on. Let’s not turn upon each other. Please. We really need to support each other through this.”
With semi-guilty looks that spoke louder than any words could have spoken, Rohit and Susan embraced.
“It’s going to be alright, Susan. We’ll find them. Don’t worry.”
Nate was thoughtful for a moment. He was thinking about Rohit’s suggestion. He was weighing the possible good against the possible bad.
People generally tend to have very logical conclusions with regard to tough decisions that they are forced to make. When the situation itself is tough, the choices are easy. The decision takes longer to make, since the effects of the decision could have several far-reaching effects. Lives would be at stake, if not limbs.
This made Nate take his time in deciding. Cecil walked up next to him.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re thinking if we should search here, or go somewhere closeby from where we could call for help.”
“Somewhere matlab?”
“Somewhere along the National Highway, where there would be network range.”
Cecil didn’t even think for a minute. He wanted to go and see if anything could be done.
“Someone should stay here, though. All of us shouldn’t go.” Nate cautioned.
“I’m going. I don’t care what anyone else does. I can’t stand around here doing nothing.” Cecil declared in defiance. Defiance to the night, defiance to the Highway, defiance to the situation, defiance to life itself. Proud, strong and tall, he knew his place. He had prayed. He believed.
“Maybe you could go alone. The rest of us will stay here and look around. They must be around somewhere – they couldn’t possibly have vanished into thin air.”
Nate was still hopeful that they were somewhere here.
As Cecil walked over to his lovely bike, Nate leaned in close toward him.
“Dude. You need to ride like the wind.”
Cecil cracked a grin. A rare one, considering the grim nature of the circumstances that they were in. Like the sun bursting forth through gloomy clouds.
“Sure. I’m gonna be riding like a maniac.”

With Cecil vrooming off into the distance, Rohit decided that they should start doing some serious searching. He went to the spot where the bike tracks lead off from the Highway. He wanted to begin their search from that spot. To help in their search, he started his bike and brought it over to this spot. The headlight clearly lit up the surrounding area; it was obvious that a bike had been through this part recently – the dirt tracks were fresh. They followed the tracks slowly, looking all around for any signs out of the ordinary. There were none. The bike’s tracks moved on. They saw the tracks swerve a little now and then, and they wondered if Shiloh had lost control.
Walking a few paces ahead of the bike, Susan was the first to see it. The bike tracks stopped abruptly. They just didn’t go on any further. That is, they didn’t go on any further forward. Strangely, there were tracks in the dirt that indicated that the bike had been dragged to the right. Immediately, Susan fell to her knees looking for footprints. They had to be here somewhere. One, if not two, sets of footprints must be around here somewhere. She looked on both sides of the tracks. Then she found it. It wasn’t what she was looking for. But it was footprints. She had found marks in the dirt that indicated a foot being dragged across the dirt, along the same direction of the bike. She didn’t know what to make of it. How could she? The unknown is never feared or thought of, until one sees it face to face. The trio slowly followed the drag-marks uptil about a few meters away, where things seemed to get really messy. It looked like a whirlwind or a sandstorm of some sort had descended at that point. The intriguing fact was that the radius of the whirlwind didn’t seem to be more than half a meter. All tracks were virtually non-existent beyond that. There was nothing to the left, to the right, or beyond the strange whirlwind like tracks,
What fiendish phenomenon is this, thought Nate, that two people and a bike would disappear in such a manner, leaving such mysterious traces.
“Well... Whatever. Let’s keep looking.”
Susan’s words sounded confident, but her face lacked the conviction that her words emanated. She was not so sure that they were going to find Shiloh and Sudha soon, after all. She had hoped. That vain kind. When you know that nothing better’s going to come by. Her hope was fading as fast as a man runs when he’s being chased by a tiger.
Rohit didn’t like this. He didn’t like this one bit. From the start, he had been a little jittery about the whole thing – the way they had waited for Shiloh and Sudha to show up, then making their way back to this spot, the discovery of the tyre tracks, the drag-tracks and the whirlwind. None of it made any sense. None of it lead them even a step closer to where their two friends were. Rohit closed his eyes for a few minutes and wished that this entire situation would just vapourise. He believed strongly in the power of the mind. Now, if he could only wish it all away. Then things would be fine. If he could atleast wish himself and Susan out of here, that was enough for him.
His conscience chided him. He knew Sudha quite well. He called her chaechi, which meant sister in English. He was quite affectionate towards her. But he didn’t know her very well. Right now, he wished he had known her better. Then maybe he would want to find her and Shiloh more than wanting to be spirited away. Again, if he hadn’t known her at all, he wouldn’t be here.

The human mind can be a cruel thing at times. When a person is faced with the toughest of situations, the mind brings to the fore two contrary thoughts. One that would seem the easiest, but the more evil, and the other which would be tougher, harder, but was more sugar-coated. At times like these, the mind never ever presents the alternative. To ignore such pointless flights of fantasy, and focus on the physical reality of the present, which would then chalk out its own path into the future – whether easy or tough, good or evil; whatever it was, it could be endured. It must. If one wanted to survive.

Looking at Rohit’s expression of despair, Susan knew that she couldn’t go on much longer. She was tired, she was hungry, and she wanted to get back home. As Rohit looked up and her eyes met his, she wanted something much much more. She wanted to be held. His arms... His scent... His strength. She wanted to be safe, comfy and assured right then. Her eyes said so. His eyes read hers. He wanted to hold her too. It would be the nicest thing. If only Nate wasn’t here.

Scientists have researched it. Healers have vouched for it. Babies still prove it. The healing power of touch. When one human being reaches out to another through a physical medium of communication, it embodies trust, confidence and a deep emotional bond. A bond that destroys darkness, and all powers wrought by it. A bond of love. Simplistic and pure, this bond can break down barriers and walls. It has. And it will. Yet again.

“Quick! Over here!”
The urgency in Nate’s voice was unnecessary. Susan and Rohit may have been thinking of other things, but they knew the dire depths to which the current situation had sunk to. They quickly moved to where Nate was bending over a bush. He was picking up something white and thin from the branches of the bush. As Nate held it up for them to see, they could make out something, some fabric which was coloured white. The material looked thin and flimsy. If Susan didn’t know better, she would wager that it was a ripped off piece of a stocking. The question was – what was it doing here? Neither Shiloh nor Sudha had worn clothing that resembled anything like this. Was there another person involved? Who was he? Or she? And what did they want?

Oh well. Another bunch of pointless questions to which they wouldn’t get any answers for now. Rohit felt that if they could write down every single question that had cropped up in each of their minds over the past two hours, that would make a decent-sized book. Maybe even one that was worth reading. Whatever. Time to keep looking.

Whatever. The mind tends to dismiss much. What the mind does not fully comprehend, what the mind does not fully see, what the mind does not fully like, the mind dismisses. Much of it, stuff that shouldn’t be lightly treated or dismissed. Oh well. Whatever.

Chapter 03: Off The Road

He was sure he had heard it. The noise that Cecil had dismissed as nothing had been picked up by Shiloh’s keen ears. He strained to listen, while slowing down. The other two bikes were fast vanishing into the distance, but that wasn’t a problem – he could always catch up with them later.

Turning his head so that Sudha could hear him better, he asked “Did you hear that?”

“What? I didn’t hear anything.”

“I heard a noise. It was coming from somewhere out there.”

He pointed to a location away into the wilderness. Though she strained her eyes, Sudha was not able to see much apart from dark forms in the failing light. There were no lights here; no houses or shops. There couldn’t have been a noise.

“No, Shiloh, you must be mistaken. There’s nothing here really. Let’s go.”

The bike had come to a stop by now. Shiloh was looking out into the distance trying to make out one shape from the other, as each form melded into the next to form the gooey blackness that humans call darkness. It didn’t sound like anything he knew; it didn’t sound like anything he didn’t know, either. In fact, it didn’t sound like anything. It was simply a sound. Some sort of a noise. Shiloh’s mind raced. With an IQ over 160, he was often quicker with his mind than with his body. Like now. The bike had stayed still for some time, but his mind was working furiously, trying to narrow down the possibilities of what it could be.

“Sudha, we need to check it out.”

“Check what out? There’s nothing there!”

“There could be someone out there, calling for help. We need to go see if anything could be done.”

“Shiloh, please... We don’t have any time on our hands. The other two have gone on well ahead of us. We really need to catch up with them. Besides, there couldn’t be anyone out there because there has been no one on this road at all. Not a single soul, not a single vehicle, not a single person.”

“Exactly, my dear. If there is someone who needs help, and we don’t assist them, then that person could be lost, since no one is on this road. Think about it.”

She did. She thought about what could go wrong. How they could get lost. How the others would worry. Why it had to be them. Why the others as well couldn’t have heard the noise. Pointless questions. Purely rhetorical. But begging answers. Shiloh’s next few words pierced through the fogginess of the answer=laden questions.

“That could be either you or me, Sudha. Think about that.”

This time, she didn’t need to think. She knew what had to be done. If in case, someone was in danger and in need of help, then they had to go. If it was just the wind acting crazy, then it was still worth checking out, in the hope of saving another soul. Hope. That darned thing again. Busy as she was with her thoughts, Sudha failed to realise the obvious alternative to the two possibilities suggested by reason. What if it was something that would endanger them?

She had decided that they must check it out and see if someone was in trouble. But she didn’t want to abandon the comfort of the Highway. Shiloh knew. He quickly made up his mind.

“I’ll go check it out. You wait here, and call Cecil.”

Trying not to appear relieved, she got off the bike.

“Okay, but what should I tell them?”

“Tell them that we heard some noise off the road, and we’ve stayed behind to investigate the source and nature of the noise.”

“Should I ask them to come back and join us?”

“Not really. You could ask them to just pull over by the side of the road, wherever they are, and wait for us.”

“How long would it take? Any idea?”

“Sudha, dear, if I knew the answer to that question, we probably wouldn’t be here, needing to go there.”

She smiled. Shiloh did have his way with words. Quite an older guy, but pretty witty with his lines. She watched as Shiloh and the bike moved away into the night, her smile fading as the bike faded into nothingness. For a moment or two, she just stayed like that, staring into darkness. There was nothing there. Nothing, really. Oh wait. She had to call Cecil.

People always say that hindsight sees a lot more than foresight. And they’re right. If only the same people could remember that, before doing whatever it is they do which makes hindsight better than foresight.

Shiloh rode slowly forward. Dirt and sand is not exactly the kind of place that one wants to ride a Pulsar after dark. Especially, when one doesn’t know what he’s doing there, or where he’s headed to. As Shiloh moved forward steadily, the Highway disappeared quickly into the darkness that was behind him, while the darkness in front of him was unrelenting. Within a few minutes, Shiloh wasn’t even sure as to whether he should change direction. Which way had the noise come from? There was nothing out here other than small bushes and clusters of rocks. Who would have thought that right next to urban India, a barren desert wasteland thrived and survived? Looking to his left and to his right, he kept moving forward, still unsure. When all of a sudden, he heard it again. It wasn’t just a noise this time. It was a shrill, piercing squeak. It made him want to get back. The thought of getting back made him look over his shoulder towards the Highway. Nothing. In the thrill of coming out here, Shiloh had not realised it – there were no street lights or lights of any other kind on the Highway. Sudha was out there all alone, in the cold, without a single light. At the very least, he thought to himself, she could keep chatting with Cecil.

Sudha looked at her mobile for the sixth time in half as many minutes. No change. The tiny bars that generally indicated that she had network signal range were simply not appearing. She had held the phone this way and that, pointing it up towards the sky in the vain hope that somewhere, somehow, she would be able to catch a smidgeon of network signal range. Hope. That blasted thing again. If only she had known then. In hindsight (another wonderful thing, that hindsight), even if she had known then, there was next to nothing that she could have done. To stop it. To stop life from happening the exact same way that it eventually did happen. To all of them.

Shiloh thought of stopping the bike and getting off. But he decided against it; the bike’s headlight was the only available light here, and he needed that. Turning the bike to the left and to the right, he tried to throw light on the darkness that was present all around. Curse this darkness. Curse this highway. Curse the noise that he had heard. Curse the ---

Shiloh froze. His ears had picked up something again. Something more than a noise. Something worse than just a noise. Fearful of the unknown, he slowly turned his head towards it. The sound had come from a point away to his right, just a few meters into the night. Right there, in the faded darkness of this gloomy night, he could see a bush. The bush was anything but spectacular. It was just a bush. What scared him wasn’t the bush. It was what was happening to the bush. The bush was growing larger by the second!

Sudha had walked a little ways to and fro along the National Highway, from where she’d been standing. She was still trying to find that perfect spot which would have network range. Her mind conjured up frightening thoughts; thoughts which were not based on any reason. She pushed such thoughts away from her mind. She tried to convince herself that not having range here was normal. They were on a dark, desolate stretch of the Highway. Obviously, one couldn’t expect network operators to put in network towers in every possible location in India. Not even Airtel – India’s leading mobile services provider. Sudha started wondering if Vodafone would have range in this spot. It actually didn’t matter much. Shiloh should be back soon, and they would be on their way. This wasn’t a hope. This was a surety of knowing exactly what she expected to occur within the next few hours of her life. Or so she thought.

Getting back to wherever Cecil was, was the only thing that kept her from getting scared. His warm eyes, his loving look, his amazing presence. Oh man! If only she could ---

She was sure she had heard it this time. A noise. Was this the same noise that Shiloh had heard? She couldn’t be sure. If it was, then Shiloh was wrong. This noise had come from the opposite side of the road, away from where Shiloh had gone off into the darkness. She crossed the road to the other side. Straining to see into the night, she was looking to find the source of the sound. Just when she was about to give up, she heard it again. It was closer and almost right next to her. If her ears had heard it right, it was coming right from that small bush which was just a few meters away from her, to her left. She was about to step out onto the barren land to check out the bush, when she froze. Someone was looming up behind the bush. Someone or something. She wasn’t really sure which it was.

At times, when a person is scared beyond everything that has ever been known, the mind tends to wander. It wanders into questions which have no point. These questions become pointless because in the light of what is going to happen, you really don’t care too much for the answers. But the mind still does what it does. It’s the only thing that the mind knows to do.

A few hundred meters away, Shiloh couldn’t move as well. His limbs felt like lead, and his mind was like jelly. There was nothing really that he could do. He was alone, in a place that was quite some distance off from the National Highway. No lights. No people. No anything. And a bush, that had been making the scariest noise he had ever heard, was now growing. He wasn’t sure whether the bush was coming towards him as it grew, or whether him and the bike were being drawn to it, like iron to a magnet. Whatever it was, the bush, which had grown to the size of a tree by now, was just three feet away. And then he saw it. It wasn’t a bush at all. Oh man! How could he have been so blind? The noises, the size-increase, everything made sense now. But that would also mean that he was going to be---

That was the last thought Shiloh’s mind could have, before it lost consciousness.

Caught in in inescapable situation herself, Sudha knew she should run. She also knew that flight, however quick, was a waste of energy – it would be only a matter of time before that monstrosity caught up with her. Her mind raced. Frozen as she stood, there was not much she could do. Then she remembered her mobile. She checked it to see if it had range by now, without hope. There wasn’t any.. Quickly deciding on her course of action, before whatever was about to happen to her happened, she held the mobile down, and switched on the voice recorder with the fingers of just one hand. Once she was sure that the voice recorder had been switched on, she threw the mobile towards a bush on her right. True, her mobile couldn’t record more than a minute of continuous recording. But Sudha didn’t feel like she had more than a minute. Whatever it was that was moving behind the bush, anyone who came looking for her should know about it. They should be warned.

She shouted. “WHAT ARE YOU?”

There was no response. There wasn’t going to be.

The looming shape kept growing to monstrous proportions. There was nothing that she could do. Strangely, the shape made no motion to get closer to her. She parted the bushes in front of her and headed towards the shape behind the bush. Oh my God! Sudha nearly dropped in fright. She knew she couldn’t run – shouldn’t run. But she wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to! Even the thought was useless. Whatever was going to happen to her, her mind had calmly begun to accept it. As it sank into near-nothingness. She was aware of a dull pain in her temples. Then she passed out completely.

Life throws many things at people, as it walks them by. The things they know and are used to, they term it ‘routine’. The things that are unknown, they never fear. They never wonder about such things. Until they come up face to face with them. Until such things catch up with them in a manner that is so far from routine, that their wildest dreams wouldn’t have dreamt of such things. Until those same things envelope them within a cold, deadly embrace. Until they lose consciousness because of these things and all happiness is drawn from them, as a child is drawn from its mother at birth.

Chapter 02: A Sunny Day

The call came on a Tuesday. It was Cecil.

“Machan, Nate, let’s take a trip this weekend. We’ll all go on bikes to some nearby place.”

“Awesome. Who all are coming?”

“You, me and Sudha, for now. We might add a few more.”

Nate thought for a few seconds.

“How about Shiloh?” he asked.

“Sure. He can join us.”

“Let’s do it then. When exactly do you wanna go? Saturday or Sunday?”

“Sunday, dude.”

“Cool. Let’s leave at around 12.30.”

“Okay. Done. Anything else, Nate?”

“Nope. That’s it”

As the call finished, Nate was smiling. It was going to be a weekend with something to look forward to. Something out of the ordinary. It had been simply ages since he’d taken a proper bike ride. This would really be a lovely experience. Happy thoughts filled his head, as he attended to the next waiting customer.

Meanwhile, Shiloh had been having a hectic day at work. First, the client had been relentless and exceedingly demanding. Then, his manager called him in to tell him of another of his team mates being promoted over him. Just when he thought that things couldn’t get any worse, Cecil called.

“Hey Shiloh!”

A tired voice answered “Hey da…”

“How about a bike trip this Sunday?”

“Sure. Where we headed to?”

“There’s this Nagavalli falls nearby. It should be a good ride.”

“Fine. Do you know the way?”

“Not really. Could you help us out with figuring out the route?”

“Of course. Let me see what Google Maps has got on this place.”

A few checks on his computer brought up the route from the South Western portion of the city, to the falls. Quite simple and straightforward. They should be able to make the distance within three hours.

He told Cecil.

Minutes later, as he got back to the dreary mundane chores that brought him his income, Shiloh was pleased. So what, if work was a drag? Sunday was gonna rock. Thank goodness for that.

As Cecil finished both his calls, Sudha was patiently waiting by. She was contemplating the possibility of inviting Susan along. If Susan had to come, they would need to invite Rohit. She checked with Cecil, who was totally cool about the whole thing. Cecil thought of Susan as a sweet young sister. What’s more, she and Sudha got along quite well together. It would be nice for Sudha to have some company along with her, on the trip. A smile caressed his lips. A smile that was mirrored by Sudha’s face. It was going to be a great day, this Sunday.

Susan didn’t know what to think. Sudha had just called up to invite Rohit and herself for a bike trip, the coming Sunday. She knew exactly what Rohit would say – “Let’s go!” But she wasn’t so sure about the whole thing. As it was, not too many people knew how she felt about Rohit. She liked him immensely. She simply adored being with him. He was so caring and considerate. Just the other day, he gave up his work to stay with her, simply because she wasn’t too well. He was a gem. She decided that it would be good to spend an entire bike trip with him. She called him up.

“Hi da…”

“Hey baby. What’s up?”

“Cecil and Sudha are planning a small bike trip this Sunday. They wanna know if we’d go along.”

“Of course! Let’s go!”

Smiling, Susan asked him if he was happier about the trip, or about spending time with her. Characteristically, Rohit replied, “Both!” Such a darling, that Rohit. Spending the whole of Sunday’s afternoon and evening with him on a bike trip was going to be good.

How wrong they all were. Smiles caressing lips. Hearts being warmed. Sunlight kissing the deep, dank reaches of their souls. Hoped, they all did, for an awesome time. Once again, life would act out that ancient paradox which makes hope a terrible thing. It would happen.

Sunday morning dawned as bright as ever. There were no swaying branches or joyful birds singing; this was a city. A modern city. There was the lazy bustle that comes with such modernities which make Sunday morning less of a pleasure, more of a sin, and most of all, elegantly dull.

Susan and Rohit were the first to show up at Cecil’s house. Casual in attire, and brilliant in happiness, they looked like they were going away for a long holiday. Sudha couldn’t help but smile. After a few bites of yummy home-made sandwiches, two black pulsars roared out the driveway to Cecil’s house. Shiloh and Nate were already waiting at the meeting point, on a red Pulsar. The Pulsar, striking in black, looked bold, beautiful and daring in red. Soon, the six of them were on their way.

The Nagavalli Falls is a good 50 km away from the Inter-State highway. Considering the fact that the Inter-State had been recently re-laid, and that it was maintained very well, the trio did not think twice before choosing it over the alternate – the National Highway that passed quite close to the actual site of the Falls. Unlucky them. Perhaps if they had taken the National Highway on the way to the Falls, they would have decided not to come back the same away. Alas! Life seldom turns out the way people would love it to turn out.

A roadside Dhaba provided them spicy, but wholesome food. The group ate heartily; few could have seen the food that was laid in front of them, and not enjoyed the whole repast. When all bellies were filled, they set out again. Here is where Cecil brought out that idea which had seemed inspired, at the time. He suggested that they keep rotating the pillion-riders. A few minutes of deliberation saw Nate riding pillion with Rohit, while Shiloh took on Sudha. Susan would ride behind Cecil. To be very honest, Susan did not like the idea even then. She had come on this trip expecting to ride along with Rohit all the way. Now that stupid cousin brother of hers had to come up with such a suggestion. She kept glaring at Rohit and at Nate behind him, but the expression was lost on the duo. They were deep in discussion over Apple’s latest iPod.

The group had to pull in for a stop a little while further on, since Sudha needed to take a break. A good half hour was spent in devouring ice creams, cola floats and cola drinks at a roadside rest stop. Soon, they were on their way again. The ride was pleasant at worst and exhilarating at best. There is little that can excel the exhilaration that a biker feels when travelling at close to 100 KM per hour. Very little.

With a steady average speed of 80 KM per hour, the trio of bikes were soon screaming down the National Highway section that would lead them to the Falls. The group made a note of the fact that the National Highway led all the way back to the city; it could be an alternative route for the return trip.

Five-and-a-half hours after they had left the city, the group reached the Falls. Tired, weary and exhausted, they just wanted to sit still for some time. The Falls had dwindled to little more than a trickle. But there was serene beauty in the rocks, wild grass, and mountainous terrain that was found all around. All mobile phones were out and pictures were being snapped. No one saw the lone man standing at the top of the Falls and watching them; he had in his hand something that looked like a whip and his face wore an expression of grim disdain. But no one saw him. And some one should have.

When people blunder through life, they often miss the most important parts. They often miss the signs that always are present. They look for the signs that never manifest themselves, the signs that never are. And so, the group committed their first serious error. They failed to see the man point to them and make signs towards the sun. Strange, weird signs.

Not soon after, the sky began to grow prematurely dark. It wasn’t yet time for the sun to go down, but it was well on its way out. Reminded that they had a long ride back home, the group of six wearily moved towards the bikes. Cecil suggested another change of pillion riders, to which Nate quickly agreed. This time around, however, Susan made sure that she was back with Rohit. This left Nate to ride pillion with Cecil, while Sudha remained with Shiloh.

The journey back felt quicker than the journey towards the Falls. It is always the same with trips to places one has never been to before; the return journey is a lot quicker.

Dark, gloomy clouds loomed overhead, blotting out what was left of the twilight, while the three modern stallions sped across the vast stretch of the highway. When they reached the point in the road where the National Highway forked off from the route they had arrived by, their decision was unanimous. They decided to take the National Highway. It wasn’t a well-thought out decision. It wasn’t a logical decision. It was simply decided.

Trying to set the pace, Cecil was riding in front. Every now and then, either Rohit or Shiloh would fall behind, forcing Cecil to slow down and wait for them to catch up. And catch up, they would – zooming past Cecil like he wasn’t there. Slowing down, waiting for, catching up, zooming past – one after the other, each rider took his turn at it.

Soon, they reached a stretch of the highway which was desolate, barren and looked like an expansive scene from a Western; scrubs, bushes, barren earth formed the scenery on both sides of the Highway. There was not much to see, nothing to look at. Taking a sharp curve, Cecil thought he heard something. But he dismissed it as nothing since there really was nothing around. Travelling at those speeds, the wind can howl and make all sorts of odd noises in a man’s ears. What Cecil thought he heard, he had dismissed. He shouldn’t have. He never should have.

The three riders had been a treat to watch. Their handling of the motorised vehicles; their poise and grace as they rode the magnificient machines; the way they threw all caution to the winds. Until finally, there were only two. Their antics had become so routine, that no one noticed. At least, for a while. When they finally noticed, it had happened.