Ch:2 The realization of the doom

It's been one and a half months since the asylum incident. Dr. Raghav was still on that escape boat, with no idea of where to go or how to survive the small, but seemingly endless channel surrounded by dense woods. Dr. Raghav has been floating around these woods for quite some time, it was spooky at night at first, but now they are just trees in the night. The food cans were almost empty, he was out of the water and there were no signs of humans for all this time. So, Dr. Raghav decided to lay down with his eyes closed until he either gets somewhere or life gives upon him. The sun was shining directly over him, he was thinking about everything he did right and everything he did wrong in his entire life. Dr. Raghav was from a medium class family from Mumbai, raised in a very strict environment. Even though his real passion was boxing, his family pressured him into becoming a doctor. Growing up he hated the fact that he had to do something that he hated with every fiber of his being. He started to hate doctors when his mother passed away due to wrong treatment and neglect of the doctor, it kept growing when his younger brother was sick and the treatment cost was overwhelming for a man form middle class. But even though his hatred towards the medical field, he becomes a doctor, the only reason that happened because once his mother told him that no matter what, it will get better in the end. These same words popped into Dr. Raghav's mind, a tear started to roll from his eye. He got up immediately and started to look for anything that he could use to signal anyone nearby. A few moments later he found a flare gun, it had shots in the case. He fired one right away and waited for some sort of response. A few hours passed by and he decided to anchor by a forest side. It was starting to get dark, Dr. Raghav decided to fire another flare. He pulled out the flare gun loaded it, and was ready to fire, " Hey, you alright there?" someone shouted from a distance. Dr. Raghav was happy to hear someone's voice in months, but he didn't let his guard down. Dr. Raghav freaked out and turned behind really fast, he saw a man standing under a tree, Dr.Raghav pointed the flare gun towards the man and said, " If you move one step closer to me, I'll light your face like street light". " Calm down, gun!" said the man standing under the tree, he was about 6ft tall with dark and short hair, he had blue eyes which looked like the ocean and he had fair skin with a scar on his left side of the face. Dr. Raghav still a little nervous, asked the man, lowering the flare gun, " Who are you?". " My name is Abhinav Tripati, I was here for a picnic and now I'm lost", said the man in a very calm tone. Dr.Raghav had a feeling that something is not quite right about him, " I too was here for a fun time, but I got lost too." Dr.Raghav lied. " Why don't we help each get out of these woods? asked Abhinav. Dr.Raghav agreed and both them hoped into the escape boat and started moving forward. A few days later the small channel was getting wider and the air was getting moister. Dr.Raghav fired the second flare, he looked at Abhinav and asked about their next food stop. Both of them had decided to stop in the woods every other day to restock food supply and boil the water they collected from the channel. Soon Dr.Raghav and Abhinav made a food stop in the woods. No matter how hard Dr.Raghav tried, he wasn't able to overlook the weird look in Abhinav's eyes, which was getting weirder every day. But, even though all this was going on Dr.Raghav was thinking about the military at the Asylum. He was sure that the Sos call he made was to HQ, and according to the protocol personals from the Asylum's private army should have been deployed." What's the matter gun?" asked Abhinav." Can you stop calling me "Gun," said Dr.Raghav in a little annoyed tone. Abhinav chuckled, " It's funny how everyone I meet keeps rejecting my nicknames. These nicknames are my feelings and friendship, and when you reject my nickname, you reject me and my friend, and then that silent voice tells me to do stuff." said Abhinav, the weird look in his eyes was turned into an insane expression, which reminded Dr.Raghav about Purva. He felt the same fear he felt back in Asylum. Abhinav started to walk slowly and creepily towards Dr.Raghav. Abhinav was about to spring towards Dr.Raghav, that's when Abhinav was shot in the head by another man. Dr.Raghav was still confused. Before he even got a chance to snap out of it, the person started to approach him. When he looked at that person's face, he realized that it was Purva. Dr.Raghav wasn't able to move. He accepted the fact that he was going to die right there. " Let's get out of here, NOW!" said Purva in a serious tone. "What do you want now?" asked Dr.Raghav in a nervous but firm voice. "I'll tell you on the way, and ditch the boat," said Purva. Before leaving Dr.Raghav collected all the food and water he collected on the boat. He noticed that Purva had a very different look on her face than before. Both of them started to move towards a hill. "Can you please tell me, What in the fuck is going on in this world?" asked Dr.Raghav in a very confused voice. " Even I don't know much, but somehow people are turning into mindless serial killers, people with a good background are turning into killing machines. But one thing is common that every affected person is eating their victims face." explained Purva." And what about you, you were one of them until a month ago, how can I trust you?" asked Dr.Raghav." When the military charged in the Asylum for the 5th time, I somehow managed to get my hands on the antidote, after my rampage when I calmed down I found a survivor, my face hunger started to rise again, but before I did something, he told me to inject the antidote into myself. The moment I did that, my throat started the burn and I passed out. After a few hours when I woke up the survivor told me everything he knew." said Purva. This was the most terrifying news Dr.Raghav had heard in his entire life, he broke down and started crying like a baby without its mother. It took him hours to settle down and process the facts. Both of the bunked in a cave where it was easy to block the only entrance from inside, and hide from the people who were turned into something else. TO BE CONTINUED -Ritik Varhade #writersblock #tips #booktitles #horror