24 Intruders (1/2)

As I entered her room, I could see wrappers upon wrappers of potato chips.

I turned to look at Neha in a incredulous manner and realized that her face had suddenly turned red.

”I like potato chips. You got a problem with that.” She said as her shame turned to anger.

”Pffft…” I looked at her read face and started laughing uncontrollably. She picked up her pillow and started thrashing me with it and only stopped after she got tired.

I stood up with a wry smile and said ”It seems like you've not eaten anything good for a while. Worry not, I'll prepare something good for you.”

I sighed in my heart. When Rahul was at home, he would be the one doing all the cooking. But since he had to leave home frequently because of his job and Neha was too young at that time, I had to learn how to cook for both of us.

Since then, it had become a norm of our family and even though I continued with my mischiefs, I slowly started becoming a responsible person.

I went to the kitchen and found that it was covered in dust. It took me a good while to clean it before it could be properly used. While I was cleaning the kitchen, Neha came inside and sat on a chair while she looked at me foolishly.

”What?” I asked.

”That dress of yours. It looks so weird. Where did you buy if from?” she said and giggled.

I looked at the Basic Defensive Suit and smiled wryly. Although it was very comfortable to wear and provided great defense, it was too eye catching.

'Perhaps I should wear something on top of it' I thought. Otherwise anyone who looks at me will think I was some kind of pervert who had let loose his imagination after the apocalypse.

”It's called Basic Defensive suit.” I said. ”It has a great defense. When Big bro comes back, I'll buy one for you too.”

”No. I don't want it.” She said decisively. ”I don't want to look weird like you.”

”Oh! You meant sexy.” I mused.

”No. I definitely meant weird.”

I sighed. This little girl has no sense of fashion.

”What do you know? If you were so wise then why didn't you cook yourself some proper meal while I was away.” I chided softly ”Look at yourself. You've become so thin.”

”What? You want me to get fat.” She retorted.

”Yes. I want you to turn into a little piggy. Only then will I be satisfied.” I smiled as I started cooking some rice and pulses.

After we made fun of each other for a while, we got tired of talking and the kitchen went back into silence.

”So… What have you been doing since that day.” I asked breaking the silence.

”You mean the day of the Eclipse. And the… Black fog.” She said with a hint of fear in her voice.

It seems like I was not the only one who was scared by it. I felt a little better at this. But then I realized that I was gloating at my little sister's misery and started feeling a bit guilty over it.

”Yes.” I said.

”Well… I did as Big bro said. I brought enough… food and water for one week and closed all the doors and windows in the house.”

”After that… I stayed inside. Till you arrived.”

”It must have been hard on you.” I said as I patted her head. The more I listened to her the more I felt that I had failed as a good elder brother.

'Don't be so hard on yourself now.' Lily reminded once again in a sweet voice.

'I understand.' I smiled warmly and sat down beside Neha.

”Brother.” She suddenly held my hand in fear and said ”When the black fog passed. After the pain… I heard the screams of a lot of people.”

”At one point in time, I even heard someone screaming in front of our house. And when I looked outside, I… I…” at that time she suddenly started crying as I gently hugged her and patted her head.

After the death of our parents, I had never seen her cry this much. It seemed like this whole incident had left a deep shadow in her heart and left her fearful of these things.

”Brother… Those people. Who were they… And why would they… eat other people?” She asked ”Is this some kind of virus. Big bro told me to not come out of the room no matter what happens and not to make any noises either. Does this virus only spread by contact?”

”But… even if I stay inside, I could still hear them. The noise they made…” she said and drank some more water.

”I was afraid. But I didn't go out as Big bro and you told me time and time again to remained inside.”

”Two days ago, the army came here as well. I could hear them calling for the survivors. But I knew you'd come back for me so I stayed here. I could not call you since my phone had no battery and there was no electricity anywhere.”

She said and suddenly looked up and asked. ”Brother. Did I do the right thing? Should I have gone with the army?”

I felt a wave of terror pass through me when she asked that question and immediately said ”No. Never. You did the right thing by staying here.”

She noticed my sudden change in expression and became curious. ”Why? Something wrong with the army? Aren't they doing a good thing by taking in the survivors. And they also lured away all those… crazy people from here as well.”

'Well, I couldn't tell her the horrible deeds of those people from the army. But I'm glad she made the right choice.'

”Neha. Listen to me very carefully now.” I said in a serious tone. Looking at my serious expression she wiped her tears and listened intently.

”From today onward. You cannot trust anyone else except for me and Big bro. Understand?”

”Why?” She asked in a confused manner.

”Well… I…” truthfully, I didn't really knew how to break the news of the apocalypse to her.

From what she has seen so far, she must have come to her own conclusions. I had no doubt about that. But under such conditions, with so little information, not even the smartest of people would understand how horrifying the Black Fog actually was.

I myself had learned everything I knew from Big bro but even after experiencing hell for the past few days, I sometimes wake up in the morning and expect that everything I had witnessed till now had just been some sort of nightmare. That all of it would just go away.

But that never happened

I suddenly realized that I was not the right to explain the situation to her since even I didn't knew everything regarding this Apocalypse.

I sighed deeply and then said to her. ”When Big bro comes back, he'll explain everything to you. Till then, let's not talk about this subject okay.” I patted her head with a smile.

”Okay.” After that, she went back to her cheerful personality.

The food was cooked and we both ate our fill. We also prepared a plate for Rahul but by the time we finished our food, he had yet to come.

By this time, I was starting to get a little worried.

Although I had wanted him to torture that soldier for a long while, deep inside my heart, I felt that he would come back soon since he was also worried about Neha and wanted to meet her as soon as possible.

Thus, his long absence worried me a little bit.

'Maybe something happened.' I thought for a moment but then, quickly banished the thought from my mind.

'What could happen to Big bro.' I kept this thought in my heart to assure myself that everything was alright. But I still felt a bit uneasy.

Perhaps Neha sensed my uneasiness so she asked ”Is everything alright brother.”

”Yes. Of course.” I said and threw the uneasiness back in to my mind. After that, we started to chat about random things that didn't touch on the topic of the apocalypse.