“I am not very sure about this”, Ishan says in an unnerving voice

“There is no other choice, we have to do this”, Akash replies

The unsettling behaviour of the situation was itching the hell out of everyone present in the room except Dauji who was the only calm one. Nervousness took the best out of the rest.

“Let’s get over to the roof, maybe we can get a clear view”, Pratyush suggested

“I second that”, Avyan says

The roof was locked up with chains so strong, even Anirudh’s hammer would not dare to touch them. Dauji came along and opened the lock a few minutes later with an odd and clanky looking key.

“It’s not that dark outside”, Akash says

“It’s because of the lights I fitted with you guys back when this pandemic started”, Dauji says

The boys went over to the other side of the roof to get a clear view of the parameter.

“The fences are quite tough”, Avyan said to bring upon a sense of relief to others and to himself

“I bet I could jump over them in one shot”, Anirudh affirms

“They are not high enough to prevent a human from jumping across using insulation of course. However, I think it provides a good protection from those creatures.”, Pratyush puts forward

“Look over there, the campus lake is…”, Avyan is interrupted

(AAAAAAhhhhhhhh)

“What happened? Was that Dauji?”, Ishan says

Everyone runs over to the other side in a hurry.

“Wh-What? How?”, Akash says

“Everyone, duck down, DON’T LOOK OVER”, Pratyush shouts in horror

The boys see a wounded Dauji, shot by an arrow just under his right shoulder.

“Is he still alive?”, Ishan asks nervously

“Yes. He is still breathing but I don’t know for how long”, Avyan says while trying to lift Dauji up

“I’ll take care of the wound right away; Anirudh and Ishan help me get him downstairs as fast as you can. Lifting a man this size is not something I can do alone”, Akash says followed by the three struggling but carrying Dauji to the door while also staying low as to not expose their heads.

“No zombie would use a bow, would it?”, Avyan asks profusely

(“It can’t be; they have to be mindless if they are even similar to what I think them to be”, Pratyush thinks nervously)

“I am not sure”, Pratyush replies

“What else, did they discover the wheel yet?”, Avyan says

(…)

“I take a risk. I’ll peek and see if they try to hit me. Their accuracy can’t be this good.”, Pratyush gets on his knees

“What do you see?”,

“nothing”,

“What?”,

“Yes, the field’s empty as far as my vision goes; can’t be sure in the dark.”

With no reason left to stay anymore on the roof, both of them head downstairs confused. They assumed a zombie rampage, but not so sure now. Confused as if they avoided an all-out war or are in a trap.

“He’s bleeding more than I estimated”, Pratyush said aloud

“Keep your mouth shut, I can’t work in a mess”, Akash continues,

“Everyone leave the room except Ishan and only come in if you know what the hell is going on outside or else decide to run away.”

“This is close to the worst day of my life”, Avyan says

The rest of the group heads out. Furious on what led to these circumstances, the boys discuss their plan of action once more.

“I think I have a clue”, Pratyush puts forward

Avyan and Anirudh lean in, looking Pratyush direct in the eyes

“Dauji is poisoned”,

“What? How is that even possible? He eats what he cooks.”, Anirudh asks confusingly

“The arrow has to be poisoned. There is no way a 6’3 man with a build like Dauji be rendered unconscious immediately by an arrow of this size shot from a distance of at least 50 meters; since no one was anywhere inside of the fences.

If that’s the case, I think…”

(…)

“I think it is a RAID”

(?...)

“Well, we can manage normal humans”, Anirudh says in relief

“No, no, no, they will be well equipped and also experienced. Plus, their numbers would easily surpass us.”, Pratyush replies

“Shit, Shit, Shit, I had been thinking about this all along.

There is no other way, we have to use the LAST RESORT”, Avyan continues

“We need to force open The Dungeon”

“We need to take control of the security, cctv and defences ourselves”

“Considering the emergency, I don’t think rules matter anymore.”, Anirudh smiles

Anirudh picks up his hammer and heads upstairs without a second thought, closely followed by Avyan and Pratyush.

“I have done what I could, the rest is in the hands of the one above”, Akash sits down on a couch

“His blood pressure seems to be normal now but I don’t know when he will gain back his consciousness. Now when I thi…”, Ishan joins Akash on the couch

“Asleep already”, Ishan says after seeing Akash in deep sleep

“Umm…What is this over here?”, Ishan says

Ishan sees something tipping over from Dauji’s pocket.

“A container? What does it hold?”

(FLUOROANTIMONIC ACID)

“What does this say? Fluoro- something. It’s an acid. Is it for self-defence for Dauji to escape from the enemies in case of an emergency? I’ll ask him directly when he wakes up.”

(Ah Ah Ah Ah)

“What is this sound?”

Ishan proceeds to exit the room to check out the source of the sound and reflexively puts the container in his pocket.

“Whatever I do, no matter how much force I use, the gate is not opening or breaking”, Anirudh pants

“I have tried everything in my arsenal”, Avyan says

“This won’t work, we need to think of an alternate plan”, Pratyush says while making space to sit down to rest

“I can give it a try”

“Ishan? We three collectively couldn’t do anything”, Avyan says

“Keep the gorilla in there, here comes the fox”, Ishan puts his hands in his pockets and pulls out the acid.

“We can give this a try”, Anirudh says

“A try? This is Fluoroantimonic acid, the strongest acid known to man. What are you doing with it?”, Pratyush says while taking the tube from Ishan’s hand.

“I took it out of Dauji’s pocket”

(“How did Dauji get a hold of something like this?”, Pratyush thinks)

Pratyush carefully empties the bottle over the quite visible lock. The lock melts away instantaneously as if it was cotton candy shocking the boys.

“I have so many questions for Dauji”, Avyan says as the door opens up

The boys enter The Dungeon for the first time. The main front wall was full of small screens displaying infrared view of each and every corner of the outdoor surrounding. A sudden pinch of excitement turned into pure shock when they noticed that the screens displayed even the indoors of each and every dorm room. Just below the screens was a whole huge rectangular control station containing all sort of buttons, levers and dials. The room itself was very dark and was lit up only by the greenish light emitted by the screens.

“The Dungeon is a lot bigger than I expected, it has many rooms within itself”, Avyan says

“This is a lot to take in. Although I didn’t know that The Dungeon has a private washroom, I am gonna use it anyways.”, Ishan says and heads over to open the door at the corner of the Dungeon. He sees something he wasn’t supposed to

“WH-WHAT?”