Chapter 8: A Step Closer

Meera opened her eyes slowly in the hospital. She was very weak. With a weak voice, she asked, "What happened there?"

Shekar was in a deep thought, thinking about what had happened.

When Shekar was trying to lift Meera, he was scared that the headless person would kill them. But the headless person disappeared without doing anything to them. Shekar didn't know in what form the headless person would appear this time.

Meera: "Tell me what happened."

Shekar: "Raghav died."

Meera: "What? How? Who killed him?"

Shekar: "He died on his own."

Meera: "Something feels off. You're hiding something from me."

Shekar: "You're just recovering now. Do you want me to give you more pressure by telling you everything? First, you rest and forget all this."

As soon as Shekar said that, Meera went silent.

A day passed. Shekar got many phone calls. The DSP was calling and asking what had happened in jail.

His uncle also came and said, "You said you'd take good care of my daughter, but why are you taking her near danger? What if something happens to her?"

Shekar's mother also asked, "What's wrong, son? What happened to Meera?"

Shekar: "Mom, when we went for a case, she fell after seeing blood."

Shekar's mother: "What? Blood, son?"

Shekar: "Mom, be quiet for a while."

Shekar stayed at the hospital that night. He had to be there to make sure nothing happened to Meera and his family, so he also got a constable Murthi to guard them. Murthi was a the only person Who Shekar trusts. Murthi is like an elder person. Who guides Shekar in every step. He went to the constable and said, "Murthi, you can relax for a while. I'll be here."

Murthi: "It's okay, sir. I don't need to."

Shekar: "Murthi, listen to what I'm saying. You go and come back. I'll be here until then, okay?"

Murthi: "Okay, sir," he said, saluted, and left.

Shekar: "Murthi, how is your child's health?"

Murthi: "He's better now, sir."

Shekar: "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Murthi: "If you don't mind, can I say something, sir?"

Shekar: "Yes, tell me."

Murthi: "I thought that after you came to a higher position from a small one using your connections, you'd be very arrogant and rude. But you're very kind and talk to everyone. You respect my age. You help whenever you can. Even when you're under so much pressure, you're thinking about me. I'm very proud to be working under you, sir. This is the first time I'm working under a superior officer who respects my age," he said and saluted proudly again before leaving.

Shekar was happy with Murthi's words. With that happiness and pride, he was guarding the place so no one would come.

The hospital corridor was in front of Shekar. It was nighttime, so it was very silent. And some of the lights were off, so it was also a little dark.

In that darkness, Shekar saw a figure that looked like a person. Shekar kept asking, "Who is it? Who is it?" but they didn't respond. That's when red smoke came from the darkness. After seeing that, Shekar understood. He immediately took out his gun and pointed it at him. Even though Shekar wanted to hold the gun firmly, his hands were trembling. "I know you're the headless person. Why did you change me like this? Why do I have these powers? Why do you want to kill me?"

Shekar was getting a strange feeling. It felt like someone's hand was pushing his face back. The hand was pushing even harder. The red smoke was getting thicker.

Shekar didn't let go of the gun and held it tightly, pointing it at the headless man. The headless man was coming toward Shekar. The force that was being applied to him was getting stronger. Now it wasn't just his face, but his entire body felt like someone was pressing on it. No matter how much Shekar tried to fight, he couldn't fight that unknown force.

Suddenly, Shekar was pushed back and stuck to the wall. An unknown force was being applied to him, and Shekar couldn't do anything about it. He somehow gathered his inner strength and kept pointing his right hand with the gun at the headless person.

Because the force pressing him to the wall was getting stronger, the bones in Shekar's ribs started to crack. The fingers of his right hand, which was pointing the gun, also started to bend backward and break. Even with all that pain, Shekar showed a strong desire to save Meera.

Blood was coming out of Shekar's right hand as his fingers broke one by one.

Shekar couldn't bear the pain and let go of the gun. His whole body was stuck to the wall. Because his face was also being pressed, with his crooked mouth, Shekar said, "Don't touch Meera, you bastard. Never go near her."

The headless person came closer to Shekar. He didn't have a head, but he had gills on his neck. Shekar saw that and said, "You are disgusting."

The headless person looked at Shekar seriously and hurt him even more. First, he made a hole in his shoulder. And because of the force being applied to him, Shekar's bones were breaking. The headless person made a big hole in his stomach with his hands. He pulled out all of Shekar's organs. He crushed Shekar's hand elbows and wrists. After that, he also made a big hole in his thigh. Shekar was screaming very loudly. But the other people in the hospital couldn't hear him. Shekar said, "Kill me. I'm not afraid of death." The headless person also made a hole in his neck.

The headless person leaned over Shekar and said, "Do you think you can come back again by using the time loop? I know every change you make and what will happen next. The next time loop will give you all the answers. You're wondering why all this is happening, aren't you? Then listen. We create you people, and after you die, that power becomes mine. One body has one power. But I will have many bodies and many powers."

Shekar was struggling to speak. When he spoke, more blood was leaking from the hole in his neck. Shekar said, "Why... (cough) all this...?"

The headless person: "What do you know about this world? To live here, you either need to have money or power. Not supernatural power. The power to rule people. Or you need to be beautiful enough for everyone to like you. It's wrong to help others. It's also wrong to give away what you don't have. I wanted to start my life happily. I worked so hard and saved money, too. But... (voice shaking with sobs) What did she do wrong? She did it for me... (his voice was shaking because he was crying)."

Shekar: "But...(cough) it's wrong... to kill them..."

"What's wrong? Insulting me? Spitting on me? Or chasing me and hitting me?" the headless person said.

Even though blood was bleeding from the hole in Shekar's neck, he asked out of curiosity, "But... I... never..(cough-cough) insult... you...?"

"The one who insults might not remember, but the one who is insulted remembers it forever," the headless person said.

A wave came from Shekar's head. The black dots in his eyes disappeared. More blood was coming from Shekar's neck. It was clear that he was going to die. Shekar closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he was still in the chair. It was as calm as it was before the headless person came. Shekar didn't understand. "No one even said that the headless person came. But I also felt that pain. So did everything he said happen in my mind? Did I see the headless person before?"

Meera's screams could be heard from her room.

Shekar immediately ran to Meera's room.

When he got to the room, Meera was sitting up on the bed. She was very scared. She was trembling as if she had seen a ghost. Shekar came and hugged her. "Calm down, calm down. Nothing happened to you," he said, trying to calm her.

Meera said in a panicked voice, "Someone came here. Someone came here."

Shekar: "No one came. Nothing happened to you."

Meera: "What's going on? Who is MEDS? Who is that person you met in jail? What are you hiding from me?"

Shekar: "I'll tell you everything, but you have to recover first."

Meera: "No, tell me now."

Shekar didn't tell her everything and only told her half of it again. Shekar's inner voice: I can't put my people in more danger.

Shekar said, "MEDS is something wrong that is happening in a lab. They're doing something to people in the lab and giving them some powers."

Meera asked, "Why are they giving them? Why only to them? Are there no good people among the ones who got powers? Are there no innocent people?"

Shekar: "I don't know. I didn't think about it like that." Shekar thought, There must be good people like me. I have to find them and ask them. And I have to find the person who gave me the key.

Shekar told Meera, "I need your help with this case."

Shekar used all his police powers. He had to find the people who were sacrificed to MEDS, but he didn't know how.

So he had to find out first. That's why Shekar and Meera talked about ideas.

Meera: "First of all, what is MEDS? What's its full form? Are those names? Or is it the name of the person who created it?"

Shekar: "That's what we have to find out."

Meera: "By the way, how do you know all this? These details aren't anywhere."

Shekar hesitated and told another lie. "The person I put in jail told me. But he died before he could tell me more details."

Meera: "Then tell me what else he told you. There might be more clues in it."

Shekar said with a little fear and sadness, "The power given to everyone has a limit. They all die after using all their powers. And the powers of those who died go to a terrible person. It's making that person stronger and stronger. No one can stop him."

Meera: "How do the powers go to him? Is there a connection?"

Shekar thought deeply and said, "I don't know."

Meera: "Okay, what else do you know?"

Shekar: "They took everyone to a lab, conducted an experiment, and gave them powers."

Meera: "Gave...?"

Shekar stammered, "I mean... they said they gave them."

Meera: "Okay. Where is that lab?"

Shekar: "The medical lab at the training camp. I checked, but I didn't find anything there."

Meera: "Why a medical lab?"

Shekar: "What?"

Meera: "Yeah, why a medical lab? And why does it have to be at the police training? It could be anywhere else. Okay, any other clues?"

Shekar thought deeply again and slowly said, "They gave keys to the medical lab. So if we find the person who gave the keys, we can also find the MEDS lab."

Meera: "What? Say it louder!"

Shekar ignored her. An idea came to his mind. "You immediately go to the station. Murthi will have the murder case files. Find out where they went for training. And since they went for something other than a police test, they must have gone somewhere else, right? So if you find that out, we'll get a lead."

Meera asked Shekar, "What will you do?"

Shekar: "I'll go to the jail and find out about Raghav's details, whether he went for a police test or somewhere else."

Meera: "Okay, then how will we know if they went to MEDS or not?"

Shekar: "You go. I'll also tell you the answer to that."

Meera looked at Shekar with a little suspicion but trusted him and left.

Shekar diverted Meera because he didn't know how to find out either. But while talking to Meera, he realized that there was a clue in his physical and medical test. That was the proof Shekar had. So he went to his room and started searching for his paper. As he was searching, he asked, "Mom, where did you put my certificates?"

Shekar's mother: "Why do you need them now, son?"

Shekar: "The station is asking for them."

Shekar's mother: "I put them in the old chest on the terrace."

Shekar: "Why did you put them there, Mom?"

Shekar's mother: "You're the one who told me that your station files were getting too much and to put the certificates on the terrace."

Shekar: "Ugh, okay, I'll go look."

Shekar's mother: "What's wrong now, son?"

Shekar: "Nothing, I'll go look."

Shekar searched the old storage room on the terrace and finally found his certificates. All the certificates were covered in dust.

He immediately opened them and checked. Shekar found the test files.

He saw the paper. It had a MEDS signature. He immediately sent only that signature to Meera because if she knew it was his paper, she'd get more anxious.

Meera also thought she got a lead and proceeded.

Meera asked with some doubt whose paper it was, but Shekar didn't answer. Meera also didn't force him again.

Shekar now had a way. He would immediately find out Raghav's details, find any signature in his files, and cover it up by saying it was the same signature.

What will happen next? How many more people are involved in this? How will they find the people who are involved? Find out next.