The Time has Come

The year is 2100. India is the most populated country of the world despite the fact that millions of Indians are settled in different countries worldwide. There are no states now. The country is divided into different zones counted from the capital city which is at the heart of the country. Every zone is divided into 5 subzones making a total of 20 subzones and every subzone is like a Metro city.  The capital city of India is now the most developed city of the world comprising of Multi Layered Flyovers, Skyways, Vertical Villages, Metro rails, canal based transportation system and much more. The city is completely under video surveillance and everything is managed in the city automatically by Make in India Robots.

However, on the flip side, India is also ranked number one in terms of pollution and crime all over the world. The PPM level of the air is double the normal required level despite the government efforts of installing large air purifiers on every 5 sq kms of the city.  The walls of the all the buildings have been made noise proof to curtail the noise produced by the cars, buses, metros and other machines running 24x7. The crime scenario also has worsened. Females have been asked not to step out of their homes without a male accompanying them. This has led to formulation of many agencies which provides drivers cum bodyguards to the females and is a booming business.

Another bad side of the city is that the city has totally forgotten the other living beings in the race of development. There are no animals (on land, in the sky and in water) in and around 300 kms radius of the city. The last animal - Rambo the German shepherd died 5 years ago due to respiratory issues. Humans are the only living beings in the city but with a reduced life expectancy of 55 due to the enormous pollution and disturbed ecological balance. People do want to leave the hustle bustle of the city and move to the countryside, but the comfortable lifestyle of the city viz a viz government provided 24 hour AC homes with pre-installed Air purifiers, free transportation via metro and AC double decker buses, food stores providing the cheapest canned foods and other facilities are stopping the people from quitting the city life.

Listing the pros and cons of living in the city, Soumya thinks that the life in the city is still the best life one can get in this country. After completing her Business Pro Certification (BPC) from the Northern Zone – 2 School of Management, she got her 1^st job in the capital city which was a dream come true for her. She has been in the capital city for the past 3 years and she still thinks that she is new to city as she doesn’t go out much except for office. Soumya works with the leading company of bottled purified Breathing Air –“Air Care” and now she also buys the bottles and cans from the company. She is the marketing executive of the company and she has to travel frequently to the northern zone for meetings with distributors.

“Soumya, you are promoted to the position of Manager from today! You and your team have to handle all the distributors of the north zone. Slowly and slowly you’ll be moved to the other team of Business development. Congratulations! And keep up the hard work!! “were the words of the VP of Air Care in the morning meeting. It was a big day in Soumya’s life and so she decided to throw a party in the best party lounge of the city– ATOM. Just before leaving her house for the party she got a call from her friend “Soumya, did you see the news??” Her friend was sounding terrified so she ran and switched on the news and got a big shock by what she saw. One of the layers of the multi- layered flyover near her home was destroyed and the reason of the same was still unknown. The images of the destroyed property and killed humans were so disturbing that she decided to cancel the party and stay safe at home.

“I won’t be able to make it to office today? The flyover on the way was destroyed yesterday so the driver is not able to reach my home to pick me up” Soumya texted her boss in the morning the next day as he was not lifting his cellphone. After  5 -6 minutes she got a reply “Try to take the metro train. I need you for the 12 o’clock meeting.” Soumya left her home disheartened & frightened remembering her 1st and last experience of metro train which was terrible as she was mugged that evening and lost her mobile phone. Listening to rock songs in the lift to boost her confidence she left her building and started walking towards the metro station. Breathing heavily she reached the metro station after 20 minutes and boarded the premium metro to office.

She removed her earphones at the first sight of the television in the metro. The news channel was showing some disturbing images of thousands of weird looking creatures moving inside the central park near her home. The creatures looked somewhat like crabs with 10 moving legs with a face & tail like a dog. Those creatures were destroying everything which was coming in their way. Everyone in the video looked frightened to death and were running here and there to save themselves from the creepy crawlies. “What is happening God! Please keep us safe?” she prayed. Finally, she reached her office at 11 30 AM with a lot of anxiety and frustration. “You looked frightened Soumya!? What happened? “Her boss asked her as soon as she reached her cubicle. It felt like he was desperately waiting for her to reach office. “Didn’t you see the news? First the flyover and now the weird looking animals on the streets!! Obviously one will be afraid! L .” she said with a lot of anger. “Okay calm down! don’t worry the government will take care of it! I have also heard that the animal department has already started killing those animals! Chill & now lets go for the meeting”

Soumya kept on reading the news on her mobile throughout the meeting. The updates were shocking every minute. Despite the maximum effort by the government to kill those animals, the number of those weird looking things was increasing exponentially. The biggest central park of the city was already destroyed by them. The scientists had  named those creatures as “Crogs” due to their looks and they still were looking for any evidences of their origination. “Soumya?? Are you with us? “her boss asked her interrupting the flashback of the images going in her mind. “ yes yes ! tell me “ Soumya replied immediately. “you are going to Northern Zone 2 day after tomorrow for a 2 day meeting with our new customer “Pure Cure”. Is it okay with you?!“ he asked firmly “Yes definitely! It’ll be my pleasure!!” She replied instantaneously but at the back of her mind she was relieved that she’ll be away from the city and safe from those creatures. She left for her home early as the stress and anxiety due to these events had taken a toll on her health but it took her nearly 3 hours in the car to reach home as her driver had to take the long route due to the damaged flyover plus the traffic was heavy that day. Tired, she slept as soon as she reached home.

Soumya woke up the next day with lots of energy but was stunned to see the news in the morning. The crogs were everywhere in the city and had already destroyed the 2 central parks and 2 trade towers in the city. As per the channels, crogs were also found in Southern Zone I & II and the government was thinking to rope in the Army for the rescue operation. Afraid, she called her boss and told him that she’ll be leaving for Northern Zone II today and will take a body guard from an agency along with her to which her boss agreed. Immediately she called the agency “Super Drivers” and asked for Ranveer as he accompanied her in last so many trips and also they were now well acquainted. “Right Mam, Ranveer will reach your home at 12 noon sharp” the lady told her on the phone politely. Soumya always took Ranveer with her on her trips because of his friendly nature and he was a true professional.

She was ready at around 1130 AM and sat in front of the TV to keep an eye on the news. One of the reporters said “The crogs are everywhere. They are destroying everything coming in their way. But the best part is that they have not harmed any human yet. The humans are not dying because of the crogs, they are dying because of the destruction and the chaos caused by themselves. Therefore, the government has appealed to the citizens to try and keep calm and be safe in their homes. Also the Army has been called and the first thing Army is going to do is closing the main highways of the city.”  She jumped out of her sofa immediately after listening to this news and called Ranveer on his mobile. Now, she just wanted to leave the city not just for the meeting but to save her life. “Ranveer !! where are you ? How much time you’ll take to reach my home?” she blasted as soon as Ranveer picked up the call. “Mam calm down, I am on my way! Don’t worry! Relax!” Ranveer replied. Ranveer reached her apartments within next 15 minutes and they left in his car immediately.

The scene outside the car was heartbreaking. Broken roads and houses, people running here and there, lots of noise coming from outside and then came the point where Soumya got a real site of the crogs who were destroying a parallel road and were moving towards their side of the road. That was the most dreadful sight of her life. She had never seen such a thing working on a very high speed and destroying everything coming in its way with all its 10 legs. Some people were even trying to hit them with various things but they didn’t even move an inch.  It seemed like they were made of steel or something so hard that nothing will be able to hurt them. “Move fast Ranveer! Move fast! Please move fast! Please save me!” she cried to Ranveer. “I am already moving at my fastest speed! Also we are going to take the main highway as it will be closed today .We’ll move within the city roads to country side and then will come on highway after crossing the border!” he replied instantly.

They started moving inside the city and the scene was getting worse with every turn now. Soumya was checking the news continuously on her phone and now it was confirmed that the crogs are everywhere in the country except Northern Zone II. She got a momentary relief as she was heading to that zone but knew within her heart that sooner or later that zone too would be engulfed in horror. Nevertheless she closed her eyes to relax and soon fell  asleep. She got up hearing a loud bang sound and saw everything moving up & down. She realized it very late that her car was hit by something and it got 2, 3 rollovers before it came to a standstill. “Run ! come on fast!” Ranveer shouted grabbing her hand. When she came in her senses she saw the most unexpected things ever in her life. People were robbing the stores, they were hitting each other, vehicles were damaged and even people were shooting at each other.

Ranveer kick started a parked motorbike and they were on the road again. “What the hell is happening? I don’t want to die!” What we gonna do?” Soumya cried sitting at the backseat of the bike. “I’ll figure out something! Just be safe at the back! Keep on holding me tight until we reach the main road to northern zone II “said Ranveer keeping a confident tone. While moving she also saw various graffiti’s made on the walls “Aliens are here” “Kill yourself before they kill you” “Earth taking revenge” “This is coz of us”  . With great difficulties and riding very fast in the destroyed city finally Ranveer managed to cross the border of the city and stopped the bike in a house situated nearly 10 kms from the border in the country side.

“Why are you stopping here?” Soumya asked frightened. “This is my friend’s house and see this place appears safe as there is no destruction and no crogs” Ranveer replied. The next morning they woke up expecting to run , but Soumya was surprised to see that the area was totally calm and peaceful. She came out of the house and saw Ranveer’s friend and his wife sitting in the front lawn of the house. She could hear the crying sounds of the sitting lady. Interrupting she asked “What happened ? You need help? To her surprise the lady started charging towards her shouting “You people are responsible for this! You have destroyed everything! You live in big cities and destroy everything!” It looked like she was possessed by some demon. It took a while to Ranveer’s friend to calm down his wife but suddenly Ranveer cried “Get down!! Get down” to which all 3 of them reacted simultaneously and lunged on the ground. They fell to ground when they saw a group of large birds with big claws flying just above them. After the birds passed above them they got up to see the horror image in the sky. There were millions of large birds flying in the sky making a huge orbit and their cumulative chirping was louder than the noise created by a rocket during takeoff. Few birds left the orbit and started coming in the middle. And then what they saw gave them chills down their spine. It was like the nature had given answers to their confusion and dilemma about what was happening. The swarm of birds transformed into an image which said:

And soon after the birds dispered and there was pin drop silence in the sky. The four of them stood there still, dumbfounded by what they just saw. They sank into a feeling of misery realising that the time for devastation had arrived, that it was payback time for all the misdoing that human beings had done in the urge of develepment. They knew it was mother nature’s way of taking revenge for what the humans had done to the other creatures to become a master of all.

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2 years have passed since that dreadful day, whole of the earth has been affected but humans are still fighting the Apocalypse thinking that there may be light on the other side of the tunnel.


#Thetimehascome