....and we've moved !

Hi,

Firstly thank you everyone for following this blog. This blog is one of the four blogs that I write on. I had gone a bit inactive in between as I was living a very crucial part of my life and enjoying it to the fullest. And while I was doing that, I was also figuring out a way to merge all my blogs on one place and that’s when I found tumblr and fell in love with its simplistic interface. So therefore, I’ve imported all my four blogs on a single tumblr blog @ www.punkster101.tumblr.com . Do press the "follow" button there !

I shall be writing there from now on.

Hoping to see you there!

Cheers!

Punkster

"29":: Chapter-17

Fabrice struggled to keep his head up. The water rapidly pushed him away like a corpse. He struggled to breathe, frequently trying hard to come up, only to be pushed away with more water. Fabrice sub suspiciously surrendered to the fact that death was finally here in this strange illusion that he still hadn't understood.

A sudden upward force pulled Fabrice and before he could give a thought about it. He was up in the air being pulled away over the waters, the skies were dark and his view was still getting accustomed to the open air. His wet body made him shiver and he looked up to see that familiar face yet again. His mother was smiling looking ahead as she flew him away.

Fabrice stared down to see the endless waters finally coming  to an end as a patch of shore made way to a city-like set up. On close notice he realized that he had reached back to his city of New-Waters. His winged angel of a mother finally dropped him down on top of a building which Fabrice knew was more than 80 floors high and housed the stock market within it, He wanted to thank his mother and ask about the series of unexpected events, he had undergone. But she did not wait. After dropping Fabrice down she flew back towards the waters and disappeared into the distance.

He was back home but something still wasn't right. The timer was still up in the sky, with the 12 hour in its 56 th minute. His wonderment was interrupted by the sound of the hustle bustle , he ran up to the fencing ahead and saw a mob blindly headed to a single direction.

Another noise from the opposite direction made an interruption. Fabrice turned back to see a helicopter that has risen from nowhere. It looked at him like a giant hawk. Immediately the helicopter showed some movement pointing two hollow nozzles from its either ends. The nozzles immediately filled up with two missiles.

Fabrice gulped some cold air in his throat, looked at the clock striking the 50th minute of the 12th hour and nervously froze there.

"29" :: Chapter-16

The wheels were drawing near, with the sound drawing even more near as the vehicle moved towards Fabrice. The vehicle was making the entire bridge vibrate even from a distance. Fabrice closed his eyes, the distant roar of the engine was interrupted by the thunder in the sky, the serpent was still lying on his chest. 1...2...3  Fabrice began a count in his head. 4...5 were rather too quick, he immediately began rolling his body to the left side. With eyes completely shut Fabrice couldn't see if he had rolled over the serpent but a few moments later he felt its body touching his legs.

Fabrice kept on moving till he had rolled all the way to the end of the bridge, the vehicle had now turned and it was coming all the way towards Fabrice. He got up and looked at the vehicle drawing nearer and nearer. Fabrice couldn't think of anything so he jammed the knot of the rope tied to his hands and hung outside the bridge. He popped his head a little only to see that the vehicle was too close now. It was a two wheeler, red in color with humongous wheels at the bottom of its covered surface. The vehicle hit the bridge so hard, that the impact made Fabrice sway away in the air.

The surface below the bridge was made up of concrete leading to the waters below. Fabrice waited for a while, but no one came in view. Suddenly the bridge began rumbling with a light vibration. Before he could figure out, Fabrice was jerked hard by the rush of water below his legs. After lifting his legs away from the water's flow, Fabrice could hang comfortably. But the hanging was getting a tad bit uncomfortable so Fabrice decided to pull himself up. But a little face popped out from above. It was Emilia, she was smiling, which definitely meant something. She lifted her hand to expose the blade, and began cutting the knot of the rope holding Fabrice to the bridge. "Emiliaa!" shrieked Fabrice  "Stop" he shouted. But she kept cutting the rope, smiling all the while with an innocence that defied what she was doing.

Fabrice kept shouting till the rope finally snapped. He fell, the flow of water pushing him down, numbing his whole body. It was all happening way too fast but it appeared to happen slowly. Right before the plunge, Fabrice saw the thirteenth hour in its twenty sixth minute, and then the water took over his body and his breath. 

"29" :: Chapter-15

Fabrice could feel the breath of the old man behind his neck, the blade still touched his neck. They were walking the road with deserted sidewalks on either sides. It seemed that Emilia knew where they were going. She was leading the way, walking in a very playful manner, taking double strides with every leg, like she knew it all.

The road which was four lanes wide now led to a concrete bridge. The bridge hid the area below, from Fabrice's view. After leading him to the middle of the bridge, "Get down on your knees" said the voice behind.  Fabrice felt something tying up his hands. After his hands were tightly tied, "Now lie down" the voice commanded. Fabrice had no choice, and he lied down with his hands at the back making his shoulders hurt. But the pain didn't matter at that very instant, when he saw the face of the one who was tying him up.  He was a she, only sounding like a man but not looking like one. It was a woman he knew very well, it was his step mother, Martha. He couldn't really understand the madness that was happening, it was as if the shock had paralyzed him and he didn't retaliate as she tied his legs together. All through, she had a plastic smile on her face that she wore every time.

After a while Fabrice couldn't spot her face moving around, he could feel the rope tightly piercing the skin of his calf. Suddenly Emilia and Martha appeared from either sides. Fabrice saw both of them were smiling. Martha came a little closer and kept something on Fabrice. He bent down to see a pair of blue eyes staring from a long, slender body. It was a serpent, black in color with a peculiar pattern of yellow over its head. The serpent, lying on Fabrice's chest, raised its head in an attacking position and looked at Fabrice. Fabrice could feel the vibrations inside the snakes body on his chest. Behind the snake, Fabrice's attention focussed on an approaching object. It was a wheel, drawing closer and closer. Once it was close enough, Fabrice realized that it was a two wheeler with huge wheels, approaching right towards him, to where he lied. Fabrice screamed for it to stop. But it didn't.

Fabrice screamed again, but the vehicle honked twice and still kept on moving closer. The thickness of the wheel increased as it drew nearer. Fabrice screamed for one last time, the loudest and there was a screech of brakes which was again followed by the sound of the engine accelerating. Just then, he heard Martha's manly laughter, it seemed as if Martha and Emilia were right there, looking at him die. The timer in the sky struck the 13th hour, at a very apt time indeed.

"29" :: Chapter- 14

The players remained unaffected to the mishaps. The shutters were up, barely holding the bulls at the side.  Fabrice looked at his team mates  quickly taking up their positions. With a whistle the ball was tossed forward, a team mate leaped forward only to be struck by a knife halfway up in the air. His lifeless body fell on the ground but the ball kept moving, pass by pass, bodies kept falling. The opposition was merely toying with the players. Like a time bomb, the ball blew every player who held it. With exactly 3 players remaining, the cage at the side opened.

The players started running back the crowd became loud. Fabrice eyes widened as the entering bulls made way for rhinos too. The raging animals thumbed the fields making a sound of numerous drums echoing in the empty space. Fabrice ran to the exit to the left with the ground vibrating under him. Inside the narrow pathway , the vibrations still did not stop. It was like they all were following him. All of them. He stormed inside the locker room rushing into the shower area to the right, He hid in the first shower compartment, with a slight view of the outside area. The sounds were increasing gradually and silenced with a quick abruption.

Fabrice took a few steps forward and BANG the hall outside exploded. The bulls, the rhinos and some hippos stormed in the locker room, randomly banging on anything coming ahead. The chaos persisted for a few moments, Fabrice had closed his eyes fearing that the crowd would infiltrate the shower room, but it didn't.

After a while, after ensuring that the silence lasted for more than a minute, Fabrice took out the photo frame he had in his pocket. His face was vaguely visible with a graduation hat. He kept it in and catiously stepped out, tip toeing towards the locker room. He was too afraid to go back to the field. So he headed outside, only to find everything deserted like nothing had ever happened there.

Fabrice stepped out of the black gate and stared at an endless road that extended to the right, all the way, from the underground road. A hand caught Fabrice from the rear end of the neck, an elbow tightened its grip around his neck and a cold blade touched his neck. "You cannot save yourself from an end that awaits you" said the voice.

The man who's face still remained unknown to Fabrice led him to the road ahead and began walking. Fabrice suddenly saw Emilia walking by his side. He looked at Emilia in shock as she smiled at him. That innocent face which hadn't smiled, smiled now. That innocent face, not so innocent after all.

"29" :: Chapter-13

With long strides Fabrice marched towards the field. Players were lined up in their respective order, random passes were being made. Their uniforms were a mix of red and grey. Fabrice took the center position, guarded by players on either sides. The crowd was moderate, faces mostly pale, moderately excited, conversing collectively in a strange harmony. Fabrice couldn't help to notice the strange expressions of the people in the crowd, he hardly spotted a smiling face. Games aren't meant to be this serious. Maybe this game was.

The opposition team stormed in, the green uniform was prominently noticeable. Their lowers were torn by the knees, their heads hidden in the black helmets. They swarmed in and quickly formed a perfect position like pre programmed robots. The timer in the skies was in 11th minute of the 15th hour. A loud announcement blared in through the loud speaker, "Let the game begin", a moderate applaud signaled the commencement.  And with the first throw to the player in the last row the chaos began.

For a few minutes all Fabrice could do was turn his head watching his so called team mates pass the ball to each other. A player on the right corner finally converted his pass for a run. He was a few yards from the touchdown till something very absurdly horrifying happened. An approaching player was thrown a chainsaw from the crowd, he turned it on and ran towards the attacking player. Within no time, the player was down, the running chainsaw slashing both his legs. He lay there shouting with the constant flow of blood, increasing the bloody red puddle around him.

Fabrice noticed the red eyes of the players glowing through their black helmet. They made their first touchdown in the 8th minute and with that came a flying grenade in the field blowing right in the middle making a body fly to the edge of the ground. They'd lost another player. In 10 minutes there was a touchdown, one explosions and two players out of action.

As the game entered the 11th minute Fabrice saw a shutter open up in the left, behind a cage there were bulls blowing out angry grunts and Fabrice knew that things get worse any moment from now. Things already were worse, the timer in the sky was in the 14th hour.

"29" :: Chapter-12

The bus picked up speed and the pace at which it went past the buildings made Fabrice feel dizzy. "Please stop the bus" shouted Fabrice failing to sound polite. The man quickly turned back in response, a smirk spread all over his face, reflecting  a strange type of madness. Fabrice got up from the seat sensing the anger rising up in his head.  He held the man by the arm which steadily held the steering wheel.

"Stop the damn car" , a laughter answered his command. Fabrice caught hold of both his arms and twisted them, the driver wouldn't let go off the steering wheel, making the bus turn in abruption. The sharp turn in the middle of the road made the bus stand on its left side before it crashed into a concrete wall.

The crash was too fast to notice, the windows were mostly broken and the driver laid lifeless with his head down on the steering wheel and droplets of blood trickling down. Fabrice got onto his feet, a little bump was formed on his head, the pain of his already injured jaw line was now added to the pain of little bruises on his arms. Little splinters of glass left little bloody marks on his skin. Fabrice looked back, trying to focus his dizzy vision. Emilia was right there, hands on face, unharmed, with not even a single visible scratch.

They walked  out to see the underground road they were in, there was light coming in from a far end. The light showed three silhouettes running towards them. "Finally, you're here'" a scream claimed. Stepping away a little, Fabrice held Emilia's hand preparing to run but one of the man came in view and there wasn't anything strange about him. Maybe, help had come. Maybe.

"Come now, we have to get you out of here" he said.

"But who are you ?" Fabrice asked.

"Ah, come on now. We've got very less time" he pulled Fabrice. Fabrice thought he wouldn't resist for now. The opening of the road led to that much familiar building, which was once a high school Fabrice had known. Looking just the way, it had been back in time. Fabrice was led in, there were a lot of people rushing here and there. All of them, looking normal. The man finally took him to a locker room. "Get dressed now" he said "It's game time"

Fabrice, about to question stopped in response to Emilia's signaling. He got  dressed, Emilia walked in, opened a locker and handed another frame to Fabrice. "With this quest you shall find the image in this frame too" she said "All the frames will collectively activate the exit vault"

Fabrice moved out from the narrow opening, the skies still dark. The timer in the 15th hour, he suddenly felt the hand of a man behind his shoulder as he watched his team march out. "I need touchdowns" he said. "Else..." he paused.

Fabrice looked at him with a puzzled glance "Else grenades shall touch down from the stands"

Fabrice swallowed, as the skies signaled him to start with a drizzle that began.