Monday morning

'They are coming in from the south'
'You three, move down one floor and check them out. In the meantime, keep firing at them guys.' I was howling at the top of my voice as I saw a shell splitting the man on my left into two.
'Run, come on this way.'

They looked like abandoned skyscrapers. What am I doing here? There was no time to think. All I am to do is defend the building.

'They have got into through the seventh floor', crackled the radio. It was just a matter of minutes. They were like flies over a box of black grapes. 'Slay as many as you can. And keep running.'

I couldn't believe that there were families living in this building. It was not important. 'Let me hide in here. I am fighting for you.' The little girl showed me the dump room.

'Where are they?'
'In there.'

Balu! I was transfixed for a while as I saw Balu checking the room. He was fighting for the other side. He would kill me if he sighted me. The camouflage helped me survive.

I came out and thrust the butt of my gun onto his stomach as he coiled on the ground. I said 'Traitor' as I put my foot on his neck. He is only doing what he could to save him and his family. I left the house looking for a safer place. I had to get out of the building. I have been fighting for hours now.

I somehow reached the ground floor and managed to crawl across some more building. 'That is the end,' thought I, as I felt a sharp object pressed at the back of my neck. I raised my hands in submission, all the while looking for some, any means to survive.

It was Jinku. He was on the other side too!

'I am not going to kill you. Go away.'

I reached a murky looking building. I was hungry and thirsty. 'Hey, you are amongst us. Come on here. We have got more people in here.' I could do nothing but believe and follow obediently.

After many winding stairways, we finally reached a dark landing where a group of four or five men sat huddled. There was someone frying something for them to eat. I sat with them and ate as much as I could.

More shells. All around. 'They are here as well. Run.'
'Where do we run? There is nowhere to run.'

'Come, I know what to do.' That was Nirmal. We came out of the building with our food in our hands and sat up in the open air. A feeling of numbness crept in as I saw the troops approaching us. I had no clue of what to do when Nirmal pointed to a building on the far end of the road. I had not felt any happier as I saw them jostling towards the building.

It was more like evening when I reached the coast. 'What do we do? All we have is the sea.' That was Ula ( 50 first dates??!).

' C'mon.' I dived into the water as Ula followed me.

It was an underwater tower. The tower was heavily decorated with pearls, rubies and emeralds.

'Huh, this is wonderful. Let me dig a few.'
'Shut up Ula. The tower will crash if you pull out any of these.'

The mermaids were leisurely collecting the rubies that had fallen off on to the sand bed.

We swam around the tower a couple of times. 'What are you looking for?'
'I will tell you.' I was annoyed by his restlessness.

I showed him a small slit into the tower.
'what is this?'
'It is the passage to the lateral universe. We have to slide in through to the other side.'

We were like corpses digging themselves out of their graves as we pierced our way out of the red soil.

The gnomes were not surprised by our entry into their world. The king of the gnomes welcomed us to a grand reception. They were all dressed in dark pink and their faces were painted in black.

I alighted a set of steps and sat beside the king when a messenger came running to him.

'Sire, there is an army coming to attack us.'

I woke up startled by the sound of my alarm. It was yet another Monday morning.