Dr. Akineni was heaving heavily, he was out of breath, and yet he continued to run. He has been running from his pursuers who were relentless in their job for last 10 min. He was very fit for his age and the speed at which he was running was only a bit faster than a man jogging, he wanted to continue this charade but at last decided to give up. His pursuer, who included a boy around three feet height and a Golden Retriever around the same size of his partner, finally caught him.

Akineni was little tired so he decided to lie on his back in the lawn. His grandson who has been chasing him with his pet dog, which was his present, that he received last week from his grandfather on turning four, stared him for few seconds.

He gave him a wide smile, which was his trademark for doing something naughty and he started to climb over his tummy and started to play with his grandfather who was his favorite past-time in the last week. Akineni also entertained him to the fullest and in this whole duration there was genuine smile on his face which never dared to leave his face. He was giggling and laughing until his face started to ache. He was happy and believes it was bliss from the gods that was not limited one time edition. He can enjoy this bliss for rest of his life

He was always happy to visit his son’s family, but he visited only two times of the year. One was when his wife’s Death anniversary was and other on his grandson’s birthdays. The other time of the year was used in his research or visiting his friend or attainting their funerals, sometimes he would travel to places which he used to visit with his late wife to remember her. She was his only love, they had an arranged marriage but the love that blossomed between them during their marriage years was in no way filmy but long lasting. She passed away due to illness few years back.

He was still giggling when his son who was in his late thirties came and sat beside him. They were enjoying a little family time, when wailing of siren from oncoming ambulance was heard by him. His head started to ache, then suddenly in the midst of siren sound which was of alarm rather than ambulance, his eyes open and he found himself in front on the inner lab gate, where he collapsed sometimes before in his hazmat suit.

Grabbing his head he sat up, grey like eyes contracting and expanding took the scene in the room which look serene, but in actuality so dangerous that it can kill everyone with it, if not for protections.

He stabilized himself and looked at the outer lab from where Dr. Kelembeth was observing him, she was gesturing him to pick up intercom to talk to him. Her face screamed of one thing that is dread, her hair now disheveled and messy, her body tensed.

Akineni gained his bearing and picked the intercom attached to the side of gate and put on his speaker ask asked “How long has I have been out?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Heaving a sigh of relief she calmed herself and stated “Two hours” and informed him “a lot has happened in those two hours”, she allowed him to adjust himself for the information with she is going to shock him.

She continued “I have tried to decontaminate the inner lab but..” she stuttered for a while then with a long breath she continued “but somebody has changed the contains of the tank used” with a pause she with a hardened look revealed “and now XE23 has reacted to it and became more volatile, radiation in the inner lab is double of allowed” with a warning she said “XA23 is changing at rapid pace and everything else is unknown right now”

Akineni processed this information over the period of five minutes while confirming the radiation levels on the different devices. All the devices in the lab gave him the same story but with a lot a details.

He first checked the containment unit, to inspect about how it has been leaked. To his surprise he found the containment unit has holes all over it and they are rapidly increasing. On further observing for next ten minutes he found out that a chemical is applied in minimum quantity which only reacts to the containment unit’s special material.

When he reached this conclusion, his face become ugly and contracted, he disdained this kind of act the most, the act of sabotaging something you don’t understand and still messed, his conclusion was that this tragedy has just started with a lot to come on the way. The perpetrator, who initiated it, should have a lot of plane in store for them.

Informing Kelembeth about his finding, they concluded to inform the organizer of this research about this development.

…….

Ministry of Home Defense, Delhi, India

A man in black suit was rushing over to the one of the meeting hall, flashing his badge which showed his authority and clearance to be here. Two minutes ago he had received a call, which just said the random words in the start and waited for the call to be transferred to the right authority. He was running without care was because, when decoding the message, it converted to “Facility D# hill; Code Red, Trust no one”.

He was sweating when he reached the gate of meeting hall, the security agent tried to stop him but was avoided as he rammed the door and entered the hall. He ran to the home minister in urgent ignoring all the shock gazes on the crowd and informed him about the message.

Hearing the facility address and message a cold sweat leaked on the forehead of minister. He told all the Dignitaries to leave and connected the call. He answered “Red house down, Bird can chirp”

Hearing the confirming code from the other end Dr. Akineni took a sigh and told him “Situation out of control, Facility compromised, if things goes wrong, even the center can be destroyed”, Akineni didn’t explain because this commination can be heard, so he worded the sentence with this information and waited for reply.

When the warning mentioned the center Home Minister Mr. Chatterji was in shock for a second before answering “use emergency communication means” after a thought he added “I will arrange the team”

The contact ended and the ear piercing voice came from the speaker connected to lab for announcements;

“Hello everyone, welcome to this event, now that everyone has been informed and all parties are board, then let’s begin the game of death, every quarter of the day you will face a new challenge”

The countdown for the next event begging now, this remaining 4 hour and 34 minutes tic tock tic tock to”