Sorry I'm late, I thought of giving this sooner but couldn't complete the chapter. Somehow made it today, don't know how this has come out. Please do share what you think.

Since the characters are split with each of them at different spots and circumstances I don't know if a recap could suffice, so those who don't remember the plot kindly read the previous two chapters and then come back to start this.

On that day,

Since vrushali had moved far away from the building with the other patient on time, she was safe. But her inner organs fell to collapse on witnessing the disaster that has happened in front of her eyes, she couldn't stand idle , she was scared and worried . The patient she was with demanded serious immediate care, so she sent them to the other close by hospital and ran towards the building which was now just a puddle of bricks and sand.

' you got the girl's picture,what's her name? An annika '

' hmm, they sent it just now. '

' not sure how we're going to identify her in this mess here, no job for us if she's already dead somewhere , if not make sure to end her with none seeing. And yeah, the other one too, his name is Om. It's CM's order so I want no excuses. Got it!'

'Yes sir '

They were a squad of four dressed up like firefighters, rescuers. Coincidence is not always coincidence, it actually means something.Vrushali who stood just at the other side of the traveller inside which they were present ,heard everything, her heartbeats reached peaks on hearing the names and that the CM is directly involved in all this.

She knew she had a upper hand in this situation cause she actually knows exactly where to find Om and Annika before these people get their hands on them. She again moved towards the hospital while sending continuous prayers to keep her pals safe.

Grabbing away all the airbags filled over the spot, she spotted Om lying beneath it ,unconscious . At once she sat down near him and started patting his cheeks . Looking around to make sure none from the group were there, she started calling out his name and kept trying with her fear scale reaching peaks every second.

Suddenly his chest seemed to expand while he opened his mouth wide to swallow whole of air. Vrushali smiled and rubbed his back continuously while he sat up holding his head. He didn't realize anything for the first few seconds until his eyes captured the events around . Dead people, everywhere. It struck him suddenly and he looked at her with serious reactions.

Om- you ok?

V- oh thank god! I was so scared.

She cried leaning on his arm while Om wandered his eyes everywhere as if he was trying to spot something.

Om- annika?

V- don't know yet.

His pupils grew big when she muttered this in between her sobs. He quickly stood up only to feel strong pain in his head and stumble a bit.

V- you're ok?

Om- yeah, we have to find her first.

Both hurried up and started searching everywhere, they were terribly scared after finding all the dead bodies lying there. Some survivors did make it but all of them seemed to have lost something or ther other, to fire, to hard walls. People with hardly a complete pair of legs cried their organs out in pain, it was very heartbreaking to witness something cruel like that.

Vrushali's hands shivered and trembled like anything as she went on checking one by one, the hurt ones, the dead ones. Annika wasn't found still, it only made her thoughts grow in worry.

Om tried hard to control his tears after seeing everything around, and suddenly his mind took him to the other place where shivaay was right now. Chills passed down his spine on realizing how critical the situation could be there. He knew shivaay is very capable , but his current condition won't help rather it can only pull him down. Om worried. Hoping good fortune for his friend, he focused on finding annika, this girl should be fine. He wanted nothing bad to happen to any of them.

While he ran here and there in hurry his right leg banged on a big brick wall which was now on the floor, down . It was very painful that he immediately caught hold of the hurting spot on his leg and sat down . Vrushali who saw this came close and knelt by him.

V- what happened?

Om- nothing it's just,

She frowned when he didn't complete and remained staring somewhere else. Following his stare she landed her eyes towards the same direction to only grow thrilled soon, annika was found lying beneath the wall, unconscious. Both quickly worked to pull the weight off her, it was very tough, still , they didn't stop trying.

At times of extremities, our mind and body knows how to work, it makes the impossible possible. If given this same task at normal circumstances, they might've not been able to carry it out but now, they did it somehow, cause they knew, there is never a place for no here.

V- annika! Wake up, annika!

She patted her cheeks but there was no response, Om here found her left leg hurt badly as it was literally crushed beneath the overweight. He took her leg on his lap and tried to stop the bleeding first while vrushali continued giving CPR to annika for getting her lungs back to function. She had already tried twice but there was no movement from annika.

V- Om!

He looked up on hearing her shriek , her disastrous cries horrified him.

Om - she can't! Keep trying.

That's when she noticed the people from the squad coming to this side of the building.

V- Om, Om you should go.

Om- what!

He was confused when she suddenly insisted him to leave.

V- they're here to kill you and annika. Om listen to me, go!

Om- wha... Who are?

V - Om please, they're coming.

He looked back to see some guys dressed like fire fighters approaching from the other side, they stopped to check on each and every victims .

V- they'll kills us.

Om- ok, ok wait listen, do as I say hmm?

She grew quiet and just passed a slow nod when he demanded it.

By the time they could reach, Om had already left the spot, he hid somewhere.

V- annika!!! You can't leave us, annika wake up. What will I tell your sisters, oh my!!

On hearing her loud cries two from the group came forward to check on the body, soon they cringed in disgust after witnessing the smashed face of the dead girl before whom vrushali was found crying. It was just blood and crushed flesh everywhere. They hardly could even recognize her face, they kept staring at the picture which vrushali noticed through the corner of her eyes and still carried on with her cries as like Om had suggested.

It was done, they confirmed on seeing annika's id lying near the body. No work for them, they left the spot to check for Om at the back side of the building. Vrushali kept watching until they left her sight, and immediately signalled Om who came forward. He rushed to annika and peeled off the scarf with which they had hid her face until then . Carrying her in his arms, he quickly moved from there.

V- Om we have to, she she's not back yet.

Om- we can't stay here too! Damn, who are they?

V- wait, they have to believe you both are dead only then they won't tail us behind.

Om - I know , all they would need is my blood sample to identify me. I've made arrangements for that too, with the help of a dead body in the basement.

Annika had also bled much, with dead bodies scattered like a pile of flesh on the ground it's not gonna be hard to convince with just small samples cause after this hell of a chaos in here, none would dig in this matter much. Legs and arms separated from the bodies, smashed faces,it's gonna be very hard to identify and collect all parts of a single body. Om knew his idea might work, it felt brutal to disturb dead people but he had no choice.

They rushed to the nearby ambulance. Vrushali was again indulged in reviving annika who didn't seem to respond. There was hardly any heart beat growing inside her, vrushali spent her atmost effort to bring her freind back but annika seemed to have given up. Om had tears in his eyes watching the numb her, vrushali kept trying and suddenly she started searching for the defibrillator to go for cardioversion, there was none though. Rescuers must have carried it in to save people there, she kicked the floor hard in frustration and instructed Om to continue what she did before.

V- let me drive, you saw how I did right ? Put some pressure , hmm.

Om- what, no! You should , I'll get the wheels.

V- try to understand Om, you look like you'll fall in no time. There's no use in saving anyone if you're gonna lead this vehicle to some big truck. We'll move far off this place first , please come on ! Stay in counts.

When she insisted again, Om approved and passed a nod before starting the drill. Vrushali drove fast with whatever potential she possessed. Not much practiced but this wasn't the time to fear and doubt her driving skills, she did what she could and took them to a place afar from that hospital.

Om suddenly felt his visions going blur, his heard started hurting more. He took in a gulp as if he was swallowing a plate of pain and tried to help annika as like vrushali had instructed. She noticed this through the mirror and understood he was having a concussion here. At one point he did fall unconscious like she anticipated.

This is it now, she stopped the vehicle right there and went back to see annika because she knew, annika can never come back if not now. There was no time left. She made Om lie on the other gurney before getting back to Annika.

V- please, please please annika.

At some point her hands started trembling when she came face to face with the hard reality, there was no pulse . She felt so weak to continue , she tried to hold on somehow but it seemed impossible.

Jumping down from the van, she stood leaning on such that her forehead is pressed to the white surface,crying her heart out. This shouldn't have happened, vrushali hated herself. She remembered how it all started with her sudden disappearance, and how much annika was worried for her. Annika's emotions were always true . Only if she hadn't been selfish for her granny, her friend wouldn't have had to face this today. Vrushali punched the hard surface to hurt herself.

'excuse me? '

That's when she heard someone's voice from behind. It was a lean lady ,looking equally worried sick.

She quickly straightened herself and checked if the door was closed, fearing it might be someone from them.

V- Hmm?

'are you a doctor?'

V-haa? yes .

'Thank god, can you please help me. My friend is very sick, he has to take this injection now '

Vurhsali stared at the lady dubiously.

V- sorry I'm not supposed to do that .

'no, it's not like you're thinking. Please, this would save his life, please. '

The lady fell on her knees and begged. By then vrushali's focus fell on the car which stood opposite , the backside was open seeming to contain many medical needs inside. Large oxygen cylinders and many such emergency supplies were present in there, she noticed all that for her mind came up with an idea soon.

V- ok, but I need a favour too.

'sure, anything'

V- I need a defibrillator, oxygen cylinders.

' hmm? '

The lady doesn't seem to know what it was first.

V- I would need some of the things you've got in there for my patients.

The lady fell quiet , thinking for a while.

' but I need them too '

V- I won't take all, please .

She pleaded desperately and the lady nodded back.

' ok, but first help him please. '

She showed the injection and insisted for vrushali quickly proceeded to help.

The patient's face was covered. At normal circumstances, she wouldn't have done this cause it's against medical protocols. Like she doesn't even know what this injection is for, but now considering the situation, she chose to be selfish and do what needs to be done to save her friend.

Annika opened her eyes with a sudden jerk, breathing out anguishingly when vrushali repeated the cardioversion procedure for the second time. She coughed hard and started taking continuous deep breaths while vrushali sat down with a jolt, saying thanks to every God she could think of this moment.

To escape the current threats, Vrushali took them afar from the city, to a small coastal side village. She was quite familiar with that place as she and her granny Neela had spent some of they're previous years there. Annika and Om were taken care in one of the Ayurvedic care centers there , it was to remain idle and invisible to the world.

Om was recovering well, but Annika's case was different. She had hurt her leg bad, and since her lung was already vulnerable all these disasters made it even worse . She has to get her operation done soon as all the care they provided weren't able to give complete cure to her suffers. She was in bed for 3 consecutive weeks getting treated for leg and her breathing proportions.

Muscle coordination is gonna be difficult here on, they said concluding about the leg injury she had. They adviced to start accepting the fact and use cane .

All these weren't enough to bring down annika's life, yet another news awaited to literally shake and tear her world apart. She didn't speak to anyone for 4 continuous days after knowing Shivaay's demise news , neither cried, not even a single tear drop. Om didn't know what to do only, he himself fell devastated and annika's this kind of behaviour actually scared him.

He somewhere hoped and believed that Rudra might've escaped with the kids. But to where? He couldn't tell. There was no point of contact,he couldn't think of one.Annika had sudden attacks now and then , the specialists there suggested them to hurry for the organ transplant as it wasn't something they could bring into their expertise. But after hearing Vrushali's part of the story about the killers and all, Om couldn't decide cause he himslef saw it on the news how it all came out as a complete different tale .

In this situation , with the whole government against them, he couldn't take decisions in haste knowing the consequences but annika's detoriating health was also priority one. When he was fighting with all these stuffs mentally , Annika came up with another shocker.

One night he saw her speaking all alone , to herself. Like she'll be quite the whole day and suddenly her behaviour would change , she'd start acting as if she's in a completely different place. At first Om and Vrushali thought this might be due to the shock and stress, but when this grew regular especially when she started taking Shivaay's name in her plays they understood she needed serious medical attention now.

We are going back, Om declared. He has to save whatever is left of her now, he can't see his friend suffer more. Vrushali with the help of some contacts she had tried to track the queue status for transplant , alongside they even looked for a well experienced psychiatrist who could help Annika. It's very risky now but Annika's condition is more important .

Recently they got the information that their appointment with the Pulmonologist for the surgery is confirmed . They were all set to leave, Om was scared like any human would be but he knew his priorities.

Present

Rithi saw him struggling to tie the bandage around his hand which seemed to bleed. She couldn't stop herself from running to help.

Rithi- how did this happen!

R - at workplace , I was careless actually, my fault.

Rudra smiled when she was trying hard to help but it won't work only , she couldn't tie properly rather triggered the wound for he felt stinging pain again.

R- sss, slowly please.

Rithi - ok, sorry.

She did it again, it was more painful this time.

R- is this some kind of revenge?!

Rithi - I'm trying right?

R- yeah but

He stopped saying anything when Riya came and grabbed all the cotton and stuffs from Rithi ,who frowned immediately.

Rithi - Riya!!

Riya - you'll kill him.

She said this and started dressing his wound. It came out well and good this time. Rudra muttered a thanks immediately when it was done .

Rithi- Annika has taught me too. I know how to do it. Believe me!

Rudra nodded nervously, the look on her face was scary like as if she was demanding of him to slit his throat for her to showcase those nursing skills. Anyways he was glad they wanted to help cause they had stopped talking to him since he denied to take them back to visit veer on his remembrance day. Actually,they weren't completely devils.

Riya- you shouldn't stress this hand for two days atleast, don't work tomorrow.

R - hey , come on. I can manage. I've had a bullet in my leg, this is nothing.

Both their reactions changed when he spoke casually. Truth is they didn't want to be rude to this man , this man who took them in his shelter when they thought their life was done , this man who's been trying so hard to provide and suffice their needs, this man who doesn't say a word against their rude talks and creepy stares. They felt emotional, none except Annika has ever put efforts for them in the past and here this man was doing everything for these both alone.

Rudra smiled confusedly seeing their reactions.

R- what happened?

Riya- so

Riya stopped in the middle and gritted her teeth hard to keep her tongue arrested, she can't forgive him, her mind instructed loudly. Rithi immediately scooted close and nudged her shoulder.

Rithi- rry, complete it Riya!

She whispered to insist. Riya gave her an immediate death glare before getting up to move from there. Rithi looked helplees as she stood up to follow her sister .

R- Rithi, Riya!

They stooped by the door and looked back when he called. They were confused when he smiled suddenly after fishing out a piece of paper from his pant pocket.

R- train tickets, we're going to visit your brother.

At once the two girls ran to bombard and hug him tight from both the sides, making him fall back. They remained quiet, just quiet , in the same position . He understood what this actually meant for them, they're just kids, he didn't want the fear of tomorrow blocking what they could do today. It's a complete risk, he knew, but he wanted to give them this joy atleast. After everything, they certainly deserve this . He felt like a proud parent who had just presented his children's favorite toys to them when these girls clung onto him with their thin arms.

Shivaay grew so much worried when he came to know his mother had fainted and she almost fell down the stairs this morning. Only if Leena hadn't been there at the right moment, there would've been a terrible accident , he heard his mother adding.

S- Doctor says your Blood Pressure has gone dangerously high . Mom why are you being so careless!

He sat next to her and worried holding her hand, leena who stood beside the bed spoke immediately.

L- shivaay, I'm not sure but I think she's tensed and worried about something.

He watched Leena for a second and then turned towards pinky again.

S- mom, you know very well that I can't tolerate if anything happens to you . What is it mom? What is it that's doing this to you?

P- even I can't tolerate being separated from my son. When will you get it shivaay?

He sighed huge.

S- really mom!

P- so many years have passed and still you couldn't understand your mother's pain right?

He blinked hard watching her tears.

S- mom, you shouldn't blackmail me like this. I've got a job to do there.

P- that can wait.

S- but, you have to

P- even in this condition all you could think of is your work , so my fear has come true today. You have decided to completely abandon me, didn't you?

She interrupted to express her dismay.

S- what are you?

P- shivaay it's high time you choose your priorities. You leave me like this everytime, and one day when you come back to me, I won't

S- enough, I'm not going anywhere ok!

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