The person in the Army's jacket had his face covered in a black bag. But we could clearly make a wheezing sound that was coming from him. We couldn't clearly make out the shape of the chest because of the clothes but we could clearly see that the breathing was exerted. The expansion was slightly on the abnormal side, but that was from the clothing. It could've been severe for all we knew.

"Is there a way to amplify the background noise?" I asked. Captain Khanna looked at me straight in the eyes, his expression unreadable.

"This isn't a bollywood movie that we'll have white hat hackers lying around in our lobby, you're in the prison, far away from our base. Just let me know what you can decipher we'll have specialists working on it somewhere else."

After his long speech he inclined his head towards the clock in a motion for us to hurry.

"He has some respiratory disorder, it can be obstructive or restrictive, we can't tell because the sound isn't clear. It's loud enough to be heard in a recording which means it's severe, we generally need a stethoscope to hear those sounds." I concluded.

Captain nodded gravely, and after making sure that we infact, weren't missing out anything, went away with the middle aged soldier that had accompanied us.

After he left, there was complete silence in the cell, it was almost like we were afraid to make a noise. The gravity of situation was finally dawning on us all. A soldier kidnapped, this kind of incident wasn't unheard of. We often heard it or saw it on the news, soldiers getting kidnapped, getting torchered, getting killed. But we had never witnessed it up so closely. Was this how all the people in the regiment felt? Loosing a person they had worked with, talked with, eaten lunches with? And to think they didn't even know his identity? I couldn't even begin to comprehend what agony these people must be going through, checking up on their friends, hoping it isn't them. Wondering who has been unfortunate enough to land in the hands of the enemy.
Praying for their safety as well as trying their best to focus on formulating ways of establishing their identity and laying out rescue missions.

We just sat there, looking at each other, trying to make out what the other is thinking while thinking along the same lines.

Pain, death diseases weren't new for us. We had spent four and a half years of our lives in a government hospital, navigating through various diseases, watching people die, watching people get better. Our hostel was just opposite to the emergency, watching people die and hearing the cries of their loved ones were unavoidable for us. Every time we went out of our hospitals, we would encounter dead bodies being discharged while a group of people cried surrounding it. We would witness multiple trollies with people in most pitiable conditions, crying in pain, looking confused, some unconscious some dead. It was an incorrigible part of our lives and we had learnt to deal with it.

We would go out to have parties passing through the very same people crying in agony. We would go to classes to learn, we would go to markets to buy our groceries. First year of college had been unbearable, I was new to it and every time I saw people crying I had an urge to go it with them, console them, heck, even cry with them. But as time passed we learned how to suppress that part of our brain. Onlookers would even call us insensitive for becoming the way we did. But it was something we had to learn to survive.

This situation, would've been similar but it had yet somehow hit us differently. Having a patient infornt of us even if we had the knowledge that they're terminal, was far more comforting than knowing there's someone out there whose fate is unknown. He could live, could die, and we could do very little to help it. It was an unanswerable question, something very uncertain. Yes we had encountered some similar patients whose condition was uncertain but at least we got the comfort of knowing that we are doing everything we could. This situation on the other hand, only made us uncomfortable and restless.

"So... We guess we'll be spending the night here." Ali observed though, through his expressions, it was least of his worries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world was ending, and I couldn't move. The constant clanking of something against a metal only increasing my agony.

There were sound of shuffling and the clanking stopped, but I was still dying. Cold hands touched my forehead and I was brought back to reality. I was still sitting in a corner of the cell, my head resting against a wall. My head hurt, a lot more than it should. I opened my eyes to find Sana bending over me.

"You have fever Avni." She said in a worry laced tone. "It's because of the cold. We really shouldn't have brought you here with us."

"What was that clanking, my head hurts."

"It was me," a new voice chimed in, I looked towards it to find another soldier standing at the bars, holding a metallic rod in his hand, "It's time for you guys to wake up," he said before making his way towards the desk which was occupied by major Karn yesterday.

"Are you going to let us go?" Harsha added.

"No, not until we get orders from our captain, he'll be hear in next 2 or 3 hours." He said.

"Then why did you wake us up?" Harsha asked irritatedly "and please send some medical help, our friend is sick."

"It's irritating to see you guys snoring," he said with a smirk. "Why do you guys need a medical help, I heard you guys are doctors yourself."

"Yeah? But we don't have the medication with us do we?" Harsha was unusually chatty today. The major made some remark that I was too tired to listen, I silently drifted off to sleep again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was woken up again by hushed voices. I was feeling slightly better because I had finally decided to lie down on the smelly cot of the prison.

"How sick is she?" Someone whispered while someone tried to put a thermometer in my mouth. I swatted away the unsuspecting hand. I looked away to see four heads examining me. Three of them, were my usual company, while the fourth one was of an annoying companion we had made yesterday. Was it okay to call him our companion? I don't know. But after trying to help him with a case we usually wouldn't even have the virtue of knowing, I did feel slightly less repulsed than I had yesterday.

"I'm not dead, get away from me all of you." I grumbled.

"I'm sorry, I should've listened to you when you said it was cold. I forgot you guys aren't used to this temperature," the captain looked almost apologetic.

"Yeah whatever, fine. Do we get to go home today?" I asked, sitting up.

"I-" he avoided my eyes, it was hint enough to what was coming next,"I'm sorry, we needed manpower so the investigation regarding you guys had to be postponed. You'll have to stay here for few more days."

No one else looked surprised which meant they already had this conversation. I wonder how long I had been sleeping.

"However," he continued slightly more enthusiastically, "you guys don't have to stay here, you can stay in an empty quarter in the base, I'll make the necessary arrangements."

"Fair enough," I sighed "asking for anything more will he despicable at this time. Have you guys found your soldier yet?"

"We've certainly made some progress, you guys actually helped us a great deal with that information. I must however, ask for a favour," he looked hopeful, "If and When, you guys meet anyone from our camp pretend like you know nothing of this issue, can you do that?"

"I thought all the soldiers already knew about it," Ali chimed in.

"They do, but their families don't. Please try to keep it a secret."

"We promise not to divulge anything to anyone." Sana said on the behalf of all four of us at which we nodded.

Soon we were out of the cell and taken to our place of stay. After promising to help Ali bring in our clothes, on the condition of letting them check it before taking it, and straight away refusing to let us have our phones the Captain left us. Our quarter had a landline connection which the Captain said we were free to use. He even gave us his personal number in case we needed anything.

He seemed to be a nice enough person, he certainly had the advantage of looks. I wondered silently if he was sing-

No, I didn't wonder anything I swear. I took my medicines and slept. That's what I did. Nothing else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was afternoon when I woke up again and Surprisingly, despite the temperature, sun was shining upon us. Everyone was getting ready which was weird, because wee weren't allowed to leave.

"Where are you going?" I squinted at Ali, I am not taking anymore chances. And knowing him, it's possible that he's trying to run away.

"You mean where are 'we' going? Relax we're just going to the mess to grab lunch."

Huh. That makes sense, I thought to myself as I grabbed my coat myself. I was in no health, or mood to play dress up.

"What are you doing, get dressed properly," Harsha chuffed, "We might as well encounter few more handsome soldiers."

"Buzz off"

We were soon sitting on a huge table which was infact, occupied by not few, but many handsome soldier. No going back now, huh?

There were three long tables in a really large hall whose inhabitants were eyeing us with interest. It was getting uncomfortable, being subjected to that much attention at once wasn't something I had signed up for.

"I suddenly don't feel so hungry," I whispered.

"Don't worry, your Knight in shining armor has arrived." Harsha whispered back, motioning towards the a door. I followed her suit to see Captain khanna motioning us to come over from the entrance.

"Let's go," she dragged me by the arm before I could acknowledge the adjective she had used for him.

As we made our way towards him, all the occupants in the room stood up in a swift motion. They were saluting their captain. The lunch was yet to be served and everyone was in their uniforms. This incident did look something like straight for the movies.

"You should eat with us in the other hall." Captain Khanna stated when we reached him.

"The other hall?" Ali raised his eyebrows. He looked more stupid than he already was whenever he did that.

"The officers mess." The Captain smiled.

____________________________________________

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