Chapter-44

He grabbed Soma and dragged him back to park, he remarks with low voice, " Soma, there are police officers, I saw a few police jeep randomly parked at different positions.

I think they came to catch Shawmys like us, and if they see us, we will surely get a good scolding from them and then from our families.

We need to hide form them as well, but they are everywhere."

Soma sighs in relief and thanks him,

" Thanks, bro, I mean if I had attacked a police officer then they would have caught us, and we would be taken to our houses and had to face our mothers ' angry faces.

Ohh..Oughh. I don't even want to imagine how much scolding I would get for this act.

Phew! "

Shashi agrees with him with tensed tone,

" You are right, Som. My mom would take away my video games away for me for at least a week or worst, maybe she would take away my phone, then how would I talk to Hrida."

Soma's face pales imagining their phones being taken away from them as detention, he voices out his thoughts, " You are right, we need to be careful, otherwise, I also won't be able to talk to Hrida.

No, no, no, that can't happen.

Okay, I have an idea, why not we wander for an hour and if there is no sign of Shawmy then we will return home."

Shashi agrees with his idea and suggest another idea with thoughtful tone, " Listen, why don't we fit those micro-spy cameras that we had bought during our ' Mission-Hrida' plan.

I have the extras on with me now, I brought this because I thought it might turn out to be useful.

I have an idea,listen

We should fit these cameras, one around my house, one around your house, one in this park, one around Hrida's old home and last one near Navya Didi's building complex and these places aren't that far from each other.

The purpose of doing this is to be able to supervise from house and if any of us or any civilian are in danger, we can reach that place or send police to that place.

How's my idea? "

Soma praises with impressed tone, " I must have underestimated you a little bit at first but now, I have no doubt that I was wrong.

You are really a genius.

Seriously, Shashi, you are funny and smart both.

Good work! It will work for sure.

Okay, let's do our part with sincerity.

Let's meet here after an hour.

Be careful !"

After an hour, they still didn't catch anything suspicious or Shawmys, so they decided to return home, but they informed all the update details to Hrida.

Hrida was a bit relieved that nothing harm was done to Shashi and Soma. She was glad that no citizens were victimized today, but she was sad at the same time because the Shawmys are still out there free.

On the other side, Shashi and Soma faced their mom's angry faces, waiting for them; they knew by their upset glares towards them that today, they are gone for sure.

They tried to defend themselves, but their mother didn't hear a single word and took their phones and their dad's couldn't calm down their wives' anger.

Both boys were given the punishment to do study early in the morning till school hours since school had been closed for a week because of this matter.

And in addition, they are not allowed to use phone for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Hrida is worried because she didn't receive a single call or message informing they reached home from any of her friends, she is loudly humming a soothing tone to calm her nerves.

She kept pacing here and there, hours went by, but still, no response came from any of them. She kept waiting and waiting for their response wide awake, then eventually she fell asleep around 1 am.

Innocent citizens are asleep but the Shawmys and the police station branches are wide awake and guarding the citizens building and houses.

As soon as the clock struck 2 am, the Shawmys ventured into the streets with scheming attitude.

They slowly spread out in the whole city without the police's notice but a few Shawmys weren't lucky enough because they were injected with sleeping liquid injection by the police officers dart gun.

One of the disguised police officer sent a message ' At Mark' to Inspector Lakshman and Lakshman forwarded the message to other police inspectors through Bluetooth earphones.

They were alert and actively chasing Shawmys but some Shawmys with their cunning mind and unnatural speed are able to escape before they trap them.

Hrida and Tapish were deep asleep, they were safely shielded in their shells, suddenly Tapish woke up around 2 am, his gaze fell on Hrida, who had creased brows and was mumbling something incoherent words, and strangely he felt weird energy near the building complex.

His gaze shifted to the window, his senses kicking in, he pranced on the windowsill and noticed a bunch of civil looking Shawmys armed with weapons scattered around, he remarked the flickering of lamp lights out of nowhere.

Within a snap of finger, the Shadow emerged from the ground and slowly crawls through another disguised Shawmy's boot , the disguised Shawmy looked down, his stature froze for a second.

He tries to shake it off, but the shadow had slimy grip on his leg. He felt his legs numb, a sudden sharp pain travels over his legs, he couldn't tolerate the pain and impulsively shot his own leg, the blood spills leaving it exposed to the hungry shadow.

The ink-black shadow licked his blood hungrily, the whole blood turned black, his eyes became void, and his skin took the hue of ink-black.

His foot size increase, the nails grown into claws, this didn't go unnoticed by his armed disguised officer. He immediately informed Inspector Lakshman via phone, Lakshman and his co-officers tracked the caller's phone to trace his location.

On the given location, he sends a few police officers with enough supply of anesthesia darts. The disguised armed officer shot anesthesia dart at turned disguised officer's leg, the affected officer turns unconscious instantly, but the shadow wasn't affected at all, the shadow had already reached up to officer's neck and eventually his body morphed into monstrous form.

The unaffected disguised officer had to scamper away from him to look for Shawmys.

After witnessing all this, Tapish purrs with upset tone, he glanced back at Hrida, appeared relaxed while sleeping and if he ignored the scene before him, eventually the shadow /Shawmy will surely attack her since she is the main target of that creepy greedy essence.

Tapish growls in low dangerous tone looking outside the window, he lands on the floor and sprints to Hall room without making any loud noise, his keen eyes searched the whole room for any loophole for him to escape.

He flashes a cat smirk when he found the spot, he somehow managed to slide through narrow ventilator above the main door, he safely exited out of the building complex.

He smoothly sneaked on through safe spots to warn the disguised officers regarding Shawmys presence.

Tapish became their Shawmy indicator helping the officers detect the Shawmy by sensing the negative energy around them.

Meanwhile, Hrida slept without having any knowledge that Tapish slipped into the danger outside. Many armed disguised officers were turned Shawmys, but then they were put in sleep state.

The number of active and unaffected disguised officers is decreasing one by one while the shadows & Shawmys weren't affected at all.

At police station, the unaffected disguised officers are worried and a little bit scared about how things will turn out and how would they defeat this unnatural being and protect the civilians from those shadow.

Lakshman, Dhansi ji and Kritak were getting ready for entering into the danger zone with Plan B (Plan B- Protecting and guarding in front of houses )they have decided to play the role of protector rather than fighter for safety of civilians.

The whole city is well lit with bright stadium lights and none of the region is devoid of light, the shadow's hesitation can be seen on the bright regions but even after this physical boundaries, they can't guard the civilian's mental thoughts, feeling and energy that they are carrying in the soul.

Just like ship, if any part of the ship has even a single whole, then it is mostly going to sink, similarly in this case, even if there is small mess of negativity growing /living within humans then even physical boundaries won't be able to stop the rise of Shadows looking larger and larger blinding the entire light in the city.

Hrida wakes up screaming, she pants heavily and her eyes glistening with tears, her eyes darted around searching for someone/something.

She rambles with anxious tone, " Tapish, Shashi, Navya, Lakshhman bhaiya, Soma, where are you all? Did… Kali took you away from me.

No!... Tthiss... can't happen.

No.. No..no I won't let you take my loved ones away from me.

I won't.. Did you hear that! I nneed… I need to find them.

Furthermore, I need to hurry, I can't sit still in my home while my loved ones are in danger.

And I even don't know whether Soma and Shashi reached home or not and Navya Di is also outside. "

She switched on the light and didn't find Tapish in the bedroom, She calls out for Tapish but still he didn't appear, she called him twice and thrice but still no response, she searched the whole apartment ,but still, she didn't find Tapish anywhere.

She checks every window and doors, and all of them were locked and tightly closed, Hrida's eyebrows raised in confusion, she again checked the whole apartment, but the result was same.

Hrida realizes something, she hurriedly checked for any hole or open space to escape, and she found a narrow open ventilator above the main door.

Hrida took notice of the current time, it is past 2 am, her face appeared uptight, serious and tensed , she couldn't think of anything at the moment, she just wanted to endlessly run and just forget everything.

Her thoughts were converting into negative and pessimistic, she felt herself drowning in the sea of overpowering waves roaring to swallow her in.

She knew at this time, the shadows power has the upper hand than human beings because human beings are unconscious and helpless in sleep state.

The best time for Shawmys/Shadows to attack while the humans are helpless and unconscious.

Hrida knew that she has to step outside with full and proper preparation,so she packed her backpack with medical kit, protective bracelets, notebook with mantras written, torchlight, metal scale, scissors, water bottle and many tools that will come in handy.

She stomped out of the building without hesitation, sheathed in full cloth sweater top and comfy pants underneath the thick trench coat.

She is stealthily walking through the streets like a spy lurking in the shade of hidden spots, but her surrounding is bathed in pure shining silvery lights, calming her nerves, soothing to her eyes and sparking up the flame of hope in her heart.

She hasn't found any sign of Shawmy/Shadow yet, but she did hear low snickers, creepy laughter behind her, chills ran through her spine, she chanted God's name while progressing forward.

Hrida ponders for a moment, " What If I contact Shashi and Soma to join with me to find Navya Didi, Tapish and Lakshman sir, it would strengthen our team power against those shadow minions.

Waitttt…How can I forget that they haven't contacted me/send me message that they are safe and at home.

They are also in… Danger* gasps*

I have to be wise and smart for the sake of finding and protecting them."

Hrida's eyes were burning like a roaring candle flame, her stature screaming stubbornness and willing determination to not give up, hands curled into fist.

On the other side, Lakshman, Kimaya, Navya and rest officers on their assigned locations, defending from the shadow attacks and managed to keep themselves safe and also protected their disguised officers from Shawmys and Shadows successfully.

Nevertheless, the rising number of shadow /Shawmy couldn't be controlled or stopped, the police officers, the disguised officers, all were doing everything that favored residents safety.

They didn't care about their lives first, even didn't think of their own families, they had only motto to perform the duty ; to guard the city's people even though group of police officers has been reducing to even lesser number.

As they were appreciating this small achievement of keeping the civilian's safety at any cost, the temporary moment of peace vanished when they heard a scream, then another scream, the police officers became alert, were looking here and there, they hurriedly searched nearby.

The scream is followed by lights switching off as well, the scream is followed by scream after scream, the officers are impatiently searching everywhere, their ears ringing with unbearable pain hearing the cry of suffering.

The officers are rushing here and there with confused and surprised expressions about how these shadows/Shawmys get access to residents houses even after their strict police barriers and guarding every housing area of the city without taking a break.