After spending some more time at Nancy's place, Alisha decided that it was time for her to leave. It was past six and her house was situated on the outskirts, distant from the hustle-bustle of the city so didn't want to stay back for long as it would take her more than an hour to reach back home. She picked up her handbag and bade her goodbye to Nancy and her mom before leaving.
While riding her scooty[1] back home, she realized that she might get stuck in heavy traffic as it was the office hour. Therefore to avoid traffic, she took a shortcut which passed through an abandoned route to reach home quickly.
The route was rumored to be haunted based on some tittle tattles of people feeling some supernatural presence there as it had witnessed a lot of accidents on it in recent years, making people reluctant to use it.
Alisha being the kind who didn't believe in ghosts often took the route as it was much more convenient than riding on the main road during the rush hours.
Humming the tune of her latest favorite Bollywood track, she was flying the scooty without a care in the world. It was only then out of nowhere that a man whose face was covered with bruises and clothes were all stained with blood, appeared in the middle of the road out of nowhere.
In the fear of preventing herself from running her scooty into him, Alisha immediately pressed the breaks and the two-wheeler halted with a screeching sound just a few inches away from the man.
Had it been someone else, they would have run away in the fear of being tricked or attacked at such a desolate path, especially when it was getting dark. But having confidence in her karate skills, and seeing that the man was injured and would not be able to harm her, she decided to confront him.
With anger bubbling inside her, she parked the scooty at the spot and got off it to scream at the man. "Did your first attempt to die failed, that you had to now jump out of nowhere in front of my scooty?! "What is the hurry to die you fool?! You know Iā aah!" She immediately jumped back.
"What are you doing?" Alisha was shocked to the core when the man suddenly pulled out a pistol from inside his jacket and pointed it straight at her forehead. All her anger had disappeared by now.
"Help my boss." The man spoke in an ice-cold tone. Even though he was injured, his voice didn't show the pain.
"Huh?" The poor girl was too shocked that she didn't even realize that her hands had automatically risen in mid-air on reflex upon seeing the gun.
"Look, I mean no harm to you. Just help me take my boss to the hospital and I will let you go."
"Hospital?" Her brain had stopped working upon seeing the gun and she even forgot that the man's clothes were stained with blood.
"If you ask another question, I will empty the bullets in your head. Just take us to the hospital."
"Al-Alright. Let's go." She immediately reached for her scooty, but the man was faster and immediately pulled out the keys before she could sit on the vehicle.
"Just stay here and I will bring him over." Saying this the man turned around, slightly limping to walk to a nearby building that was almost a ruin.
"Um mister, how about you let me go and I will lend you my scooty and you can take your boss wherever you want."
The man was silent.
"You can also keep it if you want." She negotiated further. She was afraid that this scary looking man might kill her.
The man pressed his lips in a thin line before saying, "I don't know how to ride it. Just help me save my boss please and you have my word that I won't hurt even a hair on your head."
For some reason, Alisha believed the man and nodded her head. "Alright, I will wait for you here."
The man nodded her head and disappeared into the building. He came out a few minutes later dragging out another man who was unconscious and had a big patch of blood formed on his shirt near the shoulder.
From the looks of it, he was shot by a bullet.
[1] In India scooty is a general term for scooters (a two-wheeler vehicle) especially designed for women to ride.