As the voice in his dream continued to shout "Kill them all, kill them all, kill them all," he abruptly woke up at 3:52 a.m., taking a deep breath and looking around his room.
His gaze landed on the photos strewn across his table and walls, and a sudden realization hit him.
Without wasting any time, he grabbed his phone and called his partner, urgently recounting what he had just discovered.
With some aspects of the case becoming clearer, the question of who was responsible for the deaths still loomed over Arun's mind.
The investigation could only move forward with one lead - the professor who had departed the university a decade ago.
But there were no records of his whereabouts after he left, and nobody seemed to know why he had given up such a lucrative job.
The process of obtaining a court order to access the relevant database would take at least fifteen days, adding further frustration to the already complicated case.
He resolved to scrutinize the paintings himself for any clues, but he remained skeptical and dismissed it as mere happenstance.
As a sudden impulse struck him, he decided to investigate the evidence room for any valuable clues. He secured the door and glanced at his watch; it was 4:34 in the morning.
Oddly enough, the weather outside seemed to be in turmoil, perhaps mirroring the turmoil within his own mind.
A sudden gust of wind had whipped past, leaving everything in a momentary frenzy. Still, before he could register the stillness that ensued, he was already rushing for the department office.
As he approached the highway, a car ahead blocked his path, unresponsive to his persistent honking.
The car sat in darkness, abandoned and haphazardly parked on the road. He shouted at the vehicle, hoping the person responsible would hear him and move it out of the way, but there was no response.
"Hey, can you please move the car aside?" he called out, his voice echoing into the silence. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
As he glanced around, he realized that he was not alone in his predicament. Numerous other cars were strewn haphazardly across the highway, seemingly abandoned. "Is anyone there?" he called out desperately, hoping for a response. "Please move your car out of the way"
"What the f*ck?"
Finally, he stepped out of his car and walked towards the vehicle blocking his path. As he peered into the window, he intended to tell the driver to move the car, only to find that the vehicle was unoccupied.
Arun was at a standstill, unable to proceed any further, so he attempted to call his partner Amit for assistance.
However, after dialing Amit's number, he was met with an unwelcome message: "The call was unreachable."
Despite multiple attempts, his efforts to reach Amit or the chief were in vain.
He tried calling both numbers several times, but was met with the same disappointing message: "The call was unreachable."
Despite his persistence, Arun was unable to make contact with anyone, leaving him feeling isolated and alone.
For the first time, he began to wonder if the problem lay with his own device, but the nagging feeling in his gut suggested that something else was amiss.
He turned around to survey the scene behind him, and was struck by an eerie realization: there was not a single car owner in sight.
It was an unsettling sight, leaving him with a sense of unease and foreboding.
The previous day, he had traversed the same highway without incident. The traffic flowed smoothly and without interruption, making the current scene all the more baffling.
He couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of construction or maintenance work going on that he was unaware of.
Yet, the sight of so many abandoned vehicles left him with a sense of disquiet, prompting a flurry of questions in his mind.
Why would anyone simply leave their car behind? What was happening on this stretch of road that he was not privy to?
Putting his concerns aside for the moment, he made the decision to turn his car around and search for an alternate route to his destination.
As the first rays of dawn began to appear, the inky blackness of night gradually faded away, revealing a world that was becoming increasingly visible and clear.
The morning light illuminated the world around him, casting a warm glow that signaled a new beginning.
As he continued his journey, he couldn't help but notice the eerie emptiness of the world around him.
Despite the early hour, he had expected to encounter at least a few early risers or fellow travelers on the road, yet there was not a single soul in sight.
The once-bustling tea stall he passed by was now devoid of its usual patrons, its silence a stark contrast to the lively chatter that would normally fill the air.
He struggled to make sense of the inexplicable situation he found himself in, he couldn't help but wonder aloud, "What's happening? Where has everyone gone?"
Apart from repeated attempts, he was still unable to reach his colleague, Amit, adding to the growing sense of unease that he felt.
Upon arriving at his destination, he was surprised to find that the gate, which he had expected to be locked, was actually wide open, as though beckoning him inside.
With trepidation, he cautiously stepped through the gate, only to find that the once-bustling place was now completely deserted, with no signs of life anywhere in sight.
"Hello?"
"Is anybody here?"
The department was known to operate round the clock with a bustling crowd of twenty to thirty officials. Yet, at this hour, there was not a soul in sight.
As he searched the entire department, Arun couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that had settled over him.
Where had everyone gone?
The computer being on and the printer running, there was no sign of any of his colleagues. "Hello!" he called out, his voice echoing through the empty halls.
The silence that answered him only intensified his growing unease. It was as if the entire city had been swallowed up, leaving no trace of human life behind.
He made his way to the evidence room, hoping to find something that could help him. Despite his efforts, he couldn't find anything useful after half an hour of searching.
However, he did stumble upon another piece of artwork.
As Arun took the item and removed it from the box, he suddenly heard a noise - the sound of footsteps approaching from outside the room.
Trembling, Arun retrieved his gun from its holster and cautiously advanced toward the source of the sound. The door creaked open and he stepped outside, brandishing his weapon in the direction of the noise.
"Who's there?" he called out, his voice quivering with fear. "Come out and show yourself!"
His voice echoed through the whole building and he could clearly listen to it but again no one answered his call.
The darkness lies in front of him and he barely makes himself to walk through it.
The wind start blowing with more speed as he walked toward it.
The weather behaving strangely and certain abnormal voices start coming out from nowhere.
"What the hell is going on?"
Arun was left utterly speechless and his mind was consumed with confusion and disbelief as he searched the entire floor and found no one, despite being certain that he had heard the sound of footsteps.
He couldn't help but question his reality, wondering if he was trapped in some kind of dream or hallucination.
Arun pinched himself to determine whether the events unfolding were real or merely a dream. As he felt the physical sensation, he confirmed that the situation was indeed a grim reality.
As Arun began descending the stairs, a sudden, earth-shattering earthquake struck. He tumbled down the stairs, rolling over and over until he found himself lying on the ground with a sharp pain at the back of his head.
Blood began to pour from the wound on the back of his head, but Arun didn't even notice the pain.
He struggled to his feet and made a dash for his car. Just as he reached the front door, another earthquake struck, much more intense than before, shaking the surrounding area violently.
The walls began to crumble and the earth's surface tore apart, causing Arun to stagger as he struggled to make his way to his car. The sky had turned a deep, intense orange and the wind was blowing at an incredible speed.
As he grasped the handle with his injured hand and pulled it back, his eyes suddenly widened and his entire body froze. His hand shook uncontrollably as he realized what he had just witnessed. Overwhelmed by the shock, he slipped into a state of unconsciousness, falling into a coma.
With an immense amount of fear that had already consumed him, he slowly turned his head to the left to take a look, and in that moment, all the pain he felt from his injuries became senseless in front of what he just witnessed.