Ambush!

Prologue

“That seems to be a nice country. It is relatively clean, the citizens work hard and there’s as much abundance there as in our country but it is much less crowded. Would you migrate there with me?”

Eric’s forefather had proposed migration to his eager bunch of followers and they had all migrated secretly one night carefully avoiding all border security measures. Generations had flourished after that migration. ___________________________

Unlike most of his tribe but very much like his forefather who initiated this migration, Eric was a keen observer. He was blessed with a rare wisdom and openness to change. He was aware of his qualities and also of the fact that most of his tribe did not possess even a fraction of his gifts.

Eric’s tribe carried a faulty gene that made them vulnerable to a reverse circadian rhythm – most of them slept naturally during the day but were wide awake after sunset. They made the most of this and worked night shifts. It was generally peaceful at nights. They could focus on their work with almost zero distractions. They had prospered in this country as their jobs were not greatly coveted here – the other citizens loved to sleep peacefully at night.

Once after a particularly long night at work, Eric overheard the dreaded words – he had heard of such operations before but hoped against hope that they were just baseless rumours – a chemical attack was being planned.

His worst fears came true. The country was being attacked at the behest of a cruel mastermind. He had heard it before – the operation would be covert – no one would die immediately. Nervous systems would get affected, circadian rhythms would be reversed and there would be a very gradual painless death. It was to be a thorough eradication. The weapons would be unleashed again in a few days to eradicate any survivors. And the sophisticated weaponry would leave no traces behind – with a very small half-life the chemical would disappear and no one would know that a chemical war had ever happened!

He ran to his brothers and sisters. He informed them.

“Let’s leave tonight. Let’s go back to the land of our forefathers.”

“Oh no! It is too crowded. Too dirty!”

“Yes, it is crowded, it is dirty even, but it is safe. We can migrate again to another country!”

Only a few heeded his words and left that very night. The rest stayed on…

The weapons were unleashed. Some of them perished immediately. The others, who were not really known for their intelligence still had a chance to leave but the nerve damaging effects of the chemical stunted whatever limited intelligence they possessed and they stayed on till they all died. ______________________________

Epilogue

The phone rang. "Hey! Where were you yesterday? I kept sending you messages but you weren't online! Your phone wasn't reachable either!"

"Oh...I had forgotten my phone in my purse and it had lost charge."

"You must be really busy to forget your phone in your purse, haha! You missed something, by the way... Marks and Spencer had a flash sale and can you imagine, they were giving a tote bag free for every purchase of 500!"

"Oh! I wanted a tote from M&S so badly! Missed it! I got so busy with the dead bodies!"

"What?"

"We got an eco-friendly, non-toxic pest control done two days back. They said, no knock down effect. As a result those zombie cockroaches kept creeping out during day time and dying all over the house! I have been vacuuming all day!"