Sometimes, something just kicks men out of their minds, right down to the end of the line where only the mindless survive. I rewinded to the bloody riots. Your religion was your salvation, the fastest and surest way to reach god. God was waiting for you outside, his arms outstretched ready to take you back. Away from this world where his children drank each others blood and burnt their bones to ashes. All you needed to do was to smear the ashes on your forehead with a drop of blood in the centre, so that your god could recognize you, and go fight. I did just that.

I had never been religious in my life before. I had graduated in biology with honors from the Government College. Then I proceeded to work for a Government Agency that did agricultural research. I had worked up my way through the ranks over the years and now had my own room with a working air conditioner. Government jobs gave you a feeling of false contentment that murders your ability to dream. The bribes, the allowances, the respect, the job stability, not to mention the endless amount of time you get everyday to read all the newspapers and magazines that reaches your office, it all made you feel so good about yourself that you almost puked with satisfaction.
 
The town where I lived in wasn’t the same as my job; there was so much of scope for dreaming. A vague smell of fear always lurked around in the town. Somehow I always felt that things would just snap one day. I look around and I see overwhelming unity, false smiles, politeness that would put the Swiss to shame. It was all too perfect to be happening. Man wasn’t made this way; at least nature didn’t intend to make him that way. Man was not designed for peace, he was designed for power. Society was just a way to get together a crowd so that one person could wield power over the remaining. And for quite some time now, I could not see any semblance of power in the town. It felt as if nobody felt hungry anymore. And then one morning it snapped. The thread that held the town together broke. I wasn’t surprised. It went on for days, the riots. Each day filled the air with more and more smoke and violence. Working for the Government doesn’t make you less human than others. I felt the fear too.

My neighbor had been found dead outside his house, he had gone to get some food, the poor guy. He was a glutton, ate as much a family of five would. Somebody had told him greed would kill him one day. It did. I lived in constant fear, getting my throat slit and dying was not a very appealing thought. That’s how they had killed the glutton; I heard that he bled enough to transfuse a small buffalo.

There were two clans in my town, the Orthodoxies and the Modernists. Mostly they were atheists cos they never believed in themselves leave alone god. The orthodoxies in my town were a crazy lot, inspired totally by their chief who kept hearing voices inside of his head. Any other country and they would have thrown him in a mental asylum. The modernists on the other hand were a more agreeable lot, used their brains more than their hands. Too cunning their chief was, felt like god had taken some of the grey matter from the orthodoxies and filled it inside the chief’s head.

I thought all I had to do was to keep quiet and survive this. I closed my eyes hoping I would fall asleep and wake up from this bad dream. But I can’t possibly sleep! Who will protect my children?? Oh I didn’t tell you about them. They are sleeping in the corner, so be very still. The glutton told me they were dead. I would have killed him myself, but then those morons outside got him first. I had kept their bodies with me crazily hoping they might suddenly sit up and call out for me. But they looked so pale. It was as if there was no life in them, maybe the glutton was right. I felt like waking up my children and asking them if they were dead. I couldn’t see their faces properly; most of it looked pulpy with some white stuff protruding out. Guess those were the bones that they talked about in biology class. 

Biology was my favorite subject, did I ever tell you that I have a biology honors? Or that the lower half of your nose is just cartilage and no bone. I broke mine when a cricket ball hit me. It’s still ain’t straight my nose. It’s funny now that I think about it, broken nose and a single black eye. I think I would go crazy by the time the riots end. I keep hearing the screams all the time, its as if it comes from inside of my head. They are madmen I say, burning and slaughtering whatever they find. I suddenly heard footsteps outside my corridor, Nooo they were coming for me! Oh god ! I reached out for my gun. Shit they were banging the door now. Pounding it, bang! bang! thudd! tong! tong! TONG! Someone was using iron rods to bang on the door! TONG! TONG! TONG! It wouldn’t last so much of assault for long I tell you. 

They are going to kill me, just like they killed that guy next door. Slit the throat and bleed me. Ya bleed me to death, atleast the glutton would have survived quite sometime for someone to save him, but skinny me! No, I can’t die now and leave my children helpless. I need to survive; I need to kick some reason into these madmen's heads. All of them they needed someone like me to put some sense into them. I am going to do that! And do you know how? I am going to go out and I am going to kill both their chiefs. Yes! That was it! When you do something for the larger good it is always right! So many have been killed, two more wouldn’t make a difference now would it? I could hear the door cracking down. I reminded myself to fix it once I killed these guys. I calmly loaded my gun with my bullets. Its a shotgun. Its got a wide target approach, cos it spits out multiple bullets at different angles. Very effective when you are dealing with groups of people. I guessed atleast 2-3 guys were breaking my door. Well, they were in for a surprise I tell you. A huge thud! The door had been broken, I scrambled and hid behind the sofa, I could hear footsteps everywhere, tip tap tip tap, Clatter Clatter! 

Silence! Has anyone told you that the most deafening sound on earth is silence! It blocks your ear, feels as if someone pushed cotton inside your ears and hoped you wouldn’t notice it. 5 seconds! 10 seconds! Shit not a single sound, had they seen me?? Were they waiting for me to get up so that they could cut my head clean?? 15 seconds! I was sweating, could they smell it and home in on me? ; I could feel my heart beats getting louder. I could literally hear it, what if they hear it too! 20 seconds! I couldn’t wait anymore! I sprang out from behind the sofa and turned ready to fire!

I saw 3 people, but they didn’t look like madmen, white coats and all. Wait, I have seen them somewhere! They looked like...like. Doctors! Doctors! Ohh these were the guys who stuck needles into you! They were worse than the madmen I tell you. They slowly approached me, like how hyenas closes in for the kill. Giggling and laughing at their prey’s plight. I knew I was outnumbered, But I had my gun. I grinned. And then I opened fire! It was powerful my shot gun, the recoil threw me back on the floor. I felt two firm, strong hands pulling me up.

How the hell do they survive! These doctors they had sold their soul to the devil I say. Its the same every time! I shoot and they somehow survive! The soulless hooligans! They took me out of the building, I turned around and read the board hoping they would have changed the name of the building at least. It read The State Asylum for the Mentally Affected. Same old board, same old building, same old story. But then I changed the script a little bit this time, I grinned and walked with them, with just the needle tip of the syringe protruding out of my left hand.