Nature in Hiding

15- Back to square one

Ahana's eyes fluttered a little as she came to consciousness. She felt someone holding her hand. Thinking it was Neer, she turned left to comfort him, but was left gaping at the sight.

She jerked her hand off and sat up, before shouting, "What the hell are you doing?"

Gyaan was annoying but she never thought he was a pervert, who would take advantage of her unconscious form.

"Whoa! Calm down, it isn't what you are thinking," Gyaan muttered hastily, raising his chained hands in surrender.

Seeing the chains Ahana got reminded that they were deceived and captured.

"What were you doing?" She asked again, but this time a lot calmly.

"Healing you, what else," Gyaan stated in a 'it's so obvious tone.'

"You shouldn't waste your energy on healing me," Ahana muttered, leaning back towards the wall, to support her back.

"My power won't be of any help to fight against these people. It is you who needs to be on top of your energy for us to even have a chance to escape," Gyaan said.

Ahana's eyebrows raised at his words, "The chances of escape are low?"

"Hmmm," he hummed as he got back on his bed.

"But we can move. We aren't tied down to the bed. So obviously we can do something," Ahana muttered, shocked that the one with immense knowledge was giving up before her.

"We aren't tied down, but we are on leash. I can only walk up till your bed," Gyaan informed.

His bed was on the side of the wall. So Ahana's bed was the only direction he could move. While Ahana could move between Avan's bed and Gyaan's bed as she was sandwiched in between. Same case with Avan, who was in the middle of Ahana and Neer. But considering his height, Gyaan guessed that he wouldn't be able to walk even that much. They all were chained to their beds, who were adjacent to each other.

"What about Sameera? She is closest to the door," Ahana asked hopefully.

Gyaan shook his head, feeling bad as he delivered the bad news.

"If the length of chains is the same for all of us, then no. Sameera wouldn't be able to reach the door."

"What is the use if I can reach the door? It's not like I would be able to leave without you all," Sameera said from her bed.

"Moreover, reaching the door and being able to get out of the room are two different things," Neer grumbled as he sat up, massaging his head.

Gyaan and Ahana didn't realize that others had woken up while they were talking.

"Are you all okay?" Gyaan asked about their condition as it took them a long time to wake up.

"Okay? Well as okay we can be in this situation," Neer answered, before his eyebrows furrowed when he heard Sameera chuckling.

"Sameera," they called out hesitantly.

"Look around guys. Look at the white walls, white beds and chains. I am back to being a lab rat again.

"All this time you all were more experienced than me about how the world worked. But now, this is my expertise," she said with a crazy glint in her eyes.

"20 years of experience. Can you compete with it? Wow!! All the efforts to get out and gain freedom, only to become a lab rat again. I am back to square one. Woohooo!!" She laughed hysterically, before falling into tears.

Neer moved from his bed to comfort her. "We will get out of here, I promise."

"Yup," Ahana agreed, "If you have experience of being captured then you also have the experience of getting out."

"Moreover, you did it without powers in the past. But this time you have powers as well as us with you. Don't give up Sameera," Gyaan added.

Sameera wiped up her tears and looked at them with determination, "You are right. We can do it. I am definitely more experienced than these capturers. They wouldn't know what hit them."

Avan who was silent until now spoke up with guilt clear in his voice. "I am sorry. It is all because of me. If I hadn't urged you all to take the juice, nothing would have happened," he apologized, joining his hands to ask for forgiveness.

Gyaan shook his head, before saying, "No kiddo. It's not your fault. This situation wouldn't have happened if I hadn't brought you all to this hospital.

"I should have been more careful. I was thinking of ways to not get caught by the scientists, but I totally forgot that doctors also do experiments.

"If only I had saved energy to heal Ahana, this wouldn't have happened. This all happened because of me."

"Now stop with the apologies," Ahana muttered as she stood up. "Thinking about what if's isn't going to help us. We all are at fault here. So let's just stop feeling guilty."

"No, you all shouldn't take the blame for this. I am supposed to be the brain of this group. It is entirely my fault. You and Avan were hurt. And almost all of you were exhausted. It was my duty to bring you all to a safe place until you could be able to save yourselves," Gyaan said, belittling himself.

"Your responsibility? You aren't our leader to take charge and keep us safe," Ahana snorted, "If you made a mistake then we all made that mistake too by agreeing to it."

Gyaan opened his mouth to counter, but Neer interrupted. "Chill out, Gyaan. Mistakes happen. Let's not waste time dwelling upon it."

"Exactly. Stop wasting time by feeling guilty," Ahana ordered, "As you said that you are the brains of our group. So stop crying over spilled milk and start running your brain.

"Think of some way to get out of here, while we all will take rest and preserve energy," saying this Ahana laid down on her bed, leaving the laughing elements and a gaping peacemaker behind.

Gyaan's mouth was hung open in shock, before he joined the laughing session, understanding what Ahana did.

In her own unique way, the fire girl comforted him.