Nature in Hiding

24- Faking Death

Sameera brought the masks and a few scarfs just to be safe. Now the only thing left was to inform Ravi and Maanvi about their whereabouts. They all had collectively decided to keep the researchers out, to protect them. The media's reach was strong and one wrong move would turn the researchers' lives into hell. However, Ravi and Maanvi, being the media people themselves knew the in and out of it, to get away safely.

"Go and contact them, and then go into hiding until they arrive," Gyaan said.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Sameera asked, as the way he spoke seemed like they were parting ways.

"You three go first. Ahana and I will join you later," Gyaan answered.

"Whoa! Why me? Why should I wait with you? I will go with them," Ahana said, weirded out by his suddenness.

"There's some work," Gyaan said with gritted teeth.

"Gyaan, just take me with you," Neer said, coming to stand between Gyaan and Ahana, before she could beat him to a pulp.

"Yeah, Neer is a better option. If you go with Ahana, then you two will just end up fighting," Sameera agreed, knowing their history.

"It's not negotiable. I will be taking Ahana with me. You three go and be safe. We will join you soon," Gyaan said firmly.

Seeing his serious face, the elements didn't argue much.

"Alright, be safe," Neer said, patting Ahana's shoulder, before leaving with Sameera and Avan.

"Why me?" Ahana grumbled, looking at the now silhouettes of the other elements, who were far away from them.

"Because you are the only one who is strong enough to withstand the consequences of what we are going to do next," Gyaan answered in a sombre tone.

"Huh?" Ahana's eyebrows furrowed as she heard the underlying dread in his voice.

"Once the doctors realize that we have escaped, they will come back searching for us. And they wouldn't be the only ones. Scientists, Government, businessmen, media...there are too many to count. From whom and until when we will run. One day we will get caught again."

"Then, how can we escape all this? You have already thought of something, right?" Ahana asked, knowing that Gyaan was already one step ahead.

"Hmmm," Gyaan nodded, before speaking, "That's where your need comes up.

"Remember the time when you suspected my intentions, you said that the other three elements are innocent beings who can't even hurt a fly, but you aren't like them. If need arises you could...you could..."

"You want me to kill."

Gyaan winced at Ahana's blunt words. It was his plan, but yet he wasn't able to muster up his courage to speak up the words.

Gyaan nodded slowly, before explaining, "Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. But there's a high chance that someone would die."

Ahana breathed out, taking in what Gyaan was asking her to do. It took her a few seconds, which felt hours to Gyaan, before she looked at him with determination.

Clasping her hands, she asked, "So what's the plan?"

"It's simple. Burn the laboratory and make them believe that we died."

"Seeing that the doctors are out and there are only a few staff members inside, there would be less casualties if we burn it now," Ahana said.

"True. But do we burn the whole building or just the room we were held in?" Gyaan questioned.

"The whole building, otherwise their whole attention would be to put out the fire of the room. They wouldn't be able to extinguish it but they will find out that the room was empty," Ahana replied instantly.

"Makes sense. And we should start burning it from the other side. So that they go there first. They think we all died because they couldn't reach us on time because of trying to extinguish the fire on the other side of the building."

"Sounds good," Ahana quipped, before looking over at him with a smirk.

They both discussed burning the laboratory and people like they were discussing what to make for dinner.

Although Gyaan and Ahana were always on the opposite ends, their mind always worked in sync when the question was about protecting the other elements.

They were discussing a little more about how to enter and what to do, when an important question came to Ahana's mind. Something that could ruin their whole plan.

"Won't they count the people who died in the fire? Even if we were burned to death, there has to be our dead body."

Before Gyaan could open her mouth, Ahana replied to her own question. "Do you think we can manage to get some dead bodies from the graveyard? No digging up would be a hassle, Avan isn't even here. Maybe a morgue at the hospital would be better. Let's bring five dead bodies and place them on our beds. What's say?"

Gyaan looked her dead in the eye, wondering if he made the right choice by bringing her.

"You watch too many movies," he muttered with a shake of his head. "We don't have enough time for these shenanigans."

"Okay, I get it. Don't glare at me," Ahana made a face, "Although my idea was far stretched, the problem wasn't. We need some physical evidence to show we are dead."

"But who said that physical evidence has to be human bodies?" Gyaan questioned rhetorically.

Ahana just raised her eyebrows in question.

Gyaan smirked, before explaining, "We have already convinced the doctors that we don't have blood flowing in our bodies."

"Yeah...so?" Ahana asked, still not getting his plan.

"How would they know how the elements would decompose? Who can guarantee that elements would leave their body behind when they die?" Gyaan asked with a smirk.

"No one knows a shit about us. So we can make them believe whatever we want," Ahana said, finally understanding his plan.

"Now we just need to think about what we will place instead of our bodies. Something that would make them believe it was us within a second," Gyaan said, as he mulled over the possibilities.

"Simple, our elements," Ahana said with a shrug, before bending down and pulling out a dying plant.

"As the dying bodies start rotting and smelling, we also need our dying elements to prove our death," Ahana said with a smirk, before taking out the rest of the money they had left with after buying the masks.

Gyaan's face lit up with the idea and he too joined Ahana in the process of gathering the evidence of their death.

A dying plant for Avan, stale water from gutter for Neer, a tethered book for Gyaan, ashes for Ahana, and last but not the least a fart bomb to create a horrid smell for Sameera.