If I Have to Be a Soldier by Nikhil J. Alva

Author:Nikhil J. Alva
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: null
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 2

Sammy and Sena had found it difficult to navigate the steep mountain trail in the darkness. Sammy had struggled, but he’d kept pace with Sena, never letting his guard down even for a moment. He knew if he did, Sena would attack him, as he had attacked Paul, and disappear into the darkness. Neither prospect appealed to him. When the moonlight finally broke through the thick cloud cover and lit up the mountainside, the two men stopped to take stock of where they were. In the distance, Sena spotted a cave in the mountainside, below the trail they’d been trekking on, and scrambled down towards it.

The cave appeared to have been recently used. Its mud floor had wood ash and sheep droppings scattered all over it, bearing testimony to the many fires shepherds had lit in the past to keep them warm and protect their flock from predators. Sena set himself up in a corner of the cave, on an old bench shaped from a tree trunk. He knew he had to get away from Sammy. But he couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes.

Sammy built a fire with the twigs and branches he had collected from around the cave. He sat on a large flat rock and opened the old man’s bag. Inside it was a metal tiffin box with sanpiau – rice porridge mixed with meat and vegetables – and a few rolls of chhangban, the local bread, wrapped in an old newspaper. A recycled glass Coca-Cola bottle, with a wooden stopper, was filled with zu. Sammy pushed the sanpiau and chhangban towards Sena. ‘Eat,’ he said. Sena shrugged and helped himself to the food. He was famished. Other than the rice and dal the prison doctor in Lunglei had fed him the previous night, he hadn’t eaten in days. Sammy pulled out the cork stopper and sipped the zu, watching Sena gobble down the food. When the food and the beer were finished, Sammy lit up two cigarettes and cautiously passed one to Sena.

‘Who is Che?’ Sammy asked. ‘Why did Paul say you were Che, a cold-blooded killer?’

Sena looked up at Sammy sharply. ‘That’s funny coming from a man who was about to shoot me in the head in cold blood.’

‘You haven’t answered my question.’

‘Che is one of my comrades, a guerrilla commander. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of him before. He’s famous in these parts. I don’t know why Paul would think I was Che. My guess is he was just making excuses to murder me.’

‘I haven’t heard of him.’ Sammy said. ‘Clearly, there’s a lot I have to catch up on.’

‘Maybe you should start by surrendering at the Lunglei police station, where there’s an FIR registered against you for raping Martha, which has been pending for over eight years now,’ snarled Sena.

‘Shut up, Sena. You know I didn’t rape her. I loved Martha. And she loved me. You knew that. And yet, you lied.’

Sena shuffled nervously on the wooden bench, puffing on his cigarette. He finally said: ‘If you were innocent, you wouldn’t have fled like a thief.

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