Chapter 22: The Eel, the Kick, and the girl Called Nivetha
Beneath the Sea — Depth: 40 Meters
Akash swam through the eerie green-blue haze of the deep. His oxygen was half-depleted. His arms ached. And clutched tightly against his chest was a sealed nuclear container weighing over 30 kilos.
Akash (muttering underwater):
> "Murga biryani… mutton chukka… sweet corn soup… if I get out alive, I'm eating a buffet for a week…"
The sea floor was cold and silent. He could barely make out the shadows above. But he was close. The surface wasn't far.
Just as his hand reached toward the faint shimmer of sunlight above—
ZAAAAPP!
An electric current jolted through the water. Akash twitched violently, eyes wide in shock.
From the side, a monstrous electric eel, long as a motorbike, slithered toward him — its skin crackling with live voltage.
On Shore —
Krishnan, still staring at the sea, suddenly stood up straight. The old soldier in him awakened.
> "Something's wrong."
Sid and Shiva:
> "What?! What do you mean?"
Without answering, the old man grabbed a nearby steel pipe, aimed like a javelin, and hurled it with terrifying accuracy.
The spear sliced through the air, pierced the waves—
THUNK! Straight through the eel's body.
Then he jumped in, body surprisingly agile, diving like a man decades younger.
Underwater — Seconds Later
Akash was floating, limp. The eel dead. Nuclear rod still in hand.
Krishnan grabbed him, kicked upward with strength no one expected, and burst out of the sea dragging Akash behind him.
Back on Shore
Akash lay motionless. Sid and Shiva rushed to him, checking breath, pulse—nothing.
Shiva (panicked):
> "Is he… gone?!"
Sid (frantic):
> "No, no. C'mon Akash. Wake up, man!"
Suddenly—
WHAM!!
A solid kick landed on Akash's ribs.
From Krishnan.
Sid:
> "What the—?!"
Shiva:
> "He's unconscious, not a broken fan!"
Then—
Akash's eyes snapped open. He jolted up, coughing water, blinking—
And then, for some inexplicable reason, screamed:
> "NIVETHA!!!"
Everyone froze.
Sid and Shiva stared.
Shiva (bewildered):
> "Who's Nivetha?"
Akash (gasping):
> "I don't know. That kick hit me so hard I saw my past, present, future… and some girl named Nivetha!"
They burst out laughing.
Even Krishnan chuckled.
> "You're alive. That's what matters. We have the fuel."
Akash glared at the old man, rubbing his ribs.
> "One day, I swear, that kick will be the end of me."
Sid patted his back, still laughing.
> "But today… it saved your life."
As the sun began to dip and the sea quieted behind them, for just a moment — they all forgot the war, the pressure, the fear.
They just laughed — three teachers and one crazy old soldier — standing on a secret island, holding a nuclear rod, soaked to the bone… and somehow alive.