I hadn’t made any plans on how I wanted to be a nuisance to the Cannibal. I don’t know why but somehow I had just assumed that he will know that I had not respected his warning. But, it seemed very stupid now. He was intelligent, all right, wait, was he? Did he really think so much, did he really have such intellect? Or was I mistaken? Was there another perfectly plausible explanation? Was I giving him too much credit for his survival or was it down to luck that he had? I forced myself to stop thinking about it anymore. I told myself that the thinking was done and the course of action had been decided. It was I who had suggested it and it is I who should stick to it. Right, I told myself; I need some action to take my mind off such things. What did I want? I wanted the Cannibal to know I was still around. How could I make it happen? Well, I first needed to ascertain what he will do next. Where will he attack or where will he hole up? Where can I go close enough so he knows and makes his move? I thought for a while and picked up some soil to gauge the direction of the wind. It was blowing from west to east so I proceeded east. I hoped the Cannibal would keep his record of attacking a spot that was downwind. Because I didn’t know if it was his usual habit or he had started following it after I came. If latter was the case he could change his method assuming that I wasn’t a threat anymore. I kept as close to the village boundaries as possible without actually moving out of the woods. It was agreed that the communication system will be kept functional. So, I would know if there was any action.
The entire day I kept prowling near the edge of the jungle. It was extremely tiring and boring work to be out alone. Very high level of concentration was required throughout the day as I couldn’t depend on anyone else to watch my back. Even if I wanted to take a break to drink water, I had to make sure that I first made it to a safe place or climbed a tree before I could do so. Also without Naren’s powerful presence it was just that bit harder to negotiate the obstacles in my path. But, otherwise the day was uneventful. And there wasn’t any action on the day as well.
I followed the same course of action for 3 days. There had been no killings in that time. Every day I kept moving farther and farther from the villages and in to the jungle. Then it was on the 4th day when I went pretty deep into the woods that I sensed his presence. Throughout the 4 days I had made sure that I took a comparatively safe path. Whenever I had moved in to the wind, I had made sure that I moved in such a way that I could watch my own back through my peripheral vision. When I detected his presence I had been moving through a comparatively open area – which I always preferred. I quickly scanned all the directions. There was a dense patch of vegetation in front and on the right hand side. It was some 50 meters distant from the path I was travelling on. So, in all that meant a distance of 70 to 80 meters from where I stood. As it was pretty much open ground everywhere else – there were trees around but it wasn’t too dense for me to see, only that patch was dense enough to conceal the Cannibal – I was sure he was watching me, concealed, from that patch. Since I had taken up the lonely vigil I always had the rifle in a ready to fire state so I didn’t have to release the safety catch. Initially I didn’t let it show that I knew where he was. And then suddenly I trained my rifle at the patch and let a shot fly. I was almost sure that I would hit nothing but a tree or two. I had fired the shot just to ruffle a bit of fur. Just to let him know that I knew. And sure enough, I sensed him turn his attentions elsewhere and move away. I still took no chance while moving past that patch though, and kept a wary eye on it even after I had passed it. Once I had passed the patch safely, I shot a few times in the air to let anyone who was listening to the shots know that I was alive and well. There was excitement in the Village when I returned for the night. But, it went down quickly after I explained what had happened.
So, now I knew that the Cannibal was aware of my presence. And I thought he had been aware of it for some time now. He was taking his time and watching my routine. He was planning and calculating like a cold blooded hunter that he was. I was sure he would be expecting me to continue my routine which was exactly the way I had planned for things to happen. If I continued my routine for a while he would plan accordingly. Also, I thought I had done enough by letting lose the shot somewhere in his vicinity to irritate and anger him. So, now I just needed to be patient and wait for his move. The only thing in my favor was that I knew it was coming and I could prepare myself. But, apart from that I was really no match for the Cannibal’s capabilities as a hunter.
It was the 6th day and the wind was again blowing from west to east. So I started on my way downwind. After walking to the eastern boundary of the last village – village 21 – I retraced my steps as usual. And then I saw it on the ground a little in front of me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so I took a closer look at the ground and I could see a few blood marks forming a trail. And a bit further on the trail I could see a distinct pugmark. The Cannibal had made a kill. And the surrounding quiet suggested that it wasn’t discovered yet. As I made to follow the trail, I discovered that the pugmark wasn’t the only one there were others as well scattered at irregular distances. But, the distance between two pugmarks was never so much that I could lose the trail. The Cannibal had made his move, he had set the trap. Now it was up to me to do my bit and fall into it. Before I set out on the trail I removed the magazine from my rifle and checked the trigger mechanism. The trigger could be pulled back smoothly and there was no rust or jamming in the firing mechanism either. I loaded the rifle again with the magazine and checked my telescopic sight again. Then I checked my spare bullets, there were enough of them. And only when I was sure I was as well prepared as I could be, I started on the trail.
It wasn’t a usual straight trail. Instead it was a twisted, serpentine trail. Another thing unusual about it was it was that it had a prepared quality about it. It was like somebody had deliberately left a trail for me to follow. It was broken just when it tended to become too easy to follow. Then it resumed just when you thought you had lost it. It was exactly how I had thought it will be, but despite that I had to admit it was very well done. It was disarming almost, because so much of it was through mostly open ground and not too dense forest. And it was very long. I was so completely engrossed in following the trail and making sure of my own safety that before I had realized it, the Sun had started to set in the west. I deliberated whether I should go on or go back. Eventually I decided, I will go with the trail for half an hour or so and if I get nothing, I will go back. Because, as it was, the trail was taking me towards west only – where I needed to go to be back in the Village. After another few minutes I came upon a spot from where I could see the eastern boundary of the grasslands. At that spot the trail had intercepted a path which lay parallel to the grasslands and along the south – north direction. From there the trail took right turn and went towards north on the pathway. The pathway looked vaguely similar to me. But for last 3 months or so I had traversed so much of the forest that every part now looked familiar to me. So, I took off after the trail on the pathway. And after another few minutes I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard somebody scream for his life. Another living victim, another trap. I took a deep breath and moved forward cautiously. I was relatively safe on the pathway for the time being. After moving forward a bit I realized why the terrain had seemed so familiar. I was very near to the spot where I had sensed the Cannibal for the first time. And as I was thinking about it I could see in front of me at some distance the overhanging rock. And below and a bit in front of the overhang I saw the person who had screamed – lying there, moaning. Ideal, I thought. Exactly the way I would have planned it. The Sun was setting and in an hour or two it would start getting dark. Everybody in the cat family had a great night sight but we humans did not. I had been walking for a whole day now and that too, without any food. I was tired. He had chosen a terrain that was to his advantage against an opponent who would have inferior vision in a while and who was very tired. And the final touch – the moaning man – was just the cherry this cake deserved. I just couldn’t leave him like that to his fate. It couldn’t have been better, I thought again. And I realized that it was going to be almost impossible for me to leave the jungle alive.
I looked around to take in the surroundings. It was just as I had seen them on the last occasion. I stood there, uncertain what to do. He was obviously waiting for me to make my way towards the injured man. And from what I could see, the Cannibal could have been hiding in either of the two spots. Up in the woods on the right side of the overhanging rock or in the dense woods immediately in front of the rock. The spot where the man was lying was ideal to attack from both the points. As I tried to decide what to do the man who had been lying on his back suddenly sat up. And I most nearly let out a scream of my own at the horrific site the man made. His whole front upper side from the neck to the stomach was torn apart to reveal raw flesh and ribs. There was no stomach to hold his intestines in as they spilled over in his lap. His face was ghastly pale and eyes reflected a terror the likes of which I had never seen in my life. He was constantly licking his parched lips. I had seen many ghastly scenes in my life. It came as an obvious side effect of having to track and photograph a tiger. I had often come across badly mauled animals but all of them had been dead. But this man was alive and terrified. When he saw me he almost shouted with surprising strength considering his state, “Please save me! Please take me away from here! Please! Please! Please!” And he started crying.
I stood where I was more out of shock than prudence. But even as I recovered my poise I realized this is exactly how it was planned. To lure me towards the man. To make me hurry so I dropped my guard and allowed him to get at me. I knew I was very close to doing just that. The feeling to go to the man and hold his hand and just say something comforting was so overwhelming that I really didn’t care what happened after that. But, some small part of my mind kept me from throwing caution to the wind. It kept telling of the consequence of doing that. And then the man said, “Water!” as he again collapsed on his back. But, there was no mercy for him as he kept rolling his head from side to side in pain and unconsciousness just wouldn’t come. This was the last straw for me. I now just had to go to him. He needed water and if I had even a little humanity left in me I had to give him water to drink. I looked around desperately and immediately found a way to appease the cautious part of me. I had found a safe spot near the man. If I could get there, I could at least give him some water.
And before I could change my mind, I ran. I ran as hard as I could towards the man. Tension rose in my chest as I neared the overhanging rock. With great effort I suppressed an urge to just close my eyes. And I braked hard as soon as I reached right below the rock and immediately trained my rifle in the jungle extending in front of the rock. I knew as long as I was right below the rock I was safe from the attack from over the rock. But I made a mistake, yet again. Because as soon as I was ready to shoot in the jungle, I heard something heavy land on my right – where the man was lying. I immediately swiveled and turned right in time to see the Cannibal scampering into the woods and let lose a series of shots after him. But he had been visible only for a fleeting moment and after that I had been firing after the sound of his footsteps. I stopped as the magazine emptied itself and the firing pin echoed hollowly. I immediately proceeded to reload the rifle as I was sure none of the shots – if any had hit its mark – had been fatal. Within moments I had the rifle reloaded and ready. I cursed myself softly. How dumb could I get? Of course, when he saw me running towards the man he would try and time his jump accordingly. Wasn’t that the whole idea? I was to go to the man and he was to take me down. Then I remembered the man. Yes, of course that’s why I was there, wasn’t I? I risked a glance at him but could see he was no more. The Cannibal had landed straight on top of him. And the poor man was unable to outlive that. But now, I knew where the Cannibal would attack from. I held the rifle with my right hand and with my left I groped inside my bag for my torch. I hadn’t used it in ages and didn’t know if it would work. But, finally I had a stroke of luck and it worked well. I proceeded to extract a thin piece of rope from the bag. I looked carefully in the woods extending in front of me. Everything looked quiet and there wasn’t any sign of imminent attack. So I took a risk and quickly tied the torch to the barrel of the rifle. I switched it on to make a check and its powerful beam extended in front of the rifle. I shut it off, propped myself on the rock and prepared myself to stay in the same position for the rest of the night.
As the light faded away, I noted with relief that it wasn’t a moonless night. And there was enough light for me not to feel blind. But the dampener – and literally so – was the clouds building up in the sky. The first clouds of the monsoon had arrived. As my eyes became accustomed to the light I began to feel more comfortable. Every now and then a cloud would drift in and obscure the moon and plunge the world around me in total darkness. In those moments I would switch the torch on. After a few hours though, a big black cloud put out the lights and just didn’t go away. And to worsen the matters, it began pouring down. The rain was so heavy that even as the delightful scent of the earth reached me I was completely drenched. Even though I was positioned under the shelter of the rock. I switched the torch on again. Usually the batteries would last for well over 12 hours but they had been unused for a long time now. I wasn’t sure they would work up to their full potential. And although the lack of light was my primary concern, there were plenty of other concerns as well. The rain was torrential despite a heavy gale coming in from the river. The combination meant I had been shivering violently since the rain started and it was energy sapping. I had not had anything to eat for the whole day and any energy I had was being eaten away at a rapid rate. The constant shivering also meant unsteady hands on the rifle. And as I was just standing doing nothing, there wasn’t any physical activity to generate any body heat. All in all, I needed light, heat and food urgently and I was unlikely to get any of them. And yes, not to forget I had been in a terrified and hyper state for at least 4 to 5 hours now. And all these were very convenient circumstances for the Cannibal.
I was wondering why he hadn’t made his charge yet. But then I realized there really wasn’t any hurry on his part. I couldn’t have gotten even a few meters from the spot I was in without him knowing. And with all the rain and the darkness I couldn’t have known it even if he stood near me to whisper in my ear. Come to that, I couldn’t even have heard the whisper. I wondered why I was bothering with keeping my rifle at the ready. Unless he actually stepped into the beam of the torch, I had no hope of locating and shooting the Cannibal. And the chances of him stepping into the beam were very remote indeed. Then I remembered the man lying dead a little to my right. And if Cannibal did that to his victims, I was better off putting the rifle to my chest and committing a suicide. I shrugged, no, shivered the thought away and stared wide eyed in the woods stretched out menacingly dark in front of me.
Another couple of hours passed and I was still standing there, in one piece and breathing though, admittedly, on the verge of collapsing. There wasn’t any change in my position. And I was fully hoping the Cannibal to come up to me, hold my neck in his jaws and kill me with one mighty jerk any time now. I was more than just hungry. In fact, I was so hungry rather so in need of food that a wicked thought crossed my mind. I looked at the dead man and at that instant I had the greatest stroke of luck I had ever had. Somewhere far away in the sky there was a bolt of lightning and the earth was bathed in bright white light. And in that instant I saw merely a few feet away from me near the head of the dead man, a tiger. A tiger crouched and ready to take a leap and end all my woes. But in that instant startled into inactivity. What happened next was all in a slow motion. With reflexes that belied the state I was in; I, for the second time that day, swiveled and turned right. As my rifle came into position, I saw in the light of my torch, the Cannibal in the peak of his leap with his open jaws aiming straight at my throat. And I fired as my world was plunged into darkness. I felt his heavy body crash into me and felt an almighty pain in my right shoulder. Due to the momentum of the Cannibal hitting me, I hit the rock I was resting on so hard that I lost consciousness.
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