Chapter 13

It was ten minutes since Parsy had been waiting crouched in the small cut out rock with the sound of footsteps getting louder and louder with every passing minute. He did not remove his hand from the flashlight.

It sure is Tembul. Thought Parsy. Before he could react Tembul appeared in front of his makeshift hideout. Parsy was scared. He did not come out and addressed Tembul. “What happened to everyone, Tembul? What happened? Did you see them? They were…” His dialogue was cut short by a loud high pitched shriek nearby. Neenu! Parsy’s blood ran cold. His mouth went dry and he could not even whisper where he would have let out a scream.

And then he realized. Since the time Tembul had spotted him, he had just stood there, listening. Tembul had not uttered a word. Tembul was looking at him and said “You are now a part of us, Saab, a part of the jungle. No one leaves here. No one.” What was Tembul brought its face near to Parsy’s and Parsy dropped his hand from his flashlight. Parsy saw the face of an animal with white eyeballs and warm nauseating breath. He couldn’t breathe. He could hear footsteps approaching his cave-like enclosure. Anand, Kaul, Neenu? They had found him. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do to him but he felt certain that, the hideous face was the last thing he was ever going to see. The last memory.

His mind flashed images of his friends in front of him. Neenu going to her hut, alone. Anand hearing her scream and rushing in her direction, alone. Kaul getting up from sleep, alone. He did not know how he knew what flashed before him, but he was certain that it was true. He was one with their knowledge. One with their experiences. One with the jungle… He couldn’t move. He couldn’t go anywhere now. He found himself screaming loud.

The screams were drowned in the voices of the wind and the hail as it pelted down on the bare snow.

The jungle took over.