In Continuum.

There and Back Again Part VI: Laughter in the Night

As mentioned easier,the locals at Babina are desperate.For anything.I think they wouldve jumped at the chance of a half eaten chicken wing if you starved them for an hour more.Anyway,they go nuts over everything,and everything from us seemed interesting and fascinating to them.

So here's the problem,how are we supposed to keep the targets we set up at the butt overnight without these villagers touching them?Well,here's the solution:send a few guys to stay in the middle of nowhere overnight and guard the targets,in case anybody decides to steal them.Sounds brilliant,yes.But they never considered one thing that can potentially stoil this master plan.

Hyenas.


Dusk.

So Sunday night,a few people were picked to guard the butt over at FP6.Just after dinner the lot of us packed up our food,drinks,warm clothings and sleeping bags and got ready for the overnight stay over in the middle of nowhere.

A bunch of guys went to guard the butt only nights before,and they reported to have heard Hyenas in the wild.Ive never seen any of them in the morning,or never expected my luck to be THAT bad as to meet a pack of those myself.However,on the tonner trip there i started to think of the possibilities,the worst case scenarios.Those thoughts made my hair stand,as we made our way over the bumpy ground.

I stared out of the front of the tonner,and before the tonner was just pure darkness.It was almost darker than dark,impenetrable blackness all around.Beyond the headlights of the tonner was a void,and only the things before it was illuminated.Just then,i saw something scramble across the front of the tonner as it sped into the darkness.It was blur at first,but as it trotted by the side of the vehicle i realised what i was seeing:A bloody Hyena.


Darkness all around.

Sgt. Patrick and Sgt. Eddie tried to convince me that it wasnt a Hyena.Sgt. Patrick's argument is that it was too big to be a Hyena,and that it mustve been a horse.Here's my debate with him over the subject:

Patrick,"You mean that thing that ran across was a Hyena?"
Me,"Yes,it was."
Patrick,"So big?I dont think Hyenas are that big."
Me,"What do you think it was,then?"
Patrick,"I think it was a horse."
Me,"A horse."
Patrick,"Yeah,a horse."
Me,"Look,have you seen any horses in India?"
Patrick,"Have you seen any Hyenas in India?"
Me,"If ive seen one i wouldve been shredded to pieces.So no,i havent."
Patrick,"It was a horse man."
Me,"Ive seen enough Discovery Channel to know that that was Hyena,sonny."

Sgt. Eddie on the other hand,did not say what the hell that thing was.In his mind,he thinks that Hyenas are no bigger than a dog.What a fucking genius.

Anyway,so we were dropped off at the spot and we made a mini camp by the rover.They were kind enough to give us a rover,just in case we decide to flee the place in the middle of the night a rover might prove to be useful when it comes to running away from a pack of hungry Hyenas.Very thoughtful.


The Mini-camp.


Warm clothes for the cold.

Night fell,and i got myself into the sleeping bag after a sip of my bottle of Pepsi.That was when i heard it,in the distance constant laughter resonating through the plains.The lot of us froze,thinking that it mightve been some ghost of the wild,or something along the supernatural line.Then it occured to us that those werent the laughter of ghosts,but Hyenas.


A forceful smile.

They got closer the whole night,and i tried to get to bed and not think about the horrible side of a Hyena ripping my friend's head off.I took out my handphone and started messaging my friends,hopefully they might catch my last words if anything happens.But the signal sucked,and i wasnt able to send anything more than a fullstop out of that God forsakened place.So there i was,armed with nothing but a blue lightstick in the middle of nowhere,with a pack of Hyenas getting ever closer to our camp,hungry and desperate.

I freaked.

Then,the morning came.Oh,how glad i was to see the first ray of sunlight as it popped up over the hills.The warmth was one thing,but the fact that i was alive,we were alive,was another.We cooked Maggie Mee over some rocks and solid fuel,in a way to celebrate life,and the fact that the Hyenas were too stupid to attack a bunch of sleeping human beings.


Breakfast in the making.

We came across a couple of bones in the morning.Parts of cows torn into shreds.Then it occured to me that that mightve happened to me if things went terribly wrong,or took the worst turn to the dark side.What if the tonner came back to pick us up,realising that the camp was empty,with food wrappers,sleeping bags torn and scattered everywhere,with the troopers nowhere to be found?I will make headline,but not there to see it happen.

Gulp.


Hallelujah.Bless the morning sun.

Anyway,that was my ordeal with the Hyenas that night,and it sure freaked the living daylight out of me.I admit,i was scared.I was very very scared.The laughter i heard seemed to be saying,"Oh,we are going to eat you alive".I was petrified,and although nobody else mentioned it,i bet they were scared as hell too.


Still freaked and stunned.