The Hunting

“ Why did I choose to investigate this case?” Akash thought to himself, with fear and grief echoing inside him like crazy. He had just woken up, and was feeling somewhat dizzy after the hard hit on his head. He searched for the proofs that they had collected, but it was nowhere to be found. The murderer had trapped him perfectly. And now he was completely stuck in a room, which had a bathtub behind him, reeking with blood and flesh of those people who were the mad man’s victims. There were two doors in front of him.

A soft voice came from the speaker in the room. “ Hello Akash, the time has come. Your plan to trap me has failed. And as a consequence you are stuck in that room. You’ve already seen my abode of justice, and now I can’t let you go without playing a game.”

Akash yelled, “You fucking bastard! You speak of justice!”

“I can hear you man. Justice works this way. If he or she is doing something morally wrong, I must correct it. I am an executor. One who God loves the most.”

“ Just fucking tell me what to do. I don’t want to argue with you.”

“Okay okay. Just hear out the rules of the game. There are two doors in front of you. One of them is your escape route. The other one is instant death. The mode of death will be that of utmost pain, though I have eased it a little for you. Choose the correct one in 2 minute, or else you will die of the poison that I have injected in you. You will die within 3 or 4 hours.”

He saw a small blood clot on his right hand. His face turned pale.

“Your time starts now.”

Akash went close to each of the doors and examined the gaps for some clue. But to no avail. Suddenly his attention went to a small gap at one of the hinges on the door on his right side, and saw a small part of wire with spikes on it. A barbed wire mesh, he thought.

“30 seconds left.”  

Akash opened the door on his left side. A voice of excitement came from the speaker, “ You won! This path will lead you outside the house. Continue on the path. There is a surprise for you.”

There were five TV screens on each side of the path. The screens started to show a sex scene. Voices were echoing in the room. The sound seemed familiar. He saw one of the screens. It was his wife having sex with the killer! He fell down on his knees, shocked and devastated. The transmission stopped. “I told you there will be a surprise.” Came a voice from the TV. Akash looked towards the TV. The killer was broadcasting himself on TV. “ Go and have a good life with your wife and kids. And never ever indulge in my work again.” The killer continued his speech.

But Akash was not hearing it at all. His attention went towards a shadow on the floor near the killer. The shadow was clearly not that of the killer. The first thought that came to him was, “My Wife is in Danger!”.

He was facing the biggest crisis of his life. His investigations had led him to the conclusion that the killer was aiming those people who were having extra-marital affairs, and killing them was considered as justice by him. A typical psychopath mentality. It was not difficult for him to understand. He had seen many psychopath criminals in his life, and this one was no different.

But a big mistake made this investigation a disaster. The killer was an assistant at the forensic lab where the bodies were given for post-mortem, and had been hearing the leads in this investigation while they were discussing it with the forensic expert. They realised it late. The three other officers who were with him were already dead, the killer shot them in front of his eyes. The broadcast on TV stopped. He saw here and there, but found nothing that could help. He walked down the path towards the exit.

Akash was standing outside the house. He tried to enter the house, but the doors were locked from inside. He searched the place for some other way.

Suddenly a metal noise came when stepped forward, while walking at the back end of the house. He removed the soil. There was a tunnel, with chains on the handle. To his surprise, it was not locked. The killer might have forgotten to lock it, in a hurry to counter them. He opened the door and entered the tunnel.

It was dark and dreadful inside, with a strong stench pricking his nose. He went forward, he knew there will be some sort of end. And there was an end. Not one, but three doors, one in front of him and two on the sides. He crouched and opened the door on his left side. A bullet grazed above his head and shot the other door.

The sound alerted the killer. Akash hid himself inside the room. The killer entered the room from another door and unloaded the gun so that he doesn’t get shot. He was sure the body will be lying outside.

To his surprise, there was none. Before he could turn back, Akash hit him with a thigh bone that he had found in the bathtub, and had kept it hidden behind him. The gun fell from the killer’s hands. He was lying on the floor, holding his head in pain. Blood strolled down from his head. Akash quickly took the gun and shot both his legs and hands. He opened the door from where the killer entered the room. In front of him he saw his wife, lying unconscious on the chair, all tied up. There were slashes of knife on her hands.

Quickly, he untied her and woke her up. " Where am I?" But he didn't reply. There was a mobile phone on the table beside her, which had a laptop on it. He quickly contacted the police force for help. The video file location was still open on the laptop. He deleted those files. She came to back to her senses. Her eyes were filled with tears when she saw him. " I....I am...", she broke down. He said, "Let's run". Together they ran towards the end of the tunnel and came outside the tunnel. The police force arrived. Akash pointed towards the tunnel. There he was, the killer, writhing in pain, unable to move. He was caught.

His wife woke up in the hospital. She went to see Akash. He was on the bed, after the treatment for the slow poison. Holding his hand, she asked for forgiveness, tears strolling down her eyes.

He kept his other hand over her hand.

"Let's live a happy life, together."