Into The Jungle

Chapter 4

'How much longer until we reach Mysore?' Ricky asked after getting back on the road'two hours if we go at the current speed' she said staring at her google maps.After a few kilometers, they came across lush green dense foliage across both sides of the road, the view was breathtaking. Rhea wanted to take a few pictures and asked Ricky to stop, Rhea got down and went towards one end of the road, while Ricky went to the other side of the road into the bushes to relieve himself. 

After relieving himself he turned around and found himself staring at a tree trunk which was moving from left to right, also the tree seemed to levitate from the ground but was stuck at the top. As he looked up Ricky realized he was staring at the trunk of an elephant who was nearly 20 feet away from him and curiously looking at him. 

Ricky's fight-or-flight reflex kicked in and seeing how little the 'fight' part could work in his favor against 5-ton mammoth, he turned and ran towards the dense part of the jungle. Seeing Ricky run, the elephant also chased after him, Ricky ran faster, this was probably his fastest run on this planet. 

He suddenly turned left, trying to gain more distance between him and the elephant by running in a zig-zag manner. This did not seem to work; the elephant was quick to change direction and was gaining ground. Ricky ran towards smaller trees that were close to each other and possibly had an area where Ricky could get out of the elephant's reach. 

The elephant was very fast and just as it reached with its trunk towards Ricky, He jumped into the gap between many trees and safely landed into a clearing. The elephant could not get inside the clearing but tried to catch Ricky with its trunk. Unable to do so, it gave up after a few minutes and went towards the nearby pond to quench its thirst.

Seeing this opportunity, Ricky went on the other side of the clearing which had a path leading to the main road. He quickly ran towards his car and started to look for Rhea, he hoped the elephant was alone and not with its herd. 

He found Rhea peacefully sitting in the car going through her pictures. Ricky got into the car and pushed the ignition button and got the car into gear and moved forward. Upon looking at his wristwatch he realized it was just 10 minutes since Rhea had asked him to stop for pictures. All that 'running for life' had happened in less than a few minutes which had seemed like an eternity. 

While he was lost in his thoughts, Rhea asked 'doesn't this look beautiful?' pointing to a picture she had just taken in her mobile.' Yes', Ricky responded while hoping not to see the elephant suddenly somewhere in the middle of the road.