The Brute
The Brute
The darkness was overwhelming. The nearest lamp post had been obscured by the skyscraper on one side. The other side of the alley was a high concrete wall topped by three rows of barbed wires stretched across steel girders less than a meter apart. He knew, it was a perfect trap for an ambush, but, the anger seething inside him did not allow his sixth sense to send warning signals to his brain. He dissuaded all fears of failure from taking an upper hand, and briskly paced ahead to meet his challenger, Kutty, the man who he was here for. He had raped his daughter when she was in the shower, all alone in her secluded apartment. Dori was schizophrenic and was sometimes so peeved at everybody, that it was illogical to keep her among family circles. She posed a physical threat to anybody who came near her in that condition. She had slapped Kutty’s wife, when she had tried to silence her histrionic tantrums in a bid to put an end to the disturbances she caused every night before dinner. Kutty’s wife, Menoka, who stayed in the adjoining flat, used to have guests in her house every night. The regular cacophony they created at night infuriated Dori, and she screamed out at the top of her voice. Her yells and screams annoyed Menoka so much, that, one day she decided to teach her a lesson. So, when Dori was all alone, she knocked her door. Dori was in a very disturbed state. She opened the door, and finding Menoka in front of her, slapped her face with a force that sent the buxom woman flying towards the floor. Menoka hurt her temple and ran away, blood spilling from her head.
When Kutty heard of this, he was livid with rage. He was a dreaded gangster of the town and felt that the slap on his wife’s face was a slap on his. He knew Dori, her father, Nima, and knew the girl’s medical condition. But, he also knew that Dori was an attractive girl in her twenties. He spotted Nima getting out of Dori’s apartment that night and planned his course of action. In an hour, he was in front of Dori’s room. He tried soft knocks on her door, to avoid attracting anybody’s attention. Dori opened the door, and Kutty thrust his right hand at her mouth, silencing her cries into soft whimpers. Then he pushed her inside with his masculine force, toppling the twenty year old schizophrenic onto the floor. The sudden fall incapacitated the girl. She lost her senses. Kutty pulled her onto the sofa in the living room and disrobed her. His organ was growing inside his jeans. He unzipped and entered her. Passion was not the factor, only revenge and punishment was the motive, but he relieved himself none the less. After satisfying his desire, he put her on the bed, covered her, and pressed the pillow against her face, suffocating and asphyxiating her, till her limbs numbed.
When Nima saw his tender daughter lying lifeless on the bed the next morning, he immediately knew, who the monster was. But, he had to call the police. The police continued their investigations in their style and disclosed before Nima only as much as could be narrated to a father who had just lost his schizophrenic daughter to the basic instincts of the male species. He knew, Kutty was a gangster who enjoyed the friendship of numerous outlaws in the region along with the succour of a few politicians who fed him at the time of elections to carry out small crimes for silencing their critics. In comparison, Nima was an ex-serviceman, whose wife had died of cancer a year back, leaving him to fend for a schizophrenic daughter in the midst of a society which seldom cared for such mentally disabled children. When Nima was informed that his daughter had been raped before murder, he felt helpless. He was employed as a security guard in a private firm and was struggling to meet the expenses incurred for his daughter. How could he absorb such a humiliation lying down? How could he avenge his daughter’s misfortune? How could he survive with the shame of being called the father of a raped child? The pain was over bearing. The anguish never let him in peace. Every time he was alone, the serene face of his daughter appeared before him, crying frantically, appealing to be saved from the monster. He almost lost his mind and loitered about aimlessly in the streets, crying, yelling and hurling abuses at his own fate, until that day, when he sought retribution by revenge.
That’s when he called Kutty from a public phone. Kutty feigned amusement at first. Then he said, “O.K. my old boy! I acknowledge your suspicion. Yes, I raped your daughter. I really enjoyed ravishing her. Now what? You want to take revenge? Ha, Ha! Old boy! Do you have enough strength in your limbs to absorb my punches? I doubt. But, I will give you a chance. You are an angry old man bent upon taking revenge on your daughter’s alleged rapist. I will give you this opportunity. O.K.? Come into the alley between the Modern appartments and the abandoned jail building tonight and have your desire fulfiled. But, remember one thing. In the brawl, one will lose his life”.
Nima knew, he was outnumbered by the gang of wolves who would be baying for his blood if Kutty suffered defeat, but, he had to take the opportunity to satisfy himself, even if it meant defeat and death. So, no turning back. He advanced through the darkness. The long alley was coming to an end and had bend towards the right a meter or two ahead. Nima realized, this was the point of ambush prepared by Kutty and he had to conjecture what lay ahead before stepping into it. He had come prepared for the ambush and had kept everything ready in his backpack. He took out a small firecracker bound by a long fuse and threw it across the bend. The firecracker was a crude bomb filled with spikes and anybody who stepped upon it would only hear a small explosion before being riddled with the spikes. After throwing it, he waited with baited breath. He wanted to injure his opponents before they could inflict any harm on him.
He heard footsteps, but, they came from behind him. He turned. There were two heavily built men approaching him from behind. His initial plan failed. They had motor cycle chains hanging from their hands. He knew what he was in for. One of the men swung the full length of the chain across his body. He bent down spreading his legs wide, so that, it swished through the air just above his body, and sprang back throwing a perforated pouch of pepper powder at their eyes. The impact was instantaneous. Both the men dropped their chains to the ground and covered their eyes burning from the stinging effect of the powder laced with acid. As the two were sitting down holding there eyes, Nima snatched both the chains from their reach and threw them away beyond the barbed wire fence. He was equipped with sufficient weapons to fight an army. He needed no more. Stealthily, he approached them and struck a mighty blow at the one to the left. He flattened out on the ground without so much as a whimper. His friend had guessed something and was searching for the chain, when a second blow from Nima’s fist landed squarely on his jaw. He shrieked out in severe pain as his jaw bone had been dislocated. As he fell flat on the ground losing consciousness, Nima raised his clenched fist and landed it on the fellow’s right ear. Blood started spewing from the ear. Nima knew, he was done for.
Nima just had the time to listen to the swish of a long blade in the air. He ducked exactly in time to avoid getting decapitated. However, a red gash appeared on his right shoulder. Without turning around, he kicked into the air behind him. His army boots struck the rib cage of the attacker with such a force, that, Nima almost heard the crack of the breaking ribs. When he turned, the tall man staggered back and fell holding his left side with both hands. The sword which he had brought, was lying a few feet away. Nima looked around to see if there were any more around. Satisfied, he stooped low to take the sword and immediately regretted his decision. The heavy head of a machete landed on his back, denting a square hole therein. He couldn’t ignore the pain as it pulsed through his spine, almost immobilizing him. He was about to blank out when the image of his daughter’s disrobed body appeared before his closing eyes. He shot back a spike from the spring-activated device fitted to his belt. His assailant made a sound of choking throat and fell over. He was probably dead before he hit the ground. He lay there motionless, blood spurting from his chest.
Presently, Nima stood up. He had to take stock of his surroundings before his next assailant showed up. Four men were lying on the ground on pools of blood. He picked up the sword from the ground and found the passage of the alley, through which he had entered, blocked by the monster called Kutty. It would be an immense dishonor to call him a giant, for, he was around seven feet tall and his physique matched his height. He was neither lanky nor over weight. He had the perfect figure for a King Kong. However, Nima had to let go his admiration for his physique and concentrate on the task ahead-The task of saving himself from this giant and avenging his daughter’s humiliation. He was a father and he had to do what every father would. No matter, how strong or clever his opponent was, he was on a mission, a soldier’s mission and he had to accomplish it.
“So, you have knocked off four of my men. Is it? Brave boy! Good to get such a strong man for a match. We are on even grounds, then. I am really impressed, man. How did you do that?” chuckled Kutty, in his as usual high handed mannerism. But, Nima stood ground looking at the monster who had finished his daughter’s life. He was intricately watching every step that Kutty took. He knew, Kutty was no stranger to a man-to-man fight. He had broken the necks of many of his opponents in the ring. He was declared a outlaw only after he killed one of his opponents even after the referee had blown the whistle. He craved for blood. He couldn’t stop. He was a real monster. He had been absconding for several years, till the politicians required his services and set him up at an apartment close to Dori’s. Whether or not the buxom Menoka was his wife, Nima didn’t exactly know, but, she always introduced herself as his wife.
Kutty was still speaking, hurling abuses and expletives at Nima, trying his mental tricks to scare him away. He did not like to engage in fights with ex-army men. The authorities always supported them. “Hey you eunuch! You lost your wife sometime ago, and now your daughter. Why don’t you die? Why are you still alive? You are a eunuch. Ha! Ha! Want to fight a giant like me? Come on. I will squish you like an ant. Come! Come!” he went on, as he slowly, but, steadily walked up towards Nima. Nima was just thinking, whether he would have to attack first or let the monster bare his teeth first. Mentally, he drew an invisible line between him and Kutty. If Kutty advanced any further, he would strike. Otherwise, he would use the army code- Let the enemy attack first. Kutty stopped exactly at the line. Kutty was in a dilemma. He couldn’t decide, whether he should attack.
Kutty made the first move. It was a bolt of lightning. The knob of the switch-blade struck Nima on his chest. Nima staggered back and fell. He wasn’t prepared for such an attack. He lay on the ground trying to recover from the initial shock. “Oh! My poor soldier!” mocked Kutty, “Stupefied by a simple piece of metal! Come on, man, Get up! I don’t have too much time, you know! I am a very busy person. All those politicians, you know, come to me for protection. Ah!” The spike from Nima’s belt struck him at his throat. Nima had expected convulsions to start immediately, but, this was a really strong man. He soon recovered and sprang up throwing his body at Nima. Nima was swift enough to avoid the assault, but, the monster was quicker still. He sprang back instantaneously after landing behind Nima and jumped up on his shoulders constricting his throat with his monstrous thighs. Nima felt his lungs bursting, when, at last, he pricked his right thigh with a hand held spike. The monster shrieked and fell off. “You pimp!” he said, “enough with your pricky tricks. Now, face this”, and landed a massive fist upon Nima’s left shoulder. The shoulder dislocated. Nima cried out in pain. Then, Kutty caught him by his collar and landed punch after punch on his chest. Nima felt his heart malfunctioning. His eyes darkened. He blacked out. Kutty sprang up on Nima’s chest with his knees and punched his face. Nima lost count of the number of punches he received.
As Nima’s body turned limp, Kutty rose up and started yelling. “I will stamp you to death in this alley. This way to the right is a dead end. I selected this myself, so that, you could not escape. Now, face this”, so saying, he raised his leg to stamp Nima’s head into the ground. When his move was completely committed, Nima’s right hand shot up, catching the monster’s heavy leg in the air. Kutty lost balance and fell behind. The large body fell on the ground at the end of the alley, where Nima had planted his fire cracker. There was a small explosion and then, a spine chilling scream. The monster’s face had activated the crude bomb and the spikes had been blown off, hitting his face, nose, eyes and every part of his body. He was screaming wildly, his hands holding his eyes, and his legs fluttering like the torn pieces of a ship’s sails in the high seas.
Nima got up after lot of efforts. With spite in his eyes, he looked at the motionless body of the monster called Kutty, stretched his right arm backwards to release the machete from the groove in his backpack, and brought it out. He then stood over the body of his daughter’s tormentor, raised the machete high in the air and brought it down in line with the neck. The head was severed from the body in one stroke. Nima felt, his mission was accomplished. Such brutes should not be left alive in the society of human beings. After delivering the deadly blow, he staggered and fell down, his body motionless.