Essence of the Tiger
His pulse was racing as he raced through the jungle of the Kahna National Park of India in pursuit of his prey. A man well over six feet tall, Braxton Banner could not help but to be spotted by the little Indian scum that he was chasing. These poachers were after a female Amur Tiger, the rarest species, looking to take her precious pelt. I dare them to try, thought Braxton as he smashed through the thick underbrush. It had been hard to keep track of his enemies, given that foliage smacked him in the face with every stride. As he rounded a corner, with a bulky M-4 in hand, one of the poachers could be seen raising his rifle at the tiger to take a shot. A Crack of a rifle cartridge broke the sound barrier for that split second, and Braxton was enraged as he came to the understanding that they were trying to kill her. He only had enough composure left to raise his rifle and return fire at the four men in front of him.  Only two of them had rifles, and as one reloaded, the other shot at Braxton. Muzzleloaders, thought Braxton They’re using muzzleloaders which take a long time to reload, that will be my advantage. He could fire 30 semi-automatic rounds before reloading, whereas these men could only fire one round before reloading, which was very time-consuming even for veteran shooters. He decided to let off 3 more rounds before running head-on into the group. If he was going to kill them, it would be with his bare hands, for Braxton was no coward. He shot one of the men in the knee-cap before running at them, shattering the bones, and the victim was now on the ground groping at his wound screaming in ancient Hebrew. His suffering brought joy to Braxton as well as more strength to defeat the last three men. As if he’d needed it. One of the four pulled out a seven-inch Gerber military-grade knife, and as he raised it up to catch Braxton in the chest, he caught a size 14 boot to the face, crushing his skull. He died instantly on the impact. The next man nearly completed loading his rifle, and just as he raised it up to fire, Braxton clutched the rifle in his left hand and found the same knife from the last man sprouting through his next victim’s chest. Finally, all that was left was the last little Indian man, whom he spotted running in the direction of the tiger that they had just shot. Braxton left the three men there to die if they weren’t already. His rifle was right where he’d left it, and he picked it up to pursue the next man. His rage reached its climax as he did so, and with three long strides he would have been on him, though a figure far off to the front beat him to it. Braxton wasted no time jumping behind a tree as he watched the shadow draw, nock and loose an arrow, hearing a thump that meant the arrow met its target. Anticipating that he was next, Braxton readied his weapon, whirled around the tree, and fired where the man had been. What the ----?  He thought when he heard a crunch behind him. “Looking for me?” Startled, Braxton turned to see an old man with a longbow in hand, outfitted simply with only a plain grey t-shirt and cargo pants as well as jungle boots. “Who the ---- are you?” said Braxton simply. “Well aren’t you going to shoot me?” said the old man as he noticed the menacing rifle in his face. Hesitantly, Braxton lowered his weapon as he noticed that there was no threat here. What could a little old man possibly do to me? After a slight pause and a brief smile he continued “I am the magnificent Doctor Alfred Langston, and it so appears that we are on the same mission. Now, before we go any further, I also believe that we have a wounded tiger to find. Follow me, and we can begin this venture together” he finished with a German accent. At that moment, the Doctor disappeared into the thick foliage before Braxton could say anything as quick as a pack rat, and so the adventure truly began.
Almost thirty minutes later, they found the angry wounded tigress after climbing through the densest parts of the forest. She had to have been at least five-hundred pounds in weight, her head as large as a boulder. Now, she lay on her side panting and at the site of Braxton raised her head and hissed, bearing teeth all the while. Surprisingly, she made no move to attack him as expected. He noticed that she didn’t seem to mind the doctor right next to her, and asked “Why hasn’t she taken your head off yet?” The old man only smiled and said “Because she recognizes her own kind.” He gave Braxton a quick smile, and in that moment their eyes met. Something about this old man just wasn’t right ; first he was too quick and quiet; second, his eyes didn’t look like that of a human’s; and third, a wild five-hundred pound tiger is lying right next to him like a friendly dog, not so much as even batting an eyelash at him. “Your left hind leg was shot, no big deal. It was only a musket ball, the easiest of bullets to extract, and thankfully, it dealt very little damage. You should be glad that this was so” he said while giving her a quick look. And now he’s talking to her like they can understand each other, he thought as the Doctor pulled a hand-full of herbs out of one of his pockets. He ground these herbs with a rock and sprinkled them over the wound, finishing it off by tying a huge elephant leaf around it. Eyeing the tiger once more, the Doctor continued “This is cardamom, an herb that will prevent infection while the leaf will keep the wound covered. The bullet only grazed your skin, completely missing muscles or bones, so you will still be able to walk. Just let the leaf fall off on its own, and by then you should be healed.” The big cat barely moved except for to watch what the Doctor was doing, and when he finished, she stood up and looked intensely into his eyes. He returned the gaze, remaining immobile for what seemed like hours, but finally it broke and she ran off into the jungle.  Well is she going to eat him or not? Braxton thought. Doctor Langston watched until she disappeared and turned to him. “Well I suppose I should thank you for helping me drive those demons off. Hah! They think they’ll destroy us, but not if we have something to say about it eh?” Just then, he became very serious and gave Braxton a stern look “How long have you been out here doing this for kid?” Braxton thought for a moment. Why is he acting friendly all of a sudden? We just met in a jungle that’s in the middle of nowhere, and he’s carrying this out like we’re brothers or something.  “Wait a minute, I think you should answer some questions for me. First…” just then he was cut off “Well I could just run off faster than you can blink an eye, so what’ll it be my boy, how long have you been doing this?” Braxton was frustrated, but he needed answers and so he went along with what the old man was doing. Grunting, he said “About a year-and-a half now, and I’ve never seen anyone quite as peculiar as you until today. Now…” he was cut off again “Hah! Well you’re naught but a wee suckling then. Though you do fight quite fiercely my boy. Say, how’s about you join our ranks, and ye’ll get the answers you seek?” Braxton was puzzled. “What ranks? And why can’t I just ask a ---- question without you cutting me off?!” Langston went into another one of the many pockets he had on his side, and pulled out a small vile that contained a greenish-orange fluid-like substance. He handed it to Braxton, who only stood staring in awe at the nerve of this old man. Well, I am in India after all. The people behave much differently over here. He accepted the vile from the old wrinkled weather-torn hand in front of him and asked “What is this” as he was disgusted at the thought of ingestion of such a dreadful substance. “Why this is the only way for such a mortal man as yourself to obtain the Essence of the Tiger. I must be quick in explanation. One who drinks this, “potion” so-to-speak, will as I said, obtain the Essence of the Tiger, though consumption of such a thing comes with many precautions and responsibilities. First, it will change you by giving you the basic instinct of a tiger as well as some of their behaviors. For instance, you gain the ability of night vision, your memory is greatly-enhanced, and your strength and intelligence also increases. In addition, you may notice other things such as consuming much more energy, and becoming mellower; believe it or not, these kings are much gentler than they appear. These are only some of the effects, and the almighty himself only knows what else might happen. There in your hand is a very confidential potion of my own creation. As a matter of fact, I’ve only tried this with two other people, and one is still alive only because like me, he learned to control his gifts and use them to the advantage of the tiger’s race in general. The other however, was killed in an Indian village not too far from here after trying to rip a man’s throat out with his bear teeth. So, there it is. Take it or leave it, but I must go as I sense a very large male tiger in our vicinity, and he’s not happy that we’re trespassing in his territory.” With that, the old man, or what appeared to be an old man, rushed off into the depths of the jungle. “WAIT!” he shouted as he stood there bewildered. He looked at the vile in his hand as he realized he was already gone. What is this ----! I don’t know if I should trust him, or does he even care if I do? Well, I have nothing to lose; no family, no intentions of ever having one, and nowhere to call home except the deep and dark depths of this place. Braxton stood in the middle of an opening, in the middle of a jungle, in the middle of India holding a glass bottle containing some sort of potion that is virtually supposed to make him a tiger. Or so that’s what he was told. I must be dreaming. Not even the U.S. Army has anything like this, but I bet they wish they did. Well, they can’t have it, because I’m going to drink it. And with that, Braxton decided to throw his life away with the single shot of an unearthly substance. He knew the Doctor was trying to kill him, but he didn’t know why, and as he finished the last drop, he fainted.
Changes had definitely been made, there’s no doubt about that. As Braxton propped himself up on one arm, he began to feel dizzy. How am I still ali… His thought was cut off as he closed his eyes and saw flashes of men chasing down a tigress with two cubs. He felt as though he was seizing, but instantly, his eyes snapped open and some instinct somewhere told him to move, to help this poor creature, but how? Where is she, how do I find her, thought the human side of him; but the other side took control and instantly he was on an unknown path. Crashing through the forest once more, Braxton, if he was Braxton at that moment, raced toward his targets with ferocity. He could sense their presence just a quarter of a mile away, and now he could hear them. Still feeling the effects of The Essence of the Tiger, his human side felt delirious and his mind was cloudy. Then there was the other side of him. There they are! With two last strides, he pounced on the one closest to the tigress and crushed his throat with two bare hands, as easily as squishing a rotten pear. She looked at him at first bearing teeth, the instinct of a mother telling her that he was a threat. He ignored her though, spotting the two cubs, and ran to protect them as they were being rounded up. One man had a big bag made of hemp, and two others were trying to put the tigers inside of it until Braxton bowled into the small group. All three men were knocked over, and he as well as the tigress tore them to shreds. With that, the three tigers disappeared, and Braxton seemed to feel something tugging at his soul. Something inside of his mind was thanking him, and as he opened his mind to this feeling, he heard a female voice speaking to him, but he couldn’t quite make out what was being said. Despite this fact, he still knew somehow knew where the voice was coming from, but he couldn’t figure out how; the voice was coming from the tigress that he’d just helped, and in that moment he realized that his life was changed forever. Not only was he immensely-powerful, but he now had the spiritual ability of a tiger. Doctor Langston was correct; he would never have a normal life again.