An express train roared through the twisting turns of Kasara Ghat of Maharashtra, India. The clattering of it's wheels on the rail fish-plates echoing in the Ghats like heartbeat of a restless giant. Outside the monsoon unleashed its fury. Rain pummeled the landscape in relentless sheets transforming the lush greenery into a watercolor of deep greens and grays. Lightning briefly lit up the jagged cliffs as thunders rumbled ominously overhead looming above the tracks.
Inside one of the dimly lit compartments the air was thick with tension. A flickering overhead bulb cast long shadows that danced down the narrow swaying corridor. Near the washroom door a brutal struggle was unfolding. A raw, desperate and violent scuffle. Their faces flushed and breathing ragged.
A man in his early 30's was battered and bleeding. He fought with every ounce of strength he had left, his clothes hung in tatters, face smeared with blood and grime. Ashe gasped for breath, each inhale a painful reminder of his predicament. Facing him was a towering hulking figure wielding a gleaming knife. It's blade glinting menacingly in the intermittent light ready to slash his jugular.
"Stay back! I swear, I don't want to fight!" the wounded man hissed pressing his back against the wall, eyes darting around for a way out looking out for someone who could wrench him off the gigantic fist.
But the attacker's sneer was cruel. "You should not have used your intelligence too much..now you'll pay."
Suddenly a sharp cry cut through the chaos.
"Enough!" The voice was fierce, commanding, unmistakably female and slightly coarse.
She was a lady police officer. Her presence radiating strength and agility. She kept his backpack on the floor with a thud and lunged forward like a panther. She seized the attacker from behind. Her grip like iron around his shoulders and pressed his pressure points on the neck yanking him down to his knees. The knife clattered to the floor.
"Let him go you bastard!" she snarled. Her eyes blazing with determination.
The attacker got surprised but didn't struggle.
The officer's grip remained unyielding. "You think you can just kill him? Not on my watch."
The wounded man gasped clutching the side of his arm where blood seeped through his torn shirt. "Thank God."
The woman's gaze shifted to the knife on the floor and then back to the attacker. "Stay down, you asshole...this isn't over." She tried to pull out the pistol tucked into the holster.
Outside the compartment, the rhythmic clatter of the train on the tracks was deafening, but inside only the ragged breaths of the combatants and the relentless rain patter against the window glass panes filled the air.
Suddenly the attacker's eyes darted to the large gap of the door. "I'm not done yet."
Before anyone could react, the hulk twisted violently knocking the officer off balance. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing lunging forward again.
Outside, the storm blurred the world into a gray haze. The monsoon's rage transformed the Kasara Ghat into a wild and untamed landscape, where jagged rocks jutted from the earth like ancient Stonehenge of England guarding some secrets of the world.
Through the rain-smeared window a horrifying scene unfolded. The train jolted violently as it entered a sharp curve throwing all three off balance. His foot catching on a loose strap of the backpack. The hulk teetered on the edge of the narrow corridor.
The injured man hurtled through the air as the train rocked violently. His arms flailed grasping at nothing but empty space on the door.
"Shit!" the officer screamed seeing the hulk reaching out for the absent-minded man, but it was too late. The last thing the man saw was the officer's terrified face framed by the flickering light.
In a brutal moment the hulk thrust the wounded man through the gap of the open train door. The wounded man's limbs flailed helplessly by the force of the shove from the giant.
With a sickening thud the wounded man was catapulted out of the train. The shove sent him tumbling into the abyss beside the tracks. The cold wet air rushed past him in a frigid gust drowning out the shouts and screams echoing from inside the train.
"No!" the officer's voice rang out. It was desperate and raw, but it was swallowed by the roar of the train and the storm. He hit the rocky earth with a sickening thud. The impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Pain exploded through his body. It was sharp, searing unforgiving and immediate as he slid down the steep slope. His soaked clothes clinging to his battered figure.
The train's lights flickered in the distance receding like a dying star being swallowed by the dark night. The officer's shouts faded into the howling wind and the relentless patter of rain. For a moment the world seemed to hold its breath. Then there was a pin drop silence.