Episode 56
If she doesn't shoot any one of you, our sharp shooters will fire a shot at one of her legs after 2 minutes as a sign of warning. If she doesn't shoot despite that, all three of you will be killed by our sharp shooters, and if she shoots but fails to kill any of you, our sharp shooters will kill her. Rajan and Siddharth will emerge as survivors in that case. How's that? Ain't it fair and funny?"
The Joker paused for a moment to see the reactions of the participants. There could not be any more crooked definition of fairness, Siddharth thought. Archana had already started to weep, thinking about the last three scenarios. She prayed hard to the God for making the first scenario successful. But, she knew that her task was cut out, because she was not given the opportunity to practice of hitting targets from a height, let alone killing animals with gun shots.
It was true that the Joker's team had provided her heavy long range guns to practice at moving targets for the last two days. They taught her how to aim at moving objects. For practicing purpose, they threw balloons in air, and Archana had to target those. The distance was around 50 meter or so.
After two days of hard work, Archana achieved accuracy up to 40%. But, even a child can understand that hitting a slow-moving upward balloon from ground and killing a fast moving tiger from up is not the same. This arrangement didn't look fair to Archana. Before she was going to complain, the Joker said,
"Archana you might be thinking that you didn't get a fair deal; the job assigned to you is too difficult. Well, that's not the case dear. You are hitting 4 out 10 at a distance of 50 meter or so. 4 out 10 means 2 out of 5. That means you should kill two tigers in 5 shots. But you have got only 1.
And, I must tell you Archana, you have no worries about killing the animal. If you hit the vital body parts of the animal with your .45-caliber bullet, it's going to die then and there. Try to target the head.
You might say that the distance of your target is longer than what you had practiced, or you might crib because you have to shoot from a height. Well, when you appear for a tough entrance examination, do you get common questions? No, most of the questions are uncommon in those exams. If you know the basic concept, you can always improvise. As a matter of fact, shooting from top is easier to target. Maybe your first couple of shots will go haywire, but from the third shot you can always adjust.
So, Archana we haven't done injustice to you or for that matter to Raja. Raja, too, has been trained in MP how to evade bullets. So, don't think that killing him is going to be a cakewalk.
I am done with explaining the rules for the final. If you have any questions, you may ask now." The Joker looked at Archana.
"Why do I have to climb the tower? Why can't I be present on the top from the beginning?"
Archana asked, because it would have given her more time to aim at the tiger. Also, the more the tiger came towards the 16-feet tall lattice wall, it would become more difficult for her to hit it because of the steel lattice wall.
"When Rajan and Siddharth will start running towards the wall, you will start climbing up the stairs. The tiger will be let loose after 3 seconds, assuming that Rajan and Siddharth will cover 20 meter in those 3 seconds. You will try to reach the top in that time to have a good aim at the tiger from the baseline of the other side, which will be 100 meter away from you.
In case you are late by few seconds, it doesn't matter as you can even target the tiger through the lattice wall. Everything about this game depends on luck. If your luck favours you, you will be able to hit the tiger through the gaps of the lattice wall, as each gap of the lattice is around 30 square centimetres, enough for a bullet to pass. However, if the great Satan doesn't favour you, that will be a different prospect. You will miss your target even from a 20 meter distance. Now, Rajan do you have any question?"
The Joker pointed towards Rajan. Rajan was thinking about the speed of the tiger. He said,
"Dear Joker Sir, why don't you give us at least 30 meter advantage from the tiger? Because, my estimate is that the tiger will catch up when we will be around 30 meters distance from the baseline if we get only 20 meter gap."
The Joker nodded his head in agreement with Rajan and said,
"Yes Rajan, you have a valid point. But why will you run straight? Haven't you seen the video of the impala? Don't you remember how it ran? You will have to run like it; twisting, turning, leaping and bounding. Both of you have been trained well to do these manoeuvres. And yes, we have to give the tiger a fair chance to hunt also. That's the reason for this stipulation. Now, Siddharth do you have any question?"
The Joker looked at Siddharth. Siddharth said,
"Dear Joker, please stop this circus. If you are so much worried about your hungry tiger, and if you want to see one of us dead, I am ready to offer myself to the tiger. Let there be a fight between the tiger and me. If he wins, he will eat me. But, if I win, you will have to free all of us. Are you game?"
As soon as Siddharth posed the question, there were clanking sounds of unlocking of safety catches, and all the ten guards pointed their guns towards him.
The Joker raised his hands, and the guards lowered their guns. The Joker said,
"By now you should have known Siddharth that insubordination here means death. You have taken a lot of pain and you have suffered a lot to reach here. Don't be foolish to think that you can save the lives of Archana and Rajan by sacrificing your life. If we see any such attempt like you offering yourself to the tiger, the other two will be killed along with you. So, let the competition take its natural course, and let the great Satan decide the winner. Do you get it?"
The Joker's voice sounded like thunder.
After spending around 3 months in this despicable hell, Siddharth knew very well what the Joker meant.
The Joker said,
"Enough of talking folks! Let's move to the action arena."
It was 9-50 AM, and 5 cars were used to take the participants and other people to the action area. Indeed the playing field looked completely different. Archana had read about the ancient Roman amphitheatre. She thought had there been sitting places, the ground could have been called an amphitheatre.
Archana noted that at least 10 cameramen were present on temporary towers erected at different places and 5 drones with cameras were flying in the sky. The sides of the playing field were surrounded by 20-feet tall steel lattice walls, making it sure that no one could escape from there.
They reached the ground at 9-55 AM. Before sending each contestant to his or her place, the Joker said,
"You will get 3 to 5 minutes before the competition starts. Try to concentrate and focus on your job. I hope the last situation doesn't arise. But, if it arises, it will be Archana's ultimate choice to decide the survivor. Best of luck folks! Let's have fun!"
The dignitaries went to their seats situated on different towers constructed on the perimeter of the ground, and the candidates went to their respective places.
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Archana was instructed to stand near the base of the tower on one side of the field. The Joker had announced that sharp at 10, a pistol shot would be fired by Ranjan, and the competitors would have to jump into action. After watching Siddharth's clips, Archana was confident that he would be able to come to this side. But, she was extremely worried about Rajan. She hadn't have a chance to watch Rajan's progress in physical fitness here. The old picture of unfit Rajan was still vivid in her mind.
To be continued on tomorrow night
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