Crybaby - Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine of the blockbuster new novel, Crybaby by best selling, multi-award-winning author Mark Watson...
CRYBABY
©Copyright 2024 by Mark Watson
CHAPTER 9
The Elders
As soon as the Mayor arrived at the Onion House compound in a battered old taxi, word spread like wildfire through the village. The villagers quickly banded together to march on the house and demand action against Crybaby, the mad elephant terrorizing their land. The other Rangers, who had been patrolling the boundaries and interviewing the villagers, hurried back to the compound.
Led by the farmers and village elders, the crowd arrived at the Onion House to find Head Forest Ranger Ahanna, the young policeman Raj, and Mayor Rahul standing outside, waiting for them. All three were armed, though it was unclear whether they were prepared to defend themselves against the rogue tusker or the angry, fearful villagers gathering before them.
A few of the villagers, mostly young men, had armed themselves with rocks, but a quick glance at the Mayor's expression made them quietly drop the stones into the mud, furtively covering them with their feet while maintaining innocent, blank faces.
Rahul and Raj raised their hands, palms outward, in a gesture of calm, but it was the female ranger who stepped forward to address the crowd.
"Hello, everyone," she began, her tone quiet and friendly. "We’re here now, so please remain calm."
She introduced herself, "My name is Ranger Ahanna Gupta from the District Forest Department. I’m here to help with the problem of the rogue elephant." She deliberately avoided mentioning the name Crybaby—everyone in the village knew it all too well.
"We were called as soon as it killed the tourists and mahouts from the tour, and we came straight away. So please, don’t worry."
"Don’t worry?" one of the elders exclaimed. "We’ve never had a problem with an elephant before, not like this."
This was true. The village and its surrounding rainforest had never been home to wild elephants, only to the captive ones from the tour, which were kept a few miles away near the tourist compound and the road to the famous mountaintop palace. The road passed close to, but not through, the village, and Crybaby had belonged to the old mahout and his friend, the shaman, who lived out of town in huts along the same road.
Occasionally, there were issues with tigers and sloth bears, but the village had been relatively untroubled by elephants, which were closely monitored. There were no elephant corridors or known herds nearby, though the village was surrounded by nearly every habitat the country could offer—mountains, forests, flatlands, rivers, and, of course, the ubiquitous ruins of its ancient colonial past, including long-abandoned and reputedly "haunted" forts, barracks, and bunkers. As a result, the village was unprepared for elephant attacks, lacking the usual elephant-proof ditches, fences, and watchtowers.
“We’ll build traps, make bombs, and brew poison!” shouted another elder, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
“No, no, please!” Ahanna pleaded. “You can’t do that. Killing elephants is illegal. You all know that!”
“It’s already destroyed half the village!” another man retorted.
“How many more lives?” someone else yelled.
“It’ll kill us all!” a woman wailed.
But some of the elders were focused solely on Rahul. They weren’t foolish; many were aware of the rumors that he secretly led a small group of mountain bandits who hijacked and smuggled gold. They also knew that while he and his brother had chosen different paths, it was widely acknowledged that he could be bribed or corrupted when it came to appointments and permissions. One of the elders decided to confront him directly.
“What about you, Mister Mayor? Are you going to kill it?”
Rahul shrugged. “Maybe,” he replied flatly. “These things can be killed in self-defense. I hear my brother managed to get a few shots off at the beast. Perhaps I will too.”
What he didn’t say, but was glaringly obvious to those watching him closely, was that he was certainly going to hunt it down and slaughter it. The self-defense justification could be worked out later, once the beast was dead.
“What about the festival?” one of the farmers asked. The festival was only a week away, and the village had been preparing for it since the last one. The farmers had stalls selling their produce, and there was dancing and fireworks. It was the highlight of the year.
“It will have to be canceled,” Rahul said. “We can’t risk that thing coming and trampling everyone. Unless we can kill or catch it beforehand, there’s no way we can go ahead with it.”
The villagers began to hiss and boo, and the three officials, standing with their backs to the metal compound gates, felt the mood growing tense. The younger villagers, who had earlier dropped their stones, shifted uneasily, opening and closing their hands, itching to pick them up again. For the Mayor to cancel their village festival was unthinkable. If this group of police and rangers wasn’t going to hunt down and kill the murderous, rampaging elephant, the villagers would be forced to take matters into their own hands—starting now by pelting the compound and the Land Cruisers with rocks. “Please, everybody, calm down!” Ahanna shouted over the growing rumble of discontent. “We have orders from the magistrate to hunt and subdue the elephant. Anyone who has suffered losses will be compensated by the government. Today, the forest rangers will secure the village and help people fill out the compensation forms. There’s no need to panic; we deal with rogue elephants all the time. This one is no different.”
“No different? Crybaby is a freak!” someone yelled from the back. “He’s twice the size of other elephants, and now he’s gone completely crazy!”
“Yes, yes,” Ahanna replied, “we know, and believe me, we have experience. An elephant that big still needs to eat and drink like any other. We’ll start tracking him tomorrow after we finish installing some basic protective measures here. Come on,” she said convincingly, “you wouldn’t want us gallivanting off into the forest right now and leaving the village unprotected. Please, trust us—we know what we’re doing.”
Rahul nodded, and Raj gave a double thumbs-up. The villagers were convinced.
“We’ll meet in the schoolroom in an hour,” Rahul said to the group of elders. “I’ll listen to what these folks have to say, and we’ll discuss it, okay?”
The elders nodded in agreement, and the crowd slowly dispersed.
Rahul held Ahanna’s arm and pointed to the rocks half-buried in the mud. “Those were meant for us,” he said grimly. “If we hadn’t convinced them…”
Ahanna looked down and nodded. “Come on,” she said, “let’s get a coffee and figure out how we’re going to find this beast.”
Ahanna, Raj, and Rahul sat in the main room of the Onion House while the other rangers went out to help the villagers set up a fence to keep Crybaby out and assist them with filling out the compensation forms. The computers had been switched off; Crybaby was one of the few privately owned elephants that hadn’t been tagged by the authorities, and the rangers had already confirmed that no other tagged elephants were in the immediate vicinity.
The village was fairly isolated within the rainforest, with only one road in and out. A few paths led into the forest from the farmers' fields, and the area was close to several other features: wetlands, a river, and to the West, a few kilometers away was a main road that connected the larger towns, though it passed directly through the thickest part of the forest. To the East was the quarry where the majority of the men who weren’t farmers worked. As the countryside became steeper and rose into the mountains, scattered abandoned ruins, bridges, and ancient stone paths could be found, not to mention the main tourist attraction—the palace at the mountain's summit. The closest landmark to the village was the river, where most of the upcoming festival’s events were set to take place.
When Crybaby attacked the police station and post office, it had emerged from the west and retreated back into the forest the same way. Apart from the road snaking through, this area was the most densely covered by the thick rainforest canopy and had plenty of natural food and water to sustain the massive elephant.
Ahanna brewed strong coffee for each of them and sat down. For a few moments, they sipped their coffee in silence, each lost in thought.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” Ahanna began.
“He was a good man and a good cop,” Raj added, his hand still trembling as he held his cup.
Rahul sipped his coffee and nodded. He hadn’t seen his brother’s body yet; he needed to get through this first.
“There’s nothing to be done about that now. How are we going to stop this thing? Once an elephant goes crazy and targets a place like ours, it’ll keep coming back. What are these orders from the magistrate?”
“We have to find it and tranquilize it,” Ahanna replied. Then, more forcefully, she added, “They don’t want us to kill it. I’m not sure they understand just how dangerous and crazy this elephant is, but it doesn’t matter. They want to relocate it to another province. If it hadn’t killed tourists, I don’t think things would have moved this quickly. You know that.”
This was only partly true. The orders from the magistrate had been shown to her under strict instructions—they were to be sealed again afterward and not shown to the townspeople, not even to the mayor. And with good reason: she couldn’t tell either of them that if the elephant survived, it was earmarked for the temple in the city. Elephants of that size and power were rare and extremely valuable. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much chance of Crybaby surviving. Despite what she’d said, they all knew that the village farmers were already preparing poisoned traps and explosives.
“We have to build a watchtower,” Rahul said. “It will come back—they always do.”
Rahul was right. Once an elephant had lost its mind, it was likely to keep attacking the same place repeatedly, most likely late at night. He planned to spend as much time as possible in the watchtower. After burying his brother, he would have his men patrol the rainforest at night to flush the elephant out. The next time it came near the village, he intended to shoot it in the head. As Mayor, he had to at least appear to be following the law; as the leader of the local gang of bandits, he couldn’t give a flying fuck.
They all sipped their coffee again.
Ahanna spoke next. “The village is too large to dig a ditch around, and the elephant will still find a way in. For the same reason, we can’t build an electric fence. We want to catch it, not just keep it out.”
“Wow,” Raj said, “you might feel differently once you’ve seen it. That’s one terrifying elephant. Some people are even calling it a demon. It’s not like a normal one—this thing is massive, nearly twice the size of a regular tusker, and it’s completely fucking crazy man. I saw it in its eyes when it charged the station; that thing’s possessed.”
Ahanna shrugged. “We still need to catch it. We can’t just execute it—these animals are protected now.”
The two men exchanged an uneasy glance but said nothing.
Rahul stood up. “What’s the plan? I have to see my brother’s family and go talk to the elders now. Where are the other policemen?” he asked Raj.
“They went to try and find the body of the guy who stole the elephant. The tourist said the elephant threw him down the ravine.”
“We’ll head into the forest and look for signs to track which way it went,” Ahanna said. “I’d also like to check out the shaman’s house, where the elephant was stolen from. If that’s where it usually feeds, it might go back there—somewhere familiar.”
“Okay,” Rahul said. “I’ll talk to the elders. It sounds like a good idea. I’ll join you after I’ve spoken with them. I’ll get them to start building the tower—that should keep their minds off stoning us for a day or two at least.” He added as he stood up and left the compound, heading for the schoolhouse.
On his way to the schoolhouse, Rahul decided to stop at Nisheed’s house. As he stepped inside, he was met with the heart-wrenching sight of his brother's lifeless body, mangled by the elephant. Nisheed’s body had already been cleansed and anointed with sandalwood paste and turmeric, laid out in a standing casket in the living area, covered in a pristine white shroud—a symbol of purity and peace. The scent of incense filled the room, mingling with the soft chanting of mantras that reverberated through the air. Silent tears streamed down Rahul’s face. He had loved his younger brother deeply, despite their differences.
Rahul had been entangled in secret criminal activities, while Nisheed had lived a life far removed from such darkness, even though he could have easily joined his brother’s ventures and tripled his meager police chief’s income. They were like two planets in separate orbits—always close, but never intersecting.
The family was devastated. Rahul hugged them tightly, offering what comfort he could. Unmarried and childless, this was his only family now. "I’ll cover the funeral costs," he promised, his voice thick with sadness. "And I’ll make sure you receive full compensation for this."
He intended to ensure they were compensated both by the government and by himself. As he embraced his sister-in-law, he discreetly slipped a thick bundle of notes into her hand. More would come once he and his men sold the gold hidden in the hilltop ruin.
Rahul stayed for half an hour, participating in the rituals. He joined the family in chanting the sacred mantras, lighting a small oil lamp near the body—a gesture to guide his brother’s soul on its journey. The family was preparing for the final rites, which would include carrying Nisheed’s body to the cremation ground, where it would be laid on a pyre of sandalwood and set alight, returning his physical form to the elements.
There would be time to mourn later; for now, he had to organize the village elders. Though grief and loss burned within him, it only fueled his rage and desire for vengeance. This was no nameless tragedy—he knew exactly what had killed his brother, and only slaughtering Crybaby would bring him any semblance of peace. Nisheed had always followed the law, but Rahul was cut from different cloth. His capacity for violence and cunning drove him to live a double life as both mayor and bandit leader.
“Are you going to help the rangers catch the elephant, Uncle?” asked Ishaan, Nisheed’s eldest son, tears streaming down his face.
“Yes,” Rahul tried to say, the word catching in his throat. Then, with grim resolve, he repeated, "Yes, I am."
“Relax, boys,” Rahul said as soon as he stepped into the schoolhouse. “The second I find that fucking elephant, it’s dead meat.”
“The rangers want to trap it, to catch it.” one of the elders said, cautiously.
“I don’t care what they want. It killed my brother. If we don’t do something, this freaky bastard will keep coming back until somebody puts a bullet through its skull—and that somebody is going to be me. I owe it that.”
The village elders were seated in a circle on the schoolhouse floor. Rahul joined them, his expression hard and fierce with anger.
“If anybody doesn’t want to hear this, there’s the door,” he said coldly.
None of the elders moved; they knew the truth about bull elephants. Once a tusker with the size and power of Crybaby had gone rogue and started murdering people, the only surefire way to stop it was to kill it.
“So, we cancel the festival?”
“Let’s see. We have a week to kill this bastard, if we can do that we can go ahead. Hell, we can even make a totem from its head as a tribute to Ganesh. I have a plan but I’ll need you to organize a few things behind the backs of our new friends.”
“What do you need from us?”
“I need your sons and grandsons to build the tallest watchtower ever constructed. We’ll gather what we need from the forest and the quarry, but we have to start right away,” he said, glancing outside at the gathering gloom. “We begin tomorrow. I’ll be there every night, waiting for the bastard. I’ll also send some of my men into town to gather the materials needed to make explosives, but we need to be careful. The last thing we want is to blow up one of these damn rangers.”
The elders nodded in agreement.
“We’ll create lines of defense but leave a gap visible from the tower. I’ll have my men in the forest drive the elephant toward us, and then I’ll get it,” he said, tapping the center of his forehead with his finger.
“Right fucking here.”
Ahanna let Raj drive the Land Cruiser out to the shaman’s house, partly to give his trembling hands something to steady them. She would need his help, and she wanted to calm him by giving him something important to focus on. Ahanna sensed that Raj was a good man, even though the mayor gave off a different vibe. She felt she might need Raj on her side if she ever found herself in conflict with the mayor. The district wasn’t entirely lawless, but the villagers were still traditional and likely to take matters into their own hands when angered. She couldn’t really blame them—this elephant, Crybaby, had already killed many people and showed no sign of stopping. She was already fearful of the beast, and she hadn’t even seen it yet.
Raj talked the entire way during the short drive from the village, mainly about his boss Nisheed and how good he’d been to the young policeman. He also shyly told her about his family, his young wife, and their desire to have children. By the time they arrived at the shaman’s house, it was late in the afternoon. The sun was dipping below the forest canopy, and twilight was descending. Twilight in the rainforest was as dark as night, so they had to hurry. Neither of them wanted to be away from the relative safety of the Onion House compound for too long.
Ahanna explored the shaman’s house as Raj stayed in the cruiser, illuminating the area with the powerful beams from the headlights.
There was nothing remarkable inside—just the usual bric-a-brac and shamanic trinkets that Ahanna had seen before. She didn’t buy into all that spiritual stuff and wasn’t about to change her mind now. The interior didn’t really interest her anyway; she was more focused on what lay out back, where the mahout had occasionally kept Crybaby during his visits. She was particularly interested in seeing if the elephant had been tethered or chained, hoping to gain some insight into how the animal had been treated.
Ahanna slipped out through the back door into the darkness behind the ramshackle dwelling, turning on her torch as she scanned the area behind the house. It didn’t take long for her to find a tree at the edge of the forest, marked with the signs of the elephant’s struggle. Wrapped around the base of the trunk were the chains used to restrain the massive creature.
She didn’t so much hear the low rumble as feel it—a deep vibration accompanied by a faint flapping sound that sent a chill down her spine. She froze, her blood turning to ice, and in that instant, she knew with absolute certainty that death was looming behind her. Fear tightened around her throat, a suffocating presence that felt like a punch to the chest. Tears welled up, blurring her vision as her heart pounded in her ears. It felt as though a massive, cold hand had gripped her. Her pulse beat against a muscle in her jaw like a frightened bird. The torch slipped from her grasp, rolling into the deep grass. She didn’t dare turn, knowing that to do so would be to acknowledge the doom that had silently crept upon her. Terror coiled around her heart, tightening its hold with every beat.
Despite every instinct screaming at her not to, she began to turn, ever so slowly, pivoting on the balls of her feet. She moved with agonizing slowness, her fear so intense it felt as though her tongue had swollen in her mouth. Then she saw it, just a few meters away, standing right in front of her, ghostly in the gloom—Crybaby.
She gasped, but the sound caught in her throat as she took in the sheer size of him. The elephant towered over her, three meters tall, its massive form casting a shadow that swallowed her whole. She raised her head, drawing in a strangled, silent breath. Crybaby’s head was enormous, glowing faintly in the twilight as it regarded her with watery eyes. It stood so still it could have been carved from grey marble, a statue weighing ten tonnes. She noticed the faint markings of temple paint and the tracks of the elephant’s huge tears, but now its massive head and fearsome curved tusks were also smeared with blood—blood that looked black in the gathering darkness.
She was rooted to the spot, unable to move as its gaze locked onto hers. In those eyes, she saw something dark—something evil, deep, and ancient. She had never felt anything like it before. Slowly, she closed her eyes, bracing herself, waiting for the inevitable—the tusk that would pierce her or the crushing weight that would end her life.
The trees whispered and shushed, but the end didn’t come. Ahanna opened her eyes.
Finally, after what felt like hours but could only have been a minute at most, the huge elephant turned away from her and walked silently back into the forest, fading into the bushes and disappearing like a nightmare before the break of dawn.
Her trembling legs gave way, and she dropped to her knees.
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
END OF CHAPTER NINE
Next Chapter: The Cave
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Loved this chapter so much! Especially the ending!
I just lost my mom - ln - low about ten days ago, I have been taking care of her for a year. I woke up one night and could not go back to sleep so I read Crybaby. I like that you have a woman ranger's character in the story.