The Mighty Hunter
Shere Khan sat under a shady tree, licking and carefully tearing at his kill. The jungle was quiet and peaceful today, and with his kill within his grasp, the harmony of his surroundings served to sooth the big cat. This kill had taken a lot out of him. It had been a well fought fight on both ends, but as always, it was Shere Khan who had emerged victorious.
Smirking, the tiger began his feast in silence, satisfied and extremely pleased with himself. He had come a long way from the helpless little cub he'd been years ago. Thinking back to his cub-hood, the tiger nearly winced, remembering how arrogant he'd been: all roar and no bite. Or at least, very little bite. Now he'd grown strong, strong and proud. He was the most deadly creature in all the jungle. His name was feared by animal and man alike.
Man. Oh yes, man had a very great reason to fear him. Blood squirted from the carcass, wetting the tiger's maw. Of all the creatures in India, it was man that Shere Khan hated the most, and it was man that Shere Khan would always hate. Because of all the animals that the tiger had come across, it was man that was the cruelest. And it was for that reason, and that reason alone that made the tiger step up and wrestle this title from man for himself.
Only the strong survive, after all, and Shere Khan was a survivor.
Man didn't deserve to live, that was something the others just didn't understand. Shere Khan might have been a killer, but he killed when he needed. Man…man killed on a whim. Man killed without thought. Man could wipe out an entire species with just a stick that shot fire! The others called him a monster, a murderer, but oh how wrong they were. Who was really the monster? A tiger that killed for necessity or man, who killed for the sake of killing and stealing skin?
Biting particularly hard into the carcass before him, bone snapped under the tremendous force of his jaw. He remembered that day so well, the day that had been burned into his mind forever. He still remembered the fire, the smoke, his mother's terrified roars. The explosion from the gun still rang in his ears, the smell of burnt flesh still in his nostrils. He heard his mother's agonized roar, heard the shouts of men. He'd watched from the tall grasses, petrified, frozen, as they skinned her right there. In front of him. They took her skin. Nothing else. And he'd had to watch as the vultures circled down to eat the remains, despite his trying to defend it before the wolves had come.
A savage growl clashed against the tranquil day. He'd been so weak back then, but not now. He'd failed his mother, and the other tigers that were now gone, but he wasn't that pathetic cub anymore. He was Shere Khan, the King of the Jungle. Never again would he allow men to hunt in these jungles if he could help it. Never again would man have a place here. While the other animals did not appreciate it, didn't even realize it, he was protecting them too. He was protecting the jungle from the atrocities of man. He didn't care if they recognized what he was doing for them or not, he didn't care what they thought of him, he would always be there to deter man. No cub deserved to see the horrors he had.
Looking down at his kill, the tiger realized there wasn't much left. There hadn't been much meat on the creature to begin with, but it had sated hunger for now. After all, it had really been more about the hunt than the meal. So, carefully, he began licking the bones, crunching them down into dust.
It had always confused him as to why his former friends defended men so much. Bagheera, in particular, had stunned him in his defense of humans. The panther was the only one left of his kind in this jungle as well. Even though the panther had never spoken about it, he knew men had killed Bagheera's family. Yet the black feline had still taken care of a man-cub and gone against him in order to do it. Hathi, too, surprised the tiger, after all the abuse humans had put him through during their so called wars. The elephant had been put into chains and all but tortured, yet now he marched around the jungle, proud to have been a part of it all. The other idiots' responses didn't surprise him much in their apathy, but why didn't they care? Men were dangerous, surely they could see that?
Well, he couldn't change their opinions completely, but he could make them alter their behaviors when it came to man. The threat of Shere Khan was enough to make any creature think twice. And some day they would all see that he was right. And until then, Shere Khan would still patrol the jungles, still hunt down the murderous monsters that stole skin and disobeyed the Jungle Law.
Standing up, the tiger looked down at the remains of his kill. Picking up the skull, the cat looked it over with a cruel smile, studying it. "Well I suppose I should thank you for the lovely lunch," he drawled. "I could not have had it without you."
Chuckling, the tiger set the skull down and crushed it with his paw. "You had a good run of it too, I'll give you that," he continued as he wiped his paw off in the grass. "You lasted much longer than any of my other victims. What was it? Around ten years?" He chuckled again. "Well, after all that boasting, we see who was really the mightiest of hunters, haven't we?"
The bone fragments didn't reply. It only served to amuse the tiger more in a twisted sort of way.
"Well, I must be off, no need to show me out." The big cat began turning away when he thought better of it, and decided to bury what little was left under fallen leaves and dirt. He didn't want anyone else to find what remained of the cloth, after all.
Once he was finished, the tiger began walking away. "Ta-ta, Buldeo," he called, smirking. "I'm off to pay a visit to your family. I'm sure they've wondered what's become of you."
And with that, the great tiger slipped into the foliage of the jungle without a trace. It was as though he didn't exist. Yet all knew he did. The name of Shere Khan was whispered about the jungle in fear, and while he had no friends and the world seemed to hate him, it did not bother the tiger much anymore. Let them hate, as long as they feared. Let them hate, but he was still the mightiest of hunters.
And he would remain thus until his last breath.
Author's Note: I watched The Jungle Book tonight… :T
Let's face it, Shere Khan in the original Disney movie was pretty awesome, and combine him with Kipling's original man-eater was just too good to pass up.
For those who don't know, there was a deleted song for the Disney movie called "Might Hunters" featuring Shere Khan and the hunter named Buldeo. And the reference to his "friends" of course, comes from Jungle Cubs. I tried to mix the original book, Disney movie, and little tv show into one big thing, while trying to capture the spirit of the book more so. Hope you enjoyed.