There are man-eating monsters on my compound...

Ok, I need to preface this story with another story to provide a little context/maintain some degree of masculine integrity. After I graduated college I went to Tanzania for about 3.5 months to teach/work at an NGO, and travel around some before law school. At the end of my trip I was lucky enough to be able to camp out at three national parks, one of which was the Serengeti. Any time you walked out of your tent at night and flashed your headlamp around you would see the eerie reflection of eyes glaring back at you. Despite being in the middle of the park, we were at a campsite, and as such there was a steady stream of campers coming through there. Hyenas had picked up on the fact that they could get easy meals from left overs and trash, so at night they were pretty much everywhere. The reflective eye thing is very unsettling on its own, but knowing those eyes belong to a hyena is pee-inducing.

Ok, fast forward 4 years to about 2 hours ago. Keep in mind the above story, and stories from previous posts about man-eating hyenas in my area, and go ahead and google "hyena" and check out the pictures for reference. I walked out of my house tonight to fill up my drinking water jug (it rained all day today so the tank next to my house was full) and I had my headlamp on as usual since it is pitch black on my compound after 8pm. I set the 20 liter jug under the tap and got it started, and as I turn around I catch a glimmer out of the corner of my eye. I moved forward a couple of steps and then I saw a pair of red eyes reflecting back at me. I couldn't see the body at all, just the eyes, and they were about 15-20 feet away from me. I was now in between my front door and the water tank that was pouring rain water at an impossibly slow rate. Part of me just wanted to go inside and not mess with any of it, but then I figured I would end up wasting water that other people on my compound need. So I went inside and got my knife and decided not to make any sudden movements, all the while yelling under my breath at the water tank for being absurdly slow at the one time I needed it to be fast. The jug finally filled up, and as I walk back towards my door I notice the eyes aren't there anymore. As I looked around in a panicked state I saw them again, this time about 5 feet away. I was able to see what the eyes belonged to, and let me tell you, it was the fiercest 5 pound newborn puppy I have ever seen. Needless to say I felt/feel just a bit emasculated at the moment, but the 20 minute standoff and 5 minutes of me laughing at myself brought some excitement to an otherwise slow night. Again, if any of you retell this story, I really need you to emphasize how scary hyenas are, and how they may or may not have eaten a bunch of people in my community in the not-so-distant past, and that I could not see the body of the monster, just the eyes. Much appreciated. Talk to y'all soon.