2030: Forces

All Ready

"Shoot it! shoot it!", they yelled at him. He was nervous. His hand trembled as the pulled the arrow. The prey was already getting away.

"Come on! it's getting away. I'm out of arrows!", another person shouted.

"We already have enough meat", Jerry yelled back, sweating profusely.

They watched as the rabbit ran through the green leaves and over logs of wood. The next thing they saw was a knife slicing through the rabbit. The knife flew from nowhere and flew back, right before their eyes, to Joe's open left palm.

"I love rabbits. I'd have spared", Joe said.

"I love rabbit meat. I'd have killed", another hunter replied.

"Grow some nerves and throw some knives, boy!", Chuma slapped Jerry in the buttocks.

"Hmm, word!", Alex said.

"Uhn? Oh, yea. I'm good at rhyming.... rhyming wise words".

"You wish!"

They had found a huge building with a large hall in the middle of the forest. From the outside, no one would suspect that people resided there so it was considered as the best place to hide for the moment.

"When are we gonna tidy this place up?", Chuma asked, silently.

"Yea... I've been thinking about that too", Alex said. "I mean, this place looks like a dumpster"

Chuma smiled at him. "Well, stop thinking. We're not tidying up"

"Uhn?!"

"The gods have prepared a 'Dumpster' to serve as our camouflage. The moment we tidy up, the chances of us getting captured again increases."

"You've got a pretty big brain".

Everyone felt a little safer in their new 'home'. "Unfortunately, this is not home", Joe shouted, suddenly, addressing them.

They looked at him, alarmed. "is he talking to ghosts again?", Jerry asked.

"No, he's warning us", Don replied him.

"Turns out we are relaxing", Joe began. "I like it. I like the smiles and the joy but if they find us, we'll be doomed. So we have to be strong. Our best fighters have to be ready to defend us if they ever find us"

Don stepped forward, followed by Kalu. Chuma joined them. "I'm ready to die for our freedom".

"Well, I hope we don't die while trying to live", Joe replied. "I will leave you and get to the root of all this before the tree consumes us. The fate of everyone will be in the hands of you three-"

"Four... we, four", Alex said and walked forward. Chuma looked and smiled at him. "I've been a coward and it ends here. I'm a warrior".

"I'll be number 5"

"I'll be number 6"

Two others joined them. One was named Seth and the other was Yusuf.

Joe sighed, impressed by their unexpected willingness. "I like that. We will survive"

"I will be 7", Odogwu said and walked out, slowly.

"You can stay back", Don said to him. "We won't be risking lives"

"We already are", he replied. "I'm not insane. I will fight for us"

The amazement didn't last long. They weren't far from danger.

Looking through the dusty window, a teenage boy saw a car drive by. The soldiers were definitely in there.

"Sure", another teenage boy said. "They didn't bother to check here. That means we are safe".

"No, Timmy", the boy replied. "They didn't check here but they passed here. We may need to walk out, anytime"

"Well, then, we should pray against such coincidence"

The children had enough space to play but they weren't playing. They just sat down and chatted.

"Now we can eat, comfortably", Chuma said and sat down to eat.

"God really exists, you know", Alex said. "Getting food to eat is pure luck"

"Very soon, we'll run out of food"

"Maybe God will help us out of this before then"

Ada hanged around Joe, laughing through the whole time.

"A lot of things you won't believe", Joe said.

"I really had dreams of a good life, you know", she replied. "The greatest was to be a good housewife and mother... I wanted a weird husband... One whose whole life is a joke"

"That's me"

"No", she giggled. "Not when you used to talk to ghosts. Damn! that was serious"

"Really? They were strange. Now I'm used to them. One day, I'll take you to their land"

"And I'll run away before you do that"

"No, I'm being literal", Joe said. "I can open portals and travel to the land of the ghosts"

"Uhn? We'll end up making weird kids", She said and placed her head in his chest.

★★★ ★★★ ★★★

Joe mocked her. "Told you to stay back. Now you're jumping around like an happy toad"

"Shut up, I just wanted to be a supportive wife"

"Well, you can support us with prayers from home"

"Stop the love talk. There are preys everywhere still we ain't catching any", Chuma said as the eight turned round and round, confused.

"Aaah!", Ada let out an high pitched scream, as a big rat ran over her foot.

Odogwu landed a huge wood on the rat and killed it. The others laughed at Ada's cowardly scream.

Many catches followed. 'Thud!' after 'Thud!' and the rats were dying.

★★★ ★★★ ★★★

"Can I play?", a boy in oversized trousers and a dirty shirt. The boys had made a ball with papers and nylons, and the boy wanted to join.

"Timmy, I think Tari wants to play", Andrew said and they stopped playing.

"Oh... ok", Timmy replied. "He should join your team. We're already enough"

"Thanks", Tari smiled and joined them, happily. He had always been restricted from socializing by his mother. He only got a chance to play after a million voices helped in convincing his overprotective mother.

He was pretty agile in football. The keeper threw the ball at him. He chested the ball and made it roll down, then he shot the ball with his left foot.

"Goal!", his team mates shouted and lifted him off his feet. The noise disturbed the older ones but they left them to play.

"See, Timmy! We should have chosen that guy", one of Timmy's team mates said.

"Yea... I thought we had a competent David De Gea at the post"

They resumed playing and the Timmy's team improved in their defense. After moving forward and backward with the ball, Tari passed the ball to one of his team mates.

"Score!", Tari said and the boy shot the ball at the opponent's post. The ball flew up in the air and got out through a broken window.

"I'll go and get it", One of Timmy's team mates ran outside to get the ball.

He hastily looked around for the ball, searching through the bushes. The green leaves tickled as he walked through. He wasn't cautious enough to hide, as a van parked behind him.

It was already too late to run. A soldier walked out of the van, holding a pistol and moving towards him.

"Stay right there!", the soldier howled, slowly moving closer. "Where are your others?"

The boy raised his hands up, breathing hardly with heavy heartbeats. He just closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I said-"

The boy's eyes stayed closed for a while. He wondered why everything was suddenly quiet. He managed to open his eyes.

It was Jerry. He had slammed a heavy log of wood on the soldier.

"What are you waiting for? Let's carry him, quickly"

"You killed him?", the boy asked. "What are you doing out here? you disobeyed"

"I didn't kill him and if I wasn't out here, you would have exposed us all...

so let's carry him while you shut your mouth"

★★★ ★★★ ★★★

"There's something in the bushes", Alex said. They stood still, listening. They could hear rustling leaves. It seemed like something was running towards them.

"Let's move. What if it's a wild animal?", Chuma warned.

"No, it's not", Joe said and walked into the bush. "It's something else"

Joe walked farther into the bush and stumbled on something. It was a man.