Reconsidering
1191 Words
When a fierce wind isn't noisily blowing the trees, there was always something making the noise. That road wasn't as quiet as it should have been since everyone left. The birds could be chirping on the trees. Animals could be noisily chasing one another in the bushes. 'Ghosts could be crying', according to the superstitious beliefs of the previous inhabitants.
This time, the soldiers' vehicle was the noisemaker.
The weight of Toby slowed him down as Joe walked back to the residence of Stanley and the other daywalkers. Looking left and right, consistently, he met with another facade.
The car zoomed right through the two of them. The soldiers had no reason to slow down. There was no pedestrian; there was less risk of having an accident.
Stanley and two others rushed to meet them. Joe was already too weak to move fast so another person carried Toby.
"How did it go?", Stan asked.
Joe sighed and shook his head. "Unexpectedly.... Let's go in".
They sat down and Joe laid his back.
"Why's there no godmode?"
"Why's there a hole in Toby's head?"
Stanley stood up and looked at Toby closely. "It's nothing", he said and slapped Toby in the face.
Toby coughed and woke up. The hole in his head closed, slowly.
"Aargh! We're out", Toby said, raising his back. He coughed, twice more.
"They told me things, guys", Joe said, indifferently. "Actually, they showed me. Apparently, my whole mission is a waste of time and.... the godmode? it's useless"
"What are you saying?"
Toby was confused. "What are you saying? you didn't bring the godmode?"
"I didn't... There's nothing to see"
★★★ ★★★ ★★★
The vehicle stopped, after a few seconds of drifting and screeching.
"Why did you stop the car? And the music?", one of the two soldiers said. The one in the driver's seat had stopped the car.
"Come... didn't you see that?", the soldier said as he got down from the car. The second one followed.
"Rahman! What again", the other soldier complained.
"A guy ran into the forest, as we were coming. He was dragging a body"
"Bro, you just drank something. We have a place to go".
The soldier took out a gun, looking around, carefully. He contemplated whether to chase whoever he might have seen or not.
"He would have gone far", Rahman said.
The other soldier also looked around though, he was totally carefree. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here in weeks"
"uhm... Tijan? You seeing this?"
"uhn?", he looked at Rahman, who seemed petrified. He moved closer to check what his colleague had seen.
He could see a trail of blood. 'how didn't I see that earlier? Looks fresh', Tijan thought.
"Look at that body!", Rahman said, distorting his face.
Tijan looked and quickly turned his face away. "I have done many horrible things in my life but this is beyond horrific"
The two soldiers were standing before a dead body. The look of the carcass was what terrified them. The throat had been slit and there was a big hole in the stomach. It was obvious that something was wanted in the person's body and it was in the stomach.
"Do you think an animal did this?", Rahman asked.
"Maybe so...", Tijan replied. "But who could the other guy be? You said you saw someone pulling the body and then, there's a trail of blood that proves so".
"Two brothers probably got attacked by a wild animal and one escaped while the other got devoured. The living brother came back for his brother, sadly".
"That's one assumption but... This is Cross-river, remember?"
"Come on, those rumors are not true. I have a pretty close friend who hails from Calabar and, according to him, the only weird thing they eat is dog meat.. They are not cannibals"
"Well, maybe.... this is a waste", Tijan replied. "He'd have been safe if he was in the camp, like the others".
"Some idiots chose to fight back. Let's see how they survive without the others"
The two of them agreed to leave the body. "Nobody cares", Tijan said as his right leg pressed on the gas pedal. Rahman had switched seats with him and Tijan was in control of the vehicle.
★★★ ★★★ ★★★
"You guys are pretty dumb on the roads, so weird people", Alex said, sitting beside Luke, one of the fellow captives.
The two were talking for the second time. The first time was when they had a disagreement at the 'bathroom'. They had insulted one another for a long time. Luke returned to apologise.
"Why do you think so?"
"The highest number of kills in Nigeria are on the road; hit-and-run drivers", Alex said.
"I smell a lie", Chuma interrupted. "Whatever you said, you just lied".
"Who cares? the fact is, you guys have this extremely stupid confidence, on the road"
"Yea, because if a driver knocks down a person, he's in trouble with the law", Chuma replied.
"So you guys are like, 'I'm not moving from here, can't the driver see I'm on the right side of the road?'..... Nigerian idiots don't know that 99% of those drivers escape from the road accidents they caused, in NIGERIA!!!"
"So what about South Africans?", Luke asked. "You all panic and run at the sight of coming vehicles, uhn?"
"My point is, You fools end up dead if God likes you. You spend just a few days in the hospital if God loves you. You spend the rest of your life with a broken leg or neck, if true Justice exists."
"Really? Cruel", Ada commented.
"It's not cruel", Alex objected. "For you to dare something powerful, you need to have confidence in something more powerful, and also, you need to have an assurance of safety or Justice. In South Africa, we dare drivers to hit us"
"And you call us dumb?"
"Yes! Those who do so must have dependable voodoo. Unfortunately, we have a lot of that. Nigerians just rely on the law while breaking laws and escaping Justice. I mean, how can you be able to evade the law and expect the same law to be inescapable for others?"
"Hmm!", they chorused, looking at one another.
"But then-", Luke began but Chuma cut him short.
"Shut up. He already killed us", Chuma said. "This is the first time you are actually making sense... Except the part where you called us idiots"
"Yea", Ada supported. "His tongue should be nailed to Soko's buttocks"
The gates opened and Kenny came in, alone. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched his approach, wondering what he wanted to do.
"Is he coming to fight again? I think I will challenge him, this time", Alex stated.
★★★ ★★★ ★★★
"Hey, Tijan?", Rahman called. "What do you think about all this?"
"I think it's crazy and insane", Tijan replied. "We should be enjoying our last days but what can we do about it? Nothing"
"We can't do anything but it still makes no sense. Slow down, please?!"
Tijan took the opposite of the advice. He increased the speed. "Let's cruise while we can, bro"
- Writer
