The Salty city Predator

Chapter 4

After waiting for the lazy sun to set for hours finally the cover of darkness fully engulf the coastal town and Geoffrey sneaks out of his hideout and walks towards the city. He quickly hastily walks to the morgue, and at this hour the premise has been vacated only one-night guard is around. The thought of sneaking into the facility creeps into his mind, but the stench of the rotting bodies and the fear of facing the dead frightens him. He walks towards the guard who is dressed ready for the cold night armed with a bow and a club. He is startled by the young lad who appears from his rear. He is not used to such unofficial visits because residents fear walking close to the mortuary because you might encounter ghosts walking around.

The only visits mostly are by police officers delivering unidentified bodies collected all over from gunned thugs to homicide cases or the coast general hospital delivering a dead patient. Sometimes the government pathologist may be ordered to conduct a postmortem that may delay to late nights but on most occasions the night guard has a tremendously boring predictable routine although a prisoner ones faked death and after the hospital ascertaining he was not generating any brain signals he was immediately brought in here. The guard arrived for his shift and the Morgue was about to be closed, the days caretaker handed over everything to the night guard to lockup the place. The prisoner’s body was scheduled for embalming and preservation immediately its relatives claimed it. The body that was now n***d and placed among other n***d dead bodies shot up and everyone in the morgue was tongue tied. The chief mortician let out a huge scream “ghost” and everyone started running at neck breaking speed. The guard saw this and immediately sounded the alarm without knowing what has transpired in the morgue. Everyone was running towards the gate the watchman was confused and started running following them confused. His previous job as a mall security detail was haunting him what if something is stolen and I will have to give a report. He decided to walk back and face whatever it was. He just arrived to see a n***d man run out of the morgue and was the only person left in the whole compound. Police officers would later arrive and ask him to write a statement.

Guarding the mortuary was way better than the mall where he worked. No one can ever think of stealing anything from the dead except the Methanol that is perfectly stored in the general hospitals pharmaceutical stores and only delivered to the mortuary per order. The guards at the mall worked on very tight and close shifts on that particular day he was stationed at the entrance door where his main task was to search and secure all customers as they entered the seven floor mall. Suddenly everyone started running towards the exit door some run out with the commodities without paying. Out of impulse he pressed the panic button to fully shut all doors and every one was locked in in that commotion. After few minutes the first floor was engulfed with fire. The guard woke up after two weeks in a hospital ward after sustaining second degree burns. The police report said I acted as a good guard protecting the mall as instructed but innocently killed many people and from that day on he has never acted on impulse again. His current job involves guarding the dead a simple and non-involving job. He see himself in this young vagabond boy. What could this street kid want from the morgue he should be somewhere stealing? The boy lays down his case to the guard who sympathizes with him but claims there is a lot of protocol involved to allow him to access the morgue and can only happen after the mortuary is officially open during the day. Godfrey quickly takes out a fresh note from the day's hunt and hands it to the guard, and this changes his facial expression, and the bill miraculously deified all protocol and time, and he allowed him to access the morgue. The smell of rotting human bodies that could choke even a fly to death. Unidentified bodies in there were lying on each other while the identified cadaver were adequately preserved awaiting burial by their families. Godfrey now had to go through the pile of these unidentified bodies. The guard could not withstand the smell and left him to do it alone. He finds none of these bodies match his brother’s description. He walks out of the mortuary disappointed and not knowing what happened to his brother. He walks towards the ocean to take a cleansing bath in the salty water of the sea, the tap water at the mortuary did not take away the stench of the rotting bodies from his mind.

After a good night swim and with a settled mind he now thinks of joining his fellow street kids at their famous joints where he might get news of his brothers where about hoping he was not burnt to ashes with a worn-out tire and liquid petroleum. This was the story he wanted to be confirmed because it was the most probable outcome. He enters one of the most prominent joints where drugs, sniffing glue and contraband items are sold openly here. All the phones and pieces that were snatched from city residents and stolen from any part of the city are all found here. Residents from the town who know about this joint call it the black market where everything on offer is at a meager price. Many dealers come to get cheap stock for their fancy shops. Here you will also find all types of products and even police officers come here to get information on crime in the city.

At this joint Geoffrey knows the news of his brother would be the first news once his fellow urchins sight him. No one seemed to care or notice him at the urchins Conner where the street kids sniff glue others are chewing khat as they tell tales of their day on the streets. Some say an exaggerated story of their root of the day, while others beg for glue or drugs after unsuccessful day. The fate of who died by execution by a mob is laughed at and despised as those who successfully subdued the prey brag of their prowess in the profession. Geoffrey joins in and very silent waiting for some to tell or highlight his brother’s fate. No one seemed to know of jimmy’s fate this was so discomforting but it was relief that he might be alive since he was not in the morgue and the mob never caught up with if they had it would be top news in this joint. He now had to go on with the search the night was getting darker, and now the only place he was left was among the ordinary folk either the market women or the ordinary slum dwellers in the pubs. Since it was late, the only viable place was the local pubs which were now busy at operating at full capacity since it was late he could only manage to go to a few of the major once.

The pubs in the slums are one of the major social joints where the slum dwellers can come to wash away their troubles, fears, and sorrows in the salty city. In these pubs, you will find all kinds of people and their troubles. Some of these joints are inspired by the current trends such as politics, music, soccer, athletics, etc. The busy pubs are now full of capacity all the clients here are engaged in deep conversation about all wild topics in this world. Some cannot stop complaining about their harsh employer's others the crazy economy that alienates them in the salty city. Tribulations of the salty city are laid bare the more the consumption of the alcohol the more passionate and truthful the conversations become now some of the men tell of the tales of their harsh wife’s. They never run out of topics and in these topics they never forget to mention of their heroes and try to identify with them. When it comes to politics, they always remember Jabari, the great politician he was a true champion of our rights in these slums. He sponsored bills for the affordable housing project which led to him being assassinated and the housing kitty looted what is left is the incomplete project, he also started a care Centre for the street urchins where the homeless had a safe-haven for street kids where they could get food, education and the great slum market is named after him. Jabari after winning the election never left the slums he initiated the building of schools and a mega slum hospital in the slums. He was daring to all no one dared vie against him, and those who did the slum dwellers made sure Jabari won with a landslide. Jabari’s parents were not known, but rumors’ of his illegitimate birth were always the talk during political campaigns his opponents trying to make him unpopular. Some said he was born and abandoned the maternity unit of the city hospital while others say he was found disposed of in a dustbin next to city hall. His opponents could try to tell the people a reject at birth and garbage like Jabari is not worth representing anyone. Jabari having been saved from begging on the streets by a priest who took him to school and adopted him and later instead of joining the seminary to preach the gospel he accepted a scholarship to study political science at a foreign university to the disappointment of the priest. Jabari never denied the uncertainties of his birth he would answer and embrace it as a true politician would completely identifying with the city slums. He would also clarify the uncertainties of his birth that he too did not know how or who gave birth to him. Jabari tried to hire a private investigator to trace his roots but to no avail. “Some say I am a product of p**********n others I am a product of r**e and still others insist I was an unwanted pregnancy that should have been aborted. That is just their opinion if you see them here tell them I am too great a man to be borne by one woman. Tell them I am a product of all the women in the slums born of the tribulations of the slums making me the sole heir to champion their rights. I have been a burden to the people begging on all the streets, but today the problems of these people are now my burdens,” he would reply. Whoever opposed Jabari was an enemy of the slums, and the resident could not allow him to address any rally in the slums. The audience in such a gathering would shout and sing songs and political slogans praising Jabari, their hero. He is assassinated when he implemented the housing project after he received foreign aid to fund it. He is assassinated after he opposed the building of an industrial center and an airport by private developers that would displace half the slum dwellers living them homeless. The housing project conflicted with the modern ideas and Jabari was the only stumbling block for the developers. Just as the developers are used to solving such problems, they had approached Jabari trying to bribe him, but he was adamant about building affordable housing for the low-income families. Jabari died in a mysterious car accident on his way to finalize the housing project, but during the postmortem, the pathologist discovered bullet wounds on his driver’s forehead most likely delivered by a sniper. That shot killed the driver making the vehicle to veer off the road into a deep ditch where all its occupants were dead including Jabari. Jabari was a great hero dead than when he lived questions of his death were too critical to the government. A committee s formed in parliament, but the selfish members made recommendations for improving their security as people’s representatives rather than find out who killed Jabari. But everyone in the slums knew who committed the heinous crime because the airport and industrial center are built and the slum dwellers displaced, and others left homeless. Many tried demonstrations but Jabari was no longer with them they were always buried by the brutal police force each time. The sleeping in the cold, police brutality and hunger made them succumb and submit giving up their homes and livelihoods. They vacated to other parts of the slums, and the further squeezed slum had to accommodate more and more, and they all wished Jabari was still alive to fight for them.

When football is the talk of the slums especially during the different league games, they always remember to praise their local football legend, Joe. Some say he was born and abandoned the maternity unit of the city hospital while others say he was found disposed of in a dustbin next to city hall. He was one of the beneficiaries of the haven created by Jabari. After Jabari died sisters from the Catholic Church took over the administration of the children’s home and hospital at the center courtesy of the priest who saved Jabari from the begging street life. Joe was rumored to have been born by one of the college students in the city and abandoned the baby at the city dump site after the father refused to take responsibility. This has always been the case in this city with these unwanted pregnancies to those who cannot afford to pay for illegal abortion in these private clinics in the city. The guardians at this center always try their best to conceal how many of these kids ended up at the center.

As the municipal land mover’s operator was busy as usual at the dump site operating a land mover busy creating more room for more waste from the city. The noise from the land mover makes him not to be distracted by anything else. At the dump site there too many stray dogs and cats scavenging for anything to eat from the rats to leftovers. There are also numerous huge rats who call the dump site their home some feed the scavenging cats and dogs at the site. The worker notices the dogs fighting as it’s a norm at the landfill they always fight over the little they find it’s still survival for the fittest. But unlike other days where they struggle over the dirt and filth of the landfill but today they are fighting over a nicely wrapped package that seems clean after surviving the hands of the urchins and the municipal workers. The canines are involved in a grueling battle for a rare dish. The action gets more and fiercer as the dogs fight over a meal and the worker always enjoys these epic fights. He notices this struggling dogs some have been injured and have given up while others are still fighting on. As the dogs fight, each tries to get a bite of the meal. The defeated canines will have to wait for the alpha victor to have his fill or sneak and take a quick bit of its leftovers. The fight goes on crows, and other scavengers are watching from afar waiting patiently for what will be left. The land mover operator is distracted by the battle and has to stop to catch all the action it worth all the time it happens once in a full moon at the site, because all the workers and pig farmers have already gone through the waste leaving nothing for these scavengers but sometimes they might get lucky. Some urchins are also scavenging for plastics and metal waste that might be valuable to be sold to dealers in the recycling trade. The battle gets tougher and tougher as more dogs are attracted to the fight and join the fight. They all surround their meal, and each tries to escape with the meal or a piece of it but all in vain. The dogs continue fighting cries from the dogs as they compete on some give desperate calls of bravely while others provide cries of pain from injuries sustained from bites in the fight. Some of the dogs get deep bites are left with wounds while others are left lame by the conflict. Some try to show their molars to scare away their adversary and the battle continues. The dogs get tired of fighting and end up pulling the adequately wrapped package each towards itself. One of the dogs has blood stains on it. Blood continues to leak from the package as the dogs continue to pull.

The operator drives the land mover closer and closer to wittiness and has a proper view of the bout. As he comes closer, he can hear cries of a child, but he cannot determine where the squeal is coming from. He tries looking around but could not correctly identify where precisely the cry is coming from. He decides to watch the epic fight and listen for the kid later. He switches the engine off so as not to scare away the dogs and stop the fight. After the engine is off, he hears the voice of the child clearly and distinctly. The sound was coming from the midst of the fighting dogs. He gets out of the land mover towards the dogs, and he tries to fight them off they are now too many to fear him, he is forced to drive the land mover towards the dogs, and he rescued the bleeding child and administered first aid. He reported the case to the authorities where the child was placed under the care of sisters at Jabari’s rescue center as investigations were being conducted to find the child’s parents.

The kid grew to teenage and joined a local primary school and fell in love with will football. He somehow could not keep up with the class work but was a natural with the ball he could dribble even with his eyes closed. He suffered low self-esteem at the school due to scars all over his face and body that he could not explain where he got them from. None of the sisters dared to tell him the truth. He took all his frustrations on the ball. He loved as the crowd cheered him as he played on. He always won awards of top scorer and best player at all regional games. The school team once qualified for the national tournament where they were competing against the best schools in the country. They made it to the finals where his prowess was evident his command on the pitch was unquestioned. He danced with the defenders effortlessly and made a fantastic score during the first half. All indications were that they were going to win the tournament. Their opponents the defending champions during the halftime break their coach had identified Joe as their only stumbling block to winning and gave tactical orders to eliminate him. During the second half he received tackle after tackle till he could not take it anymore he could barely walk as the first aid team carried him out of the pitch the hopes and dreams of his team winning were carried out with him.

Joe’s team never won, but from that day the star of this young football Player started shining. He was occasionally invited to play paid matches by local football teams. His football passion started conflicting with his education and the sisters at the center together with the teachers were onto his case. He decided to quit school and escaped from the center to pursue a soccer career fulltime. He was signed by one team first as a trainee where he played for local league where he later won a place in the first eleven. He was now earning a proper salary and could fully cater for his basic needs he would sometime pass by the center and give donations. He was worshiped by the young orphans they all wanted to be like him he was there living the dream. Joe won awards after awards best player to golden boots his team rose up the ranks to play the top league in the country. He always secured a place in the national team to play against other countries where he never disappointed until he landed a mega deal with a European team. When he plays only a few who can afford to buy certain gadgets and subscribe to specific international media company can see him play. He remains a darling of the salty city and when he plays all the pubs that can afford to show the game are flocked to capacity. Our nation can no longer afford him to play for our national team, and he now changed citizenship so that he could participate in the world cup. The salty city cheers and always support any team Joe plays for with all of them trying to identify with him. Some claim to be his relative others say they used to play soccer with him while others claim that they used to be neighbors. Teenagers in the salty city admire the football legend they always wear his half dreadlocks half shaved hairstyle and his tattoos that conceal his multiple dog bites.