CHAPTER FOUR — WHEN THE RIVER TAKES BLOOD
1842 Words
Blackness swallowed everything.
Cold water churned around them, tossing Ghost and Amara like broken branches.
Her scream drowned instantly, replaced by the violent rush of the canal dragging them through its dark throat.
Ghost held Amara with one arm, the other clawing at the rushing water, fighting to surface.
But the river’s current was merciless.
His injured ribs screamed with each twist.
His fingers slipped
“No no!” Amara gasped, choking as water filled her mouth.
Ghost tightened his grip around her waist.
“I say hold me!” he roared above the water’s thunder.
“I no dey let you go!”
But the river didn’t care about love.
Or promises.
Or fear.
It pulled harder.
A wave slammed into them.
Ghost spun underwater.
Cold darkness swallowed him whole.
He dragged Amara’s head above water again, but his strength was failing.
His lungs burned.
His vision blurred.
His heartbeat pounded painfully.
The injury on his side throbbed warm blood mixing with the cold river.
“Ghost, Ghost I can’t” Amara sobbed, clinging to his neck.
Her nails dug into his skin, desperate.
His voice was barely a rasp now.
“Don’t don’t let go, Amara”
The current surged again
A sharp metallic clank echoed.
Then
WHAM!
Ghost’s back collided with something heavy
A floating metal barrier.
Pain exploded through him.
He nearly blacked out.
Amara slipped from his arms.
“Ghost!” she screamed, hands reaching blindly in the water.
He caught her wrist at the last second.
“Come here!” he grunted.
He pulled her onto his chest again, forcing himself to stay awake, stay conscious, stay alive.
He reached out with his free hand, gripping the rusted barrier edge.
His muscles trembled violently as he pulled both of them upward.
His injury burned like fire.
Something felt broken.
But he pushed.
For her.
THE RIVERBANK — MOMENTS LATER
Ghost dragged himself and Amara onto a muddy embankment.
Water poured off their bodies.
They collapsed, gasping, coughing, shivering.
Amara crawled closer to him, touching his face.
“Ghost Ghost are you breathing? Talk to me!”
He coughed water, then rasped:
“I dey breathe… barely.”
She pressed her forehead to his chest, shaking.
Her tears mixed with the rain.
“You scared me. I! I thought I lost you…”
Ghost stared up at the dark sky, chest heaving.
He whispered hoarsely:
“I dey lose plenty things for this life… but I no go lose you.”
Her breath caught.
His tone raw, broken, honest cut straight through her.
Ghost tried to sit up but groaned, grabbing his ribs.
“Your side” Amara gasped. “You’re bleeding. You’re bleeding a lot”
“I fit walk,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
“No you can’t!” she snapped, frustration and fear blending.
“Ghost, you’ve lost too much blood”
“Blood dey plenty,” he said with a faint, pained smirk. “You dey plenty? I dey protect you again, abi?”
Amara shook her head, ignoring the chills running through her body.
She pressed her palm against his wound to slow the bleeding.
He winced.
“Easy,” he breathed. “I no be iron.”
She looked into his eyes dark, fierce, soft all at once.
“You’re bleeding because you jumped in front of a bullet,” she whispered.
“Better me than you.”
Her heart squeezed painfully.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why do you keep risking everything for me?”
He brushed her wet hair from her face.
His thumb lingered on her cheek.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because na you. Because you dey make my heart do something wey I no understand.”
Lightning flashed across the sky.
And that moment quiet, suspended, trembling was enough to melt something deep inside her.
Amara swallowed hard.
“Ghost…”
He cupped her face gently, despite the pain wracking his body.
Their foreheads touched.
He whispered:
“If you drown, I drown with you.”
Amara’s breath shuddered.
Her lips parted.
Ghost leaned in
A crack echoed across the river.
A gunshot.
Amara jerked.
Ghost froze.
Their eyes widened.
Someone was on the riverbank behind them.
A silhouette stepped out of the shadows.
Tall.
Broad.
Cold.
“Ghost…” the voice drawled.
“You still dey alive.”
Ghost pulled Amara behind him instantly, shielding her with his own broken body.
His voice hardened like steel.
“Killer.”
The man c****d his rifle, rain sliding over the metal.
“Yes.” He grinned darkly. “Boss say make I bring your head. And the girl.”
Amara’s heart dropped.
“Killer” wasn’t just a nickname.
It was a reputation.
Ghost’s muscles tensed, ignoring the blood loss, ignoring the pain.
“You go need bury yourself first,” he said.
Killer chuckled.
“You dey weak. You dey drip blood. You think you fit fight me tonight?”
Ghost didn’t blink.
“I go do am.”
Killer aimed the rifle.
Ghost pushed Amara down flat, shielding her with his entire body.
“No!” she cried. “Ghostyour ribs”
He shushed her.
His voice was soft but unshakeable.
“You go survive. That’s an order.”
Killer’s finger squeezed the trigger
THUD!
A heavy object smashed into Killer from behind.
He staggered, stumbled, fired aimlessly into the air
Amara slapped her hands over her ears
Ghost snapped his head up.
“What the?”
Killer looked up slowly, fury twisting his face.
Behind him stood
Scorpion.
Limping.
Bleeding.
Barely standing.
But alive.
Ghost exhaled shakily.
“Scorpion… you stubborn fool.”
Scorpion wiped blood from his brow.
“I tell you say I no dey die for free.”
Killer roared and charged at Scorpion.
Scorpion dodged weakly, firing once
Killer crashed into him, slamming him against a tree.
Ghost stumbled to his feet.
“Stay here!” he told Amara.
“I’m coming with you!” she yelled.
“You no dey come anywhere!”
“Ghost”
“Stay behind that log and don’t move!” he barked.
She froze his voice like thunder.
Ghost charged toward Killer.
He grabbed Killer from behind, yanking him off Scorpion.
Killer elbowed him viciously in his wounded ribs.
Ghost choked on the pain, knees nearly buckling.
Killer smirked.
“You dey weak, Ghost. Very weak.”
Ghost spat blood.
“Strong enough to kill you.”
They clashed.
Fists.
Knees.
Elbows.
Grunts.
Mud.
Pain became sound.
Breathing became warfare.
Killer slammed Ghost into the ground, straddling him, hands around his throat.
Ghost clawed at his wrists, struggling for air.
Amara screamed.
Scorpion crawled forward.
Killer squeezed harder.
Ghost’s vision blurred.
He felt himself slipping.
Amara’s voice cracked through the night:
“GHOST!! PLEASE!!”
His eyes snapped open.
Something raw surged through him.
He grabbed a rock from the mud
And smashed it into Killer’s temple.
Once.
Twice.
Killer collapsed sideways.
Ghost rolled away, coughing violently, struggling to breathe.
“Ghost!” Amara rushed to him.
He grabbed her wrist weakly.
“I dey here… I dey here…”
But Killer wasn’t dead.
He stumbled to his knees, blood dripping down his face, eyes red with fury.
“You go die tonight, all of you!” he roared.
He reached for his fallen rifle
Scorpion, with the last of his strength, tackled him again.
Both men rolled toward the riverbank.
“Scorpion!!” Amara screamed.
“GHOST!!”
Ghost tried to stand but collapsed to one knee.
“SCORPION STOP!” he choked. “YOUR LEG YOU CAN’T”
But Scorpion didn’t listen.
He fought Killer savagely, hands around his neck, pushing him closer to the rushing water.
Killer punched him repeatedly, blood spraying.
Both men teetered on the edge
Killer broke free
Shoved Scorpion hard
And Scorpion slipped
“NO!!!” Ghost roared.
Killer grabbed Scorpion by the collar, dragging him back, laughing.
“I no kill you fast. I go kill you slow. One by”
A shot cracked through the night.
Killer froze.
Another shot.
His body jerked.
A third.
He collapsed like a sack of stones, rolling down the muddy slope, hitting the water with a splash.
Dead.
Ghost turned sharply toward the direction of the gunfire.
Amara gasped.
A woman stood at the top of the slope.
Black boots.
Black jacket.
Braids down her back.
Cold eyes.
A sniper rifle in her hands.
“Who-who is that?” Amara stuttered.
Ghost’s face hardened.
His breath hitched.
His voice dropped into something low, dark, unreadable.
“That… is Vee.”
Amara frowned. “Vee? Who is”
Ghost swallowed.
“She be my ex second-in-command.”
Amara blinked.
“…Ex?”
Ghost nodded once.
“Yes. Ex everything.”
Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating Vee’s face
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
Empty.
She stepped down the slope, rifle hanging casually at her side.
Her voice echoed calmly.
“Ghost. You look terrible.”
“I no call you,” Ghost snapped.
“Yes, I know.”
She smirked.
“And yet… here I am. Saving you again.”
Amara watched Ghost’s expression shift something mixed between frustration and a buried memory he didn’t want to remember.
Vee’s eyes drifted to Amara.
“So this is the girl,” she said flatly.
“The one Balogun wants dead.”
Amara stiffened.
Ghost stepped in front of her.
“Watch your mouth, Vee.”
She raised a brow.
“Oh? You protect her like that?”
“Yes.”
Something cold flashed in Vee’s eyes.
Then she said the words that punched the air out of the night:
“You need to get up, Ghost. Balogun put bounty on your head.”
Ghost tensed.
“How much?”
Vee smirked.
“Fifty million.”
Amara’s heart dropped.
Ghost froze.
Scorpion whispered, trembling:
“Fifty wetin…?”
Vee’s eyes hardened.
“You and everyone around you is marked for death. Including her.”
Amara felt like the earth fell from under her feet.
Ghost clenched his fists, his breathing shallow, pain slicing through him.
He whispered:
“Balogun wan start war.”
Vee stepped closer.
“No. Balogun already start am.”
Ghost staggered slightly. Amara caught him.
Vee’s expression softened for the first time.
Then she delivered the final blow:
“And Ghost… Balogun is not working alone.”
Ghost’s eyes narrowed.
“Talk straight.”
Vee met his gaze.
“Someone inside your crew is feeding him information.”
Amara’s blood ran cold.
Scorpion’s jaw dropped.
Ghost’s entire expression changed.
Hard.
Sharp.
Scary.
He whispered like a man who had just been stabbed:
“There is a traitor in my camp?”
Vee nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Ghost stared at the ground, wet hair sticking to his forehead.
Then he looked up.
His voice dropped into something deadly.
“Who?”
Vee didn’t blink.
“I know who. And Ghost…”
She slung the rifle over her shoulder.
“You’re not going to like the answer.”
- Writer
