Virus

by Ifedayo Akintomide

  He shut it off turning around to face the men gathered around him. Austin Okorocha shifted restlessly six feet behind.

  “Twenty five of you will remain here. The remaining fifteen will come with me. Some of our men are under attack.”

  “What sort of attack sir?”

  “If I knew that, don’t you think I will tell you?” Taiwo snapped glaring at the man, who practically wilted under his gaze.

  “Let’s move out.”

  He raced to the Hilux trucks parked twenty feet away with fifteen of his men following. They were off a few seconds later disappearing into the thick smoke surrounding them.

  Tunrayo and Wole stood crouched behind a large truck their eyes wide with fright as gunshots boomed all around them. They were on a wide stretch of road, which led to the general hospital two hundred feet away.

  The truck was parked on the right side of the road. Houses loomed around them on either side. The gates of the general hospital lay to their left and further down the street to their right, a great battle was going on. About twenty-three police officers were firing into a rabid mob of three hundred.

  They looked like people dressed in rags with blackish green skin, but their movements and the slurring growls bursting from their distended mouths said otherwise.

  “We have to go now!” Wole said yelling to be heard over the booming gunshots.

  Tunrayo nodded, her wide and terrified eyes rolling around in their sockets. Wole took two deep breaths and leaped out from behind the truck, racing towards the general hospital complex. Tunrayo was two steps behind with sweat pouring down her face. Their uniforms were torn and dirty and their backpacks rattled as they ran. So much had happened in the last two and a half hours that neither of them remembered they still carried them.

  They reached the gate two minutes later to discover that it had been locked from inside. Without breaking strides, they shimmied up the gate, leaping down into the hospital compound. The sound of gunfire slowly faded away the further they got.

  Alaba had his ear to the door with a terrified Joke crouched behind him. He could not remember a time he had ever been as frightened as he was now. What were those things? And why did they chase him?

  His greatest concern now was not his safety. He did not want to die, but impending death was something he could live with as long as the woman he loved and the child growing in her belly were safe.

  If she were not pregnant, he would have suggested they make a run for it. Looking at her big belly, he sincerely doubted she could make it far on foot. His racing heart began to thunder as the slurring growls reverberated down the narrow corridor outside their door. The fiends were coming. Oh NO!! He turned around slowly, being very careful not to make a sound.

  His gaze locked with his terrified wife’s face. Raising a finger to his tightly pursed lips, he mouthed a shushing sound. She nodded, her eyes becoming so wide that she was terrified that her pupils were going to explode out of her skull.

  Motioning to his right, he pointed at the corner of the room where her clothes were packed into three large traveling bags. Nodding again, she edged towards the bags, being very careful not to make a sound. Sinking down slowly, she rested her back against the pile of clothes. She was now half-sitting and half-lying on the bag.

  When Alaba was certain she was comfortable, he edged away from the door and headed towards her. The slurring growls grew louder, intermingled with a dull clanking sound. The sound puzzled him for a minute, and then it hit him. Whoever was walking outside had heels on. Go figure!

  Loud sniffing followed these growls, loud over exaggerated sniffing. As if someone or something was trying to catch a scent. A chill ran down his spine. His eyes scoured the room desperately until he found what he was looking for. A can of Joke’s perfume lay beside the mattress. The label was faded but he could just make out the name, Malizia Oumo.

  Crossing the room in three long strides, he grabbed it off the floor releasing a long burst into the air, timing the release with the growls coming from outside the room.

  The growls stopped suddenly and he froze petrified. An eerie silence ensured, stretching on for so long that he and Joke were sorely convinced that the apartment door would come crashing down at any second.

  Fortunately, it did not. The sniffing continued this time right outside the door. Several disgusted snorts came after the first couple of sniffs. It was almost as if the scent of the perfume was abhorrent to them. The clunking footsteps continued down the hall much to their relief. Their relief was short lived however as the handle of the door began to turn.

  Joke barely managed to keep a scream in. A half second later, came the grating sound of the front door of the building being opened. A whistling sound filled the corridor. The growls turned to roars followed immediately by the lumbering thud of sprinting feet, which hurtled past their door heading towards the front door.

  The sound of a man’s scream rang out at the entrance of the building, quickly followed by the slam of the front door. The front door opened once more and the sprinting feet faded away with the door slamming after them.

  The corridor was now quiet. Alaba and Joke remained motionless for almost ten minutes. Summoning courage, Alaba tiptoed to the door. Taking three deep breaths, he unlocked it slowly and carefully. He turned to face Joke, holding her gaze for several seconds, before turning back to the door. Taking another breath, he opened the door. To his immense relief the corridor behind it was empty.

  “Come__” He barked turning to face his wife. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Out? To go where? Why don’t we just stay here?”

  “What if they come back? You saw them try to force the door open. Trust me; this is the first place they will look if they come back.”

  Seeing the wisdom in Alaba’s words, she rose to her feet. Alaba stepped into the corridor; his muscles tense and every cell in his body ready to dive back into the room at the slightest sign of a threat. There was no sound and no one appeared.

  He waved at Joke to let her know that it was now safe to come out. She swallowed taking several deep breaths before joining him in the corridor. The baby kicked at that instant. Not now__ she thought to herself. Baby not now.

  The front door lay to their left, but Alaba had his eyes fixed on the right. There was another exit. That was through the back door. He turned to face her and she nodded slowly. With hurried footsteps, they made their way to the backdoor.

  A thought suddenly occurred to Alaba as they walked. He did not have anything to defend either his wife or himself. A frown hardened his face at that thought.

  They turned right at a tee junction; a faint light illuminated the narrow corridor. This light came from the backdoor that was ajar.

  There was another door, two feet to their left. This door was wide open. They crept past it slowly, shocked to see that it was scattered, its furniture damaged like the room Alaba had seen upstairs. A wooden stick lay in the center of the room. Where it came from, he did not know. The stick was long and quite fat. He realized a few seconds later that it was all that remained of a large clothes hanger.

  Stepping into the room carefully, he grabbed the stick and continued towards the backdoor. Opening it, he peered into the yard, relieved to see that it was empty. Their apartment building had no fence. Straight ahead, lay a footpath, which led to the main road about a kilometer away.

  He stepped out of the house, turning to help Joke when he felt rather than saw movement to his right. Pushing Joke back into the house, he swung the stick like a bat, at a speed that astounded him.

  The stick connected with the face of a strange creature. The force of the blow broke the stick into a million pieces, throwing the creature backwards where its head smashed into the house’s concrete wall. Its body hit the ground with a dull thud, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

  Joke stepped out of the house a moment later, her terrified eyes fixed on the strange creature lying prone five and a half feet away.

 
“What is that thing?” Her words came out in a gasp.

  “I don’t know.” Alaba replied looking just as shocked and surprised as she was.

  “We best get a move on.”

  He grabbed her arm and hurried towards the footpath. The slight movement behind, told him the vile creature was coming to. He lengthened his strides and within minutes, he and joke vanished into the trees.

  Chapter Twenty – Eight

  Collins slipped into comfortable looking loafers. The look on his face was grim as he watched Judith tighten the belt around her body hugging dress. The terrified look on her face mirrored his.

  He woke her up as the strange creatures he had seen walking into town marched past his open window. So she had seen them. When she was done, she crouched down beside him. Their frightened gazes locked for a minute before anyone spoke.

  “What do we do?”

  “We have to get into town, to warn people__” Collins started slowly.

  “Warn people? Are you crazy? Did you not see those things? We should run and get away while we have a chance.”

  “We can’t just run and get away__ you wanna know why we can’t? Because our parents are still in town, or have you forgotten?”

  Shamed, she lowered her gaze, fixing it on a spot on the floor. “Why don’t we call them?” She asked quietly.

  She hurriedly continued at Collins disgusted look. “We will still go into town, but calling them will make them leave immediately.”

  “What pray, are we going to tell them? Something we cannot describe is heading into town to kill and plunder?”

  “Don’t sound so sarcastic. Let’s call them first.”

  Looking unconvinced, Collins brought out his phone and dialed his father’s number. A recorded voice told him the number was switched off. The same thing happened when he tried to call his mother. Judith fared no better, they started for the backdoor without another word and raced into the bushes, heading towards a secondary road leading into the center of town.

  Taiwo betiku’s eyes were grim as the black Hilux truck he was in sped down half a dozen narrow streets. The gunfire, which had been so faint a couple of minutes ago, was now a series of earth shaking bangs and booms.

  “It’s just down the next street sir.” The officer in the driver’s seat barked turning sideways to talk to him. Taiwo nodded tightening his grip on his rusty AK 47 rifle.

  “Get ready men__” were his only words, the men seated behind him nodded slowly.

  The driver mashed his foot down on the accelerator making the truck leap forward. A meter later, the driver made a hard right and drove his foot down hard on the brake. There was a sickening squeal of brakes and the scent of burning rubber before the truck ground to a shaky halt. The harsh scream of brakes behind them made Taiwo and his men cringe as they waited for the collision they felt was imminent. Fortunately, the second truck’s bumper stopped a hair’s breath from theirs.

  No one uttered a single word. They watched the wildly chaotic scene play out before them. Hundreds of sick dead looking creatures battled with what remained of Vector 5. Vector 5 was being driven back towards the gates of the hospital firing wildly into the rabid mob inching towards them.

  More than three dozen bodies lay in the street bleeding onto the concrete. Most of the bodies were his men. Their uniforms ripped off and blood seeped out of holes gotten from what looked like bites.

  Taiwo’s eyes were drawn to one specifically, a corporal in the Oraromi police force. He lay on his back with his face pointing to the heavens. His throat was a red pulpy mass resembling hammered meat. His upper torso was bare. Only his trousers were untouched.

  Taiwo continued his examination when he noticed something else. On either side of his body along his abdomen were a couple of holes, before he could piece together what was wrong with what he was seeing, his sergeant spoke up.

  “Why are the holes on the sides of that man’s body moving like gills and seeping that greenish liquid?”

  Not having an answer to that question, Taiwo opened the door of the truck and leaped out raising his gun to his shoulder and taking aim. His men exchanged wary looks. Most were unwilling to leave the relative safety of the car.

  Taiwo did not spare a backward glance to see if they were following. He just rushed towards the horde opening fire as he went. His men exchanged more troubled looks before getting out of the truck and following their superior officer giving covering fire as they went.

  The creatures ahead turned with cries of pain and anger as bullets slammed into their bodies shaking them like ragdolls. A few collapsed becoming still, their bodies seeping a red and green colored liquid, those that remained standing began to edge forward with loud slurring growls emanating from their distended mouths.

  Taiwo’s eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the five who led the pack. There was something very familiar about them, before he could analyze that fact more deeply, loud shouts of ‘look out’ rang out behind him.

  He spun around squeezing a long burst from his AK 47. His eyes grew wide in shock and horror when he saw the pale looking corporal hurrying his way with a red murderous glint in his eyes. He moved exactly like the creatures engaging his men.

  His hands by now were, wrapped around Taiwo’s shoulders and he was squeezing hard. Taking a deep breath Taiwo raised the AK 47 rifle’s barrel to the man’s jaw and squeezed thrice closing his eyes slightly as the bullets ripped apart his skull. Red paste filled the air and sadness greater than anything Taiwo had ever felt flooded his insides, even as gunshots continued to explode around him.

  Wole kicked the side door as hard as he could. The lock shattered throwing the door backwards so fast that it smashed into the wall behind it with a loud crash. The door opened into a wide room filled with beds, drip stands, a huge stack of medicines piled into a large cabinet at the far right; syringes, needles, bits, and pieces of paper strewn across the floor. The room however was empty, devoid of any human presence.

  He wiped the sweat off his brow, his tired gaze drifting to the sign directly over the door. The sign said casualty. He turned, facing Tunrayo who stood a few feet behind him. She nodded slowly but did not speak.

  He stepped into the casualty department very slowly as weariness flooded his insides. Kicking down the door had taken a lot out of him. It had taken more than two dozen kicks to get the door opened. Tunrayo had not been of much help. Her body shook so much that she barely had enough energy to stand much less help to kick a door down.

  On his far right was another door, almost hidden by two beds, which had five cartons piled on top of it. Motioning for Tunrayo to follow, he started for the door reaching it about a minute later. It was slightly ajar.

  Reaching forward, he pulled it open. This door led into a narrow corridor, which went on for so long that it appeared to reach the opposite end of the hospital. There was a junction at its other end. Faint snarls reached his ears as he and Tunrayo stood poised at the door.

  “Did you hear that?” he asked as he faced her.

  “They might be people__” She replied in a shaky voice, darting forward before he could stop her.”

  “Tunrayo stop!” He whispered fiercely tearing after her. If she heard him, she paid him no mind.

  The race to the other end of the corridor took about a minute and a half. They skidded to a halt about a foot away from it. Tunrayo stepped forward peering around the edge of the wall. There was nothing to her left, except for a white concrete wall. To her right, about five feet away was another corridor. To the left, fifteen feet away from that, several dark shapes moved aimlessly.

  Wole’s eyes drifted left and right, his gaze instantly frozen on the dark, moving, human sized shapes. He stepped forward slowly, motioning for Tunrayo to follow him. She shook her head fiercely, pointing at the shapes loitering just beyond the next corridor.

  Wole’s gestures became more insistent. Glancing at the shapes one more time, she stepped into the corridor. From all indications, whatever was standing
ahead seemed oblivious to their presence.

  Sweat streamed down their bodies as they tiptoed to the next corridor. Reaching it, Wole pushed Tunrayo into it and waited poised at the turning.

  “HELLO__” He called. “Are you guys alright?”

  The shapes jerked at the sound of his voice and sprinted towards him with slurring growls coming from their distended mouths.

  Screaming they both raced down the corridor, heading towards another Tee-junction with two signs stuck to the wall on either side. The arrow pointing right said surgical ward. The one pointing left said Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  “RIGHT!!!” He screeched at Tunrayo who was racing ahead. She shot him a fiery glare.

  “You are no different from Chike. What in the world made you call out to them?”

  “I felt they were__” He paused unsure of how to continue. “_people.” He finished, as they tore towards the surgical ward with whatever was chasing them hot on their heels.

  Neither of them dared risk a backward glance. The door to the surgical ward loomed up ahead. Tunrayo slammed into them pushing with all her strength. They flew open smashing against the walls behind with a crash.

  Their eyes grew wide in horror when almost two dozen dead looking slurring creatures rose from their crouched positions on the floor of the surgical ward. Wole did a quick sweep of the room. There was another door to their left. He tore towards that pulling Tunrayo with him. The creatures in front raced to intercept them. Wole’s heart thundered in his chest. It was going to be close. He started to pray that the door would open.

  Fortunately it did. A flight of stairs lay just beyond the door. The creatures chasing them were for some reason not as quick up the stairs as they were on the ground.

  Taking the stairs two at a time, they soon left them behind. There was another door on top of the stairs. It opened with a single touch and they raced down another corridor. This corridor ended at another door. Pulling and kicking at it, they were alarmed to realize that the door refused to open. To their right was another flight of stairs. A sign above it said roof. Loud slurring sounds reached their ears at that instant and they spun around in panic.