Virus

by Ifedayo Akintomide

  Some of the creature’s heads were just rising over the top of the stairs. They exchanged frightened looks and started up the stairs going to the roof. Thundering up them for almost three minutes, they eventually reached another door. Wole tried to open it but it did not budge.

  “On three__” He gasped facing Tunrayo. She nodded as he began to count.

  “ONE__TWO__THREE!!!”

  They kicked the door as hard as they could and it opened bringing them to the grey concrete surface of the roof. It was flat like a tableau, with several rusty pipes running around the edge of it.

  On the far right hand corner was what looked like a small shed built entirely out of concrete. A metal door marked its entrance. It was exactly like the door that they had just kicked open.

  With loud gasps, they ran onto the roof and Wole slammed the door shut after them. He started towards the other door with a very frightened Tunrayo following. Neither of them saw the dark shadow come out from behind the shed like structure they exited. It followed them at a discrete distance, its footsteps making no sound on the concrete floor of the roof.

  Wole reached the door first and tried the handle. Surprisingly it turned and the door opened. Turning, he smiled at Tunrayo, his smile fading almost immediately when he saw the man standing two feet behind her.

  He wore a tattered and dirty looking blue long sleeved shirt with the words Geowich security sewn on the breast pocket. His skin was a horrid blackish green color, his lips bloodless and pale, and his eyes emitting a scary neon red glow. His long arms were stretched forward reaching for Tunrayo’s neck.

  “Look out!!” Wole barked leaping forward and tackling her sideways.

  The man’s long arms grabbed empty air as he and Tunrayo crashed to the ground. They rolled twice coming to a halt an inch from the edge of the roof. The only thing separating them from a four-story fall was a bit of concrete rising about half a foot off the ground.

  The man lunged forward as they rose to their feet. A slurring growl burst from his distended mouth. Wole pushed Tunrayo out of the way, but was not quick enough to escape himself. The man slammed into him so hard that he became breathless. As if his lungs were no longer taking in oxygen.

  Time seemed to slow as the man’s momentum swept both of them off the edge of the roof where they plummeted into the mist-covered darkness below with Tunrayo’s terrified screams ringing out like a mantra above them.

  Wole’s dream came back to him as his body fell. Was this what the dream meant?

  Thick mist seemed to come out of nowhere and cover his falling body. He had only been falling for a few short seconds when his back struck something hard. A sharp pain spliced through his insides; he hit the side of his head a second later and darkness came and he knew no more.

  Chapter Twenty – Nine

  “WOLE!!!” Tunrayo screamed racing to the edge. Thick grey mist swirled upwards reaching a point just a foot below where she stood. She could see nothing beneath it.

  “WOLE!!” She screamed again as tears streamed down her cheeks.

  She opened her mouth to cry out again when loud growls coming from the door to her left stopped her. The door she and Wole had come through three minutes earlier burst open and a rabid mob of men and women poured out slurring and growling in loud voices. Their red eyes appeared to become much redder when they spotted her.

  She gave the mist beneath her one final sweep before she raced to the open door on her right. Streaking through it, she slammed it shut and slid a long bolt into the lock.

  A flight of stairs led down into the hospital. She gave the door one last tearful look before starting down the stairs.

  Austin Okorocha mashed his foot down hard on the car’s accelerator. The Camry leaped forward churning out a cloud of smoke from its screeching tires, which disappeared into the mist around it.

  His face was grim and sweat streamed down his cheeks soaking his pristine white shirt. Scowling he reached down and turned the air-conditioning to a cooler setting. He drove on the main road leading out of Oraromi. A sense of relief filled him. It had been a mistake to come here at all. Perhaps his superiors had been right all along. He realized now that he should just have left things be.

  His eyes grew sad at that thought. So many people were going to die in that town, maybe even all of them. Most would perish in the next couple of hours. It saddened him that he could nothing about it.

  The mist around the car grew thicker making his frown deepen. What manner of mist is this? He turned on the car’s headlights, putting it on the brightest setting. It made little difference. Visibility was still close to zero. He could barely keep the car on the road as it was.

  He drove on for several minutes carefully reducing the car’s speed. Suddenly the car shook as the ground beneath it lurched and shuddered. He yanked the steering wheel to the left and right as he struggled to keep the car under control. He eventually managed it but only just barely.

  What happened? Since he had no answer to that he sighed, something strange was afoot. He barely finished thinking this when he caught something dark and huge streaking towards him at breakneck speeds from the corner of one eye.

  The thing slammed into the right side of the car so hard that it lifted it almost nine feet in the air where it flipped five times before crashing into the thick bushes around it. Austin had a fleeting view of massive blue-black limbs, reddish eyes and long fangs before everything went black as the Camry exploded engulfing a huge communications tower, which served as the main conduit for all telephone communication within Oraromi.

  Collins and Judith watched with terrified glances as the policemen fired into the rabid mob in front of them. From the panicked looks on their faces and the way some of the policemen waved their guns hysterically, they could see they were running out of ammunition.

  Some of the police officers were already running towards the high gates of the hospital complex, while those still firing were slowly backing towards the gate. The hospital it appeared was where they planned to make their last stand.

  “Do you think there is a back entrance?” Collins asked turning to face Judith.

  She did not respond. Her eyes wide, fixed on the gun battle in front of her. This was wrong she could not help thinking. SO WRONG!!! She was afraid, but for the first time since the horror started, the fear she felt was not for her own safety. It was for the safety of her family.

  Her dad’s office was empty. His entire business premises deserted. The shop where her mother sold provisions locked up. There was nothing to suggest that she had even been there that day.

  Collins had fared no better with his family. At both places they visited, his parents had been nowhere to be found. Their faces grew more grim as they watched some of the police officers begin to climb the gate.

  “I know where the back entrance is__” Judith murmured beginning to rise from her crouched position.

  “You do? How come?”

  “Never mind ___ can we go already?” She snapped.

  He nodded, his eyes hardening for the briefest of seconds. He was on the verge of giving her a stinging retort when a sharp crack behind, made them spin around in alarm.

  One of the creatures stood three feet behind with its mouth opened in a slurring growl. Rivers of spittle dribbled from both sides of its mouth. A piercing scream burst from Judith’s mouth at the sight of it. Collins pushed her backwards, stepping in front of her as the creature surged forward.

  A dull thud rang out a half second later and blackish green blood splattered from the back of its head. Its flaming red eyes grew dull as it collapsed on the floor.

  Baba Adora stood over it wielding a large club. He had a furious, somewhat frightened look in his eyes. The creature began to writhe on the ground. His eyes hardened and he smashed the club into the back of the creature’s head. He continued to do this until the head became a red pulpy mass.

  He looked up at the two of them with his heart racing. A look of puzzlement came on his face when he
saw the fear in their eyes as they watched him.

  “Find the back entrance.” He murmured. “You don’t have much time.”

  Judith nodded and started to race away. Collins did not move, he kept his eyes fixed on Baba Adora.

  “What about you? Come with us__”

  “I cannot.” Baba Adora replied looking sad.

  “But if you remain out here, those creatures will get you.” Collins insisted.

  “Do not worry about me. They cannot hurt me.” He paused, continuing when he saw Collins puzzled look.

  “__ they cannot hurt one of the seers.”

  “Seers?”

  “No time __ go now __.”

  Collins gave him one last befuddled look and tore after Judith leaving Baba Adora staring after them.

  Chapter Thirty

  There was blackness, nothing but the cold all consuming darkness, no wind, no sound intruding upon the grim gloom. It was in a sick way quite peaceful, a tad restless but peaceful nonetheless.

  Then a sound intruded on the unsettled quiet; a whistling sound, barely dissimilar from the sound of the wind in the trees. It started low __ then it got louder. It became so loud that he almost could not bear it, and then in what seemed like a few moments later, his eyes opened of their own volition.

  A loud groan burst from Wole’s lips as he tried without succeeding to sit up. Turning his head slowly, he gasped as a sharp pain spliced through it. He was barely able to hold a scream in. The pain slowly reduced to a dull throbbing at the back of his skull. Taking a deep breath, he sat up slowly.

  He was on a balcony two floors beneath the roof. The man that attacked him was nowhere to be seen. Getting to his feet took some doing but he managed it in the end. He turned looking over the edge of the balcony but he could nothing because the mist beneath was too thick.

  He looked up at the roof. There were loud growls emanating from it. That meant those things were still there. Sighing he faced the door in front of him which led back into the hospital. It swung open at his touch. Pausing for about a minute, Wole took a deep breath and walked through it closing the door behind him.

  The inside was dark___ too dark to see clearly. He could barely make anything out. A faint slurring growl from his left made him freeze and crouch down very slowly.

  There was a faint light to his right. It looked like the light you get when you are in a dark room and the light from the next room filters in through the bottom of the door.

  Lying flat on his stomach, he crawled towards the light. His progress was slow because he was trying to be quiet. He did not want to alert whatever was growling to his presence.

  Stretching out his arm in front of him, he used it as a feeler to know what was ahead of him. He was thus able to avoid cracking his head on a large wooden sofa. Directly behind this was the door. Taking a deep breath, he rose a couple of inches off the floor reaching for the door handle. It turned with a faint click and he pulled it open. Freezing for about a minute, he listened for the slightest sound but heard nothing.

  Pulling the door open wider, he stepped through it, closing it gently behind him. He now stood in a long corridor. It had white tiled floors, brown texcote painted walls and high ceilings. The corridor was illuminated by several white florescent bulbs attached to the brown wood-grained ceiling.

  A door stood twenty paces ahead. The word cafeteria was put on a sign above it. He sighed taking a step towards it, freezing when the sound of several whispering voices reached his ears.

  His eyes widened in surprise. There were people, real people behind that door. Streaking towards it, he pulled to a halt giving the door two sharp raps with his knuckles. Loud gasps filtered out from behind the door.

  “Who is there?” the voice was gruff and shaky. The person speaking was obviously terrified.

  “Hi __ my name is Wole. I am looking for__”

  “WOLE!!” Another voice piped up. A big smile widened his lips. So his mother was safe.

  “OPEN THE DOOR QUICKLY! That’s my son.” She cried.

  “How are we sure its just him? it could be those things mimicking him, trying to get us to open the door.”

  “Oh come off it Tayo__ we both know those things don’t talk. Open the door for the boy.” Another man piped up, he ended his sentence with a disgusted snort. There was a pause for about thirty seconds before the door was unlocked and opened slightly. Wole squeezed through the narrow opening and the door locked after him.

  He barely turned when someone seized him in a bear hug. His thought was that it was his mother, until he realized that the person hugging him was too short to be his mother. It took a couple of seconds to realize that it was Tunrayo. That realization filled him an inexplicable sense of peace. Anike stood three feet behind watching them with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “I thought you died.” Tunrayo cried choking out the words between sobs. “When you fell from the roof__” She paused unable to continue.

  “He fell off a ROOF?!! Anike cried racing to her son’s side. Pulling him from Tunrayo’s grasp, she ran her hands over him, checking to see if he was ok. Satisfied that he was, she whirled on Tunrayo in fury.

  “How come you said nothing of this when you came in?” She demanded. “The only thing you said was two of you got separated.”

  Tunrayo sighed gulping back a sob. “I did not know how I was going to tell you. The part about us being separated is true. I just didn’t know how to explain the rest.”

  Anike leaned closer opening her mouth. Before she could say anything however, the tall man behind her clapped his hand together and yelled “SILENCE!!!” The room instantly became quiet.

  Giving the cafeteria a wide sweep, Wole realized it was filled with almost two dozen people. Most of the people were doctors and nurses. Searching each face in turn, he realized neither Tunrayo nor Chike’s parents were present.

  “Where are your parents? Your family?” He asked looking at Tunrayo with panic in his eyes. She shook her head slowly as she began to cry.

  He turned catching his mother’s gaze. “Dad?” his voice was low, almost too low for his mother to hear.

  “We were attacked at home, a little after 3pm, around the time you are get home from school. When the door opened, I thought it was you. Looking out of the kitchen__” Her voice broke. Seeing how distraught she was, Wole feared she would not be able to continue.

  “___ it was Mrs. Blandson, our neighbor. Do you remember me telling your father that I had not seen her for a couple of days?”

  He nodded but did not speak.

  “Well she appeared today with five others. It took me almost a minute to realize something was not right. I barely made it out of the back door. Your father saved me__ unknowingly that is.

  “He came to the door of our room to see what the ruckus was about, so they left him alone and turned on him. The last thing I saw was he being brought down. He screamed at me to run and get away__” She broke down sobbing as if her heart would break.

  “I am ashamed to say___ Wole ___ I did run and I did not look back.”

  Wole stood frozen in shock as he listened to his mother’s words. His dad in all likelihood was dead. He expected to cry but the tears did not come. All he felt was a great numbness in his heart and emptiness he knew nothing would ever fill.

  On the periphery of his consciousness, he could hear the others speaking. For the first five minutes, he found it difficult to focus on what they saying. Eventually their words began to sink in.

  “They attacked my home just as they did with Mrs. Owolabi.” The man speaking was plump and short. He had pig eyes. Wole could not remember his name. He knew he worked in a bank. He might even be the manager. As confused as he was now, it was hard to say which was which.

  “My wife was in the living room watching a TV sitcom. They attacked her first.” His voice broke as his eyes filled with tears.

  “__ I was in the kitchen getting water from the fridge when I heard her screams. By the time I reached her,
this thing had ripped off half of her throat. I tried to get it off her , but it was as if the damn thing was stuck to her neck.

  “In fury, I went to get the pestle we had in the backyard. I did not stop hitting it on the head until what remained was a red gooey paste. Before I could reach for my wife, others came. I made it to the kitchen by swinging the pestle to ward them off. I somehow managed to get the back door opened. In the melee that followed, I ripped the gas cylinder’s hose. I barely made it out when the house exploded.”

  That explained the fires Wole thought to himself. Oraromi was usually drier than a tinderbox at this time of the year, and with the houses built so close together, it was no wonder the fire spread.

  Others began to share their stories one after the other. In every tale, there was one similarity. Someone had told them to come to the hospital. Most of them didn’t even know what his name was. But they did know one thing. He was Oraromi’s most gifted cobbler__ Baba Adora.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Alaba led Joke through the trees. His senses were alert and his ears cocked to hear even the faintest sound. Sweat poured out of Joke’s skin. He looked at her face with worry in his eyes. She could not take much more of this.

  She winced every few minutes as sharp pains coursed through her pregnant body. Every time that happened he was tempted to say they stop. But even he knew they could not. They had to keep on moving. Their lives and the life of their unborn child could well depend on it.

  The trees came to an end fifteen paces in front. Three feet away from that was a wall. A very high wall.