Virus (20 page)

Glancing backwards, his eyes swept
over the sullen faced men standing behind him. The eight of them
were all that remained of the almost thirty men that engaged the
creatures outside the gate of the hospital.

The main body of the horde was
outside the gate. The ones that stood before him pounding on the
glass were those who had figured how to climb the gate. With their
twitchy and somewhat uncoordinated movements, it was a wonder that
they managed it.

If these ones could figure it out,
it made sense that the others would figure it out too.

“That glass isn’t going to keep them
out much longer.” One of his men said pointing at a crack, which
seemed to have miraculously appeared at the top of the door where
the glass joined the aluminum rod that housed it.

“How much ammo do we have
left?”

“Just a couple of
magazines.”

Silence engulfed their ranks. The
situation wasn’t looking good.

“We have to find a way to get word
out to Vector one, two and three.”

“The battery of the walkie talkie is
dead sir.”

“I am aware of that. There must be a
phone around somewhere we can use. Let’s fall back into the
hospital, possibly try and find the back entrance.”

The sergeant was tempted to remind
him that they had all tried to make calls on their mobile phones
and had been unable to. The mobile network seemed to be down for
some reason. He kept his mouth shut though. He didn’t want to incur
his senior officers wrath.

The men nodded and set out across
the dimly lit foyer. Taiwo paused his sad eyes fixed on the
middle-aged man in front of the pack of slurring creatures, who was
banging his head against the glass leaving a botched circle of
blood and blackish green slime.

The man’s face was as familiar to
him as his own. His name was Gbenga Olootu. He had a shop in a tiny
shopping center in the center of town. He sold cement, not anymore
though. Stifling a sigh, he hurried after his men, as the crack in
the glass grew longer.

Wole’s eyes opened and closed as the
people around him continued to debate and argue. To the casual
observer he was on the verge of falling asleep, but the truth was,
sleep was the furthest thing from his mind and thoughts.

Tunrayo was seated behind him and
she had a glum look on her face. A sigh burst from his lips as he
turned, his eyes settling on her torn and dirty school uniform.
Seeing it only made him realize that they had not had time to get
home yet. He looked down at his own uniform. His own was even
dirtier than hers was and there was a long rip from his left collar
down to the waistline of his shirt. His eyes hardened as he looked
at it. He could not remember when it happened.

The loud debates and discussions
around him continued. The thoughts racing through his head at an
almost frenetic pace didn’t allow for something as mundane as
watching people argue.

His dad’s face flashed before his
eyes and a dull ache spliced through his heart. He had not been
especially close to the man, but your father was still your father
whichever way you looked at it.

Thinking of his father made him
glance at his mother who was seated five feet to his right. There
was a dull lifeless quality to her eyes. His own eyes grew sadder
at the glum look on her face. He could not imagine how bad she must
be feeling. Something told him that she probably blamed herself for
his dad’s fate.

The clink of cutlery on a plate made
him turn around. Some of the nurses were serving themselves food
and talking in loud voices as they did so. The sight of them made
the sad expression on his face instantly become hard. A boiling
rage flooded his insides. How dare they be eating and carrying on
as if this was a normal situation. Idiots all of them.

The entire cafeteria instantly fell
silent when there were loud raps on the door. The knocks continued
when the silence was not broken. Several of the nurses gasped but
none uttered a word. After several, more knocks a familiar voice
barked out a command from outside the door.

“Would someone please open this
door?”

Everyone froze at the sound of his
voice. Baba Adora! What in the world was the man doing here, and
what was his part in the madness that was happening around
them?

No one moved for almost thirty
seconds. That was until he repeated himself, this time however he
wasn’t so polite.

“OPEN THE DOOR IMMEDIATELY! ABI ALL
OF UNA DON DEY MAD NI?”

His harsh words snapped them out of
the stupor that gripped them. Tayo the tall man who opened the door
for wole strode to the door with long brisk strides. He unlocked it
and pulled it open.

Baba Adora hovered at the entrance
for five seconds before he strode to the door. Most people in
cafeteria gasped at the strange attire he wore. It was a sort of
Ibo ceremonial outfit. He had on a pair of flared bright red
trousers that reached a point midway beneath his knees and ankles.
His shirt was snow white with short sleeves that barely reached his
elbows. His neatly cropped hair was covered by a red cap, circle
shaped with a string of cowrie shells stitched to the top of it at
the center.

In his hand, he held what looked
like a cross between a white horsetail and a short staff. The fine
white hairs on the horsetail were stitched to the staff.

His outfit was not the only thing
eliciting dozens of dazed stares. There was a hardness and strength
mixed with great fear lurking in the depths of his eyes. Wole found
he could not take his eyes off him.

The tall man named Tayo was the
first to snap out of the spell Baba Adora’s entrance had
caused.

“Yes old man__” He barked poking his
finger into Baba Adora’s chest.

“Its obvious you know what is going
on here. Tell us this instant what is happening and what part you
have to play in this.”

Baba Adora’s hard look grew
thunderous as he looked down at Tayo’s finger, which was jammed
into his chest. The furious look on his face scared Tayo so much
that he took several steps back removing his finger so fast that
you’d think Baba Adora’s chest had scalded it.

His furious look lingered on Tayo’s
face for a fraction longer than he was comfortable with. Then
without warning, his face grew pensive and sad. He stepped into the
center of those gathered around him, sinking down into a white
plastic chair.

They all crowded around because they
sensed something of great importance was about to be spoken of.
Adora did not speak for several moments, by which time most people
were bristling with impatience. Even with their obvious impatience,
Baba Adora did not speak any quicker. Eventually after what seemed
like eons he cleared his throat and began speaking.

“I know a lot of you are wondering
why I asked you to come to the hospital.”

Several nods greeted his
statement.

“__ and you have probably guessed by
now that I know more about what is going on than I have spoken of.”
There were more nods.

He sighed again, remaining silent
for a couple of minutes longer. When he eventually spoke, his words
came out in a rush.

Chapter
Thirty-Two

“Oraromi is a very old town. If I am
to hazard a guess, I’d say its more than two centuries old. In the
early days of its existence, it started out as a safe haven for
stragglers. What I mean by this is, most of the early settlers came
here to escape from their former lives.

“They came from every part of what
we now know as Nigeria and settled here to forge a life for
themselves. For many decades, they were happy, undisturbed by any
outside force or hindrance. That was until they realized that there
was something else in the town.

“A strange force, evil, maybe even
spirit inhabited the forests and hills surrounding their small
town. This thing had been here for centuries. It lay dormant,
unmoving and unchanging, but every one hundred and fifty years the
darkness would awake and run wild killing all it came in contact
with by spreading a strange disease. An infection, which had no
cure.

During the scourge, a couple of
settlers who came from the east hit upon a plan. They were a group
of powerful men and women, seasoned in the dark arts and the
occult. There was a spell; a very powerful one which they said
would bind this dark creature for ever. The spell would entomb it,
so it would never prey on human kind again.

However, there was a clause. Seven
families would be chosen and a blood oath taken. They and their
descendants would forever see to the guarding and safe keeping of
the creature to ensure that it did not escape. In the event that it
did, only they could return it to its prison.

He paused glancing at the frightened
eyes around him. A sigh burst from his lips as he
continued.

“They searched the hills and
outskirts of Oraromi until they found a cave which suited their
purposes. Through some creative thinking, the creature was lured
into the cave where certain spells and runes of captivity were
activated. When it was subdued and put into what they called the
permanent deep sleep, one it would never awake from, the spell they
used shrunk it in size thus enabling them to secure it in a crypt.
Securing and sealing the cave up made the disease vanish almost
instantaneously and the bodies of the dead that were animated were
laid to rest.

With their job done, every family
was sworn to secrecy, vowing never to speak of it again. Oraromi
continued its normal boring existence, the generations after not
knowing of its dark past.

As a safety precaution however, one
of the families received a gift from the ancient spirits worshipped
at the time. This gift was what they called the sight. Those in
possession of this gift were called seers. In present day, they
regard them as fortunetellers or psychics. They see the
future.”

“That was how you knew we’d be safe
here.” Tayo murmured, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Baba Adora nodded slowly taking a
deep breath before he continued.

“___ not only safe__.” He paused
unsure of how to continue.

“Please continue.” Anike said in a
murmur as she leaned forward.

“I don’t know how to say what I need
to say__” He paused again.

“As you have probably guessed, I am
a seer. I come from a long line of seers. My gift alternates from
mere feelings to visions. For months now, I have been having a dark
premonition that the creature had awakened. It made no sense to me
because I know what always follows its awakening. The spread of
plague and the dead that will walk, but I saw no such
sign.

“It did not become clear to me until
Wole told me that his friend Chike had been bitten. That was when I
knew hell on earth was about to be unleashed.”

“But if you knew this, why in the
world didn’t you warn the town of the impending doom?” One of the
nurses yelled from behind.

“Who would have believed me?” He
asked sadly. “I realize I ought to have gone to the shrine to
investigate, but I am sorry to say I was too scared to do so. Now
the whole town is overrun by evil and I feel its my
fault.”

“IT IS YOUR FAULT!!” Tayo
interjected in righteous indignation. “Because of you, hundreds,
maybe even thousands will die. Those undead creatures are going to
find us eventually; they will force that door down and kill
us.”

A terrified silence followed his
harsh words. Some of the nurses began to sob as others exchanged
frightened glances. Heaving a deep sigh, Wole stepped to the
front.

“There must be something we can
do.”

More silence followed for a few
minutes before Baba Adora rose to his feet slowly.

“We have to put the creature back
into the deep sleep again; otherwise all of Oraromi will be
destroyed.”

“How exactly do we do that?” Tayo
barked giving Baba Adora a hard look. Baba Adora met his hard gaze
with a furious one of his own. Feeling overwhelmed, Tayo lowered
his gaze slowly.

“We must lure the creature back into
the cave as my ancestors did in the old days. We also have to speak
the words they did.”

“How do we lure it back to the cave?
Knowing what happened last time, its not likely to fall for that
trick again.” A grim faced doctor said scratching his arm
absentmindedly.

“It might__ for one
thing.”

“Which is?”

“For the lives of the descendants of
those that put him in the prison in the first place.”

“Descendants?”

“Yes descendants. Some of you are
the descendants of the people that used the spell to bind
him.”

Everyone in the room began
exchanging puzzled glances as they wondered which of them could be
the descendants.”

“Two are already here. The other
three are on their way.”

“Who are the two?” Tayo asked
stepping forward slowly.

Baba Adora took a deep breath and
pointed at Wole and Tunrayo. Several shocked gasps greeted this
action. Wole stared at him in shock and disbelief. Tunrayo looked
even more shocked than he was.