Virus (22 page)

Before Baba Adora could answer, loud
growling rang out from within the corridor Taiwo and his men had
just come from.

“Sir, Maybe we can pick this up
later__” Taiwo’s sergeant began, looking at the corridor with
terrified eyes.

“__ if the text message we sent got
through, Vector three could be waiting for us at Sunflower bakery
with fresh supplies, ammunition and food. We are toast if we stay
here.”

It took less than a second for the
wisdom of the sergeant’s words to sink in. Giving Baba Adora one
last glance, Taiwo tore towards the exit with the others following.
Alaba and Joke brought up the rear because Joke was finding it
difficult to keep up.

They slammed the glass door shut and
headed for the back gate. Two of Taiwo’s men waited for Alaba and
Joke to catch up.

“No don’t wait for us__ GO! We will
follow as quickly as we can.” Alaba cried at the waiting
men.

The two men exchanged troubled
looks. Seeming to reach a decision, they surged forward and lifted
Joke up till she was seated on their shoulders. They tore after the
others leaving a surprised Alaba to bring up the rear.

Chapter Thirty –
Four

They took a short cut through thick
bushes surrounding the hospital. This path brought them twelve feet
from where the battle in front of the hospital had taken
place.

They were shocked to discover only a
couple of bodies remained on the floor. The rest had vanished. Most
of the remaining bodies were undead creatures who had been shot in
the head. A quarter of the few that remained were already
twitching. It was clear that more undead creatures would soon
awaken.

Thirty paces ahead to their left
were two police Hilux trucks. A feeling of relief surged through
Taiwo before it was replaced by a sense of dread.

“I hope one of you has the keys to
these trucks.”

There was silence for a couple of
seconds before one of the men carrying Joke put his hand in his
pocket and pulled out a bunch of keys. Another man also pulled out
a bunch of keys. Heaving a sigh of relief, Taiwo started for the
trucks keeping a wary eye on both sides of the road. They loaded
themselves into both trucks, Taiwo’s men jumping on the back. The
trucks started without a hitch and they were off speeding towards
the outskirts of town.

Despair filled them as the Hiluxes
sped down half a dozen narrow streets. The whole town was in
uproar. The sight of scores of smoldering houses and undead
creatures met them as the driver navigated through the maze of tiny
streets. The town was overrun with the undead. The EVONSO spirit it
appeared, was moments away from succeeding at what it failed to do
a century before.

Taiwo’s eyes were grim as he watched
the carnage unfolding around him. Anike shed quiet tears in the
back seat of the truck. Anger suddenly surged on Taiwo’s insides
and he turned glaring at a wary looking Baba Adora.

“You said you were waiting for me
and my men__ how could you possible know we were going to be in
that corridor?”

A heavy silence followed his words.
Wole squashed between his mother and Baba Adora glanced at the
faces of the adults waiting for one of them to respond. When they
did not he decided to speak for them.

“He is a seer.”

“A seer? What the devil is a seer?
Ki lo n je be*?” *What does that mean?

Wole opened his mouth to respond
when his mother shushed him. The frown on Taiwo’s face grew even
harder.

“Madam, I must insist you let the
boy speak.”

The hard glare he gave her made her
lean back in her chair taking her hands off Wole’s arm. Wole
searched his mother’s face for five seconds before he turned back
to Taiwo and continued speaking.

“He sees the future. He can tell
what is going to happen before it does.”

“You’re psychic?” Taiwo snorted in
disbelief.

“I don’t know anything about being
psy__ or whatever you call it__” Wole said not noticing the
exchange of wary looks between the adults.

“__ all I know is he can tell what
will happen before it happens. Not sure he is that good as a seer
though.” He finished with a derisive snort.

His last statement made all the
adults freeze. The surprised look on Baba Adora’s face was
instantly replaced by displeasure. He looked as if he was highly
insulted by Wole’s comment.

“Why do you say that boy?” Taiwo
asked leaning closer. He did not like Baba Adora one bit. And if
anyone had info to discredit him, he was all ears to hear
it.

“Because if he is a good seer, why
didn’t he warn us? I mean Tunrayo, chike and I about Eze. I always
greeted him every evening after school. Why didn’t he say something
to me? That is one, when Eze bit Chike, why did he not warn the
town’s people of the danger. The only reason I can think of is, he
didn’t know.”

His piece said, he leaned back in
his chair and lapsed into silence. The silence in the truck was
long and heavy. Anike and Taiwo gave Baba Adora accusing looks
daring him to respond.

For a few long minutes, he did not.
His eyes became distant, making it seem as if he was miles away in
his thoughts and even in body. The minutes ticked by until Taiwo
turned back with a disgusted snort facing the road once more. Two
seconds later the old man began to speak.

“Firstly, Wole I would appreciate if
you did not talk about me as if I am not here. Its not polite and
you should know better.”

His words made Wole look a little
shamefaced. Satisfied that he had struck a chord, he turned and
faced Taiwo.

“I made some mistakes with the way I
handled the situation. I will be the first to admit that to anyone.
However, before you judge me; I will like you all to put yourself
into my shoes.

“From the moment I could reason, my
father called me aside and told me of Oraromi’s dark past. He said
like his father before him, he had the sight and one day I would
have it too. That the sight would keep the family of the seers one
step ahead of the creature, so if there was ever a time the
creature would awake, he could be put back into the permanent
sleep.

“Those stories frightened me so much
that I had nightmares for months. I eventually came to terms with
it when I convinced myself that the creature would never arise and
it probably did not exist. I made myself believe that my father
told me those tales to frighten me.

“It was the morning of my twelfth
birthday that the sight began to manifest. I just seemed to know
things before they happened. I would look at a man and feel death
around him. The next thing I would hear is that he passed a week or
two afterwards.

“But the sight did not manifest the
way I expected. Father explained that in his own case, he saw
visions, with great clarity. I on the other hand never did. All I
experienced was deep, somewhat strong irrevocable feelings about
something. Even though these feelings usually always turned out to
be real, I still refused to let myself believe that the creature
was real until the day Chike was bitten.

“Only then did I accept that the
thing my father told me many years before was truth. The darkness
had returned. As the days passed, I discovered my ability kept
getting stronger. The feelings began to turn to visions. I kept
fighting it, which was why it appeared I was mumbling to myself and
had lost my sanity__” He directed the last bit of his statement to
Tunrayo and Wole.

Their eyes were wide, as they
listened intently to his words. Taking a deep breath, he opened his
mouth to continue when__

“Sir that is the sunflower bakery
just up ahead.” The driver called.

Everyone in the truck leaned forward
looking at the large tree where Baba Adora usually sat to mend
shoes. The road beside the bakery was empty stretching towards
Wole’s street where thick clouds of black smoke filled the air. The
houses were no long burning but the burnt remains still
smoked.

“They did not get our message.” The
policemen at the back of the truck gasped looking really frightened
now.

The silence in the truck grew grim
as the driver pulled the truck to a halt beside the large tree.
Taiwo leaped out of the truck staring at the tree with an angry
look on his face. Several moments passed in silence before he
turned facing the others who still sat in the truck.

“I think we have to come to a
decision__” He began slowly. “Their absence changes things. We have
no ammunition, and without ammunition, we cannot defend ourselves.
What say we head out of town? With the truck we should be able to
escape from the town and at least save our own skins.”

A heavy silence greeted his words.
His frown grew harder as he continued. “Think fast people, we don’t
have much time.”

“There is a hole in that your
plan__” Baba Adora began slowly ignoring his furious
look.

“__truly we can escape from Oraromi.
But what you don’t understand is, if we don’t find a way to stop
this darkness, it will continue and spread beyond the boundary of
Oraromi. The EVONSO spirit cannot be contained or controlled. That
was why the ancestors of Oraromi sealed it in that cave. We have to
put it back there and seal it up again. If we do not, no one
anywhere is safe.”

“What in the world is he going on
about?” Taiwo growled turning to face Wole.

Wole sighed and quickly gave him a
run down of what Baba Adora told them in the cafeteria. When he
finished the looks on the faces of the policemen became even more
frightened and horrified.

“So you are telling me that the
virus the chief hematologist from Kargo hospital told me about and
the EVONSO spirit Adora speaks of is one and the same?” Taiwo asked
swallowing.

It was the turn of Wole and the
others to look puzzled. “What do you mean by the virus?” Anike
asked leaning forward.

“Chike’s blood work was sent by his
doctors to a teaching hospital in the next state. A few hours ago,
one of them visited me at the police station saying that we had a
possible epidemic on our hands and that we should evacuate the
town.”

“Where is the man now?” Wole asked
leaning forward.

“He is dead!” Baba Adora answered.
His voice was low and lifeless.

“Dead???!!!” Taiwo gasped. “How did
he die?”

For a couple of seconds Baba Adora
did not answer. Then his eyes grew distant as if he was seeing
something only he could see.

“He was escaping from the town__
when ___” He paused his eyes becoming wide and
horrified.

“WHAT?” Taiwo cried. His voice was
high pitched and squeaky.

“The EVONSO killed him. It flipped
his car over___ it does not want anyone uninfected to leave the
town. It plans to make everyone its own.”

The fear in the faces of the people
surrounding Baba Adora grew even greater. Suddenly Baba Adora’s
eyes focused and he stepped out of the truck walked forward and
grabbed Taiwo by the shoulders.

“Listen D.P.O. I know you do not
like me, but how you attend to what I am going to tell you will
determine if we survive this scourge. Everything can still be
salvaged for those of us who have not been bitten or infected. We
need to put the EVONSO spirit back under the spell our ancestors
trapped him in, and to do that we are going to need the help of you
and your men.

“We need to get to the shrine in
that cave you discovered. I know the words we have to speak once we
lure him into the cave and I have the descendants. Once the spirit
is trapped, the dead will truly be dead and the living can go about
their lives once again.”

“But we have no weapons. How do we
defend ourselves?” Taiwo asked looking frightened and
helpless.

“Is there no way we can get weapons
to defend ourselves?” Baba Adora asked turning to face the rest of
the men still seated in the back cab of the truck with Alaba and
Joke nestled between them.

“There are still weapons and
ammunition in the police station.” The bulky sergeant said with a
grim look on his face.

“Then we must go back to the police
station. Once you arm yourself, we will head to the
shrine.”

“But how do we get the spirit to
follow us?” Taiwo asked looking unconvinced.

“Once we approach the shrine with
the descendants, the EVONSO will follow.”

“Then we better get moving__” Taiwo
barked his eyes becoming hard and resolute.

He and Baba Adora leaped back into
the truck and they were off a moment later heading back into the
center of town.

Chapter Thirty –
Five

The drive to the police station was
short and uneventful. Besides a few pockets of burning houses and
small groups of marauding undead creatures, they saw
nothing.

Both trucks swirled to a screeching
halt in front of the police station and the policemen immediately
leaped out rushing into it while the others remained in the
truck.