Virus (6 page)

What happened next shocked all three
children, chike most of all. The violence of it made a high-pitched
scream burst from Tunrayo’s lips.

Eze leaped forward driving hard
blows into Chike’s face. The blows flung Chike to the floor like a
stone with terrified screams bursting from his wide-open mouth.
Hitting the ground hard, he spun around raising tiny clouds of dust
into the air as he struggled to crawl away.

Before he could however, Eze lunged
at him grabbing him by his shoulders and pinning him to the ground
with his much heavier body. This brought Wole out of the stupefied
horror that gripped him, He started towards the pair not really
sure what he was going to do to help chike.

He pulled to a halt after a couple
of steps when Eze ripped off Chike’s uniform exposing his right
shoulder. Before their horrified eyes, he sunk his teeth into his
shoulder easily breaking his skin. Chike’s piercing scream was like
a knife digging into both of their hearts.

Where the dark things are

Alaba strode to the school with a
preoccupied look on his face. He looked smart in a sparkling white
shirt, tucked into blue slacks. His large feet encased in brown
loafers, scuffed in front. The loafers glistened, sparkling in the
early morning sun. As they should, he thought glancing down at them
with a critical eye. He had spent almost half an hour getting it to
shine the way it did.

A frown roughened his brow as his
eyes settled on his slacks. They were a bit faded, especially
around the knee area. He could not remember the last time he had
bought anything for himself. There never seemed to be any money
left over. His salary was barely able to feed them, pay rent and
see to Joke’s antenatal checks. Not to mention the fact that he
also had to put money aside for Joke’s job interviews and
applications.

He hated to think how his expenses
would climb when the baby finally came. A shudder ran down his
spine just thinking about it. Shaking his head to clear it of his
depressing thought he concentrated on the dusty road in front of
him.

Ten feet away was a turning to the
right. A sigh left his lips as he spotted it. He knew as soon as he
made the next turn, the school was just about a hundred and fifty
meters away.

He made the turn with slow reluctant
strides. Puzzlement surged on his insides at the feeling of
reluctance that filled him. Why in the world did he suddenly feel
like skipping work? Before he could dwell on that thought any
further, his eyes caught the shiny black gates of the school. The
slight frown on his face grew harder.

There was a flurry of activity in
front of the gate. Security men, teachers and children were running
around in circles. For some reason a cold shiver ran down his
spine. Something was wrong! He tore towards the gates without
another thought.

Chapter Eleven

He drew to a screeching halt four
feet in front of the gate, which he could barely see because of the
mob racing around in front of it. To his left was a police van
parked in front of the teak tree. His eyes widened in shock as he
looked at it. He did not remember seeing it as he ran
over.

Four heavyset police officers
dressed in the black on black uniform of the Nigerian police force
were wrestling a rabid Eze to the ground. He shouted and screamed
at the top of his voice. It was an eerie sound and it drove fear
into Alaba’s heart.

Three of the police officers held
him pinned down while the fourth officer slipped a pair of
handcuffs on both of his wrists. With the handcuffs secured, they
wrenched him to his feet, dragging him still kicking and screaming
to the van.

Alaba’s eyes widened when he saw his
mouth and jaw covered with blood. Before he could examine him more
closely, they shoved him into the back of the van. Three of the
police officers climbed in after him while the fourth went to the
front. The engine started with a healthy growl, the tires gave a
loud screech as the van did a three sixty turn and vanished in a
thick cloud of dust and smoke.

Staring at the rapidly disappearing
van for a few moments, he turned and grabbed one of the female
teachers just hurrying past him.

“What happened? Why did the police
arrest Eze?”

“It was horrible!” She gasped
wrenching her hand from his grasp and hurrying into the
school.

Alaba sighed searching for someone
else to ask. One of the security men stood five feet away, staring
at the van, which had now completely disappeared from
view.

Alaba hurried towards him grabbing
his arm as he reached his side. “What happened?”

“Na the mad man oga! He beat one boy
bad bad__ he also bite am for hand. The boy don almost
quench.”

“Where is the boy now?”

“Dem don carry am go hospital Oga.
Some people talk say he don almost die.”

The man’s last statement drove a
chill into Alaba’s heart. Deciding he had heard enough, he hurried
through the gate heading to the teacher’s staffroom.

The principal was standing outside
the staffroom when he reached it. She was a painfully thin woman
dressed in a maroon skirt suit. Her skin was a dull brown color
with ugly blue-black veins snaking across it. She had her hair tied
in a hard bow behind her head and her mouth curved in a perpetual
frown.

“Mr. Olorunsogo you are on time I
see. I presume you got my summons?”

“No ma! I just arrived. I heard what
happened at the gate and I decided to come straight
here.”

“No matter__ come in! The meeting
commences immediately.”

Nodding slowly, Alaba hurried into
the room. There were half a dozen teachers’ present, seated behind
large wooden desks. Alaba made his way to his desk that was at the
far right hand corner of the room. Three more teachers walked in as
he sat down. A satisfied smile lifted the corners of his lips ever
so slightly. That meant that the meeting would soon
start.

The meeting began exactly five
minutes later. The principal quickly filled in the gaps for those
who had not heard about Eze attacking Chike.

“This is a very serious situation__
I have already started receiving calls from concerned parents.
These are troubling times for the school. The vice principal and I
will go to the hospital to see how the boy is faring. The registrar
is in charge while we are gone. I do not want any of you to use
this incident as an excuse to skip work. Is that
understood?”

“Yes ma’am.” They all
chorused.

“Ok, back to work.”

She strode out of the staffroom
followed by about half a dozen of her staff. Alaba was on the verge
of hurrying after them when he remembered he did not have a lesson
until eleven. With a dazed look on his face, he settled down to
wait.

Oraromi Crown Hospital (30 minutes
later)

Chike’s eyes opened to see a crowd
of people standing around him. His eyes narrowed as a puzzled look
came on his face. Where was he? His surroundings were strange, all
white. Some of the faces around him were also familiar.

His father and mother stood on his
left leaning over his bed, looking at him with worry in their eyes.
The people on his right were unknown, strangers dressed in white
lab coats.

Every face seemed relieved to see
him awake.

“Are you alright?” The tall man on
his right dressed in a sparkling white lab coat asked
him.

His eyes grew more puzzled. What in
the world, was the man going on about? It took about three more
seconds before everything came rushing back.

“Eze!!!” He cried jerking into a
sitting position.

The doctor and two other nurses
surged forward to restrain him, stopping him from leaping out of
bed.

“Relax Chike__” The doctor began
slowly. His voice calmed Chike making him turn, looking into gentle
brown eyes.

“Where is he?” He asked looking
around with alarm in his eyes.

“He has been arrested. You are the
hospital now and safe from him.”

That statement made relief surge
through his heart. The doctor was talking again. It took a couple
of seconds for Chike to understand what he was saying.

“How do you feel?”

“A bit dizzy__”

“Is that normal?” His mother
interrupted looking at the doctor with fright in her
eyes.

“It is ma__ we gave him a sedative
when he was brought in. He was hysterical. He needed to be calmed
down. The dizziness he feels, I think is as a result of the drugs
we gave him.”

A pause followed.

“How is your hand?” The doctor
asked.

Chike was puzzled about that for a
bit until he remembered that Eze had bitten his hand. Glancing at
it, he was surprised to see it bandaged.

“Does it hurt?”

He shook his head as he rubbed it
gently.

“Not even a bit?”

“No__”

The doctor nodded satisfied. “Your
son is fine ma. He is just a bit traumatized but that’s nothing a
little bed rest won’t cure.”

“Are you sure?” His mum asked
looking unconvinced.

Seeing her worried look the doctor
sighed and turned to face her. “If you want we can keep him for the
night under observation, but there is nothing wrong with him as far
as I can see. We have given him a shot for the bite and some
antibiotics that he will take for five days. He will be as right as
rain in a day or two.”

Chike’s parent’s exchanged troubled
glances before nodding slowly. Seeing he had convinced them, the
doctor turned to face the nurses behind him.

“See that their bill is prepared
quickly and give them his drugs. They are free to go.”

Nurse Susan nodded slowly and herded
the two nurses with her out of the room with the doctor following
suit. The door slammed shut behind them with a firm
clack.

Chike’s mother instantly reached
over and grabbed her son’s hand. “Are you sure you are
ok?”

“I am ma. I do not feel dizzy
anymore. I just want to go home.”

“What happened son?” His father cut
in giving him a pointed look.

“Leave him alone Steven. Let the boy
rest.”

A hard look entered his father’s
eyes for about a minute before he leaned back and stared at the
ceiling. There was silence in the room for another ten before
anyone spoke.

“Where are my friends? Wole and
Tunrayo?” He added when he saw the puzzled looks on his parent’s
faces.

“Oh Wole and Tunrayo? They have gone
home. They followed us to the hospital, but the principal asked
them to go home when she arrived.”

“The principal was here?” Chike
gasped shocked.

“Yes she was__ I gave her a piece of
my mind.” His father replied looking thunderous.

“Why should such a dangerous man be
allowed to wander around a secondary school? It’s unthinkable. I am
going to ensure she is relieved of her position in that
school.”

Chike’s eyes grew wide. He had never
heard his father sound so bitter and angry. The man hardly ever
spoke, except perhaps to look at you with those stern disapproving
eyes.

The door opened as he thought this
and nurse Susan walked in carrying a cellophane bag of pills in one
hand and a bill in the other. Chike’s father took the bill from her
and sauntered out to pay it leaving his wife to look over the drugs
they gave chike. They were mostly painkillers and
antibiotics.

When Susan had carefully explained
how he was supposed to take them, she quickly exited the room
leaving mother and son alone.

“Can we go now?” Chike asked giving
her an impatient look when she made no attempt to gather their
things together.

“We have to wait for your father. As
soon as he’s done settling the bill we’ll be off.”

Chike’s face became sullen and his
mouth curved into a pout. He turned his back to his mother and
faced the wall. Her eyes hardened as she looked at him. On a normal
day, she would never have tolerated such behavior from him, but
since he had been through such a harrowing experience, she decided
to let it slide.

The door opened after five minutes
of uncomfortable silence. His father’s bulky frame loomed in the
doorway and he nodded at his wife. She sighed turning to face Chike
who still had his back to her.

“Its time to go Chike.”

He turned, his sullen face breaking
out into a wide smile as he leaped to his feet putting on the red
short sleeve shirt his mum brought for him. His torn uniform
stuffed into a small duffle bag beside the bed. A bag his mother
picked up from the floor.

They exited the hospital complex ten
minutes climbing into a black Nissan Murano jeep. His father’s
prized possession. No one noticed the blackish green pus seeping
from Chike’s shoulder.

Chapter Twelve