Virus (9 page)

Then in what seemed like a
microsecond later, he became still. Rushing to his side, Damilola
felt for a pulse. She got nothing. She began CPR, pounding his
chest with all her strength while Chioma’s cries rang out like a
mantra behind her.

She was so intent in her task that
she did not hear the door to the quarantined room fly open. Four
other masked and rubber suited people rushed in. They all worked on
him for another ten minutes trying to revive him. When he remained
unresponsive, they eventually gave up. They declared Chike Chidozie
dead at 12.24am.

Chapter Fifteen

Wole sat up drenched in sweat. It
was the dream. Always the same dream. His eyes flittered to the
clock on the wall. It said 3.15am. A frown roughened his brow. That
was not right at all. For as long as he could remember the dreams
always came just before dawn. Between the hours of 5.30 and 6.30am.
A sense of dread filled his insides.

Something was wrong! Or was it his
mind playing tricks on him again? He sat up, placing his feet on
the cold floor. He would probably have continued dwelling on it if
he did not hear his mother’s footsteps moving along the passage
heading towards the kitchen.

The frown on his face grew even
harder. What was she prowling around at night for? He suddenly
remembered that she said something about preparing moi moi* (bean
cake kind of meal). She sent him to grind the beans the previous
night. Since it took quite a while to prepare, she probably wanted
to get everything ready before it was time for school.

He sank back down on the bed with
another sigh and closed his eyes. Wake up time for him was 5.30am.
He still had more than two hours to catch up on some sleep. He
drifted off with that thought running through his head.

6.45 am (En-route to
school)

Tunrayo stood at the end of the
path, which broke out onto the dirt road leading towards the
school. Her orange uniform was sparkling clean and her hair, tied
into a bun behind her head, was nicely combed and neat. Both eyes
were red and swollen, as if she had been crying.

“Are you alright?” Wole asked his
heart skipping a couple of beats as he looked at her
face.

“I am fine. I am just a little tired
and stressed out.”

The look on his face said in very
clear terms that he did not believe a word she was saying, but he
did not query her any further. He started towards the school
without another word and she quickly hurried after him. They walked
in silence for several moments before anyone spoke.

“Have you heard anything about
Chike’s condition?”

“No I haven’t.” He replied
stiffening slightly. “Have you?”

She shook her head
slowly.

“I really hope he is feeling
better.”

“Me too.”

His voice was low, almost too low
for her to hear.

7.15 am (Oraromi police
station).

Taiwo Betiku sat behind a large desk
in a wide room riffling through a thick stack of papers. He was a
large man, about 6.3 inches tall and very broad. His hulk stuffed
into the black on black uniform of the Nigerian police force. Taiwo
Betiku was many things. He was focused, career driven, loyal,
honest, unmarried but most importantly, he was the D.P.O (District
Police Officer) of the Oraromi police station.

That title meant he was the head
honcho, the lord of everything he surveyed, all things regarding
the law that is. His dark and extremely weathered face was hard,
his nose wrinkled as if he caught an extremely bad smell. That was
not the case however. His nose always went that way when he was
face to face with something he did not like; like the report he
held in his hand for instance. A knock on the door broke his
concentration.

“Yes come in__” He barked not
looking up.

The door to his office opened and a
whipcord lean police officer walked in. He wore the same black on
black uniform Taiwo was wearing but his eyes looked sad and weary
at the same time. He saluted and quickly went at ease after a curt
nod from Taiwo.

“What is it sergeant?”

“We just got a call from the general
hospital sir.”

“And?”

“Chike Chidozie died this
morning.”

Taiwo gasped looking up at the
sergeant in stunned silence.

“Didn’t they say it was just a bite?
Who dies from a bite?”

The sergeant shrugged but did not
speak.

“Have his parents been
told?”

“They were with him when he
passed.”

Taiwo rose to his feet tutting
quietly as he did so. “This is horrible. I can only imagine what
they must be feeling.”

The sergeant said nothing more again
and a heavy silence filled the room.

“Did the hospital say
anything?”

“Yes they said Eze should still be
kept under lock and key and quarantined. They are sending someone
to examine him and take some tests.”

Taiwo nodded and walked towards the
door.

“Are you going somewhere
sir?”

“As a matter of fact I am. I want to
get a good look at the infamous Eze.”

The sergeant nodded and stepped
aside to let him pass. They walked down a long corridor, which
opened, into the main body of the station. It was a beehive of
activity filled with almost two dozen peopl

Wading through the throng took
almost two minutes, before they headed down two more long
corridors, which led to the cells. Eze’s cell stood alone,
separated from the others by almost twelve feet of concrete. This
section of the station was dark and gloomy as if some sort of evil
presence lurked there.

Eze’s had his face pressed against
the bars. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his lips curled into a
benign snarl. Both men jumped startled when they saw him taking two
steps back.

An eerie laugh erupted from his
mouth. His laugh was high pitched and squeaky. The sound drove a
chill into both of their hearts and without a word they quickly
turned and headed back the way they had come with Eze’s maniacal
laughter ringing out behind them.

9.15 am

Dr Makinde sighed staring at the
death certificate he held in his hands. Even though it was a cool
morning, sweat poured out of his skin soaking his pristine white
shirt which was tucked into slim fitting black trousers.

This was wrong! It was so wrong!
Nothing in his medical career could have prepared him for this.
What sort of infection gotten from a bite could kill a young boy in
less than a week?

In spite of the legion of tests
carried out on Chike’s blood work, the labs had not been able to
ascertain whether the infection was viral or bacterial. He had
nothing to go on. Now because of his lack of information, a young
boy was dead.

He almost passed out in shock when
the nurse on duty informed him when he came in for work. Fear stole
into his heart when the bite wound beneath his elbow started to
itch.

It stopped smarting two hours after
he got home last night. Cleaning it with spirits and pouring a bit
of iodine on it had eased the stinging. The itching started at five
in the morning.

Still sleepy he scratched it quite
badly, opening up the wound again. The pain roused him fast. The
itching eased somewhat when he gave it another dressing. That
respite lasted only an hour. Now it was back in full force and
becoming quite unbearable with every moment that passed.

Turning back to the death
certificate in his hand, he tried to get his mind to focus. At his
request, Chike’s medical details, tests and blood work was
forwarded to the teaching hospital in the next state. Maybe they
could get a sense of what kind of infection they were dealing with.
It would have been nice to get a sample of Eze’s blood but after
Chike’s weird symptoms started, none of the hospital staff was
willing to go to the police station to get a sample of Eze’s blood.
A sharp knock on the door startled him so much that he almost fell
off his seat.

“YES!!” He yelled thoroughly
incensed. “Come in!!”

The door opened violently and
Damilola the night nurse rushed in looking frightened and extremely
flustered.

“Sorry to disturb you Doctor, but we
cannot find Chike Chidozie’s body.”

“WHAT???!!!” He roared.

“The guys at the mortuary said they
deposited his body around one am this morning and sealed him in.
But when his parents came to claim him to prep his body for burial
it had vanished.”

Swallowing, Makinde leaped off his
chair and hurried out of the room.

Elsewhere

Collins strode with long determined
strides to Judith’s house. A hard frown roughened his brow.
Frowning had become a part of him nowadays. You did not have to
look too far to know the reason for his awful temper_
JUDITH!!!

He spat her name out through tightly
clenched teeth. The girl was insufferable. The devil and his
accomplices must have been on high alert the day he ran into her.
Since she had had the abortion, she had not stopped complaining.
Her stomach was paining her, she was bleeding excessively, and the
pain was too severe to stand. Blah blah blah!!

He stirred clear of her house since
she had the abortion. He was on his way there now, because she
threatened to tell her parents what he had made her do. Fear
entered his heart when he considered the disastrous consequences
that would have.

He would be in a real pickle if
something happened to her. Her getting pregnant caught him
unawares. If it had not, he would have been better prepared
financially and could have taken her to a better place to get it
done. Everyone knew the Oloriburuku* (Bad head) doctor was a quack.
However, when you had a serious cash flow problem and a pregnant
girlfriend breathing down you neck; life forced you to take certain
risks.

Her house loomed up in the distance
and another sigh burst from his lips. Seeing her house made him
want to turn and hightail it back the way he had come. He played in
his head about half a dozen ways his encounter with Judith would
play out and none of them was in any way cool.

Summoning courage, he willed his
feet to move. They reluctantly obeyed him. A couple of seconds
later he stood at her front door. He had to quell the urge to flee
again. Sighing deeply and frowning at the same time, he reached
forward and knocked on the door twice.

Chapter Sixteen

“I am coming.” A familiar voice
called out.

His frown became harder. Was it his
imagination or was that____ before he could complete his train of
thought the door was unlocked and pulled inwards revealing a
healthy looking Judith standing in the doorway.

She looked extremely beautiful, clad
in a tight fitting skirt, which reached a point just above her
knees and a pristine blue blouse hugging her young and supple
looking top half. Collins eyes and mouth opened wide in
shock.

“You best close your mouth before a
fly flies into it.” She snapped looking so fierce that he was taken
back.

It took him almost fifteen seconds
to recover and put together a coherent stream of words that he
could spit at her which could best describe what he was thinking.
But even with that the best he could manage was__

“How could you?”

“How could I WHAT??” She screeched
in fury. He jumped, startled by her outburst as he took two steps
back. Judith always had a fiery temper. Her volatile nature was one
of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place. Her
ire however was something he could very much do without
now.

“It’s been almost three days
Collins! You have not even bothered to call text or even find out
how I was doing. I could have been dead for all you
cared.

‘Might have been better__” He
mumbled in a low tone, too low for her to hear. He let her rave and
rant for five minutes. When she stopped for a breath, he quickly
cut in.

“How dare you threaten to report me
to your parents? Is something wrong with you?”

“Would you have shown up
otherwise?”

A long silence ensured after her
question.

“I thought not!” She snapped with a
furious and somewhat pained look on her face.

A short silence followed and then
she hissed stepping back to slam the door in his face. Thoroughly
incensed now he lunged forward, holding out his right palm in front
of him. The door and his palm connected with a loud crack and he
winced at the pain that coursed through his arm.

Enraged, he shoved the door hard
flinging her backwards. She barely managed to keep her balance as
the door slammed into the wall with a crash.

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” She shouted in
fury. “DO YOU WANT TO DESTROY__”

He did not allow her to say more.
Crossing the intervening distance between them in a thrice he
pulled her against his body seizing her lips in a hard and somewhat
brutal kiss. She screamed into his mouth in righteous indignation
struggling desperately to free herself from his crushing
embrace.