A TRIP TO HELL iii
"Blood Is
Currency"
The smoke is beginning to get thicker. We are running
out of time. We heard voices of men outside as they roam around. They surely
don't know we are in here. But for
how much longer? Every one of us is awake
now. Some are already in tears. There are only two ways about it. Either we get out and get shot, or remain here and get burnt. "Is there any other way out of the
building?" Tony asked Jasper.
Every conversation now is in very low whispers. "I don't
know, I’ve never been here before". Jasper stares at me as if I was the owner of the church.
"Let's go and check." He suggests.
Of course I do not like the idea, but it is not
like I have a choice. As we were about
to leave the group, one of the
windows crash open from the impact of the fire. "Get
down". Tony whispers. We all
lie flat on the floor as the crashed window exposes us. We quickly crawl to one corner of the
wall very close to the crashed window. The smoke
is thickening now and it's becoming difficult to
breathe. Someone coughs. Tony
quickly covers the person mouth so tight he struggles to breathe. Luckily for us, the men
outside do not seem to hear the sound.
Irene stares at Tony. "It's now or never."
"What?" Intrudes, Bro Emma, who had
been rather anonymous since.
"We have to get out now?"
"Are you blind? How? "I have an Idea", everyone pauses at the
voice of Tony. "I'll distract
them. You guys run". "I
don't understand", I honestly mean it as I say it. "I'll go out through the hole", Tony
explains, "That would distract all
of them and give you enough time to
escape the other way" "They'll
kill you". "And if I don't, they'll kill all of us. Either way, I
still die". I can't say a word more. I begin to cry.
"Good luck guys", Tony adds.
"Wait". Jasper "Let me go. You
guys are more valuable than me.
They killed my family. No one would
miss me when I die" Tony sighs
and smile at Jasper, "look bro..."
Suddenly, Jasper breaks, rises and runs towards the
hole. He drags away the pew and slides out. We
hear him shout. And then we hear the men shout
too as they chase him with gunshots.
"Now!" Tony barks as he rises.
We all dash for the window. And out we are.
"Just keep running!" Tony orders.
We keep running. We hear gunshots from nearby.
Followed by what sounds like the voice of Jasper
giving a cry of agony. We keep running. I hear some men shout little distance away from us. I look back. They have found us. About two or three
men on our chase. And then... They begin to
shoot. "Run in curves!" Tony
screams. Gunshots. I hear someone
fall beside me. I keep running.
Luckily, there is a forest just before us. We hit the forests. We could still hear sounds of
gunshots and sound of bullets tearing through
trees and leaves. I don't know if they followed us into the forest. But
we continue running. As we got deeper
into the forest, I began to notice that
the rest are no more close by. Seems we have lost one another. I continue running. Suddenly, I hit my toe against something. A shrub
or a big stone. It hurts sharply and the impact
sends me flying and crashing to the ground. I
groan as I rise to continue. Then
I pause. I think I heard a sound.
I look sideways - Michael. Michael sat beside Tony in the front seat of the bus. He is someone I'd always seen in church but we never
talked for once. He is an introvert. You never
find him talking to anyone.
I moved closer to him. "Mike, we have to run".
"I can't". I try to pull him up when I feel a thick liquid in my
fingers. I check. Blood. He's been hit.
"My God! You've been shot".
"Go. Save yourself". As much as I really want to do as he asked, I can't.
I look back and pray those men are not on our
pursuit. Michael seems to notice my fear.
"Go", he insists
"No. I won't leave you here". For the
first time in my whole life, I
sound like a hero to myself. I pull Michael
up and, together, we begin to trudge our way through the forest. Michael
groans with each step. He must be in serious pains. "Thanks",
he mutters as we walk. "For a moment I was scared you'd actually leave me back there".
I smile at him. For once, I feel so proud of
myself. "Where are we
going?" He inquires. "I
don't know. Hopefully, we find the others". We continue. We must have walked for an hour or
two. The day is beginning to get brighter now.
The time must be between 5am to
6am. We continue walking. Suddenly
Michael stops. "What?" I
stare at him curiously. “I think I
heard a sound", he points "there". I don't know if it's safe to check, but by now I'm
starting to feel braver. We trudge towards where
he said the sound came from. I
peeped through the leaves. I saw
humans. About four. I looked closely. I recognized Tony. "Tony!"
Michael screams beside me before I can say anything. Gladly, we
walk towards them. Tony walks up to meet
us. He helps me with Michael. The others join us too. I look around. There are four of them. Tony,
Banle, Joseph, and Sister Sarah, the choir
mistress. I scanned the faces
again. Very worried. Very very worried.
"Where is Irene?" I asked. I'm sweating.
I'm trembling. Tony looks at me. He says nothing. I try not to read
any answer in his eyes. "Where is Irene?" I ask again. This time
with a fiery temper to it as I
seem to pronounce each word independently...
Tony sighs. I look at everyone else - each seems
to be looking away as my eyes meet
theirs I looked back at Tony. My eyes
already grew misty. "Tony...”
I stopped short as a ball of tear rolls from my eyes onto my cheek. "I wish I could do more", he says soberly.
"We all wish we could do more"
"Ireene!!!" I scream as I collapse on
my knees. Tony and someone quickly
cover my mouth to stop me from shouting…
Michael Adejonwo