A Trip To Hell 3

A TRIP TO HELL 3

"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