THE MESSENGERS PART ONE KAMARA

1.
It starts with a sound…a whisper. The hair on the back of your neck stands as a warning slowly creeps through the fog of mind. ‘something’s wrong’, it says. You look around…searching. You feel the unseen eyes…watching. Your feet feel heavy with each step, your heart pounds desperately…and then the bullet hits you.

The bullet pierced my shoulder and exploded in a splatter of blood. I staggered back and as I fell a hail of bullets followed

“Take cover”, my unit sergeant bellowed. We took cover as bullets fell from all directions. Two more soldiers were hit – one in the head and the other in his leg. I felt the blood seeping down my sleeve as I positioned for return fire. Beside me i felt the lifeless eyes of my fallen comrade staring at me. – blood flowing freely from the gaping hole in the middle of his head.

My body shook with anger as I returned fire. How could these dogs have known we were coming?

Our mission was top secret. Only a select few knew the details of our location and yet…here we were pinned down under enemy fire even before the mission had begun. We’d been betrayed!

A bullet hit the sergeant as we tried to push forward.
‘Sniper!’ someone yelled. Bullets rained from all sides as the insurgents forced us deeper into a kill zone. Sergeant took to more shots as he tried another advance. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

“Allahu akbar!” the war cry of the insurgents echoed through the forest like the roar of a large savage beast! I could feel our morale slowly ebbing way.
“Hold position!” I cried “Hold position”.

Some of the insurgents became careless and charged wildly at us. It was just what we needed.
“Break the wall” I charged forward shooting.
Our unit opened fire and gradually we fought our way through the wall. Everytime a man fell another took his place. A second bullet pierced my chest, and a third met me just above my knee… i kept shooting, untiI I fell, and the blackness consumed me.

2.
I woke up in a hospital ward. Of the thirteen men that went for the operation only four of us made it out. Thankfully the wounds I sustained were not fatal, but I lost a lot of blood. They say I drifted in and out of consciousness for three days.

As I lay in my bed surrounded by the screams and groans of fellow soldiers, I replayed the mission in head. Over and over I felt the bullets pierce my shoulder, I heard sergeant okon barking orders…I saw my men fall, and I felt rage. Someone had betrayed our unit and I wanted revenge.

IMMANUELLA

1.
There is nothing more beautiful to a mother, than a baby’s first cry as he enters the world; to hold him in your arms and watch as he suckles on your breast for that first time.

I close my eyes and turn my gaze away from the stranger that has become my reflection. I bury the memory in the secret places of mind and head back into the bedroom. It’s time to work.

The curtains are drawn and the television is on, showing CNN Newsroom. It’s not that I care about my world, I just need sound. The louder the better.

I choose a long thin carving knife from toolkit. The surface is cold…ice cold. I pierce my finger on the tip and watch my blood trickle across my palm. The pain is my teacher. It ensures I never forget what happened…what they did to me.

A low muffled groan interrupts my thoughts. I turn to the bed and smile at the naked man bound to the bed.
“I see you’re awake” I remark strolling casually to the bed. The look of terror in his eyes warms my blood. I run the tip of my knife slowly down his chest, around his navel to the base of his penis. I sit on the edge of the bed and place my hand over his cock. Our eyes meet – I can’t stop smiling.
“Shall we begin?”
The man screams.

2.
12:15am. I take the service entrance out of the guest house and make the call.
“It’s done”
I dump the phone in the gutter and the wig and my outfit in a nearby dumpster. A grey saloon car drives towards me and stops. I get in. In a few hours the news will be announced that politician Haruna Idris was found dead in his hotel room. The state police would make their usual comments in response to the outrage of his associates in government. Then there would be a tip off revealing Haruna Idris illegal assets and his dealings with the notorious terror group that has wrecked havoc on this region. By then I would be back in my lonely world waiting for my next assignment.

But I wasn’t always this person. Once I had a home –
a man I loved and a baby with an angelic smile that was the light of our world. Until darkness came.

3.
They came for us while we slept. I smelt the fire before I felt the heat but it was my husband that opened the door.

The gunshots echoed in our small living room. I rolled of the bed – instinct from years of military training. My husband tried to protect us, and they butchered him. But they never expected me.

I watched him struggle till his last breath. Then my baby woke up.

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but there is no instinct more savage than a mother’s love for her child. Her cries lured them to our room. They crept in the shadows, but I was waiting to kill.

I still hear their screams. They came prepared for preys but they found a hunter! I stabbed, i clawed, i bathed in their blood. I lay in the flames with my baby as the roof of our home caved in. My baby was silent – she would never cry again.

4.
I was rescued from the ashes. They say I was the only survivor, but I know the truth.

I walk into the apartment, greeted by the warm stale air. I don’t bother with the lights… I know my way. In the room I sit on the edge of my bed…waiting. I died in the flames that night. – with my baby, my husband… All I have now is my mission. Vengeance.

                                                    …..To Be Continued