Peace
A short story

This is literally the worst day of my life, as it has been for the past week and half.How can I, a revered guards brigade sniper be asked to man military check points. It's hard enough that I'll work with these baby soldiers but how do I stop myself from pumping bullets into these lousy policemen and their very discouraging attitude . I hope this last for just the two weeks as promised, if not, I might just go on a shooting spree as my fingers are twitchy already. Being one of the top snipers in Africa had its perks, very few people knew my real name as this was a closely guarded secret. After being trained in Afghanistan, I have been contracted by different heads of states around the world to eliminate human threats, mostly political and I have come to live for moments like that. I'm enlisted under the guards brigade, the only station that does not answer to those pig headed generals and their bloody army headquarters and this suits me just fine as I'm just not built for massaging egos and balls, I'm made for cutting them off permanently. In my early days as a soldier, I was fascinated by the sniper rifle, a weapon that can take out a target kilometers out with a perfectly timed shot. But I knew they simply won't hand me a sniper rifle so I had to work for it. Firstly was having steady hands by squeezing rubber balls and stretching my arms to gain control of my hand movements and this paid off as I was the only one without shaky hands after our gruelling training sessions. My superiors soon caught on to this and I was soon placed with the cheetahs, code name for the sniper team. I excelled in taking out targets as far as 500 yards and I could tell that this pleased my instructor hence the recommendation that I be trained further by the Afghanis. Few months later, I returned, a fully trained marksman, fearless and ready to pull that trigger and the more success I recorded, the more my real identity was wiped off until I ceased to exist in the eyes of any and all records. To my family's knowledge, I was dead and buried by the state and this made tracking me all the more difficult. I loved the life as my regular salary coupled with my pay from these contracts meant I earned millions of naira monthly and my family lived off my supposed gratuity and benefits.
Seeing how well I was doing, it came as a rude shock when I was told to proceed to lokoja for two weeks to aid the officers as there had been reports of highway robberies in that region. I wasn't happy, this would take me away from making any major kills for two weeks and my precious baby (rifle) would probably have cobwebs and hate me but I was informed that I could take her along if I wanted, at least I could keep her Warm and ready for me always. When I arrived the barracks, I was in civilian clothes and the soldiers on guard felt I was a trespasser with whom they can display their skills to impress each other not knowing I was in no mood for such. "Hey stop there you lazy civilian" shouted one of the brats, I clenched my fist, suppressing the need to break a few of his bones and simply asked him to take me to his boss. I knew I wouldn't answer to whomever was in charge, but he needed to know that I have arrived. "state your business or I shoot" shouted the second soldier, let's get this over with I thought to myself and raised my hands, then gently reached for my badge. After Seeing my badge, they both dropped their guns and stood animated. Every soldier in Nigeria knows that you should be afraid of the military police, but the guards brigade are known as the power that be, after all I could draw a pistol and shoot both of them and won't be punished unless the president himself says so. I simply walked away to meet with the commanding officer, who was happy I had arrived, seems my reputation supersedes me greatly and I accepted the challenge of baby sitting these amateurs.
Today, just like any other day has been uneventful. I can tell that these soldiers and policemen revered my very presence and that suited me just fine, I would cover my face, leaving only my eyes and I could tell that they admired my demeanour as well as my outfit. I hold a pistol as I wave cars along after scrutiny or ask the driver to park and have one of the soldiers search the vehicle if I feel something is amiss. Unknown to these commuters, my ASWM sniper rifle loaded with a .308 Winchester cartridge was secured on a bipod a few meters up the nearest hill with a perfect view and ability to shoot and kill within 800 meters. Then I saw it, an 18 seater commuter bus coming towards us, with the driver flashing his head lamps at us . Ours is a lonely road, as the distance between vehicles could be separated by as much as 120 seconds. I knew there was trouble and I gave everyone a signal to keep quiet. I flagged the bus down and looked inside and I saw a man at the back, trying to play cool but I noticed his left hand resting on the seat in front and his right hand nowhere to be seen so to avoid arousing suspicion, I waved them along toward the soldier at the farthest end and slowly ran up the hill to my baby, seems we get to play after all.I ran in ecstasy and soon arrived at the spot, I quickly got down and into position, fastening the day optics, I picked my spot and waited as I knew it won't be long now. The soldier I passed them to got the clue and asked the bus to park and the passengers to alight. At this point, the passenger I suspected and another one grabbed a hostage each with a gun to their head and the third member of their gang screamed for everyone to shut up, then he told the soldiers to let them go peacefully as they only wanted valuables and not lives today. He further states that the plan is for them to get back into the bus, complete their operation and alight when they want to. He threatened that any attempt at rescuing the passengers would amount to them shooting them all. I observed all this from my vantage point, and knew this would be the hardest ever if I could somehow make it happen as this was near impossible. I had to hit two targets with human obstacles in about two seconds. This is different, as I would have to trust that my second target would aid my cause by moving in the direction I wanted after the first shot. I took a deep breath, picked my first shot and pulled the trigger and in the minor commotion that ensued, my second target adjusted ever so slightly and I pulled the trigger again and looked up to see my first target mortally wounded by the shot to his shoulder and my second target dead from the shot to his forehead. The third member was quickly put down and it dawned on me that for once, I just saved lives and even though it left a bad taste in my mouth, on the bright side, my reputation just got a push of astronomical proportions and of course, these weaklings I work with would fear me even more. I came down and saw the look of utter respect on the faces of all present. I quickly waved the bus on to avoid the effusive praise and appreciation that was to follow. Such positive energy make me sick. Towards the end of my stay, I got a letter that simply said my next assignment would be in the dreaded borno state and I didn't mind, I didn't mind this at all. Afterall, I leave knowing that I have completed both the mission of making these soldiers and co more aware and my personal target of shooting and killing a few bandits, so everybody wins.
On the day I left the post, it was obvious that I had imprinted my legacy on the heart of everyone I came in contact with, and I could go back to killing people. My next assignment was to join a special unit on their way to do battle with boko haram terrorists and this pleased me very much as I would take out as many of these bastards as possible and really sleep peacefully at night. Our destination happened to be gozwa local government, not that I cared anyway as all I wanted was to pump bullets into these terrorists. We were 20mins away from our camp site when I heard the first explosion, then the second and third landmines went off simultaneously and I heard the crackling sound of gunfire and it dawned on me that we are being ambushed. Fortunately, I wasn't wounded so I quickly got out of the car, slung my rifle and made for the hills. The weight of the gun slowed me down but I can't possibly leave her behind, as I'm nothing more than a blood thirsty soldier without her. As I made my way up to get a strike point I felt someone hit me hard on the waist and I fell in a heap. I tried to get up but couldn't as the excruciating pain travelled in doses of heat all over my body. Then about five men surrounded me, pointing sophisticated weapons at me; I wonder how they got those, whoever is behind their activities surely knows the virtue of not bringing knives to a gunfight. At this point, it became obvious that they aren't out to kill me yet but to make a mockery of me first, perhaps on tape. We all heard stories of how they treat captured soldiers, and I can't let myself to be used as a guinea pig not now, not ever but I had to think fast as I couldn't grasp much of the rapid hausa they spoke. Then a bright idea lit up in my head and I realised what I must do; I had to provoke at least one of them to hit me hard, so I knelt up, looked one short ugly one with daggers for teeth, pointing at them uglies, I laughed at him so hard and as expected, this enraged him so much that he hit me hard on my neck and I fell face first and coughed so hard I thought my throat would explode or worse still, make me beg for my life but Unknown to them, I obtained a cyanide pill strewn to the collar of my uniform for a moment like this because this is how I'll rather go out; let them do whatever they wish with my corpse because afterall, I'm already dead and as I pretended to get up, I quickly put it in my mouth, smiled up at them and at that point, my whole life flashed in my mind. I had been an intelligent chap growing up so it made sense that i could have been a lawyer, economist or anything else I wanted, I would have been married, with two girls and a boy, I would have had a boring 8-4pm job where my thoughts would constantly be on how to choke my boss to death, or maybe strangle the idiot, then live a healthy but boring life as is often the case.I thought of my mum and how greatly she's missed me, all those times I stalked her just to see her face again as the glow her face had been accustomed to faded away over the years. my only regret is that I won't be given the hero's burial I always envisaged but as I swallow the pill, I knew this was a better way to go out, I had ran the race thereby ridding the world of a few problems. Ten seconds later, as I begin to fade, I smile a knowing smile as I saw the light and reached for it. I made peace with my maker already, I was at peace and i couldn't wait to get to hell to torment hades. Even tartarus won't keep me quiet.Dust to dust.

Copyright: Mcanthony Okechukwu
2017