I really want to finish this story, but I feel I can do it with the help of readers. So, I'll keep updating with people's comment. Thanks a lot for your helping hand.


No Where to Turn is a stand alone novel with link to the story in Lost But Satisfied: https://m.okadabooks.com/book/about/lost_but_satisfied/43018

In essence, you can enjoy it without reading the first. The first only gives more backstories to the Characters therein.


Dear Keren,

Nowhere to Turn
Chapter 1
Driving around cities was fun unless one was the driver for an injured old man, a weak little coughing girl, a pregnant assassin, and two weak but brave women. The heat in the bus made Bidemi Adeoti cringe as he drove through the massive dust on the way. His eyes were red and heavy despite the closed windows of the bus.
Their lives had taken a strange turn like everyone in Fortune City facing a drought at the moment because it hasn’t rained for two years.
Despite the drought and dust, some signboards were new. Legibly written on them were ‘Mizchiland’. Some had the image of a very pretty lady, welcoming travellers into the city. Her drowsy eyes would have made anyone assume she was some innocent lady used to decorate the city. However, those who have encountered her understood how much venom resided in her thought. Her name was Chioma. Bidemi and the rest had just escaped from one of her prisons some days back. One could see haggard boards dropped carelessly below these current ones. Without anyone explaining to Bidemi, he was sure that there used to be something on those board about ‘Brown Valley’.
The peaceful trade city in Fortune City had suddenly been taken over by a tyrant, with a beautiful face.
‘Do something about this girl’s cough! Ah!’ Bidemi shouted without taking his eyes off the road.
Rita grunted something but moved towards Mary, the only child among them. Probably when Rachael give birth to her baby, Mary would have a companion. Till then, she would sit alone and run errands for them, becoming weak by the day. The adults wouldn’t be able to create the same type of fun another kid could have offered her. Bidemi shook his head to help him stop thinking about Mary.
Again, she coughed, harder this time. At the same time, the car too coughed to a halt. Bidemi didn’t need to do any other check before he understood that they had just fallen into the cold hands of horror.
A group of armed men should have been hot on their tail. These men have been searching for them for some days now to take to them back to Chioma’s prison. That they haven’t caught up with them must be because have lost their trail and he wouldn’t want them to catch up with the group when all they had were their pistols.
‘What’s happening?’ Grace asked.
As his wife, especially during that period, he wouldn’t want to bark his response at her. After all, they have just lost their only son to a bomb blast a few weeks back. He turned to her and shook his head.
‘We need water… And petrol’, Bidemi said. His eyes caught himself in the side mirror. Pecks of duct were in his hair, making him look like a fake version of Wole Soyinka. He opened the bonnet and was forced to dust himself because of the remnant of dust falling off the lid.
‘Water?’ Rachael said. ‘We need to get out of this road. Let’s come back later for the bus’.
Bidemi nodded. ‘Wise choice!’
‘Not wise at all!’ Rita talked at last. This was the first time she would be talking since they left the hospital where they tried to save Jessica her sister, who died trying to save Grace from Chioma’s gunshots. After calming down from Jessica’s death, Rita had gone silent throughout the journey.
‘We have to move’, Racheal said.
‘What happens to Jessica’s body?’ Rita asked. She turned from the pregnant Rachael to Bidemi and probably didn’t like what she saw in his eyes. ‘No… No. We’re not leaving her dead body here!’
‘No one’s is leaving her body’, Bidemi grunted.
‘Wo! Rita, we have to leave nisinsin before that Chidinma comes to catch us’, Chief Suberu, her father, said.
‘It’s Chioma’, Rachael corrected and gulped down from her bottle of coffee.
‘Whatever! A child that is dead is dead. She’s my daughter. I will send boys to carry her!’ Chief Suberu said.
‘Which boys?’ Rita rolled her eyes and checked the time. ‘We’ve spent over 13 minutes without seeing any trace of them, maybe we eventually lost them’.
Bidemi sighed. ‘I highly doubt that, and I will prefer we leave now… I’m leaving now to… Where?’
He turned sporadically to different places until he was faced with the innocent eyes of little Mary, who looked tired. ‘Follow me!’ He said as he lifted her and walked away not knowing where they were going, but he was sure that he would get a solution eventually.
After what felt like forever, he heard light steps behind him. He didn’t need to turn back to realise those were Rachael’s. He sighed.
‘Wait!’ Rachael called.
Bidemi glanced at her and the others moving ahead of him.
‘What?’ He asked.
‘I hear something!’ Rachael’s hand were already on her gun. ‘Heavy footstep’.
‘Yeh!’ Rita shouted and sprung towards Bidemi. Mary hugged him tighter. Bidemi didn’t want to put anything to chance. He dropped Mary.
‘What’s happening?’ Rachael wondered.
‘Bring out your gun! Now!’ Bidemi swallowed hard. Words weren’t forming in his mouth but he trusted Rachael’s gut.
‘I see men… Lots of them’, Rita said when she got to their side.