At approximately 3.15pm on Thursday, an ant stung Mr Johnson on his elbow as he leaned on his desk listening to the gist between folake and dotun. This seemingly innocuous occurrence was to snowball into a situation that would affect him for the rest of his life.

You see, prior to that time, Mr Johnson had woken up on the right side of the bed that day. Being the chief accountant of the administrative department of the hospital, he had a busy day ahead but he was in high spirits. All the major assignments had been done the day before. The books had all been balanced. The medical director had been pleased with the results. All he had to do was attend a couple of meetings today to present his findings, two of which he had already done before this incident occurred.

Mr Johnson was a relatively kind and jovial fellow. Many people could vouch for his openness and friendliness with staff, even those under his command.

"He no get problem! Just ask him, he will hear you out and give you the right advice!" was a phrase often associated with him. "Na correct guy! Meet am, he go sort things out." "Very helpful, once I didn't get paid my full salary, he came to my assistance immediately..." and so on and so on.

Folake had just finished explaining her very interesting and humurous date to Dotun and Mr Johnson during thier break in between meetings when the ant stung him. He was literally stung mid chuckle. Mr johnson's gestures of mirth quickly turned into gestures of intense pain. What had bitten him was what was commonly known as a fire ant. Its sting was intensely hot and painful albeit brief. He grabbed his elbow and pinched the place tight in a vain attempt to stifle the pain. Folake and Dotun jumped to thier feet and came over to his side of the desk.

Folake squished the ant with her slippers while Dotun tried to massage his elbow but Mr Johnson wouldn't let her touch him.

"It's okay really, "he said while still wincing in pain.

"Let me get some ointment," she said and moved quickly to the cabinet, knocking over his files in the process. They fell off the desk and scattered everywhere, some even falling under the faulty air conditioning which was leaking water into a bucket conveniently placed in a corner.

No...they'll get wet! He cried as he moved to pick up the papers. At that moment his phone rang. He ignored it and tried to gather up the important papers; yes, some had gotten a bit wet. He sighed, irritated, even as he massaged his sore elbow. His phone began ringing again. Finally he sat back down and picked it up.

Hello?
Good afternoon sir, sorry to bother you...
Yes ? Yes ? Who is this?
I'm Mr Edward, I'm Dr Obi's son. He worked in your establishment a couple of years ago and ...
Look young man, get to the point! Why are you calling me?
I'm...I'm so sorry sir...I'm trying to get some details concerning his pension and I was told ...
What do you want?! Did someone tell you I was the pensions officer? Who gave you my number? I don't have time for this now!

Mr Johnson hung up. He sighed as dotun tried to clean up the blotted stain on the financial summary paper for the year. It was ruined. He should have made a copy the night before. His laptop containing the file was at home and he would have to go home to print another one. He sighed again.

At the other end of the phone Edward was gritting his teeth. Internally he boiled in anger. All these civil servants thought they were small gods. He had tried to be polite. Shebi they didn't want to give him his father's benefits right? No problem. He had had it with this kind of useless behaviour. The antipsychotics he had been on for the past year had finished a month ago. All the money had finished a month ago. He couldn't even pay for his father's funeral as it was. He could barely afford to eat. And one man at the top thinks he can sit on what is is rightfully mine?! He thought.

It was in the drawer. He had brought it from school. It still had twelve rounds in it. He walked up to the drawer and brought it out. It was a beautiful gun. Commander had given it to him while in school. He smiled mirthlessley and went to get dressed, taking the gun with him. He didn't want to look irresponsible, after all.

An hour later he was at the hospital and Mr Johnson was screaming in pain only this time it was a bullet in the back that had struck him, not an ant. The young boy had been quickly apprehended but he didn't seem to care. He laughed manically to himself as he was being led away.

"I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs!" Mr Johnson screamed as sympathizers gathered around him. They rushed him to the theatre but it was too late. The damage had been done.

THE END.

silverlinen:
After such a long time, Royver decided to update,
Well, i dey here and i hope say, you no go go offline again oo
Biko....when are you updating the Tarnished ones?
Swears... that update been dey give me excess joy oo

I'm back online bro, pls bear with me. I will continue shortly.

Ogamysamo:
Anoda gbege

My brother, sorry for the long delay, I hope you're still following. I'm back.

A ray of sunshine found its way through the foliage and landed squarely on Mr Patrick's eyes, waking him from his unconscious state. He sat up slowly, wondering for a moment why there were so many plants in his room and why his bed was so hard and cold and smelt of vegetation. Looking around him, the memories rushed back, and he jumped to his feet. This was too much. He had seen something, a hallucination, a ghost, experienced something he had never experienced in his life. Terror gripped him like never before and he bolted towards the hospital, faster than he had ever run in recent years. The entrance was just ahead, it was just ahead, he hadn't walked up to thirty minutes into these bushes before that apparition had appeared to him. And yet the more he ran, the more he seemed to be getting deeper into the thicket.

"MAI GUARD! SECURITY!!" He shouted, hoping some of the people waiting for him outside would come to his aid. But his words disappeared into the trees, not even an echo of a response rewarded his efforts. He increased his pace, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he crashed through the plants and trees.

"ANYBODY!" he yelled desperately as he stumbled and fell, rolling his once clean suit in the dirt. He got up quickly and continued to run. Why wasn't he out yet?

Suddenly he broke out into a clearing and he stopped short. A thatched hut lay in the middle, with a little stream by its side, flowing peacefully out of a cave. Mr. Patrick had never seen a cave before. Its edges were smooth and you couldn't see into the end of it as it was covered in shadow. Mr. Patrick held his head in his hands. How? How could such a big cave be here in his hospital grounds? How could someone have built a hut here in his hospital grounds and he didn't know about it? Where was he?

He sat down at the edge of the stream and began to cry. He heaved deep sighs from his chest as the tears fell. He hadn't even told anybody goodbye, he hadn't even called his wife. He had thought he would just go in and find the stupid girl with the big breasts and come out again. Why hadn't he called the police instead for goodness sake? It was their job to find missing people, not his. What had he gotten himself into?

"Are you alright?" a female voice said gently as a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Screaming, he flung the hand away and jumped forward into the stream, falling face first. Dripping water from head to toe, he grabbed a nearby stone and turned around.

A young maiden stood there behind, watching him with curious eyes. She was the very beautiful. Her head was woven back in neat rows and her eyes shone brightly, reflecting curiosity and a little amusement at the sight before her. She wore a finely embroidered wrapper that had been tied tightly over her chest though it did not do much to hide the beauty of her breasts. Her tummy was flat and smooth and her moderately wide hips were adorned with beads and a matching embroidered brown cloth the ended just below her knees.

"I'm so sorry," She smiled, "Did I frighten you?"

The MD stared at her for a moment and then dropped the stone.

"Where am I?" he asked even as he took in her beauty.

"Where are you from?" She queried back.

"I just entered here from the back of Optihealth Clinic in Igharrega, I'm the medical director."

"Then we must be in Igharrega," She answered simply as she beckoned to him. "Come, get out of the stream, you're muddying it up. You will make my mother angry if she sees you."

The MD nodded as he waddled out of the stream. She smiled again at him and he felt his tachycardic heartbeat decelerate. He finally smiled back.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you. I've had some strange experiences since I entered this forest and I'm trying to find my way out."

"Do you have a cell phone?" The girl asked.

The thought hit him like a thunderbolt. His cellphone! Of course! he dug his hands into his pockets and brought it out.

He gasped.

The phone was completely drenched.

He tried cleaning it but it was no use, he was completely drenched himself. He looked around desperately.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"I need to dry it up and my clothes are soaked!" he cried.

"Oh," she turned away from him and undid the wrapper that covered her chest. "Use this," she said, handing the wrapper to him.

A flurry of pleasant sensations hit him at once. Firstly he had managed to catch a glimpse of her side boobs as she made to clumsily cover them with her arms. Second, the cloth was softer than anything he had ever touched. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to dirty the cloth she had given him, but the nagging urgency that had been pushed to the side of his brain won the argument and he wrapped the phone in it.

"I'll replace it, don't worry." he said.

"Replace what?" she asked

"Your cloth. I'm sorry I've dirtied it. I'll buy you a new one."

She laughed a little, he could see her back go up and down as she tried to control her mirth. She was beautiful! And she smelled nice too even though he couldn't detect any hint of an actual perfume. He almost dropped his phone as he got lost in his thoughts, but he regained his composure and quickly dried the phone off. He handed the cloth back to her.

"I'm sorry, its stained."

" That's quite alright." she said, her back still to him. She examined the wrapper for the stains and then tied it around her chest again. By the time she turned back to him, he couldnt see any smudge or smear.

"Wow." he said, "You're amazing."

"Because I know how to tie a wrapper?" she laughed. He didn't want her to stop laughing. "Next thing you will say I am more beautiful than all the town girls you have out there."

"But that is exactly what I was about to say, how did you know?" he teased and she looked down at her feet shyly, a move that made his heart melt. "I'm Patrick, but you can call me Pato..."

"Patrick sounds better," she smiled. "So is the phone working?"

"The what?" Patrick looked down at the object in his hand. The phone! he needed to call for help! He touched the dial button.

The screen remained blank.

"Oh no no no." Patrick shook the phone vigorously and tried again but to no avail.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it will be fine." The maiden said.

"Yeah," Patrick replied. "Some water may have gotten into it. I guess I'll have to leave it somewhere to dry."

"Well, you're welcome to come into my hut," she gestured towards the hut. "It's not much inside but you can dry your clothes and the phone as well. An hour or two and you should be able to make contact with your friends."

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea," he said, "I mean, I don't want to be a bother..."

"Of course not!" she laughed again and Patrick felt all the stress leave his body. "Come and rest small, maybe have some water and something to eat?" And she grabbed him by the hand and led him to her home.

And he followed her meekly.

Shadowy figures crept out from the underbrush. Small shadowy figures, lizard size, rodent size, crawling and slithering and creeping, they all came to examine the unconscious body that lay sprawled before them. Hisses and squeaks filled the air as they touched, him, smelt him, licked his skin with their forked tongues.

"This flesh is cold," a disembodied voice oozed from all sides of the forest, making the shadowy creatures shriek and scatter in all directions. "Yet it has life."

Another shadow slithered out from the forest. Long and sinewy and bigger than all the other shadows that had come before it, it approached Mr Patrick's prostrate form. It raised its two flat heads above him and studies him from length to breath, each head weaving one way and then the other. Pushing itself under him, it wound its huge coils around his body until the man was enveloped in a scaly embrace. One of the heads found his head and its mouth opened wide, its sharp razor teeth laying flat against its throat, ready to receive this meal that had wandered into its path. Lubricating saliva poured into its cavernous mouth as it began to swallow.

"This is no fun!" The other head hissed in annoyance. "There is no smell of fear, no writhing, no struggling. The meat will have no taste."

The first head continued to swallow, gently easing Mr. Patrick's head inside until it got to his neck. There was a sudden gurgling sound and then the first head spat him out again. Tightening its coils ever so slightly, it shook the unconscious man from side to side. Mr. Patrick's eyes opened.

"Better," The shadowed reptile hissed, "Face your impending..."

But Mr Patrick, seeing himself being lifted above ground by what seemed to be a huge, talking snake, simply sighed and passed out again.

There was silence in the underbrush for a while. Then the coils loosened and released their quarry.

Not yet.

Uttering an angry hiss, both heads disappeared back into the trees.

You thought humans originated from Earth?

You think you're the only planet that calls its planet "Earth"?

You are grossly mistaken.

There are approximately 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone. And when I say 'our', I mean we Thesbians, you Humans, Morians, Beclonids, CGKTSes, Petolpanthmoraks, Descursions and Xanthraptates. And we are just the dominant species. There are hundreds more species with sentient minds in this galaxy of ours, what you humans call the Millky way Galaxy. All humans in the galaxy call it the Milky way Galaxy, its a kind of Herd mentality. We Thesbians call it The Coleptes wheel after our great god King Coleptes Tron. All the planets humans have colonized, they have called Earth or whatever Earth means in their native tongue. Essentially each planet is named after the habitat in which the dominant species inhabits. So if the Aquarian humans had dominated over the Land humans during the battle for Atlantis, Earth would have still been named Aquaticus, like it was for thousands of years. But you Land humans won that war, no need to bring up the past.

Humans didn't originate from here as your history would have you believe. The Original Human Earth or Mother Earth-1 is in a distant part of the galaxy, the 47th sector to be exact, and securely guarded at all times by human battleships. It is from there that humanity spread to other planets, sometimes starting their civilization anew like it was with this Earth, sometimes continuing from where they left off as it was on Mars. Humans are not known for their peace-loving ways and they tend to destroy themselves sooner or later which is why they keep moving to new planets to colonize.

Now there are some humans among you who are not from this planet. Either they run away from the law of their own land or they are here for scientific research. Sometimes they get into an accident like myself and crash land here, becoming stranded. Sort of like me.

Such was the case with Amaefuna.

Coming from Alpha Centuari, on a planet called Earth (Targoth in his native tongue), he had passed by this Earth fifty years ago on his way to mine valuable minerals in Venus. On his way back his ship had developed a fault and crashed on this continent. His entire crew died, he was the sole survivor. It is standard issue for Long distance human explorer ships to self-destruct when they enter a habitable planet that has forgotten tis heritage, like this one. He barely made it out alive before his ship hyper-decomposed to dust. He immediately mingled with the tribe he met first and gradually learned to blend with his environment. Being from a planet with highly advanced medical breakthroughs, his ageing process was much slower than those on this primitive planet and so he had devised ways in which to end one life in one settlement and begin life anew in another. Also his strength and recovery was by far better than any indigene here, which was why he was easily able to beat our assailants. Amaefuna had given up any hopes of being rescued or ever leaving this planet again and had resigned himself to living out his remaining 120 years on this Earth.

"And you would have just been butchered by those cannibals, just like that." I remarked.

" This country has become more dangerous to live in, unfortunately. It seems no matter where we go, we humans never learn." He sighed.

"Well there is always Eden on Mother Earth-1..." I winked at him and he laughed.

"The human Utopian planet?" He shook his head. "I still don't believe the King and Queen are human, They must have some Alien genes in them to have kept that particular Earth peaceful for so many millennia."

"People say they are your original Adam and Eve." I replied, taking the glass of water that he offered me.

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged. "But back to you and your problem, which can be my problem as well and our solution if we work together."

"You would never survive deep space on a Thesbian ship for your return journey my friend."

"I will cross that bridge when I get to it." Amaefuna hmphed determinedly. "You need diamonds to power the main core, right? We have diamonds on this continent but its a little far from here."

"I know, somewhere called South Africa, right?" I would need a travelling document...a visa, that might draw attention to my person."

Amaefuna stared at me for a moment then shook his head chuckling. "I guess you weren't the science technician onboard your ship. Is your proton condenser still functional?"

"You know it is, else we wouldn't be having this conversation and I would have been floating in space in pieces alongside the rest of my ship. Why do you ask?"

"Well, have you considered making your own diamonds from raw materials?"

"What? How?"

"This planet contains fairly large amounts of graphite. The closest deposits are a few kilometers away. Subject the graphite to high levels of pressure and heat and presto, you have your diamonds."

"I take it you were the science technician on your ship then."

He grinned. "I've thought up different scenarios in my head of how I would have escaped this planet if my ship hadn't crumbled around me. I spent a greater part of 20 years day dreaming about it. A diamond powered core was part of it and I did a little research then." He winced as he stretched his right arm into the air.

"Do you need a doctor to look at the stab wound?" I asked in concern. Ha had hardly acknowledged the injury during the fight but I had seen him grunt in pain twice now while using his right arm. He had applied some of his special Targothian medication to the wound when we had gotten to the house about an hour ago.

He laughed and stood up, removing the green gel-like substance he had applied to the knife wound in his back. "It should have healed up by now. Luckily I don't feel pain at the level these humans do, and my muscles are much denser, so more difficult to penetrate. I'm not invulnerable, just a little more difficult to kill." He threw the gel into a sink and washed it down the drain. "Feel free to remove your disguise, you must be cramped inside that human suit. Just don't let the neighbors see you, you'll be lynched. Get some rest, we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"A place called Kaduna. There is a big deposit of graphite there." He put on a new shirt. "I'll get us something to eat for the night. In the mean time, mi casa su casa, my house is your house."

And with that, he was out the door. I pulled off the bio-suit and stretched all my limbs in relief. Despite how my journey had started this morning, things were looking really good at the moment. I could be off this planet in a couple of days if Amaefuna's plan worked. It was a pity I couldn't help him out as well. Thesbian ships did not contain the equipment necessary to preserve a human's life force in travel through deep space. He seemed to have a plan but I knew it would be pointless in the end, Sometimes humans needed some time to accept the futility of their efforts because their survival instinct was so strong. Still, it was decent of him to want to help me. I made my self comfortable on the rug in the middle of his parlor and went to sleep.

It was very quiet in the thicket, unnaturally quiet, in fact, the only sound he could hear was his breathing and his boots as they crushed the vegetation under his feet. Had they given him a machete when he entered? He feel like he should have carried a machete, at least to help him clear the bush and defend him from...

From...from what? His mind kept forming horrible images, not of snakes or rats or scorpions but of animated dead bodies shuffling towards him with their rotting flesh falling from desiccating bones...

"What the hell are you thinking man?" he shook his head ferociously to ward off the morbid thoughts. He had always been a fan of zombie films but this surrounding was cutting it a little too close to the bone. He opened his mouth to shout the girl's name and panicked for a moment when he couldn't recall it.

"Awu...Awele!" He called out, and immediately regretted it. All around him the bushes suddenly moved, like he had upset an unseen herd of small animals. The silence was suddenly invaded with shrill squeaks and cries as creatures retreated further into the foliage. For a moment he saw a flurry of tiny brown and black tails slither past green leaves. He wanted to run. He badly wanted to turn around and run. But some unseen force, some irrational courage, pushed him forward, he had to get to the end of the thicket, he had to see the wall, see this mission through. How could he go back and tell them in all good faith that the girl wasn't there if he had not searched the entire 100 metres?

He moved forward. His heart kept skipping beats. The noise of the rats (were they actually rats?) that had been so terrifying previously was now ominously absent. It was cold in the undergrowth and yet the MD found he was sweating, beads of water, shyly peering out from just beneath his skin. There weren't even any insects flying or crawling around. What kind of place was-

"Patrick, what are you doing here?"

The voice was calm and familiar and yet he couldn't help but jump a few feet into the air, a high pitched scream escaping from his lips. He spun around to see who had spoken.

A man stood before him in a bit of clearing, clean shaven scalp and white beard. He recognized him from the pictures in his office. He was the penultimate previous MD of the hospital, a few years before he joined the establishment. The man was dressed in a simple native attire; a brown wrapper and a black T-shirt with brown slippers and a hoe slung over his shoulder. He looked like he was going farming.

"Stop looking at me like I'm a ghost, what are you doing in here, and all alone?" Mr Etinosa asked.

"I should be asking you the same question!" Patrick replied shakily.

"But you know my farm is just beyond the hospital walls, I come through the side of the fence sometimes to see if I can pluck ripe palm fruits, I hope that's not a crime."

Mr. Patrick stared a little longer then suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. He laughed and laughed and shook his head, resting his hands on his knees as he sighed with relief. "I'm so sorry, it's this place, its got me all jumpy and nervous. No wonder some employees call it the evil forest."

Mr Etinosa chuckled and looked around, "Yes, when I was the medical director I too heard stories about this place. The indigenes especially don't play with it. You know it's where they throw the dead babies right?"

"What?"

"Surely you must know. I found out a few months into the job myself. Wanted to clear the place, build a proper mortuary, but they wouldn't hear of it. Well, they teach us in medicine first to do no harm. It's just a silly superstition of the people, nothing to get rattled about."

Mr. Patrick was rattled. He looked around him to see if he would find bits of small dried skulls tossed about anywhere. Mr. Etinosa sighed and shook his head.

"Since you don't want to tell me why you're here ,let me be on my way..." and he turned to leave.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm not comfortable being here at all. I'm looking for one of my house officers; she was said to have come here last night as a sort of bet, and hasn't been heard from since..."

"And you think the forest took her?" Mr Etinosa said, the beginning of a laugh coming to his throat.

"Well, not me specifically."

"Come on man, she must have upped and gone home, probably playing a silly prank on her friends."

"Same thing I said." Mr Patrick laughed nervously, "But they kept pushing me and pushing me and now I'm checking to see to make sure she's not lying down somewhere unconscious or with a broken leg."

"Well, I haven't come across her. If I do I will be sure to let you know." Mr Etinosa started to walk away.

"Thank you s..." Mr. Patrick began to reply and then suddenly he froze.

Mr Etinosa was walking away, but backwards, and with such confidence as if he had eyes at the back of his head.

"What is the matter?" Mr Etinosa asked even as he kept walking away.

"Why are you walking backwards? Won't you fall?" He found that his voice was trembling.

Mr Etinosa laughed again. "You're very funny! We all walk like this in the land of the dead. You must be dead to be here surely, do you still walk as you used to walk while on earth? Next thing you will say you still have footsteps!"

Mr. Patrick looked down. Sure enough Mr. Etinosa's feet were not touching the ground. He suddenly remembered vividly that he had attended the man's funeral late last year. His head suddenly seemed to swell to twice its size.

Mr Etinosa's voice was distant now. "I'll let you know if I see her alright? If she actually died here her soul wouldn't have wandered far. This forest has a way of drawing you in. I myself was drawn from my resting place by the sweet palm fruits I plucked while still the MD!" and with that he vanished into thin air.

Mr Patrick fainted.

"Patrick, man, what the hell are you doing?" The MD murmured to himself as he passed the bushes and entered between the trees.


As if it had not been foreboding enough, the atmosphere had grown more sinister as soon as he stepped into the thicket. It was as if he had passed through a dark veil into another world, an old world, prehistoric even. The air was colder, muskier, the air seemed to flow in an entirely different direction than it did outside, all his hair stood on end and for a moment he felt like he was about to lose control of his sphincters. He looked back , suddenly filled with an absurd notion that he would not see the hospital and the small crowd behind him but rather a vast forest or wasteland, like he had never been in a hospital, like he had never been a doctor, like he had never been a civilized human being. He almost ran back...

But there they were, the house officer's rep nodding encouragement, the security guards watching with keen interest, almost as if to see if he would chicken out and run, the young female doctor gazing at him with hope-filled eyes, a gaze that was already thanking him for finding her friend...It would be most embarrassing to turn back now.

Most embarrasing.

And with that thought in his mind, abandoning all primal instinct to turn tail and run, he surged forward into the trees.

Please, Don't judge me too harshly.

I may not have explained to you how I so desperately wanted to get off this planet. This Earth whose sunlight lasted barely twelve hours, abandoning me in darkness for the rest of the planet's rotation. This planet teeming with untrustworthy humans. A planet that was literally in the dark pages of the galaxy exploration manual. I couldn't wait to see the hundred day morning of my home planet again, or to drink its tasty waters and feed on juicy oranges. Coincidentally I found a species of orange on this planet as well but it was nothing compared to the gigantic mouth watering, muscle relaxing soul healing oranges of Moktar-5. I was getting really homesick and it was marring my judgement.

And so I followed this man, this obvious charlatan out to purchase diamonds, after all , a drowning man will clutch at a straw. I knew at the back of my head that he must be lying, surely... but hope made me clutch to the tiniest notion of truth in his words.

"A friend of mine is bringing the diamonds but he's afraid of thieves. We will have to meet in a secure location if you don't mind, you know how valuable diamonds are."

And so he led me around a corner, far away from onlookers and traffic. Bringing out his communication device from his pocket, he chatted with the person at the other end in another language, apparently arranging for the diamonds to be brought to us. We crossed from one street into another and another and finally settled in a back alley far away from prying eyes. I was too blinded by desperation to realize it was a trap and only started getting the hint when his 'friend' arrived. A scrawny creature with red, glazed looking eyes, obviously intoxicated with some sort of drug, he blocked the exit and brandished a knife.

"Oya bros, empty ya pocket, no time."

I sighed deeply. These people were vastly different from the ones I had encountered at Pereyei's village. I had made the wrong assumption that the entire planet was as welcoming and honest as those simple people. I sat down on the floor suddenly, a move that seemed to surprise my assailants. I looked up into the sky, in the direction of which my planet lay, and sighed again.

"Mhen, this guy thinks that we are playing here." Emmanuel produced a knife as well and flicked it expertly, his eyes fixed on me with a deathly look. "We go stab you o!"

"Hey!" a voice hollered from behind us. The men jumped and spun around, their knives at the ready. I stretched my neck to see who it was.

Amaefuna stood there at the entrance to the alleyway.

I should have known. It had all been a set-up. Amaefuna must have arranged me to be taken here to fleece me of whatever currency I had on me. And after I had saved his life too. I sighed again.

"Leave him alone!" Amaefuna shouted, balling his hands into fists and raising them in front of him like the gladiators in a human boxing tournament.

"Guy, you wan die! Leave this place before we injure you o!" The red eyed fellow hissed.

"Boss, are you alright? Them touch you?" he hollered at me anxiously.

So he wasn't with them?

"No, I'm fine. Just tired. Tired of the whole thing."

"Calm down boss, I'll get us out of this." He turned to the two men, "Guys, you don't know who you're dealing with. Remove those knives and go your way, make we forget this mata."

"You dey craze? Who you be?" The red-eyed one's voice was guttural as he spoke. "NA me dey run this street. You know how many people I don kill? You dey craze?!"

Amaefuna's only reaction was to settle himself firmly on his feet and wait for the oncoming onslaught.

"In fact...!" and the man charged, his knife glinting in the afternoon sun.

Amaefuna's long arms reached the man first. His fist smashed into his attacker's midsection with a resounding thud that filled the alleyway. He followed it swiftly with an uppercut to the man's jaw. There was a snap as the man's jawbone cracked and he hit the ground unconscious. Emmanuel yelled and wanted to run off but I had stood up when Amaefuna had distracted them and I grabbed him by the neck. Swinging his knife wildly, he slashed at the air where my hand had been a moment ago. Even though I was wearing a bio-suit and it was made of tough material it could still be slashed. I backed away, feeling stifled in the bio-suit, wishing I could free myself and attack properly. But Amaefuna took care of the problem. He struck from behind, hammering down on Emmanuel's knife-wielding hand and knocking the weapon away.

"Don't worry Boss, I got this!" he shouted at me to back off, as if he knew didnt want to get too involved. The twomen ducked and parried as they swung thier fists at each other. Emmanuel finally got a grab on Amaefuna's shirt and both began to struggle.

"Fool!" The red-eyed guy had regained consciousness and had rushed at Amaefuna, stabbing him in the back in the process. I gasped and ran forward, pulling at the biosuit so it would come off.

"Stop!" Amaefuna shouted at me, his voice so sudden and loud, I froze on the spot. His eyes turned blood-red, redder than the man behind him and he suddenly grabbed emmanuel's armed and pulled viscously.

Emmanuel screamed as his arms dislocated from their sockets. As he dropped to the ground in pain Amaefuna spun around and punched the red-eyed man in the chest. I could hear ribs breaking. The red-eyed man recoiled in pain and Amaefuna lurched forward, kicking him on the leg. That too immediately snapped. the man shrieked in pain and fell to the floor whimpering. Amaefuna walked up to him, knelt beside him and slapped him on the face.

"So, make I ask you, how many people you don kill?"

"Bros abeg..."

"How many? Make you tell me make I know whether I go release you or not. If you lie I go know." Amaefuna stared at him, a deep stare that semed to penetrate the man's soul.

"Five," he whimpered, his words coming out garbled form his broken jaw. "But bros na devil work..."

"Thank your stars say you talk true and my boss dey here, I for finish you now."

"Thanks bros, thanks, I no go do bad again, I swear..."

Amaefuna punched him hard on the face and he passed out.

Amaefuna got up and walked up to me as I stared at him in amazement.

"You have a knife in your back." I pointed at it.

"Oh?" Amaefuna felt behind and pulled the knife from his back. "Please don't mind them boss, not all humans on this planet are like this, though in the fifty years I've been here, I found that most of them are actually dubious."

"You're not from this planet, are you?"

Amaefuna cleaned his dirtied hands on his clothing and stretched them in an arc in the perfect galaxy universal greeting. "I'm a human from the nearest solar system, they call it Alpha Centauri here. Now tell me, What's a Thesbian doing in these parts of the galaxy?"

Royver:


I must have woken up just a few seconds later because a look of consternation and surprise flashed across the stockily built man's face. He quickly blew some more white power at me, muttering "This one go stubborn o". I wasn't quite what was going on, some kind of calming ritual for passengers? I didnt know. But my alien metabolism had already adapted to the sedative effect of the powdery substance and i knew no amount of powder he forced me to inhale would make me lose consciousness again. Not quite sure what to do, I decided to comply. I stared straight ahead like the passengers behind me were doing, slowed my breathing and didn't blink. This seemed to please my transporter and he chuckled and put the powder back into his sleeve.

"You were thinking it would be like that last guy abi?" The driver laughed as he turned a corner into the bushes.

"Fear catch me o. Abi baba's powder no dey work again?"

"E must work! This time we don hammer! We even find pregnant woman sef! Baba go happy for us no be small!"

Laughing wildly, the two men continued chatting with each other as the bus careened down the bush path deeper into the forest. I desperately wanted to ask questions, moreso as they were moving in the opposite direction from which Pereyei had pointed. But as the other passengers continued to stare ahead and raised no objections, I decided to hold my peace.

Maybe they were taking a detour.

The bus continued to move deeper into the forest until suddenly we were at a clearing. It was right dab in the middle of nowhere. The men parked the bus close to a makeshift tent that seemed to house an old man and some wooden statues. I stole a quick glance at my other passengers, they appeared blissfully unconcerned.

The driver came down from the vehicle and approached the tent and the old man came out. They exchanged pleasantries and the old man was apparently happy with the driver because he clapped him hard on the shoulder with a large approving smile on his face. The driver nodded and walked back to the bus.

"Bring them out." He said.

Immediately the stockily built man dragged my hand and hauled me out of the bus. I stood there, not quite sure what to do next. He let me go and hauled the other passengers out one by one until we were all standing quietly under the sun. The stockily built man got behind the wheel of the bus and drove it to a safe spot. Then he too came and joined us under the sun.

"You people did well," the old man nodded with an evil glint in his eye. "You even got a pregnant woman! This harvest will be great."

He motioned with his hand and the men bound our wrists with rope and led us to the edge of the clearing. Confused, I wondered what kind of strange journeying ritual this was as none of the other passengers complained. In fact the more I looked at them, the more it began to look like these people had been drugged or placed under some kind of hypnosis. Not sure of what was going to happen next I allowed them lead us to...

It was then i smelled it. The smell of death. My biosuit immediately Increased energy outputs to defensive mode. I looked at where we were going and saw a huge stone slab stained brown with stale blood. I saw bones in a corner, human bones, broken, fragmented, chopped up.

Chopped up?!

My face must have registered the horror I was feeling because one of the men stopped and looked at me.

"This one...I no sure, this one be like say e dey wake up again o."

"What do you mean, 'wake up again'?" The old man approached us.

"That time for the bus when we dey catch these people, I blow am powder for face, e no reach two seconds the guy recover." He stuttered nervously as he saw the horror on my face turn to rage even though I still hadn't said anything. "Be like say we go harvest am first..."

"Lepaica!" I spat out the words bitterly. It was a rotten word, an abomination in my world, an abomination in all seventeen federations spread throughout the known galaxy. I turned around and looked more closely at my fellow captives, realizing for the first time what was really going on. I emitted a high pitched sonic wave that immediately pierced through their minds, slashing them out of their sedative hypnosis. From the corner of my eye I saw the old man shouting at the stockily built man who rushed at me with a crudely shaped machete. In that same instant the pregnant woman, realizing where she was, uttered a shrill scream. The other passengers tried running but because we had all been bound by the same rope they ended up pulling themselves in different directions with some tripping and collapsing on the floor. I broke the ropes binding me to them effortlessly; It was a small feat for my alien strength. I grabbed the hand of the man wielding the machete as he tried bringing it down on my head. A sharp twist and his shoulder snapped at the elbow. He screamed in pain but I showed no remorse. I knew what these people did and the kind of plague they brought wherever they went. Without another word I went for his neck and snapped it. He shuddered temporarily and then was still.

The old man watched me with growing agitation. He was muttering some things under his breath and trying to give orders to the driver who was hesitating, wondering whether to make a run for it or not. Some of the men among the captors were barking orders at the others in a bid to try and get them to work together as they tried to run in a general direction into the bushes. The old man shouted some words and then threw a feathered stick at me. I wasn't quite sure what its function was supposed to serve as a weapon but i caught it and my nanobots hyperdegraded it until it turned to dust in my hands. The old man was petrified. He took some steps back.

"Where you carry this one from?!" he screamed, but the driver had made up his mind and bolted into the nearby bushes. The old man saw he was alone and quickly ran off as well.

I turned to the passengers, all in various degrees of emotional upheaval. I turned to the the most rational-looking of the lot, a middle aged man who was desperately trying to free himself from the rope.

"Don't worry. You are all safe." I said to him in my most calming voice. "Please stay here and wait for me, I cannot allow this evil to escape else it will keep spreading. I will be back."

He nodded his understanding and I left him with his people and ran into the bush as well.

As soon as I was out of sight, I swiftly pulled off my human suit. It would be much easier hunting for my prey in my natural state. I stretched out my four arms and legs, sighing in sweet relief before letting out a wild thesbian roar as I began my hunt.

I went for the driver first. I could still hear the old man stumbling clumsily through the forest. I guessed he hadn't had to run this fast in a very long time and I could hear his labored breathing as he delved deeper into the forest. The driver on the other hand was more of a youth and faster, and he seemed to be running in the direction of the main road. I went after him, making sure not to be seen by the passengers still in the clearing. I was upon him in less than a minute, crashing through the bushes and tearing apart saplings and branches in exhilarated rage. For a species to prey on its own kind for financial gain, this was the worst kind of sin. Even the malevolent humans in all the galaxies were against it. I intended for these men to get their adequate punishment.

I saw him as he ran, a machete in his hand, clearing the foliage before him wildly. Sweat had soaked his shirt, making it stick to his back and his hair was covered in leaves. I caught up to him from behind and cleaved a huge mound of flesh from that back. He screamed and fell, kicking and swinging wildly as he turned to see what had attacked him. As his eyes fell on me I saw them grow big with astonishment. He screamed louder, a harsh, guttural cry that rent the air around us. He swung once with his machete but I quickly overpowered him, twisting his own arm backwards until the bones broke, then ran him through with his own weapon. Blood spurted from his mouth and he too was still. Then I headed back for the old man.

I found him hiding in a hole in the ground, muttering some words, trying to be as quiet as possible. When he saw me in my true form he gasped and retreated deeper into the hole. I looked at him with my four eyes for a moment.

"Abomination." I said. "The earth shall have you."

I covered the hole with dirt, filled it up and patted it down firmly and sat there waiting until I felt his life force expire. Then I said some prayer and went back to where I had dropped my human suit. I dressed up again and went to join the passengers.

They had managed to keep themselves together. The man I had spoken to hailed me as he saw me coming out of the bushes. The pregnant woman had stopped crying and was praying fervently, I smiled reassuringly at her and helped them to undo their bonds.

"Where are they? Where are those evil people?" The man asked.

"Gone," I said simply. "And we should be going too. Does anyone know how to drive this vehicle?"

Several of the men raised their hands. We got everybody on the bus and one of the men drove the car back through the path we had come. I sat in front and showed them the way since I had been awake and aware throughout the journey to this place.

This was my darkest experience on this planet, It is sad what man can do to another man in the name of profit. The man I had spoken to initally introduced himself as Amaefuna and offered to take me into the city to a business centre where I could get access to a computer. Once or twice he would steal a glance at me and I wasn't quite sure what I saw on his face, whether it was awe or fear, admiration or dread. I decided to leave the matter alone. I was quite sure he hadn't seen me in my true form.

"How long will you be in the city?" Amaefuna asked as he walked beside me towards the business centre.

"As soon as I get what I want I'll head back." I replied.

We had dropped off at the bus park at the entrance to the city. I thought the first thing the people would do would be to report to the police what had happened but instead they were more interested in getting to thier destinations as quickly as possible. I was most perplexed and asked Amaefuna if it wasn't customary to have security personnel like the military, knights or keplars to report these incidents to. He looked at me funny and said no, it might complicate things for everyone; moreso for me since I had been the one to 'take care' of thier abductors. He said 'take care' with such foreboding that I gave him a double look but he changed the topic and asked me where I was actually going. I told him what I was looking for and he offered to take me to a good place.

"Do you have where to stay for the night, in case you don't get what you're looking for today."


"No, this is my first time to the city." I confessed.

"Ah, I thought as much." He pointed ahead towards some tall buildings. "My shop is in there. I rented the entire second floor. I am a merchant in vehicle spare parts. Ask for me if you need a place to stay." He turned to the building beside us "There is a good business center here. Let me take you inside."

We climbed a flight of narrow stairs up the side of a building until we came to a passageway. Following the passageway, we got to a wooden door which Amaefuna opened.

The door opened up into a rectangular room , brightly lit, containing small square algorithm boxes. Each box had a human in front of it tapping away at a control panel.

"Here we go." Amaefuna hailed the manager at the far end of the room and asked for a code which the manager printed out. He paid and gave the code to me.

"You have 2hours." He pointed at where I should type in the code even though to me it was fairly obvious. "I believe that is more than enough to get what you want? Come and have lunch when you're done. Do you have a phone?"

"Erm, no." I replied.

"No problem....When you're done from your research just come around to that building. Don't leave without letting me know oh!" And with that he was gone. I didn't even have time to thank him for his kindness.

I sat beside one the algorithm machines...

"... Oga no siddon for there, that computer too slow." The guy beside me muttered under his breath. "Give me like 20 minutes, I'll be done with my own."

"Thank you, but I think I can work it out." I said as I tapped the keyboard with my fingers, letting oof a few hundred nanobots into the kaypad surreptitiously. This computer was essentially an analog, archaiec, ancient even. But it's parts could be efficiently utilized to help me with my search. I typed the code into the program as a formality while my nanobots did thier magic. The computer screen began to glitch and freeze.

"You see? I told you that computer get problem. Pause your time o if not e go waste. " The man beside said, a smirk on his face.

There was a whirring, clicking sound as the computer before me gained sentience. The screen went blank.

"JJC!" The man beside me laughed. "Abeg make I face my work..."

Good Wayfare Lotar Don. How may I be of service? The computer chirped.

The man beside me almost jumped out of his chair in shock.

"Access this planer's database please." I replied.

"Is the computer talking ? Are you talking to the computer? What game did u download?!" The man gasped.

I ignored him , but noticed how the other people were beginning to looking my direction. Was it possible they hadn't even gotten sentient AI yet? I whispered to the computer:

"Activate screen functions. Mute voice communications for now."

"Which game be dat?" The man shouted as the screen came on and instantly gained access to the planets artificial intelligence, something they were calling The Internet".

"Crash course level 1." I replied. He seemed very relieved and sat down. "I thought....for a moment I thought the computer and you were talking. " He laughed to himself. I chuckled alongside him. Information began to appear on the screen and I glanced through them at them as quickly as I could.

"What are you looking for?"

"Come, Emmanuel, leave that guy alone and face your work na, haba!" The business centre manager finally intervened as the man beside me called 'Emmanuel' smiled again and faxed his computer, even though I caught him staring at my screen a few times.

None of the information I received pointed towards a diamond deposit in the close vicinity. At least none that the humans had found. The closest diamond deposits, the types I wanted, seemed to be in a faraway land called South Africa. It was what I needed to power up my ships engines. I sighed as I looked at the distance. It would take me more than a few days going there on foot. Via thier transport system it would take longer. I would need something called a visa and other forms of identification. And that on its own could spell trouble.

How was I going to do this?

"You want diamonds?" Emma asked me. "I can get you diamonds."

"Really?" I turned to him, astounded.

"Yes, the moment you stepped in here, o knew there was something about u, I felt that I would be able to help you. How much diamonds do u want?"

"About 100grams worth. It would be really helpful if you can get it."

"And can you pay for it?"

"Yes I can". I wasn't quite sure of the cost but I could easily duplicate the money pereyei had given me.

Emmanuel smiled. It was a genuine, friendly smile and I felt genuinely relieved that the Great Ones has brought this man across my path.

"Come with me. I'll get the diamonds for you now now."

Foreboding.

If ever there was a definition for the word, that was precisely what the little forest looked like in the eyes of the MD. Sticking out like a sore thumb, it was a sharp contrast to the immediate surroundings. On the left was an administrative block of ten offices. The secretaries and clerks could be seen moving about inside, carrying files and documents, typing on desktops and whatnot. On the right was the laboratory building. And smack dab right in the middle of it, with at least fifty meters of bush on either side, was the clump of trees and bushes. It was roughly 100 by 80 meters, its furthermost part obscuring the hospital fence. The fence itself separated the hospital from the thick forest beyond it. For all he knew there might be a hole in the fence somewhere in there and a wild animal might have crawled it. He swallowed saliva in a bid to lubricate his throat which had suddenly gone dry.

"This is rubbish," he muttered to himself. He turned to the small crowd that had gathered behind him. "This is total rubbish. What if i get bitten by a snake?"

"Oga we dey put carbide, I mean, snake repellant every month for this place." The security man said. "E no get as snake wan dey here..."

"Will you shut up!" The MD barked, finally losing his cool. The security guard pursed his lips together. He seemed particularly eager to see the MD enter the forest and he smiled at his colleague who hissed at him rudely.

The MD approached the entrance to the forest. It was eerily quiet. He stood at the very edge of the bushes and shouted at the top pf his lungs:

"Awele! This is the Medical Director! Come out of there right now or you forfeit your job!!!"

There was no response. Not even a single rustle from the bushes.

He turned back and faced the House officer's rep.

"If this is some kind of generation zee prank I'm assuring you that you will definitely lose your job."

"Its not a prank sir." The young doctor said, raising his hands into the air to gesticulate his innocence.

The Medical director sighed and shook his head. "Alright, bring my boots. I swear I don't even know why I'm...all this rubbish...nonsense superstitions..."

The annoying security guard rushed to the storehouse. He was soon back with a pair of clean black rubber boots. The medical director yanked the boots from him and put it on, taking off his well polished shoes in the process.

"Rubbish" he muttered one more time before venturing into the bushes.

There was silence for a moment. The annoying security guard turned to his superior.

"Should we have tied a rope to his waist in case we need to pull him out? That was our saving grace for the last MD o..."

His superior shushed him.

Royver:


"This is as far as I go," Pereyei said as he led me out of the forest. "I believe you can find you way from here."

It was early in the morning. The journey through the creeks had been silent save for the buzzing of mosquitoes and other irritating insects. Pereyei had used his canoe to take us three quarters of the way until the ground beneath us turned from water and muddy slush to hard sturdy white sand. He had anchored the vessel to the stump of a large tree and we had hopped unto solid earth where a well beaten path lay hidden within the bushes. An hour's walk and we were finally at the side of a large carriageway made smooth with tar. A few vehicles passed by, all crudely hydrocarbon based and exuding fumes of toxic waste. I noted that there were no levitating vehicles, they had yet to discover the power of anti-magnetism, these crop of humans, and I considered teaching it to them before I left...but then humans rarely used advanced technology for good as history had shown many times before. I decided to leave as little of a print of my sojourn as possible.

"Thnk you Pereyei, You have done more than enough."

"I wish I could do more." Pereyei sighed, "but I have to return to my family, these town people, I do not like them. Too tricky." He pointed. "This road will lead into the nearest town. Sell the meat if you need money. Or perhaps use your magic on them to get what you want."

"I may have to do both," I sighed.

"Farewell then, Abosimagha. Return soon."

I smiled and nodded, and he took it as his cue to depart. I watched him disappear back into the bushes and then scanned the carriageway ahead. There seemed no vehicle in sight. I sat down by the side of the road and brought out the dried meat Pereyei had given me as a gift. I should have asked him how much it would get me if I sold it. I didn't even know what they took for currency here, at the village they still operated trade by barter and even at that Pereyei had taken care of all of my needs.

A sharp noise in the distance caught my attention. It was a distant blaring, now getting louder as the coming driver tried to get my attention. I stood up and waited for the vehicle to slow down and pull alongside the road beside me. A large male with sweat-soaked clothing and a protruding abdomen leaned over to my side.

"Na antelope be dat?"

My bioscanner whirred as it converted to this new language. It only took three seconds but my customer was an impatient fellow. "Young man, don't you speak English?"

" Yes" I replied, my first English word.

"So is that antelope or not?"

"It is."

"How much?"

"How much to the city?"

"What? It is N1500, why?"

"I'll sell it to you N1500"

"The meat?"

"Yes"

"All of it?"

"Yes."

The man's eyes widened in disbelief. He turned off his engine and motioned for me to bring the meat closer so that he could inspect it. I gave him some of it and he turned it over in his hands, examined it and sniffed it. He met my eyes and I could see cunning plain as day in his gaze.

"This meat is not good. I'll give you N500."

"Sir, If I may, I'm very certain that by your change in demeanor that this is a windfall for you. I know that you were not expecting to get such a good price for so much. I am offering the meat to you at this price because I need to get where I am going quickly and I need money to get there, money that I do not have at the moment. I only need you to give me the exact amount you mentioned and I will be fine. You will have the meat in exchange and you will be fine. Don not try to be smart with me."

His hesitated for a moment, taken aback it seemed by my speech. He looked at the meat again, turned it over and looked at me. I sighed and made to take the meat back but he humphed and put the meat beside him, motioning for me to bring the rest which i did. He payed me in two notes, one with a 1000 bill and the other with a 500 bill."

"I would have dropped you at the entrance to town but i don't carry strangers." He smiled, "who knows, you might be a spirit"

I watched him pat the packaged meat with satisfaction as he zoomed off, grinning from ear to ear.

There were still a few cars coming from either side of the road, most of them at high velocities. I gathered this was not a regularly used road. Soon a commercial vehicle came up. I waved and it stopped beside me.

"I'm going to town"

"Enter." The stockily built man said.

I entered and saw that the bus had four other passengers, all quiet, not one looking in my direction, all looking ahead. I ignored them and sat in the first row beside the driver as it seemed to be completely vacant save for the man who had opened the door for me. He closed the door and we zoomed off.

"How far is it to town?" I asked after a while. The other passengers hadn't so much as coughed during the journey, it was making me uneasy. "Will we soon get there?"

In response the stockily built man turned to me and deftly blew a white powder in my face.

I must have woken up just a few seconds later because a look of consternation and surprise flashed across the stockily built man's face. He quickly blew some more white power at me, muttering "This one go stubborn o". I wasn't quite what was going on, some kind of calming ritual for passengers? I didnt know. But my alien metabolism had already adapted to the sedative effect of the powdery substance and i knew no amount of powder he forced me to inhale would make me lose consciousness again. Not quite sure what to do, I decided to comply. I stared straight ahead like the passengers behind me were doing, slowed my breathing and didn't blink. This seemed to please my transporter and he chuckled and put the powder back into his sleeve.

"You were thinking it would be like that last guy abi?" The driver laughed as he turned a corner into the bushes.

"Fear catch me o. Abi baba's powder no dey work again?"

"E must work! This time we don hammer! We even find pregnant woman sef! Baba go happy for us no be small!"

Laughing wildly, the two men continued chatting with each other as the bus careened down the bush path deeper into the forest. I desperately wanted to ask questions, moreso as they were moving in the opposite direction from which Pereyei had pointed. But as the other passengers continued to stare ahead and raised no objections, I decided to hold my peace.

Maybe they were taking a detour.

The bus continued to move deeper into the forest until suddenly we were at a clearing. It was right dab in the middle of nowhere. The men parked the bus close to a makeshift tent that seemed to house an old man and some wooden statues. I stole a quick glance at my other passengers, they appeared blissfully unconcerned.

The driver came down from the vehicle and approached the tent and the old man came out. They exchanged pleasantries and the old man was apparently happy with the driver because he clapped him hard on the shoulder with a large approving smile on his face. The driver nodded and walked back to the bus.

"Bring them out." He said.

Immediately the stockily built man dragged my hand and hauled me out of the bus. I stood there, not quite sure what to do next. He let me go and hauled the other passengers out one by one until we were all standing quietly under the sun. The stockily built man got behind the wheel of the bus and drove it to a safe spot. Then he too came and joined us under the sun.

"You people did well," the old man nodded with an evil glint in his eye. "You even got a pregnant woman! This harvest will be great."

He motioned with his hand and the men bound our wrists with rope and led us to the edge of the clearing. Confused, I wondered what kind of strange journeying ritual this was as none of the other passengers complained. In fact the more I looked at them, the more it began to look like these people had been drugged or placed under some kind of hypnosis. Not sure of what was going to happen next I allowed them lead us to...

It was then i smelled it. The smell of death. My biosuit immediately Increased energy outputs to defensive mode. I looked at where we were going and saw a huge stone slab stained brown with stale blood. I saw bones in a corner, human bones, broken, fragmented, chopped up.

Chopped up?!

My face must have registered the horror I was feeling because one of the men stopped and looked at me.

"This one...I no sure, this one be like say e dey wake up again o."

"What do you mean, 'wake up again'?" The old man approached us.

"That time for the bus when we dey catch these people, I blow am powder for face, e no reach two seconds the guy recover." He stuttered nervously as he saw the horror on my face turn to rage even though I still hadn't said anything. "Be like say we go harvest am first..."

"Lepaica!" I spat out the words bitterly. It was a rotten word, an abomination in my world, an abomination in all seventeen federations spread throughout the known galaxy. I turned around and looked more closely at my fellow captives, realizing for the first time what was really going on. I emitted a high pitched sonic wave that immediately pierced through their minds, slashing them out of their sedative hypnosis. From the corner of my eye I saw the old man shouting at the stockily built man who rushed at me with a crudely shaped machete. In that same instant the pregnant woman, realizing where she was, uttered a shrill scream. The other passengers tried running but because we had all been bound by the same rope they ended up pulling themselves in different directions with some tripping and collapsing on the floor. I broke the ropes binding me to them effortlessly; It was a small feat for my alien strength. I grabbed the hand of the man wielding the machete as he tried bringing it down on my head. A sharp twist and his shoulder snapped at the elbow. He screamed in pain but I showed no remorse. I knew what these people did and the kind of plague they brought wherever they went. Without another word I went for his neck and snapped it. He shuddered temporarily and then was still.

The old man watched me with growing agitation. He was muttering some things under his breath and trying to give orders to the driver who was hesitating, wondering whether to make a run for it or not. Some of the men among the captors were barking orders at the others in a bid to try and get them to work together as they tried to run in a general direction into the bushes. The old man shouted some words and then threw a feathered stick at me. I wasn't quite sure what its function was supposed to serve as a weapon but i caught it and my nanobots hyperdegraded it until it turned to dust in my hands. The old man was petrified. He took some steps back.

"Where you carry this one from?!" he screamed, but the driver had made up his mind and bolted into the nearby bushes. The old man saw he was alone and quickly ran off as well.

I turned to the passengers, all in various degrees of emotional upheaval. I turned to the the most rational-looking of the lot, a middle aged man who was desperately trying to free himself from the rope.

"Don't worry. You are all safe." I said to him in my most calming voice. "Please stay here and wait for me, I cannot allow this evil to escape else it will keep spreading. I will be back."

He nodded his understanding and I left him with his people and ran into the bush as well.

As soon as I was out of sight, I swiftly pulled off my human suit. It would be much easier hunting for my prey in my natural state. I stretched out my four arms and legs, sighing in sweet relief before letting out a wild thesbian roar as I began my hunt.

I went for the driver first. I could still hear the old man stumbling clumsily through the forest. I guessed he hadn't had to run this fast in a very long time and I could hear his labored breathing as he delved deeper into the forest. The driver on the other hand was more of a youth and faster, and he seemed to be running in the direction of the main road. I went after him, making sure not to be seen by the passengers still in the clearing. I was upon him in less than a minute, crashing through the bushes and tearing apart saplings and branches in exhilarated rage. For a species to prey on its own kind for financial gain, this was the worst kind of sin. Even the malevolent humans in all the galaxies were against it. I intended for these men to get their adequate punishment.

I saw him as he ran, a machete in his hand, clearing the foliage before him wildly. Sweat had soaked his shirt, making it stick to his back and his hair was covered in leaves. I caught up to him from behind and cleaved a huge mound of flesh from that back. He screamed and fell, kicking and swinging wildly as he turned to see what had attacked him. As his eyes fell on me I saw them grow big with astonishment. He screamed louder, a harsh, guttural cry that rent the air around us. He swung once with his machete but I quickly overpowered him, twisting his own arm backwards until the bones broke, then ran him through with his own weapon. Blood spurted from his mouth and he too was still. Then I headed back for the old man.

I found him hiding in a hole in the ground, muttering some words, trying to be as quiet as possible. When he saw me in my true form he gasped and retreated deeper into the hole. I looked at him with my four eyes for a moment.

"Abomination." I said. "The earth shall have you."

I covered the hole with dirt, filled it up and patted it down firmly and sat there waiting until I felt his life force expire. Then I said some prayer and went back to where I had dropped my human suit. I dressed up again and went to join the passengers.

They had managed to keep themselves together. The man I had spoken to hailed me as he saw me coming out of the bushes. The pregnant woman had stopped crying and was praying fervently, I smiled reassuringly at her and helped them to undo their bonds.

"Where are they? Where are those evil people?" The man asked.

"Gone," I said simply. "And we should be going too. Does anyone know how to drive this vehicle?"

Several of the men raised their hands. We got everybody on the bus and one of the men drove the car back through the path we had come. I sat in front and showed them the way since I had been awake and aware throughout the journey to this place.

This was my darkest experience on this planet, It is sad what man can do to another man in the name of profit. The man I had spoken to initally introduced himself as Amaefuna and offered to take me into the city to a business centre where I could get access to a computer. Once or twice he would steal a glance at me and I wasn't quite sure what I saw on his face, whether it was awe or fear, admiration or dread. I decided to leave the matter alone. I was quite sure he hadn't seen me in my true form.

All hospitals have it, that one, foreboding place steeped in the mysterious and paranormal. It is to be expected after all, a hospital is one of the places people go to die. To live yes, to get better, but also to die and their bodies kept for the final destination to their ultimate disposal. There's the ubiquitous mortuary with its attendants and strange rituals before entering so as not to awaken the spirits. There's the ward with the bed that claims lives, that unlucky mattress that defies all logic until one day a superstitious person "accidentally" sets it ablaze to the relief of all and sundry. For OptiHealth Clinic it was that little tuft of forest that lay on the North East side. The hospital itself had developed with the times. Despite being thirty years old, its owners had ensured that it was kept up to date, the building structure was well maintained, the equipment were as functional as any good Modern Nigerian hospital was expected to be; the halls and wards were clean and welcoming, the staff were relatively friendly. The hospital had become an icon of health in the peaceful town of Igharrega in Delta State. It was the place to go for your health concerns when you had nowhere else to go. It boasted the highest number of specialist doctors than any other private hospital in the state. It had even been accredited for internship by the Nigerian Medical Association, ten years running now and never once slipping up in its duties.

The current medical director was a well built handsome man in his mid-fifties. Dr. Patrick had taken good care of his body in his youth and it had reflected on him in his middle age. A naturally fair skinned man, he sported a thick growth of hair on his head and a luscious beard, much like the boys in their twenties trended with now, which made him look all the more younger. His abdomen was flat, he viewed a protruding abdomen as the ultimate sin and made sure to exercise daily to keep his trim figure. He was tall, he had good taste in clothes and shoes and knew how to make his audience fall in love with him. Forget ladies, Dr. Patrick was a man's man. He stood as a mentor for many of the doctors who had come to the hospital seeking employment. Of course, he was very popular with the female folk and slept with a good number of them, managing to disengage himself from them when their tenure was up, none of them ever left feeling hurt or vengeful, they knew better than to think they could keep such a man to themselves. As for the males, he threw down just the right amount of authority to keep them in line without appearing to be an absolute jerk.

Many suspected that his wife knew about his philanderings but that she was just too much in awe of him to care. She had borne him three children, two girls and a boy, and he made sure that they lacked nothing. She worked as a pharmacist in another hospital, surprise surprise, but when asked, she always said that it was her idea, She didn't want to work in the same nvironment as him, it would be too...stifling. She visited the hospital once in a while and each time was treated with such public displays of love and attention by her husband that it made the women at Optihealth knees' buckle in delight and the men sigh in amused exasperation, smiling at each other and asking why they couldn't be the same with their wives. Dr. Patrick ensured that his hospital ran like a well oiled machine and that everything was always as it should be.

The only problem was that tuft of trees.

He had no control over that. He it was, who was the last person who had gotten the bulldozers to bring the bushes down when he had first been made the MD, He had been thinking of building a new Orthopedic ward there, expanding the hospital to provide more service. But the bulldozer operators had simply refused cutting the bush down. There were whispers of "Evil forest" and other such superstitious nonsense and Dr. Patrick wasn't a great fan of superstition. He barely went to church as it was. His wife on the other hand was a devour catholic, taking the children to church every Sunday and doing her best to ensure that the kids were being brought up in the ways of Christianity. Dr Patrick had tried coaxing the drivers with more money but to his utmost suprise they had blatantly refused. Even as the economy was biting hard on everyone , they had refused double the pay. So he had delayed the uprooting of that forest for the time being and somehow had gotten to forget about it all together.

The problem now was that one of the newly employed house-officers had gone missing. And there were rumors that she had ventured into the forest last night for goodness knows whatever reason. He had tried to reason with her friends, other house officers and staff that she had probably left the hospital premises that night but one of the new girls, one of the female house officers, had insisted with trembling lips and shaky voice that she had gone into the forest on a stupid dare. And was yet to come back out.

Had there been a scream?

No.

Any sounds of a struggle?

No.

Did they call her name?

Several times throughout the night but there had been no answer.

So why hadn't anyone gone in to get her? The forest was only a hundred feet deep at the most, surely one of the security guards could have gone in and brought her out in case she had fallen to some misfortune...epileptic maybe? Or a faint from hypoglycemia?

The other girl, the one that had instigated the dare, had looked at the security guards and started sobbing. The security men in turn had told Dr. Patrick that they couldn't go in there. He was the only one who could, being the MD. That was the rules.

"Whose rules?!" He had barked irritatingly, but they had only looked away, muttering to themselves. Threats to have them fired hadn't worked either. It was ridiculous.

"So you people really want me to wear this my suit and tie and enter into the forest alone to find a grown woman because of some stupid supersitition?"

"You can remove your suit sir," One of the security guards suggested. He backed off from Dr. Patrick's icy glare.

"Please Sir," The house officer's representative, a young man in his mid twenties came forward. "I tried going my self but they stopped me." He pointed at the security guards. "They warned me that dire consequences awaited me if I entered and I wasn't the MD."

"But this is ridiculous! There is nothing there! Maybe snakes or rats but that's it! surely she must have sneaked out some other way and is playing a prank on you guys."

"She didn't come for ward round sir. Awele is a very dedicated and conscientious house officer. This is not like her at all." The house officer Rep sighed. "Just humor us and come find her. We will accept whatever punishment you have for her once she's found."

"I don't even remember this girl sef, do you have a picture of her?" He asked.

Awele's friend quickly brought out her phone and scanned through her picture gallery. She handed the phone to the MD. "This is her sir," she said.

Dr. Patrick looked at the picture of the missing house-officer. She was extremely voluptuous. how had he missed noticing her when she came for induction? Fair smooth skin with exceedingly large breasts and a proportionate waist to go with it, not to mention her beautiful face, made him wonder for a moment if the staff were playing a prank on him.

"Is this really the girl?" He asked to which the others nodded. "I must have been more busy at work than I thought," he murmured to himself.

"Please sir, I can go with you if you're afraid, the house-officer's rep began, and quickly bit his tongue as the MD's intense gaze focused on him.

"You think I'm afraid?"

"Sir, no sir!" The House-officer's rep stammered. "It wasn't my intention to...I'm sorry sir!"

"Even sef, you no fit follow am enter, you no go come out alive. Na only MD fit go, come out." One of the security guards said with an air of authority.

"Shut up, just shut up!" The MD barked and the security man fell silent.

He sighed again and looked at the picture. Damn, those were huge breasts.

"All right," He said. "Let's go,"

Royver:
I stayed with the couple for another week. During that time I learnt a lot more about their culture and habits. Pereyei was an eager teacher and an excellent host, as far as he was concerned he couldn't do enough for me. I found out that he was almost 50 years of age and the child i had saved was his first. His wife was a little less old, in her thirties. They had been living together for the past fifteen years now and were unable to have offspring. Their first miracle child turned out to be an abbherent...a sickler, they called it. After the first transfusion at a hospital and following the payment of apparently exorbitant bills, Pereyei had decided to seek herbal treatment from his native fathers. From the look of things, he would have failed woefully if I had not happened to come along.

Pereyei refused to listen to any explanation concerning my advanced technology, what he called my "powers". He felt it would be bad luck to find out exactly how the spirits worked. He assured me that he was very content catering to my every need for as long as I stayed under his roof. Apart from clothing, food and shelter, I didn't really need anything else from him. My plan was to move further inland to the city and blend with the locals more, maybe look for a means of employment until I could find a way to fix my ship and return to my home planet. My skin suit was all I was waiting for, as soon as it was fully charged I would be on my way.

I used the opportunity to take a look round Pereyei's village. It was a very small one, about twenty people living some meters apart on the swamp's edge. They made their living from catching and selling fish from the rivers and also from selling some produce from their small farms. Some of them were hunters as well. It was a very rural setting, much like the methane swamp dwellers of Gorlac-1. As with those species, these people also had trouble with pollution. Their swamps were filled with spilled oil and chemical waste. Very dangerous for them, but a bonus for me. I gave the excuse of wanting to look around the village in the evenings. Pereyei easily agreed although from the look in his eyes he knew i was up to something much more.

And he was right. Every night I would seek out areas of toxic waste, collect samples and analyse them to see if they were useful for bio-degradation. I found a very rich source of carbonaceous material in every sample I collected. I went back to my buried pod in the area where I originally crash-landed and activated it. As soon as it came out of the mud, I placed the samples in its palate and programmed it to siphon as much waste as possible from the area for refining and storage. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible while doing it and was very successful.


The child was doing much better than I had expected. Within that one week it had gained not only in weight but in height. I hadn't had time to configure my bio-scan for human mode before carrying out the healing process and I worried a little that I had given it too much engineered DNA. The side effects wouldn't be too noticeable, or so I hoped. He would grow up bigger and stronger than most of his peers and his immune system would be a tad more efficient than average. He would be able to go days without food or water. And whenever the opportunity arose he would have an almost insatiable desire for meat. I watched him smile and run across to me as I returned to the hut. Each time he would stretch out his arms and I would carry him and marvel at his increased weight. His mother had lost all of her fear for me; that feeling had been replaced instead with the utmost respect and gratitude. She let the boy follow me anywhere, and for a three year old he was highly inquisitive. Sometimes when the parents were outside, I would tell him tales from my planet, the ongoing politics in the intergalactic federation, my fallen comrades and my plans to take them all back home. Of course at his age he wouldn't remember any of it, but it was nice to have someone to talk to.


They named me Abosimagha. I accepted the name in good faith. I was introduced to one or two neighbors but that was it; apparently Pereyei instinctively knew I wanted my presence to be as inconspicuous as possible. Pereyei was a hunter and on some occasions I followed him on his hunting trips. The wildlife on the swamp were bountiful and in abundance although pereyei complained that they had been much more in the previous years. A few of the animals i recognized; snakes, rodents, fish, and the armoured lizards, what Pereyei called crocodiles. Earth was not so far different genetically than the other known planets in the civilized intergalactic federation. They had no dinosaurs though, no grass giants, and no chipouri or flying goats. I tried drawing them for him once, but he didn't recognise any of those speices at all.

Another thing I noticed was that none of these animals could talk. The snakes, the armoured lizards, I could not communicate with a single one from the many that we came across. In my planet, animals like these had elders, members of their species that had lived for so long and acquired so much wisdom that they possessed the gift of speech. It was strange to me, but then again I reasoned that man may have destroyed them all. I was yet to gain access to the planet's central database where I could download a history of man's sojourn on this planet. My bioscanners could pick traces of intelligent computer systems but they were still too far away for me to connect with them. If I had access to their database, then maybe I could find the things I needed to repair my ship on Mars.

And that was part of the reason I decided to leave as soon as possible. On the seventh day, when I saw that I was fully rested and my human suit had recharged completely, I called Pereyei aside.


"I want to thank you so much for your hospitality." I began.


He looked up at me sharply and the smile on his face which had grown more genuine over the days vanished.


"You want to go?" He asked.


"Yes. I have so much to do. I require some things to get back to my people..."


"I could help you get them!" Pereyei interrupted, but I continued


"...which I will not be able to find here. I have scoured this place during my stay. You have some of the things I need, the toxic waste that you showed me in the swamps. I have programmed my pod to collect as much of it as possible at intervals for processing but i still need other chemicals, substances, refined hydrocarbons..."

I could see I was losing him fast so I paused for a moment. Pereyei looked genuinely sad. At that moment his wife and son came into the hut. He turned to them.

"My boy has grown big and strong in this past seven days. My wife has never been happier. and since you have been around I have had good luck in my hunting. You have given us so much and we have reciprocated with so little."

I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned back to me.

"You gave me a place to rest my head and collect my thoughts. That is more than enough repayment."


The boy left his mother's side and walked up to me. He starred at me for some time and I smiled and carried him in my arms. His mother seemed to have caught on to what we were saying and began to shed tears softly. The hut filled with an awkward silence.

"Humph! Enough of this!" Pereyei exclaimed suddenly. "You have done well for us Abosimagha. Know that you will always have a roof over your head here! Let me package some dried meat for you for your journey. You can sell some for money, you will need it where you are going. Take whatever else you need. As soon as you are ready I will escort you to the city.


I nodded in appreciation.

"This is as far as I go," Pereyei said as he led me out of the forest. "I believe you can find you way from here."

It was early in the morning. The journey through the creeks had been silent save for the buzzing of mosquitoes and other irritating insects. Pereyei had used his canoe to take us three quarters of the way until the ground beneath us turned from water and muddy slush to hard sturdy white sand. He had anchored the vessel to the stump of a large tree and we had hopped unto solid earth where a well beaten path lay hidden within the bushes. An hour's walk and we were finally at the side of a large carriageway made smooth with tar. A few vehicles passed by, all crudely hydrocarbon based and exuding fumes of toxic waste. I noted that there were no levitating vehicles, they had yet to discover the power of anti-magnetism, these crop of humans, and I considered teaching it to them before I left...but then humans rarely used advanced technology for good as history had shown many times before. I decided to leave as little of a print of my sojourn as possible.

"Thnk you Pereyei, You have done more than enough."

"I wish I could do more." Pereyei sighed, "but I have to return to my family, these town people, I do not like them. Too tricky." He pointed. "This road will lead into the nearest town. Sell the meat if you need money. Or perhaps use your magic on them to get what you want."

"I may have to do both," I sighed.

"Farewell then, Abosimagha. Return soon."

I smiled and nodded, and he took it as his cue to depart. I watched him disappear back into the bushes and then scanned the carriageway ahead. There seemed no vehicle in sight. I sat down by the side of the road and brought out the dried meat Pereyei had given me as a gift. I should have asked him how much it would get me if I sold it. I didn't even know what they took for currency here, at the village they still operated trade by barter and even at that Pereyei had taken care of all of my needs.

A sharp noise in the distance caught my attention. It was a distant blaring, now getting louder as the coming driver tried to get my attention. I stood up and waited for the vehicle to slow down and pull alongside the road beside me. A large male with sweat-soaked clothing and a protruding abdomen leaned over to my side.

"Na antelope be dat?"

My bioscanner whirred as it converted to this new language. It only took three seconds but my customer was an impatient fellow. "Young man, don't you speak English?"

" Yes" I replied, my first English word.

"So is that antelope or not?"

"It is."

"How much?"

"How much to the city?"

"What? It is N1500, why?"

"I'll sell it to you N1500"

"The meat?"

"Yes"

"All of it?"

"Yes."

The man's eyes widened in disbelief. He turned off his engine and motioned for me to bring the meat closer so that he could inspect it. I gave him some of it and he turned it over in his hands, examined it and sniffed it. He met my eyes and I could see cunning plain as day in his gaze.

"This meat is not good. I'll give you N500."

"Sir, If I may, I'm very certain that by your change in demeanor that this is a windfall for you. I know that you were not expecting to get such a good price for so much. I am offering the meat to you at this price because I need to get where I am going quickly and I need money to get there, money that I do not have at the moment. I only need you to give me the exact amount you mentioned and I will be fine. You will have the meat in exchange and you will be fine. Don not try to be smart with me."

His hesitated for a moment, taken aback it seemed by my speech. He looked at the meat again, turned it over and looked at me. I sighed and made to take the meat back but he humphed and put the meat beside him, motioning for me to bring the rest which i did. He payed me in two notes, one with a 1000 bill and the other with a 500 bill."

"I would have dropped you at the entrance to town but i don't carry strangers." He smiled, "who knows, you might be a spirit"

I watched him pat the packaged meat with satisfaction as he zoomed off, grinning from ear to ear.

There were still a few cars coming from either side of the road, most of them at high velocities. I gathered this was not a regularly used road. Soon a commercial vehicle came up. I waved and it stopped beside me.

"I'm going to town"

"Enter." The stockily built man said.

I entered and saw that the bus had four other passengers, all quiet, not one looking in my direction, all looking ahead. I ignored them and sat in the first row beside the driver as it seemed to be completely vacant save for the man who had opened the door for me. He closed the door and we zoomed off.

"How far is it to town?" I asked after a while. The other passengers hadn't so much as coughed during the journey, it was making me uneasy. "Will we soon get there?"

In response the stockily built man turned to me and deftly blew a white powder in my face.

kmaxx:
I understand there's part 2 of this story, where can I read it?

You can find it all on amazon or okadabooks

PraisesPblaze:
Hello Sir Royver..
I'll be traveling for Nysc next week. I've read this your story since last year while under treatment from a fractured leg in an accident and i can't find a better time than now to share this story with my kids in church as I'll be missing them soon.

Permission to share with my kids in church? It's a very inspiring story. That will be my sermon for my last Sunday with them before traveling.


To be discreet.
I'm an Anglican Children Ministry teacher.



If you find this message later than 13th of March,2022, kindly know I've shared your story with them.

Lol, go ahead and share

Bam17:


Hmmm. I'm done with all my stories. Even udene. I've been writing the story ever since. It's just that I was having double mind publishing.


Even the ones I'm yet to publish on nairaland. The audience just scares me, you know. Sometimes I just leave my manuscripts in a box and hope someday I'll get to publish them.


And... thank you. I'm really grateful, dear

Why do you write, if not to be read?

Leaving your manuscripts in the box is like giving birth to children and hiding them in the basement.

Let them out.

Let them breathe.

Let them live.

Only then can you grow as a writer.

Royver:
segun544 pls send me a message on facebook messenger, Royver stories. It's easier. Thanks.

Joyberry joyberry pls send me message on facebook messenger. Thanks thanks

segun544 pls send me a message on facebook messenger, Royver stories. It's easier. Thanks.

Jaylynn:


Awe You said 'some reasons'. Hope it's not what's making me feel the same way too?

Maybe

IZUKWU:
Will you still finiSh the story here

Far doubt.

My latest published work is out. Chat me up on Facebook @royver stories to get your copy.
Cheers.

MightyFortress:
Royver... Is everything ok with you, Bro?

Yes fine thanks for asking.
I'm not so much on this platform again for certain reasons. I still visit once in a while though
But you can always reach me on Facebook.
Cheers and compliments of the season.

BrainEya:


Boss man.
I'll like to share your story to FB group.
Your reply sir.

Pls go ahead but credit the original writer.