When I opened my eyes, I was mystified. I saw blood littered here and there. At a corner almost behind a small hut was a heap of human body parts. Skulls and bones seem here like mere pebbles. I had only seen such a site in horror movies I stumble on at times; even at those times, I make it settle somewhere in my mind that those where only but film tricks – no brutality in them could be real. Now, it’s no fake, I saw some men holding in their hands machetes, knives, cutlasses and other hazardous objects of various sizes and shapes. The men were four in number, they seemed to be discussing or maybe deciding on some things. I could recognize two of the men; one was the man that sat beside me in the vehicle, the other was the man that sat beside Tade. Tade! I looked around from where I sat on the floor amidst many others (We were by now two times the number that were in the vehicle I boarded). There were different calibres of people, I couldn't figure out exactly but I saw about three teenagers, one pregnant woman, one old woman, an elderly man, others should be in their twenties like I am. Though gripped with fear, I carefully and slowly gazed round in sight-search of Tade but I didn't see him.
As though planned, the four men saunter to where we were packed. We, the victims were made to sit in a single very ghastly cluster. Like the slavery site we have heard or seen from history, we were bonded with strong ropes in our hands. For reasons I guessed maybe due to the fact that we had been charmed to be exceptionally weak, our legs left untied. I didn’t attempt escape; I just didn’t, I can’t explain why. Others appear very feeble and helpless too. When the four men finally got to us, they seemed to calm for one of them to decide on something. This particular man was huge. He wore a round neck T-shirt that tends to show his large muscles. His eye-balls were unusually big and his entire face was weird to look at. He seemed to be the leader or perhaps the leader at the moment. He didn’t hold any arm but I noticed a gun held by his waist. ‘Hey! You!’ he yelled, pointing at lady somewhere close to him, at tip of the cluster.
The young lady just stared at him. She didn’t make a move. Her expression shows weak resistance, fear and anguish. ‘Don’t…’ she barely uttered.
The other three grabbed and carried her. She tried to fight back but she was just too frail. They took her to another hut adjacent the initial smaller hut. For some five minutes, I wondered what was going on inside that hut. Suddenly, the lady gave a loud painful shout. Few moments later, I saw the three men carried her lifeless body to the back of that hut. These men were heartless; the worst I have ever encountered in my entire life. Again, they make another move towards us. This time, the supposed leader was not part of them. He stayed afar off, seemed to be satisfied with something. Another man, who appeared to be less huge compared to the first one, assumed the next in hierarchy. He too perused around like the first one, and then chose from the rear his choice of whatever it is that he wanted to use her for. He grabbed and drew her along. I saw a glimpse of the girl. She was a teenage girl with very tight, or maybe I should say, seducing top; those kind of cloth some female folks wear this days that shows a bulky section of their cleavage. The skirt she wore looked like that of a secondary school uniform. I couldn’t assume less, the girl was a kind of uncultured juvenile heading for, or coming from some sort of ‘full-fun’ place. No. Whatever wrong path she is treading, I can’t just in any manner justified these evil men.
Whatsoever it is that was done in that hut was over in another five minutes or something. The girl was dragged unlike the first, alive to where we were, by the two other men. I felt a relief, like I was the one that just escaped death. But, I saw blood lining down the girl’s thigh, down to her legs. The girl’s eyes where red, full of tears. She was pushed by the shorter of the two men. These two men remaining were from the vehicle I joined. Yet again, one of these men, the one that actually sat beside me in the vehicle began to look around like the first two.
‘You!’ I heard him say. I hid my head almost between my legs; I didn’t want to see whoever the next victim was. I have seen so much terror already. I expected these men to grab their next prey but I didn’t hear any rough movement still. I raised my head a little and noticed slow approach of legs towards the spot where I was. Suddenly, I felt a touch that sent hot tremors down my blood streams; I was the next victim!
Unlike what my mind was doing, my struggle with these men was weak. They carried me so stress-free and in no time I was in that awful hut laid on bare floor. One of the men held my arms above my head, the other man, my seat mate, hurriedly adjust his trousers trying to lower them before me. Almost simultaneously as he prepares himself for the abominable act, he reached for my baggy trousers. Though a little difficult for him, he finally got me unclad. I closed my eyes and only wished he didn’t harm me during the act or afterwards.
‘Oh!’ the man exclaimed!
‘What is Jomito?’ the other man holding my hands asked. ‘Do what you want to do fast now. We have taken too much time in here already. And you know this is your only slot.’
‘This girl...’
I opened my eyes and saw Jomito pointing at me.
‘…is pure,’ Jomito said. ‘I don’t like breaking the seal. I don’t enjoy it like that.’
‘So?’
‘Let us package the girl back and return her.’
***
I was carried back to my position unhurt. I was so amazed and I began to reason in the line of escape. If I could miraculously escape rape without any struggle then I may also be luckily delivered in this evil jungle. I am not the religious type but I believe in God. I have heard stories of how people prayed their way to escape under the burdens of ritualists. But, I am not that spiritually aggressive. I prayed within my heart, Lord I believe there is nothing you cannot do; please deliver me.
After about five minutes, a short man walked from a very narrow path by the side of the second hut. He tied a red robe round his waist. About ten local cowries were attached, scattered around the robe. The man hanged a black bag with a long handle on his bare shoulders. A tiny local cord with metal endings was seen dangling on his exposed flat hairy chest. The man’s face was the weirdest of all. Obviously, he is the priest of the shrine I was yet to see. He approached the lanky man; the one whom I thought was the leader earlier.
‘Jacky!’ He called. ‘Take this keg,’ he handed over a ten-litre brown tub, stained with blood to Jacky. ‘Give this blood to chief Bantufu. The procedure is like the last time. Tell him to call me if he is having any challenge.’
‘Okay…’ Jacky rigorously nodded his head.
‘And tell our usual buyers that new fresh parts are now available. Secure the financial transaction as keen as always. I expect you in two days' time with more meats,’ the priest said oddly. Jacky and the other man not in the bus I boarded left the priest passing by our side to a wider path that seemed to be the exit.
Fear gripped me.
***
Jomito and the other man in the same vehicle I came with moved closer to the priest. The priest took a slow up-to-down stare at the duo, then gave an awkward smile. ‘Are those your meats?’ he pointed at us, the bonded victims.
Jomito and his partner nodded swiftly.
‘I see...’ the priest gave a satisfied expression. ‘I see you are now getting productive. Get me seven of them.’
The two men came to the area where we were and made some shouts. For reasons I didn’t even understand, I wished I was part of the seven people that would be selected for that execution. I was tired of that continuous horrible site; if this was how I will end my life, let it all be over, I was ready for that death.
The selection was in a way difficult for this two men, that made me assumed the men were new in the impious business – they were obviously naïve. They sluggishly selected one person after the other. I noticed the sequence; the oldest man and woman were selected first, three men possibly in their late twenties were selected and then they became real stranded. They had so many options but didn’t seem to be as heartless like the other evil men.
Apart from me, there was the girl that was roughly raped, a pregnant woman, two other female teenagers, the rest were by now lying almost lifeless on the ground. Jomito gradually extended his right hand over my head. I noticed he was actually trying to reach for the pregnant woman, who was just behind me. I, though weakly, made my head jerked his arm.
‘Take me instead…’ I managed to say while I struggled to stand up.
The priest requested for seven souls and six had been selected. After my short act, Jomito and his partner became more emotional. They couldn’t select the seventh victim for about twelve minutes. Suddenly, the priest gave a wide loud laugh and asked that Jomito lead the six victims after him.
We were lined up, lightly burdened and guarded to follow the narrow path from which the priest came. Just like I had since wondered, none of us really struggled to escape but one could sense expressions of pain and despair all over our faces; we were charmed, it was obvious!
After about fifteen minutes walk into this thick bush, as we were about to get into a broader path, I noticed a shrine at the long rear of that path. The site of the shrine was very horrific; I have never seen a mud house painted with blood all my life. Cloths soaked in blood were seen heaped not far from where we were now. I remembered Tade again; I tried to search the cloths if I could see that purple and white flower shirt he was wearing earlier today. I didn’t see the cloth, instead my search made me discovered a lifeless arm just a little uncovered by the heaped cloths…. Oh! It weren’t the cloths that were amassed; it’s been human lifeless body parts I have been seeing covered!
Fear grasped me again. Tears roll down my eyes. Jomito guarding eyes met mine.
‘Please…’ I muttered, trying to make out a miserable plea.
Jomito expression changed abruptly. He looked at me until I became embarrassed. I began to read pity mixed with affections in his countenance. A little reflection: I sat by his side when we were in the vehicle and there were some rubbings which to me doesn’t meant much though; he had been stealing some looks on me since we’ve arrived in the bush, that probably was the reason I was the one he chose to rape; he eventually didn’t rape me, preferred to leave me undefiled; he preferred a pregnant woman to be eliminated, to me been further harmed. I wondered what he was up to.
‘Baba! Baba!’ Jomito suddenly called as he ran towards the priest. He began a discussion with the priest pointing or looking at my direction at interval. The priest at first obviously disagreed with whatever it is that Jomito was relating to him until he out of the blue knelt down and literally begged the priest. Again, the priest gave a loud awkward giggle. He brought out a black pouch from his bag, handed it over to Jomito and appeared to explain some instructions on its usage to him.
The whole group continued to move until one could see other three brutalized victims. I didn’t see their faces from that point but they where obviously wounded. I saw the back of one appeared like Tade’s; he was wearing exactly Tade’s same white flower shirt, though blood-spattered, grubbed and roughened. I focused my gaze, saw clearer picture of the young man…yes, it was Tade!
***
Jomito got to my side. He tried to be friendly – he smiled to me intermittently. ‘You see sister, I am not as bad as the other men here…’ he paused when he saw my puzzled gaze of disagreement. ‘I am not what you think I am,’ he reinstated.
When I was exactly the last person to step into the first broad entrance to the compound of the shrine, he opened the content of the black pouch given to him by Baba. In the pouch was a white powdery substance, he sprayed it to me all over. Immediately, I felt heavily dizzy. As I melt gradually, heading to the ground, Jomito prepared arms caught me. ‘You are not meant to be here,’ he said. My eyes began to close uncontrollably – I was dreadfully drowsy.

- Success Timothy Ayo

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