Divepen1 hope you are ok sir.

germaphobe:
Divepen1 hope you are ok sir.

I'm fine o.


Thanks I'll post on Monday.

enirock:
somehow I found myself on this interesting read and I have been hooked since

Nice concept boss

Thanks a lot boss

Divepen1:
Thanks a lot boss

Na u I go thank boss. If you see the kind meaning wey this read and some others I dey follow dey occupy me this time ehn you go know say after God na you and all these writers here follow


Thanks for giving us joy even in the lock down

enirock:


Na u I go thank boss. If you see the kind meaning wey this read and some others I dey follow dey occupy me this time ehn you go know say after God na you and all these writers here follow


Thanks for giving us joy even in the lock down

I really appreciate this baba...

Chapter 4
Opened Ears
Rachael swallowed hard because she hated this aspect of her training. But a slight movement from her would mean being flogged. So, she remained still even as her eyes remained closed.
‘You’re at the far end of the room’, Rachael said.
‘That was too slow’, Wu dismissed. ‘We’re going again…’
‘From the last one?’ Rachael inquired and turned towards with Wu. Wide-eyed.
Wu shook her head.
‘No…No… Please. I got it’, Rachael cried.
‘You were slow. A turtle’, Wu reprimanded.
Rachael couldn’t hold back tears.
Ever since she was brought back, the security measures around her had increased. The guards now brandished guns, and Marcus showed his face frequently. He terrified her.
‘So, start writing everything you hear’, Wu ordered and walked away. ‘I hear 167 different sounds now…’
Rachael’s eyes shone. She stared at her notebook. She got only 73 the other time.
If they punished her differently, she would have preferred it, but this training was the only thing she had been doing since she returned. Wu always talked as if listening to sounds was simple. She would ask Rachael to write everything she could hear in the environment, including the rustling of leaves and chirping of birds and the swishing of the wind.
‘Simple’, Wu instructed.
After that, Rachael would sit as still as she could be for two hours. This was the part she hated. The first few times she tried moving, Wu’s cane was there to guide her back to stillness. Then, she would try to know where Wu was standing. That was very hard, but she just kept imagining and feeling the positions.
Eventually, she was right. But the processes became harder.
‘I hate my life. God kill me…’ Rachael yelled.
‘Write’, Wu barked and flogged her.
‘Leave me…’ Rachael sprung up and couldn’t hold back the tears flowing her face.
‘Sit’, Wu said and flogged her again. This time, the cane struck Rachael on the nape of her neck.
‘No…No…’
Rachael rushed towards her. The guards outside sprung to action, but Wu raised her finger for them to stand down.
If Rachael could just get to her, hit her, and do that again, she would get satisfaction. But Wu seemed to know her plan, she gracefully stepped aside and struck Rachael on the back. Everything in Rachael yelled. She never expected that or the pain that came from it.
It brought her crashing as if a whole building crumbled on her.
‘Whoa!’ Rachael muttered.
She turned abruptly on the floor and stared at Wu’s hand.
Wu smiled. ‘How does that feel?’
Rachael shook her head, lost for word. She remained weakened on the floor.
‘See, a lot of money was poured into this. I’m the best, and I can teach you. If you will go through the process…’
‘You will…’ Rachael stuttered. The pain from Wu’s strike still made her weak. She watched the hand to see if there was anything special about it. ‘Your hand… How did you… My back?’
‘It’s heavy’, Wu said and walked towards her. This time, her hands were behind her.
‘No… It’s soft. Fragile’, Rachael stuttered.
‘Yes. My hands look light, but it’s how to hit that matter. I can teach you many things. If you keep fighting and running away, I can’t…’
‘But I want to remember who I am’, Rachael murmured and sniffed.
She had tried but couldn’t hold back the fear that she wouldn’t remember anything again. The only thing she had gotten so far was a dream.
‘You’re special. Only special people make it down here. I don’t know your history or where you came from, but I tell you I can make you as powerful as I am…’
That caught Rachael’s attention.
‘Yes. All you need to follow my process. Can you?’
Rachael swallowed. She wondered what her option was. She couldn’t escape and couldn’t fight her way out of that place. And they kept flogging for not getting it, right. If she did everything right, she might get the chance to escape soon.
‘Can you try?’ Wu asked.
Rachael nodded.
‘Then, sit in silence….’
She must have remained there for one hour when she heard footsteps hurrying from afar. Wu stepped outside. Despite their whispering, she could hear them loud and clear.
‘How many weeks before she moves to the next step….?’ Marcus asked.
‘I don’t know… Probably tomorrow!’ Wu replied.
‘How’s that possible?’ Marcus wondered. ‘I thought… You told me she was adamant…’
‘You tell me. You brought her. I just got through to her… And I feel I can teach her a lot’, Wu replied.
‘That’s a first. The best of the previous people were how many weeks?’ Marcus asked.
‘Three weeks at most… You did well this time’, Wu said.
‘Good. This case is becoming worse by the day. Chief says there are arguments about funding. If by next two weeks, we can’t bring her to term, we should….’ Marcus said…
Rachael wished she could turn her head, but she had learnt not to try that with Wu.
‘That’s crazy…. The others got to some weeks, and they died… On their own…’
‘I’m trying to avoid that…’
‘Does that mean…So, we will have to kill…’, Wu whimpered. ‘She’s the best… Maybe a week more’.
‘It’s out of my hand?’
Rachael’s heart began to race. She had to learn fast to escape. If not, she might be killed.

Watin Rachael go use Marcus eye see after her training... I just dey imagine am

enirock:
Watin Rachael go use Marcus eye see after her training... I just dey imagine am

Lol... I would love to see it too o.

Hmm rigorous training under threat of death, I feel Rachel is tough but isn't this a bit too much ? Someone is about to be scarred for life. More ink to your pen, Divepen1

Divepen its been a while u dropped something for our reading pleasure, I hope all is well? Just checking up on u

MichaelBlake40:
Hmm rigorous training under threat of death, I feel Rachel is tough but isn't this a bit too much ? Someone is about to be scarred for life. More ink to your pen, Divepen1

Thanks. Indeed, she was scarred for life...

enirock:
Divepen its been a while u dropped something for our reading pleasure, I hope all is well? Just checking up on u

Thanks. Na money cause am o. I've been busy but I'm dropping something today.

Chapter 5
Nail and Pain

When Rachael agreed to improve herself, she assumed the next level of Wu’s class would be something she could easily overcome. It was worse.
‘Again’, Wu screamed as her cane came down hard on Rachael’s feet.
‘Argh!’ Rachael cried again.
Her legs were sore and had several welts from Wu’s cane. This particular training was that she had to walk as silently as she could.
‘You’re too clumsy’, Wu said.
‘But… I’m tired’, Rachael cried.
‘Then, I will flog strength into your bones’. Wu rose fiercely.
Wu had become fiercer since her last discussions with Marcus. Her measures were upped. The hearing training now included hearing while loud music is blasting. At first, the noise came from a distance. Gradually, it was played in the room. And eventually, the blast was through a mega headphone.
Rachael cried a lot to her room from that training and even in her room, wishing she had focused her strength on escaping- that was the best form of staying alive.
Wu’s kept increasing the difficulty. How would Wu want Rachael to hear her footstep over the loud blast? It took her several days to get it right. When she thought it would become easier, Wu filled a part of the room with fine sands and demanded that Rachael walk past her.
Rachael attempted severally to no avail. ‘I can’t do it…’ Rachael cried and scrambled to another part of the room.
Wu’s eyes were dead focused and serious. ‘If you can hear my footsteps from afar, then you can and will do this. Or I will flog you and flog you till you can realize the essence of these to your survival’.
‘I don’t want to survive. I want to die… I’m tired’, Rachael burst into tears. ‘I want to leave. I’m not doing again. Kill me. Let me go…’
‘Get up’, Wu ordered.
Rachael shook her head.
Wu sat in front of her, dejected. ‘You will die…’
Rachael stared at her and washed the pain crawling into her eyes and travelling through her hushed voice.
‘Do you understand me? If you don’t learn it well, the people you want to meet will kill you. If you don’t learn it, you can’t go to the next stage, and our project will end…’
‘It should end. I don’t care…’
Wu inhaled sharply. ‘You’re the project’.
‘I…. Please, let me rest. I’m tired’.
‘Sorry, child. It’s for a matter of time’. Wu rose, faced Rachael, with her hands behind her. ‘Now, up!’
Rachael sniffed, blinked, and rose.
‘Get past me…’ Wu said and sat in the middle of the room, with her back turned to Rachael.
Rachael climbed the sand again and concentrated on her step.
For days, the training became more laborious, and all Rachael could do was to cry to her room. Whenever she was alone, she would cry, hit the wall repeatedly and tried not to sleep. Her dreams were becoming terrible by the day. She kept seeing a girl giving her picture.
One night, the door cracked opened. Rachael sprung off to a side of the room. Jessica’s head poked into the dark room.
‘Rachael?’ Jessica called.
Racheal didn’t bother to think twice before she dashed out into the passage and rushed off. She didn’t bother running round the field. As silently as she could, she sneaked off past Tanko.
Even if he knew, she could now outrun him without breaking a sweat.
The early morning race had increased her agility and calculation. Every day, there was always a new obstacle or pit on the way for her. She only had to look ahead while racing through them.
‘She’s out!’ The second shouted.
Tanko was known for shouting, and she had banked on that for her escape, forgetting that the other guard was around that night.
The fence was her only focus. If she got across it, there was no chance they would catch anymore. She hurriedly struggled to the top and was about to sit when something stung her. The pain surged through her body. Rachael couldn’t explain where it came.
‘Get her… She will fall. Run’, Marcus shouted.
Everything became dizzy. As Marcus predicted, she crashed to their side of the fence, with a heavy, loud thud and lost consciousness. When she woke again, Marcus was sitting across her. He was chewing gum. She, on other the hand, was hanging from a pole.
‘You’ve been a bad…bad… bad girl’, Marcus said as he fiddled with a pocket knife.
She had never been to this room. Or didn’t even know it existed. Despite always running from her room to and fro the training room, Rachael still always tried to take a quick view of the area around her. Everywhere in the room was empty, having bare walls, dried up drops of blood, thick ropes, dust and dirt. The stuffiness was choky and got her coughing the moment her sight became balanced.
A slight pain had always throbbed at her knees, but they became pronounced that moment.
‘Let me down…’ Rachael yelled.
‘A suitable punishment awaits you’, Marcus said. He brought out a piece of chewing gum from his breast pocket, popped into his mouth, walked over to her, and tapped her face repeatedly.
‘Leave me…’ Rachael murmured.
‘By the time I’m done with you, obedience and discipline will be a part of you’, Marcus said.
‘Get off me… Leave me alone’, Rachael yelled. The pull of the rope was nagging at her elbow joint.
‘Hi, we’ve not officially introduced ourselves. I’m Marcus. And your SO. Like supervising Officer. And you’re damned. For running away, I have a wonderful punishment. The smallest on my list. You’re going to enjoy it’.
He moved near the rope and tugged at it. Rachael stared dagger at him. Blood drained down her face.
‘Now, you might want to hold the rod above you because if you move down an inch, you will get stung with such pain that beats those of scorpions’, Marcus said.
Rachael wondered what he meant until he moved away and returned with a plank that had enough long needles in them. A part of the needles hit her feet.
‘Ah!!!’ Rachael yelled when he placed the rod under her legs. Quickly, she folded her legs. Pain surged through her body like someone plant a pipe filled with fire. ‘Get it off me!’
‘You…’ He said and slapped her face repeatedly have no right to talk here. ‘Don’t get to talk. I didn’t punish you the first time, and here you’re still acting like…a…’ Marcus snapped his fingers repeatedly like he was trying to grasp the right word. ‘You’re acting like a spoilt child. Firstly, you of all the people we’ve worked on refused to forget her name. That’s a stain on my reputation. I fought my way to be one of the best SO. I clawed my way through several agencies, and you want to ruin it for me…’
‘Leave me…’ Rachael yelled, and her voice escalated when she slacked a bit. Another set of pain surged through her head. She thought she would go mad at that point. The pain sprung through her body like prisoners illegally freed from their cells.
Marcus waved at her. ‘Adieu… We will see when I feel it’s time’.
Rachael watched him leave and hope he was joking. She was sweating, and all that could help her was the thought of the dreams she had been having.
‘Argh’, she yelled again. This time, the pain in her knee knocked her head senseless. She cried loudly.
Her strength couldn’t handle the burden of holding the rod anymore. She had to slack a bit. As she tried to do that, her feet touched the edge of the needles, and she quickly retracted her legs.
To do that, she needed to use her strength. It was a tiring effort. After a while, she couldn’t hold the rod anymore.
‘Please… Please’, she cried.
For hours, she fought between holding on to the rod, dwelling on the pain in her knee, and not stepping on the plank of needles. Repeatedly, she failed.
‘I won’t run again… I won’t run away again’, she cried.
Marcus didn’t enter.
‘Please…’ she cried.
Her body was soaked in sweat as if she was under a shower. Her mind went haywire. There should be someone out there looking for her. She shouldn’t be in this pain forever. She cried and cried, but it was a useless effort.
Blood dripped down her legs. With blood draining off her face, she wished for death.
As if he was monitoring her progress, Marcus entered, removed the plank, and walked out.
‘Tanko?’ He shouted.
Tanko rushed into the room, helped Rachael down and carried her to her room. Gurgling and choking on her tears, she couldn’t even fight Tanko. Tears poured down her face.
‘She will heal up from the pain from Tomorrow’s training… That’s Wu’s speciality’, Marcus said and closed the door.
Rachael cried, gasped, and cursed the day she was born. All that could help there was death. Like Jessica said, she had just ruined her opportunity to talk to someone. She would be alone. They won’t allow Jessica visit her anymore. She would be lonely now.
Sleep took over her consciousness till she was roused out of her sleep by something wet licking her leg. She pulled her legs back in fear.
‘Hold on…’ Jessica whispered.
The sight of her brought out more tears. ‘Help me…’
‘I’m sorry. Let me help you treat your palm…’ Jessica whispered.
‘You can help me…’ Rachael pleaded. Pulling Jessica’s hand, she searched for her eyes.
‘I can’t’, Jessica whimpered. ‘I wish… I can help’.
Jessica muffled her cry, and when she was done, she ran out. Rachael stared at the closed door. She couldn’t run after her because she was too weak. Soon enough, her eyes were drooping, and she slept off.
Again, she was roused out of sleep. This time, by pain in her knees. She yelled and held her legs in the air. Too much! Pain! Everywhere!
Pain surged through everything in her body. Her mind couldn’t focus on anything.
‘Ah! My leg o…’ She cried.
She didn’t know the one to hold. Tanko rushed in and carried her .
‘To the doc… Now’, Marcus yelled.

welcome back Divepen. Thanks for the update. we are waiting to see what Rachel is being trained for

thanks for the drop, the mind and body really needs it.

germaphobe:
thanks for the drop, the mind and body really needs it.

You're so welcome...

enirock:
welcome back Divepen. Thanks for the update. we are waiting to see what Rachel is being trained for

Very soon. In the next two chapters...

Divepen hope you never run leave us??
It's been a while, hope you are good

enirock:
Divepen hope you never run leave us??

It's been a while, hope you are good

Bro.

Thanks. I was engaged in a freelancing job that took most of my time. Interestingly, I just picked up all my stories yesterday to start work on them. So, I'm surprise you also chose this time to check up on me. It means it's time for my writing again. .

Divepen1:
Bro.

Thanks. I was engaged in a freelancing job that took most of my time. Interestingly, I just picked up all my stories yesterday to start work on them. So, I'm surprise you also chose this time to check up on me. It means it's time for my writing again. .

hahaha. Welcome back