CHAPTER 5

"Ife! Mayokun!" I whispered. I repeatedly called their names but after a while of no reply, tears began to fall freely from my eyes. This couldn't be happening. Not now at least. Where could they have gone? Even worse, who took them?

"Ife, if you can hear me please answer me. Ife!" I cried.

If there was anything more frustrating, it was the fact that I couldn't shout out to her. I couldn't shout their names otherwise I'll be meeting my dead grandmother in less than five minutes. Where could they have gone? How long did I stay in there? It was definitely not enough for them to think I was killed.

"I...." I was cut short from calling her name by the hand that covered my mouth from behind. My eyes went wide and I froze. It was probably the third time that I had escaped death this night. It couldn't come now.

"Shhhhhh!"

'Hold on!' I thought to myself I knew that voice from somewhere. It wasn't Ife, it wasn't Mayokun. I turned around slowly and came face-to-face with my best friend, Musa. Behind him stood Ife and Mayokun. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Where....."

"Shhhh....." he shushed me. His eyes looked behind me for a while to the main door before he looked back at me. He smiled at me and I couldn't hold myself from hugging him. How did he even get here? Ife and Mayokun remained silent as more tears fell from my eyes. Ife had mentioned them being at the boys' hostel to me but I had brushed it off because we needed to get out of that death trap. We wouldn't have lasted till the next day the way things were enjoying. That didn't mean I didn't think of Musa. I even thought he was dead and it broke my heart.

" Let's get out of here." he said as I pulled back.

" Yeah." I nodded my head and cleaned my eyes.

The staff quarters, which was the next building to the left, was the closest place we could go to without passing the front of the main door. I went back to assist Ife with Mayokun while Musa led the way. When we got there, we walked into the building.

" There is no better way to say this so I'll be straight forward." Musa began. " All the workers here are dead. I came in here and looked around before coming to get you."

I nodded my head in understanding and tried to hide the fear that had built in me after what he said. Images of slaughtered was practically all I could see.

" I told you guys so you could prepare your mind because once we take this turn," he said pointing to the turn at the left. " You'll be seeing dead bodies everywhere. So try to keep your head up."

" Why are we even here? We should be trying to get out of this place!" Ife said with a bit of anger in her voice.

" You need to calm down and we need to arm ourself. We can't just walk around without holding a weapon" Musa replied.

" So where exactly are we going to? Where are the arms?" I interfered.

" The kitchen. At least, knives will be there."

He took the turn and we followed closely behind. Musa wasn't lying when he talked about the bodies. I should have kept my head up like he advised. These people had finished all the workers in here! As we made our to the kitchen, I saw a few teachers I recognized. Mr. Ose, our Mathematics teacher, Mr. Ejiro, our Physics teacher, Mrs Tijani, our Financial Accounting teacher, Mr. Ajasin, our Yoruba teacher, Mrs Ezenwane, our French teacher, Mr. Nadama, the school's electrician and many more workers that laid dead on the floor. It hurt me so bad knowing that less than twelve hours ago, I saw these people doing what they did best. Impacting knowledge into the lives of children who were also being killed at the moment.

I was tired of recognizing face so I took to Musa's advise and looked up. I was on the verge of crying for the one hundredth time this night and I was really hoping my eyes weren't swollen. When we got to the kitchen, I was more than relieved that the train of dead bodies was finally over. The kitchen was surprisingly empty.

"Check the cupboards. There should be at least two or three knives here." Musa said.

" How do you know?" Ife asked.

" I've been here once or twice."

Ife and I put Mayokun on the floor. Her bleeding had reduced, but it had not totally stopped. It had stained Ife's night wear and probably mine but I wore a black gown, it wasn't obvious. We needed to get out quickly and take her to the hospital. We began to search the place for anything we could use to protect ourselves. Luckily, instead of two, we found three knives. Ife, Musa and I held one. Mayokun was injured, she wouldn't have been able to fight for herself. Ife and I were going to protect her through all of this.

"Musa, before we leave this place, I need to talk to you." I said.

"Sure, yeah"

"Ife please wait here Mayokun. Musa let's talk by the door."

Musa and I walked together to the door. I have held how I truely felt long enough. I needed to let someone know I really felt about the whole incident of people dying and we running.

We stopped infront of the door and turned to face each other.

"What's up?" He asked and folded his arms .

"Musa I have held this thing in me long enough. I tried to be strong because of Ife and Mayokun. You know how Ife is scared of almost everything and Mayokun feels like death is near to her. I have to put up this act but I don't think I can take it any longer." Tears began to fall freely from my eyes. "I am scared. People are everywhere, most already dead, some dying this very minute. I feel hopeless right now and .I.... and .... I don't know how but I need to leave this place alive."

"Chidinma you need to calm down." He put one of his hands on my shoulders. "Take a deep breathe. If what you saw is what is killing you inside, you need to look past them and focus on how we are going to leave this place."

"Musa, I watched how Dami's throat was slit open and you want me to look past that."

"Yes. That is exactly what I am saying. Dami is already dead and there is absolutely nothing, at this point, that we can do about it. You on the other hand, you are alive and we can prevent you, us, from dying and ending up like Dami."

"Musa I'm scared."

"Fear ! A mind with fear dies even before it is killed. You need to be strong. If not for yourself, for Ife. Look at them." I turned to face them. Ife held Mayokun and they both stared into space, probably wondering how we were going to get out of this mess. "They are here only because you were strong. Mayokun should be dead, but you saved her. You need to be strong. Do you understand me ?"

I nodded my head in reply.

"I need a spoken answer. Say it and mean it."

I turned back and looked at him before cleaning my eyes.

"Yes, I do."

"And if anything were to happen to any of us, even myself, keep on going and don't look back, okay ?"

"Nothing will happen."

"I said 'If'."

"Okay."

"Let's get them and leave this place. We have to get you guys home."

We went, carried the girls and began our journey home. Killing or no killing, we were going home ALIVE !

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Thank you for reading up to this point. MUSA IS ALIVE! So what happens now? With Chidinma being scared, will they make it? Please watch out for the next chapter to find out. For those who want to reach me, follow my facebook page Just_Rufina Novelist. You can hit me up there.

Yours sincerely,

Just_Rufina