Chapter 9

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The escape almost seemed endless. Linda was alone because James had already gone far ahead of her.

Hope seemed far-fetched... But the corridor didn't seem to think so. She had reached the end of the corridor and saw James there waiting with an outstretched hand.

There was no use for that. He had already left her so why wait then? So she continued running not paying attention to the people present in the room. Were they people? Or cannibals? She didn't know. She didn't care. All that she had in her mind was to get out of the building.

But immediately she went out of the building she was met with something crazier than what she had seen all night and morning.

A man in a black security guard uniform with her back to him was tearing open another man who lay on the floor. The victim's insides were all over the place but he still shook violently like he was holding on to life.

She fell to her knees because her legs suddenly became weak. Something turned in her stomach but it didn't make her nauseous. Somehow the sight didn't make her want to vomit. It was as if her system forgot how to function properly and her skeletal muscles just froze.

"Run! Linda! Run!!" she thought as tears gushed from her eyes. She had never seen this brutality before and she never knew what privilege it was to not experience it.

Organs still were flying in different directions and blood splattered everywhere.

But where would she run to if her muscles didn't fail her? James's car was just next to the place someone was being torn apart.

And almost like the huge man noticed that someone was behind he turned. To reveal the most ghastly face she had ever beheld.

The neck was severed till almost halfway through. His pupils were gone and replacing them was a pale color almost as white as the cornea of the eye. What was going on? At that point, the allergy excuse the receptionist lady gave felt like a fat ridiculous lie. On his cheek just above the severed part of his neck, his skin was degrading. Small patches of skin were found in the injury and the other parts of it looked like molten larvae except that it wasn't; it was just the exposed blood and facial muscles. It was as if there was something eating it up. The ghastly injury spanned from his ear down to the severed part of the neck. It almost looked like an infection that was spreading from the neck area. But what did she know about science? If that could really be referred to as a scientific phenomenon.

His figure was like the one they saw from the toilet. How? Why was he like that? Where was the little vicious guy? Was he the one on the floor with most of his organs torn apart?

So many questions !! But none could direct her to how she would get out of the place and forget that such atrocities ever happened.

The man was coming closer to her with blood dripping out of his dark red stained teeth. She knew she was done for. Her legs couldn't move. She was still cowering on the floor with her limbs frozen in pure terror.

But then, it seemed like it wasn't moving toward her. A small gush of wind passed by and she turned to see James.

James dashed toward him like a crazy lunatic pushing him backward.

"No! No no no no no no!" she screamed as she finally found herself standing.

What was going on in James's head? She thought. He was being reckless. But it was inevitable because they were caught between the devil and the red sea and they had to survive. The red sea in this case were the bunch of crazies that were after them.

Linda hurried back to close the glass door which was the entrance to the building.

It didn't stop them. They kept on hitting the glass with the aim of breaking it. With each slam, Linda feared the door wouldn't hold. She was staring at a dozen anomalies that sent shivers down her spine.

They all stared back at her with their soulless gaze. Linda could even say that they weren't human anymore.

A dozen and more growls coming from blood-stained teeth weren't attributable to human characteristics.

They were far from humans from what she could decipher but somehow they were similar.

"Normal humans don't behave like this! " she shouted at them. "Why are you guys doing this?"

She felt ridiculous. Can you reason with monsters? Cannibals?

One thing she noted herself to do when she survived all the madness and got home alive was to gather more information on the cannibals especially the cannibals in Nigeria. That is only if she would survive.

"Linda! Come on!!" James had already opened the door to his car and was halfway in.

She was distracted by the people that wanted to break the door open to notice what had happened between James and the huge security man. The man was lying flat on the ground motionless but she could barely see him because only his lower limbs stuck out while the rest of his body was behind James's car

"Hurry!" He yelled again like she didn't hear what he had said. That was no time to be delaying.

But Linda was wondering how she was going to let go of the door without getting caught up with the psychos behind the door.

"Come on!" James was getting irritated at her that he just entered the car.

"James!!" Tears filled her eyes almost instantly. For the second time, James was going to leave her. And this time she wasn't sure she would survive it. The gate wasn't close to the entrance of the building so running till she would get to the gate, without getting caught seemed impossible.

James started the car and quickly drove it to the front of the building. He immediately opened the door from his side of the car and motioned her to come into the car by the wave of his hand while shouting "Come on already!"

With the tiniest courage and will to survive Linda left the door and ran towards the car.

The glass door burst immediately she stopped pushing against the door to keep them inside and they came pouring out like water from a leaking container.

Some of them even tumbled and fell on the floor and on top of each other.

She closed the door after getting in and whined up the car window to prevent them from possibly getting in through the window. Nothing was too absurd at that point.

"What happened to the man?" Linda asked as the distance between the car and the building widened and they could barely see the dozen people chasing after them.

It seemed as if James didn't hear her question. And he didn't because he was lost in his mind. The temporal part of his skull throbbed so much that it seemed as though it would burst open and let out the contents of his cranial cavity. Just like the man that lay there. The little guy that was being assaulted by the huge man... Assaulted didn't seem like the right word. It was a cold murder that could be likened to that done by wild animals living in the deepest / thickest part of some dangerous mountain or forest.

The last few minutes went by like the speed of light to James. In a few minutes, he ended up with a headless body a few inches away from his leg.

Something lit up inside him as he ran out of the building. Was it the helplessness of Linda as she lay on the floor practically waiting for the huge man to tear her apart that fuelled the energy? Or was it the fact that he was too agitated at being chased around by those crazy people?

He ran towards the man like a raging bull towards its helpless victim except that this wasn't a victim but another raging bull. He thrusted himself forward and sprung into the air lifting his left leg to kick the jaw of the huge guy.

The guy fell on the ground and with a burst of energy he sprang up like he wasn't just kicked to the floor with his head landing on the floor with a loud thud that was heard from where James stood waiting to strike again.

James's eyes were the sharpest they had ever been since he engaged in fights which he stopped doing a long time ago. And those fights were nothing to this. This was random and ruthless; he knew it was a fight to the death because his opponent fought to kill.

James paid utmost attention to every of the guy's movements even though he knew that he had an edge over the guy. It was almost as if he could read his movements. He anticipated his movements and could dodge them. They were aggressive but repetitive. It was similar to the attack from the receptionist lady and somehow similar to the attack from the giant. They weren't punching or kicking but were only lunging forward as if they just wanted a piece of him.

So, all he had to do was dodge their relentless attacks while bearing in mind that any slip-up will cost him a lot.

James punched and kicked the huge man severally but it seemed to do nothing to him. He knew that if he continued like that time wouldn't favor him. Sooner or later he would get tired and weaker and possibly end up like the guy on the floor with torn-apart organs.

He couldn't dodge any longer. The man lunged at him and all he could do was hold back his arms and keep his face out of reach from his body. For someone as heavily built as the man, he lacked strength so James was able to hold him back. The man was snapping his teeth at him with the usual growl that was constantly coming out of his mouth. He also smelled like the receptionist lady. But he smelt worse: worse than the stale egg that he left in his refrigerator for months when he traveled in one of his journeys.

Somehow he spotted a fire extinguisher that was in a glass box. It was held to the wall by a black contracture that was locked. How did he not see that? Not like it would do him any good since it was locked...

Just close to the fire extinguisher was an axe. He had no idea what the axe was doing there ... Only one thought echoed through his mind. "Use that axe"

Pushing the madman with his feet he immediately rushed for the axe knowing that the man was relentless and would be on his feet in a matter of seconds. Grabbing the axe he swung it backward without looking to see if the man was behind him. It got caught in his chest wall. The force he applied to the axe wasn't enough.

That was a wasted movement because the man didn't seem to notice a huge axe stuck to his chest. He just got angrier and more ferocious and more random.

James moved backward with his strength and survival instincts eluding him. His lips were parted and his eyes wider. That was his slip-up... That was when the man lunged at him and made him fall flat on the floor making him dizzy for a while. But he couldn't give up! No!

'This man will pay' He thought as he sprung up with all the remaining energy that he could muster and kicked the man sending him to the ground for the umpteenth time.

He then dug out the axe ... His brain was playing tricks with him and he had double vision for a while but it didn't stop him from sending the axe through the remaining part of the man's neck before he would spring up like he always did.

One strike of the axe wasn't enough to guarantee that he wouldn't come back again to try to kill him when he turned his back so with the axe he completely detached the man's head from the rest of his body sending spurts of blood out of the vessels of his completely severed neck.

Then he watched for a while; with no emotions and a mind totally aware and alert... "Aware" because at that point, everything weird had a very huge possibility of occurring, and "Alert" because he had to be ready for it all.