Holocaust

In the first few weeks after it was confirmed the Evonso virus was unstoppable I kept a diary. I can’t remember what I wrote in it. It got lost one afternoon after I was attacked by a horde of infected. Almost didn’t escape with my life. That’s what you get when you go hunting without proper preparation.

  The world is a shadow of its former self. The darkness many of us argued about has been proved to be real. Creatures I cannot describe or explain their existence have come into being. They swept from the deserts in North Africa until they covered the African continent leaving nothing but death and destruction in their wake.

  Radio communication, TV, Internet and all other forms of connectivity has gone dark. Last I heard what remains of the world powers were planning to use the nuclear alternative. If they have used it or are still planning to use it is what I do not know.

  I live in seclusion. I never go more than a few miles away from my hill. The last time I tried it, I almost didn’t return. I don’t know what the rest of the country is like.

  I don’t run into the infected that much again; perhaps cos I keep close to the hill. When I stand on my outcrop and scan the landscape using the binoculars. I see strange sights. I see dragon like creatures whose bodies are awash with bright red flame.

  They have gleaming green eyes, like the view through night vision googles as I have seen in countless movies. Then I see fifty foot tall giants, robotic looking, with heads that seem to part the clouds. I don’t know what they are. The first time I saw one of those I almost fell from my perch.

  Sometimes it’s frustrating having so little information. Coming from a world so connected you knew what was happening in the opposite corners of the globe, to zero communication; it was like a junkie going cold turkey in one night.

  I fiddle with my short wave radio at least ten or fifteen times a day. Hoping to get something __ anything __ but all I get is static. Not sure Nigeria still has a working government. And even if we do __ there is nothing it can do to help us. We are on our own. The darkness has come to stay. It is now a part of us and our homes. We are ALONE!

  The helicopter came in for a landing on the expansive grounds of Aso Rock Villa. Taiwo alighted first followed closely by Kemisola. Ten heavily built men parted their ranks allowing the president to walk forward.

  “Mr. President __” Taiwo said bowing slightly.

  “Taiwo __ very good to see you alive and well.”

  “Kemisola __ congratulations on a job well done.”

  “Don’t thank me yet sir __ until the results come.”

  “Did you spray some of the vaccine over Abuja?”

  “Yes we did __ the pipeline brought the vaccine here as scheduled. It’s being sprayed over the city as we speak.”

  Kemisola nodded in approval while Taiwo’s gaze drifted from Abdusalam’s face to hers.

  “Why wasn’t I told about this plan?” his voice had a hard edge to it.

  “Because it was on a need to know basis, you had enough on your plate without worrying about pumping the vaccine to Abuja. Your primary assignment was to protect Kemisola and you did that quite well __” He paused as if just considering something.

  “__ where is General Mako?”

  A deep sigh burst from Taiwo’s lips while Kemisola’s eyes filled with tears.

  “He didn’t make it sir __”

  A cold silence greeted his words.

  Taiwo shifted uncomfortably when he saw Abdusalam’s eyes fill with tears. He turned quite quickly so they wouldn’t see it. Wow! He didn’t realize the president liked Mako that much. As brash and annoying as he could be sometimes he missed him. The guy was a freaking force of nature, larger than life and seemingly indestructible. It was hard to accept he was gone.

  Abdusalam broke the silence that was just starting to get uncomfortable.

  “We best go in __ we have much to discuss.”

  They nodded looking very subdued as they followed him through the wide twin doors leading into the foyer of the presidential villa. Taiwo’s thoughts drifted in a confused somewhat scattered way.

  Mako’s plummet from the roof of the LCDCP kept replaying in his head like a broken record. Even through his haze of sadness he couldn’t help respecting the man. Most men would have screamed as they fell from such a height but not him. He was too calm and composed for that.

  Something started to niggle at his subconscious as one of the president’s men twitched in a funny way. It registered but didn’t quite sink in. It wasn’t until he heard the president’s voice ring out that he focused; his eyes taking in his surroundings.

  “Femi what’s wrong with you? Why are you shaking like that?”

  The man stopped walking still twitching. The rest of Abdusalam’s security stopped and walked towards him. One reached up touching his soldier. Femi whirled around sinking his teeth into the man’s arm.

  The man’s scream rent the air. Taiwo had his gun out in a flash. His finger curled around the trigger and he was about to fire when he heard the screeching and slurring growls erupting from EVERYWHERE!

  “We have to go now sir __” Taiwo yelled rushing forward and grabbing Abdusalam’s arm. The door of the conference room burst open and six infected soldiers raced out screeching at the top of their lungs.

  Taiwo spun on his heel pulling Abdusalam and Kemisola back to the exit. He fired three quick bursts dropping four infected twitching at the door. They burst out onto the lawn. The grounds were a warzone. Those unaffected by the mutated vaccine were firing at the infected, some who were still in the process of turning.

  The helicopter’s rotor’s blades were whirling fast. The pilot was taking off. Taiwo paused a few seconds to examine him. He looked ok.

  “Let’s go Mr. President __” He yelled taking off at a run. Abdusalam gasped as he struggled to keep up.

  “STOP!”

  The pilot turned pausing the helicopter’s ascent when he saw the president. They reached it and leaped in.

  “Take us UP!!” Taiwo yelled firing wildly into the mass of infected racing towards the helicopter.

  Kemisola’s scream was like a mantra in the cabin. The helicopter lifted off but not before three infected leaped inside. Taiwo managed to put a bullet in the heads of two. The third seized Abdusalam around the knee sinking his teeth into him breaking the skin.

  The pilot swerved to avoid a telephone wire and Abdusalam and the infected fell out of the open door plummeting to the ground fifty feet below. Taiwo watched the falling bodies hardly daring to believe it. Tears filled his eyes streaming down his cheeks in long streaks.

  “What do I do sir?” The pilot asked yelling to be heard over the screech of rotor blades and high winds.

  “Let’s get out of here __” Taiwo gasped struggling to spit out the words.

  “__ we can’t do anything for him anymore.”

  Kemisola’s cries increased as the helicopter rose higher. He got why she was so devastated. Hell he felt the same way. Everything was falling apart. Why didn’t it work? It should have worked.

  They were so consumed by their thoughts they didn’t see a lone infected crawling out of a high window to their left a few meters ahead. It paused for the briefest of seconds as they approached and leapt into the air smashing into the pilot’s window.

  The helicopter plummeted instantly as the pilot’s neck snapped. Taiwo grabbed hold of the back of the pilot’s chair as the helicopter began a tailspin. They were about a kilometre beyond the gates of Aso Rock.

  Kemisola’s screams became silent when the craft side collided with the earth. Everything went black for a few moments and then blinding white. A loud buzzing filled his ears and then silence.

  He came to in stages. First he smelt the smoke, a burning electrical style stench, next a dot of white in a cloud of black. The white brightened, he felt something wet dribble down his arm. What was that? His eyes fluttered, the cabin was a twisted and mangled mess.

  There was something heavy on his chest. He pushed it.
It didn’t budge. He tried again. It shifted slightly, very reluctantly. Pushing with all his strength he succeeded in freeing his arm. A cracking sound came from the back. He froze. It sounded suspiciously like flames.

  Straining like crazy the debilitating weight slid off his chest, it fell a few feet striking what used to be the roof of the helicopter. His eyes locked on it. It was the door.

  He ran his hands over his chest. There didn’t seem to be anything broken. Sitting up, he tried to stand. His right leg couldn’t move. What remained of one seat wedged his foot against the window bar. He twisted it slowly and it came free.

  His eyes darted around the crumpled cabin. Smoke and fire drifted from the back. It wasn’t a blaze yet but __ it was slowly getting there.

  “Kemisola!” He yelled making his way to the big hole in the side.

  He stepped out into thick bushes turning to give the helicopter a once over. A crumpled shape a few feet away caught his eye. His blood grew cold as he walked towards it.

  Her body was broken in three places, the neck, waist and legs. It looked like she’d been flung from the helicopter before it rolled over her. How exactly that happened was what he did not know.

  His rifle lay half buried in the dirt. He picked it up and examined it closely. It didn’t look like there was anything wrong with it. The faint yells and slurs reached his ears. His eyes grew grim and he hurried further into the undergrowth. He raced through the bushes pushing aside the blades of grass as fast as he could. He decided to keep inside the cover of the bushes until he could no longer hear the sound of the infected. His decision made he increased speed, streaking into the distance and disappearing from view. He heard the explosion of the helicopter when he was a mile away.