The Nevite Gate [Project NaNoWriMo]

Chapter 9

Be Happy.
Be Happy.
This life is short,
Be Happy.

The English version of the song Fikkie mother sang.

_______

Isaac

_______

"Are you sure of what you're saying?" I asked again.

Fikkie nodded head. "Yes, Mo mo ohun ti mo ti gbo," he replied speaking in his local dialect. "I know what I heard, they were talking about Joe."

I sighed, rubbing the worry signs on my forehead. "Today has been pretty eventful." My mind went to Michael who I haven't seen the whole day.

"Pretty eventful? That chick almost pulled my eyebrows out-"

"Who almost pulled your eyebrows out?" Rita asked walking into the room.

"Fuck!" Fikkie screamed in shock. "You really should stop sneaking up on people like that."

Rita rolled her eyes, though he was brave, other times she thought him a chicken. She wasn't wearing her uniform again, she had on a tight skinny jeans and a big sweater. Her curly black hair was packed in too, she had also take off her signature head band. "Where is my Dad?" She asked walking over to the cell door. "I was told he was with one of the girls, is he still in there?"

"No, he left few minutes ago," I said and placed my ear to the door to try and pick up any sound. It has been awfully quiet and I wondered what the girls were doing, I wanted to walk in, but with no orders on what to do, I couldn't.

We stared at the door in silence.

"I am hungry," Fikkie said.

"Didn't you just eat two plates of Jollof rice on our way here?" Rita said, you could pick up the annoyance in her voice.

"That was on our way here, now we are here and I am hungry again," as if to support what he had just said, his stomach gave a loud grumble.

"I am going to check up on Michael," I said and proceeded to walk out of the room, I could feel their eyes on my neck, none of them had heard from Michael ever since, I was the only one he would let in.

~~~~~

Je Dun.
Je Dun.
Igbesi aye kuru,
Je Dun.

I heard the mature voice of Mrs Adeniyi sing from the kitchen as she prepared the evening meal with some other women. Mrs Adeniyi was also Fikkie's mum. She had lost her husband and three children to the virus already, it came as a big shock to everyone when she supported Fikkie's decision to join us. She was also like a mother to me, more like to everyone.

I approached Michael's door and gave a small knock.

"Who's there?" I heard his voice ask softly from inside. Without answering I pushed the door open slowly. He sat on his bed, both legs crossed before him, a bowl of what looks to be ice-cream sat between his thighs. His eyes were red, and you could still see the tear streak on his cheeks, his hair was bushy and very unkempt.

"Hey, it's me," I said, closing the door behind me. "I came to check up on you."

"I'm not going to commit suicide if that's what you guys are worried about," he mumbled picking up his spoon and shoving another mouthful of the creamy sweetness in his mouth.

"I didn't say that," I told him quietly. "Can I?" I asked, gesturing towards the bed. He nodded his head with a small shrug.

"So," he said. "Has the time come for you to give me the 'Get yourself together' speech?"

I shook my head. "No, I... I'm worried about you Michael."

He sighed and looked down at the bowl. "Don't be Isaac, I'm fine."

I watched him for awhile, wondering if I should tell him anything about the new elites we brought in and how Joe's sister might be one of them.

"You're looking at me in that strange manner again," I heard him say, bringing me out from my thoughts. "What do you have to say?"

"What makes you think I have something to say?"

He gave a low chuckle taking me aback a bit, it's been so long since I had the sound of laughter from him. "You always have something to say Isaac, you always do." He looked up at me a small smile on his face.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, a habit I have found myself doing a lot. "We brought in two people today."

On hearing this Michael leaned forward in attention. "Two people? What do you mean?"

"Elites," I said. "While scouting the area, we found them, they were being chased by the zombies."

"Elites," I heard him whisper. "Where are they now?" He asked.

"In the cells, Chief ordered we kept them there...for now."

He nodded his head slowly, I could see his mind spinning it's wheels in thoughts.

"Michael one of the girls we brought in-"

"What's wrong? Did she get infected?"

"No," I shook my head. "That's not it. She... She is Joe's sister," I said looking away, I didn't want to bear the reaction on his face.

"Joe's sister? What do you mean she's Joe's sister? How is that... I want to see her." He moved to stand up, but I held him down by the shoulders.

"You will, but not now, she's still grieving with her friend and they don't exactly trust us yet-"

A blaring alarm sound rang off, it's the same alarm we heard earlier before we went out to scout the area, someone had walked into our territory.

"I will be back," I told him, leaning over to give him a small kiss on the forehead. "Wait here."

I rushed out of the room, to find the commotion outside, people were running inside, mothers holding tight to their children as they ran to the main hall.

"Isaac!" I heard my name being called and turned round to see Rita. She threw me a gun, which I caught easily. "Where's Fikkie?" I asked.

"Eating," she said. "We can handle this without him, hopefully it's nothing big."

We walked quickly past panicked people afraid for their lives and that of their loved ones.

"Rie, to the outline!" Rita ordered the aero as we got in, putting our seat belts in place.

"YES COMMANDER." Rie answered and soon we were soaring above the land heading to our destination, but we didn't get that far when we saw an aero heading towards us, it beaded our mark so we knew it was one of our scouts.

"Is that John and his team?" I asked as Rie lowered to the ground.

"I think so," Rita said.

Just as we stepped down John came running to us.

"What's the matter? We heard the alarm?"

"Zombies," he said and stopped to take deep breathe. "Hundreds of them, heading towards the Grove."

"Wait what?" I asked.

"We don't have much time, they will be here in few hours."

>>>>~~~~~<<<<

Things are starting to get really serious, their small home is about to be attacked.

They have only one other choice, to stay and fight or to run and since they aren't exactly much on soldiers, who knows.

Drop a comment and a vote, stay safe and a happy new year in advance ❤️