ICON OF THE FIGHT

Chapter 42

Chido sat back on the earthen bench and felt herself frowning. She knew why. Normally she played her cards close to the vest, putting on an appropriate act when and where necessary, displaying a character to the world, while her true self remained hidden and safe. Yet since the day she had met Josphat, she had found herself opening up to him, one secret at a time. When she had been given the assignment of befriending him, she had done an in-depth look at his life and had been mildly irritated that she had to spend most of her time with a shallow and self-centered boy. In the course of her 'career' as it was, she had had her share of people like him, guys who believed the world owed him something and were generally spoilt brats.

She had begun her surveillance of him with this mindset, and she had quickly revised her opinion when she learned more about his wife and his struggle to make ends meet. When she made her move that day on the street, she had been disturbed by his simple-mindedness and black-and-white view of the world. What had started as an impersonal assignment had developed into something more. Despite his lack of sophistication, Kito had impressed her. His ability to learn, his resilience and his understated strength had earned him her respect.

Now she said to him, "Remember I told you about how we were introduced to the Medusa School. We had to kill each other, to reduce our number to one hundred. And we did. It wasn't pretty, it was horrible and to this day I still have nightmares about that day."

Chido shook her head. Her initiation into the world of espionage had been unconventional and brutal. She didn't have to try hard to remember how she felt after her first kill. She could still smell the blood, snot, urine and feces covering her, all from herself and her victim, a fat girl who had made the first move by closing her chubby fingers around Chido's throat as she stood beside a desk. Chido could still see the girls tongue protruding between her lips as the latter choked her. Chido had tried to beg for her life but she didn't have the breath and strength to do so. Chido had reacted instinctively, grabbing her attacker's throat and pulling her close to her, then bit the girl's exposed tongue. They had collapsed to the floor together, neither of them willing to relinquish their grips. Chido's teeth had met and she had spat out blood as her attacker released her. Chido didn't stop to relish the feel of the air rushing down to her lungs, instead she grabbed the girl's head and bashed it repeatedly on the metal leg of the desk. The girl's scream had immediately cut out, but Chido had kept bashing and bashing until the latter's head looked like a broken egg.

She shuddered as she remembered, decided to spare Jos that particular nightmare. She grossed over the details and went on to tell him about life at the school after that day.

"We were cleaned up and fed and were led back to our padded rooms. After about an hour of waiting, the door opened and an old man wearing glasses came in with a clipboard."

That was her first meeting with Dr Lance Mutsvodo. Her initial reaction was that he looked like a buzzard, mean, cruel and predatory. Even when he smiled, she had felt his evilness, could hear it in his voice.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, Chido," he had said and she had wondered, what part exactly? The kidnapping or being forced to kill another kid? Mutsvodo had seemed to read her mind, and had a somber expression on his face and his voice conveyed understanding.

"I mean that, I am sorry about everything we have done and will do to you," he said, sounding sad and sincere. "While we can't change your circumstances right now, it is my wish to help you. I want you to understand and come to terms with the situation, and in time, maybe you will even be able to enjoy your time here."

Chido had thought, Your are crazy, sir.

But, as it turned out after a year of psychological therapy and training, Mutsvodo was right. Chido had become one of the top students in the class and enjoyed the training immensely, since in stimulated her brain. The physical training was hard and back-breaking, but she thrived. Though she couldn't move for weeks after that, she aced the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training, while more than thirty girls died in the program.

She might have continued to enjoy her time there, if Mutsvodo's had not directed his lust to her. During the previous year, her body had grown as she reached puberty. And she had understood and secretly liked the looks the male guards cast her way. Mutsvodo changed all that. At first he tried to overpower her but she fought him off like a lioness, breaking his glasses, splitting his lip and kicking him in the balls. He had left with his figurative tail tucked between his legs and she had been lulled into a sense of security when he didn't come back for three weeks. Then she had woken up one night to find him on top of her in the padded room, inside her. The pain made her want to scream but her voice was weak, and her hands couldn't move. She could feel everything happening to her, but her body was paralyzed, she could only shed tears of impotent rage and searing pain as she was violated.

As she narrated this part, she felt her tear ducts burning. She removed her glasses and using her fingers, rubbed the inside of her sockets, letting out the tears trapped beneath the soft tissue. This was why she hated emotional stuff, every drop of a tear hurt and had to be manually coaxed out.

She sensed Jos opening and closing his mouth. She forced a smile as put back on her glasses. She heard the crunching of his clenched teeth and felt his body vibrating with coiled rage. Chido touched his hand and drew him into a hug, his body taut like a block of ice.

"Jos," she whispered into his ears as she slowly massaged his shoulders. "Jos, breathe please. Breathe. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Slowly, iiiiiiiiin, oooouuut. Again."

She felt him responding to her coaxing, slowly relaxing until he slumped onto her. He placed his hands on her arms.

"Chido," he rasped, "I don't know how you do what you do, but you're the strongest person I know. How..."

On an impulse, she planted a fleeting kiss on his mouth, effectively silencing him.
"Mutsvodo will get what he deserves, Jos. I will never forget what happened to me, but over the years, I have learned to focus on what I can do, changing what I can while always on the lookout for better opportunities. I will get my daughter back, then I will drive a sword through Mutsvodo's anus."

Jos shivered and said, "I believe you will."

"I tried to escape once, after that night," she told him. "Suffice it to say that I paid dearly for that attempt. Instead of hurting me personally, they killed my father while I watched."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, and I became the most 'loyal and submissive' trainee from then on. I realised that they were leaving my mother and brother alone to keep me in line. And in line I stayed."

Jos remained quiet, only his fingers interlocked with hers betrayed his response.

"I gave birth at the facility, was allowed to keep the baby for three months, breastfeeding her, bonding with her. Then she was taken off campus and I resumed training. Shortly after that, I graduated. I started working actively for BIO when I was fifteen, and I was permitted to see Yolanda every two months when I was in the country. Then I was deployed to Europe and I could see her only twice a year."

Jos squeezed her fingers and asked, "How did you loose your eyes?"

"For some reason, Mutsvodo and his friends wanted to erase all evidence of the existence of their twisted training programme. So they killed all of us, only the contractor who took the job of eliminating me was a sadistic psychopath. He wanted to have some fun first. He did and left me for dead. Except I didn't die."

"When I first asked you, you said a crazy dude went nuts with a powerdrill," Jos reminded her.

"He did," she said and said nothing more.