KATE'S DIARY 5

The Vyrus’

KATE’S DIARY

solemn Armageddon

19th July

Disturbing Fumes from rather mixed or polluted gases absorbed into my snoring nose causing a strong disorder to my relaxed respiratory system forcing me to wake up uncomfortably to a great breathing discomfort.

Coughing deeply i rubbed my eyes open to the worst reality nightmare ever. I was lying out-door though on my bed in my room, the four walls of my room were gone. I couldn’t see anything, there was smoke everywhere.

I closed my eyes again and lay back on my bed for some seconds hoping to open my eyes to the real world i knew; but still had the same gaze on my worst reality as my eyes blinked open.

I couldn’t figure out anything, my heartbeat raced as i panicked out of a mind focused on many subjects. ‘Has the house burnt down leaving me alive?’ ‘Have the boko haram bombing spread to the east?’, ‘have an unannounced war befallen us?’ cause all i could see was smoke and broken bricks and blocks of walls. ‘What the hell is going on?’ i couldn’t figure anything out so i tried remembering anything from the previous day and all i could get was...being so sick.

I had fever yesterday i could recollect. I felt my skin and felt nothing. I was fine. ‘What is happening?’ i looked up, the roof was gone, the sky was grey and the sun was gone too. This was extremely unusual. I couldn’t help but tremble.

I stood up slowly in my night gown still astounded of the prospect. The first step i took left wounds under my feet. There were broken pieces of every ware in my house on the floor. Each step i took left a wound under my feet. Out of curiosity i proceeded in my fatal state of mind hoping to see something like a clue to what was really happening; i by this time started sweating gravely in tension and fear of the unknown fate i stand to face. I stepped on a piece of clothe knowing i was just on a night gown and since i was not sure of what was going down, i had to change. It was a pair of my jean.

I quietly got myself inside it. As i was about searching for a top to put on, i started hearing distant diverse screaming voices drawing close as their feet stomped on the ground continuously like a herd of cattle was approaching.

Within seconds i could see people running and screaming. I was lost in the gaze, fascinated in the shock of my confused mind until a woman screamed at me “run!”

I quickly joined the crowd running and inquiring of them what was really happening. I got no reply until i tried looking back.

I tripped off nothing out of shock of what my eyes beheld. Centaurs (Half-human-half-horse creatures) with horns of a ram with smoke oozing from its nose as it ran in a company of black unicorns with scorpion tails grabbing people and throwing them into a huge cart dragged along by those unicorns.

I probably grasped it all in few seconds because in the next minute i was ahead and faster than most of the crowd rubbing my eyes hoping to wake up from this nightmare and screaming like a kid who ran into his phobia.

The running continued for like thirty minutes and within this period of time, smoking wrecked cars and buildings everywhere what was my vision was compelled to translate to my brains. I wasn’t yet sure of what i saw but it was like the whole world quaked. At a time we all stopped running, for like ten minutes no one talked, we just laid down on a Broadway gazing at the grey sky tiredly confused in amazement, shock and numb.

Half of us were spent, the beasts took them on the run and their loved ones among us who obviously were lucky like me were shedding audio-fewer tears probably in silent pain.

At a time, a man lying among us probably out of frustration of ignorance raised the issue of what was happening. After a while of fruitless deliberation, i found out that most of us didn’t actually know what was going down. They mostly woke up to the horror just like i did.

It still didn’t solve anything; i still wanted to know what was happening. So i stood up in the street to at least know where we were, most of the buildings were gone the few remaining were seriously damaged. It was as if there has been a nuclear explosion that left no dead bodies because everything was gone but no one died.

Standing from where i was, i noticed in a far distance a small girl around eight years old of age standing and pointing speechlessly at us. She had no one with her, she was probably stranded or so i thought; so i walked closer slowly hoping to get a closer view.

This little girl in a white night gown stood firmly without shaking for minutes pointing at us. It was weird so I got closer to notice some irregularities. She had this funny sign of an eye probably freshly engraved on her forehead because it was still bleeding. She had this vicious look on her face and reflected no signs of pain. It was really scary because she at the same time had a charming smile with blood dripping from her lips and fangs which i just noticed. It couldn’t get scarier.

I had to stop. This little girl didn’t needed no help; Just like in scary movies, she knew what she was doing which at that time i couldn’t figure out until i started hearing running footsteps coming from the other end of the t-junction and i couldn’t see who was coming.

I paused and drew back slowly waving at others behind me to calm down and listen.

Within seconds there was an appearance of another vicious looking kind of creatures. These ones were humans but taller than regular humans with long arms and scary look of a leopard’s skin. Obvious yellow eyes with hairy hunch back with their seven toed muscular feet like that of a bear cracking the ground on every step. They all had that sign on their forehead and fangs dripping with blood off their lion shaped mouth. These were blood thirsty monsters from nowhere.

It was marathon again as we took off. Since i was in front when we approached the girl, i was behind when we started running.

These creatures were very fast, i could smell one directly behind me. Though i was running i could perceive its horrible odour that made me extremely nauseous.

I was almost within its arm reach when i noticed a subway just beside me; i swiftly changed course and fell as i watched these beasts snatch people right in front of me when i was running. They quickly inserted their long fangs into the neck of their victims and drained their blood and quickly carved an eye on their forehead, dropped their bodies and took off with a whole bunch of others which were still running after the humans i was with.

I kept hearing people scream from blocks away until the whole area was quiet again. Then slowly, the victims the beast marked slowly stood up, i was about calling them from my hide out when i noticed some changes. They were being transformed into beasts.

Out of fear i crawled down into the subway in serious shock. I threw up two times walking in that subway tunnel.

This cannot be happening’ my mind thought. This is Africa; this kind of dreadful sight had not been heard of in Nigeria ever before. We don’t practise Satanism, we don’t build nuclear weapons, and we don’t experience torpedoes, hurricanes, earthquake, Katrina or any of those western curses. What was this curse? I needed explanations.

But i guess these evil started creeping in when we started bombing ourselves and creating suicide bombers. It always starts somewhere i thought.

My mind was still on these issues when i started hearing voices, whispering voices. I had to stop; I wasnt about walking into another trap. It was relatively dark in the tunnel, i couldn’t see ahead.

I suddenly noticed everywhere was quiet so i stayed put. Then i heard echoing voices loud but relaxed repeating different sentences. One was saying ‘fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come’, another was saying ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’, and the third voice saying ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God’.

It was scary because i couldnt see anything. It was hard getting what the voices were saying at first but it was repeated several till i got the message.

‘Finally someone who can answer my questions’; so i pushed forward walking towards the voices.

Suddenly a harsh voice came up asking the three other voices to shut up. But they didn’t, they continued repeating it until gunshots were fired. The voices paused and continued whispering the sentence after some seconds.

By this time i was already close to the voice in the dark. Then someone inquired to know who i was, asking specifically what my name was. I couldn’t see anyone because it was dark so i was scared and quiet. The male voice kept asking so i answered with a shaky voice.

Lights turned on which made my feet trembled. It was a train wreck; men dressed like the Niger-delta militants stood inside with guns and other weapons and one with a slow hand waved an invitation sign inviting me inside.

As i walked in i was frisked, i saw a whole lot more of people sitting and holding themselves in silence with their terrified eyes gazed on me in fractions of families mostly women and children; With the look on their eyes it was clear that they had seen more than I’d seen. The men were fathers and sons protecting their families from whatever it was that was out there.

The three voices that repeated those sentences were really old women seated separately at different end of the train. They still didn’t stop uttering their warnings.

I was given a little amount of water without being asked if i was thirsty. I sat down and the lights were turned off again. In the dark, i still had the urge to know what was going on so i asked the man sitting next to me.

He wasn’t sure but he suggested that it must be the end of the world; Judging that most people were gone without dead bodies like they disappeared or something. He said he wasn’t really a church goer but with what he had seen already, it was what was written in the revelations of the bible.

Another man in the dark who sounded surer said the women who refused to shut up were repeating excerpts from revelations chapter thirteen. But still he wasn’t so sure.

As the man concluded that they didn’t know what was really going on, the three women went numb and one started talking as if she was reciting a poem, according to the man who sounded sure, she was voicing another excerpt from the revelations.

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

According to the men, just few of what the woman said had happened. Others might happen later. This was when i became scared, i mean really scared. I guess by this time if the light was turned on, i would have the exact same look on the face of others in that train.

I was still pondering in the mind maze of my plight when suddenly there was an explosion right above us.

The tunnel was blown open. According to them it was the humans who had the mark and worshiped the beast who blew up the tunnel. They formed an army to capture and take unmarked people to the beat to be tortured and eventually marked.

It became a war thing since some brave unmarked men built a resistance army of their own to rebel and fight this army of doom. But with limited armoury, what much can they achieve? I was quickly handed a gun and briefed on what to do. There was practically no possibility of death but wounds can be inflicted. So the plan was to shoot them where it’ll demobilize them; like the knee.

We quickly opened fire on them as the unarmed women and children who survived the blast took off. There was exchange of fire for about thirty minutes. Many were wounded and like i was earlier informed, none died. I sustained several bullet wounds on my left arm and one right above my right breast.

We were majorly outnumbered so we were more or less over powered at the exhaustion of our armour. We got arrested and pulled out of the tunnel. Among the sixteen of us arrested there was including me, three girls.

The leader of the platoon emerged and to my greatest bolt from the blue it was my ex-boyfriend Eddie. I called his attention of course; and to extend the weight of my amazement, the look in his eyes were blank like he never knew me.

To crown my horror, he ordered that we the girls should be striped and raped severally.

I was raped trice as i gazed on Eddie as he laughed wickedly like a victorious villain to the sight of such a wicked act. That was when i knew that the world’s ending is the highest point of man’s exhibition of wickedness. I simply got it; this was it. The world really has ended.

After attaining a point of vain satisfaction, Eddie ordered we all be taken to their master for marking. And in a single file like the times of slave trade, we were chained and ordered to march endlessly on this plain land with no buildings in sight.

We walked miles on foot as captives as we were being carried to their master to be marked. I already was tired and was feeling faintly when another resistance army riding on horses and weary cars and bikes attacked Eddie and his platoon.

Within minutes, Eddie and his dreadful platoon were conquered and we were unshackled. In ignorance of the vices of Eddie and his defeated platoon, we were at the commencement of our victory jubilation when another troupe surfaced.

This time led by a very beautiful woman extremely seductive even for fellow women adorned with ornaments and jewelleries wearing a red dress with purple designs sitting on a red creature with seven heads and seven horns with a different engraving on her head saying ‘mother of all harlots’.

She controlled an army of vicious women riding on diverse beasts; Dragons, centaurs, unicorns, giant bats and owls. The sight of these made my heart race.

I quickly took off in the pack of others running tirelessly on this plan land with no building or refuge place in sight as these beast chased us sluggishly like they wanted us to run towards the particular direction we were headed.

As i reasoned this thought, i noticed we were already at the edge of a cliff with a larva sea at the valley. Out of the velocity of which people were running and the huge number of people running, most people fell over screaming endlessly and the ones who were able to come to a halt were pushed over by more people approaching the cliff in high velocity and fear.

And since there was no possibility of death, people who already fell into the larva didn’t die but continued screaming as they got burnt yet the sea still crowded with more victims.

I was at the edge of the same fate and was helplessly pushed over, i managed to grab someone by the leg dangling over this crowded sea larva. Unfortunately my cling was equally pushed over to a great fall as i swiftly grabbed the edge of the cliff screaming for help from the helpless crowd who crushed my fingers to raw meat.

I finally fell off too screaming with my eyes closed to wake up screaming in a hospital bed next to my mom and my sister who were trying to hold me down.

My screaming tripled drawing the attention of everyone in the ward as doctors and nurses rushed in to sedate me.

All these while it was a dream;

I had developed a serious fever yesterday which elapsed into a coma. According to my mom, I’ve been unconscious since morning.

for some reason before the sedatives took action after my mom explained my situation and confirmed to me that the world hasn’t experienced any of what i saw in my dream, i was sadly happy as i fell asleep again hoping i wouldn’t end up falling into that larva.

By Nnagoziem ‘The Vyrus’ Udensi