Gone Bad (Nigerian Novel) -Editing

Chapter 16: Road Rage

The madman continues arguing with the officer over his rights and Victoria whips out her phone refusing to believe her eyes.

To our utter horror, the plate numbers matched and an uneasy silence crosses between us.

SARS was not a new thing and police would have a field day with teens holding expensive gadgets.

"You guys should cross to the other side while I go check what's going on." Demilade says, his eyes hardened and lips thinned.

I and Victoria begin to stammer in disagreement, but I'm the first to recover.

"So they can blow your head too right? Forget the ride you're coming with us." I say grabbing ahold of his wrist.

To my surprise, he doesn't budge.

"What happened last year was not a field day but if we can't confront them at least let me know why we're back to square one." he answers, penetrating me with his steady gaze.

Never had I seen a boy so fearless in the face of danger, and that itself seemed scary.

I huff and tug him towards me once more. "Vic, cancel the ride, and Demilade for once try not to be everyone's hero. Save yourself."

"It's better one of us than all. I'm hoping I'll get enough info to file a complaint." He says rising from his seat so he's looking down at me in the eye.

I glance at the commotion and my heart squeezes in my chest as the potbellied man snatches the driver's dingy iPhone.

He was young, had ombré dreads, and seemed like a university student or creative picking up a side hustle.

Had these 'officials' learned no sense after the bloodshed of October?

My hand nearly cuts off all blood flow in his wrist and without thinking twice, I jerk the adamant boy away and meet Victoria on the opposite street.

My eyes widen at the sound of Demilade yelling at the officer. "You better stop unless you want to go viral on Twitter!"

The older man releases our Bolt guy who hops back into the driver's seat and instead faces the stubborn idiot holding out a Samsung with a cocky grin.

The officer grabs the end of his rifle and Demilade hollers to us.

"Run in zig zags!" he says before the three of us take off in an instant.

I can hear ringing in my ears and I'm almost convinced this will be my last day on earth.

I see flashes of my friends sprinting forms from my peripheral vision and I gasp for air as I keep pushing my legs.

Soon the burning sensation in my calves transfer to my head and I'm just about ready to get shot when we round a corner.

Only then do I realize the sounds of screaming had faded out and instead of a man in a black suit, a beat-up silver Nissan had stopped for us.

Victoria who had been virtually silent except for the occasional shrieks speaks up.

"Wait o t-that's the ride we canceled."

Demilade laughs just amazed as I am.

"That road was a two-way." He says and by then some lactic acid had left my tissues so I land an agbara (heavy slap) on his back.

His spine curls inward and a cry tears from his mouth as his arms fly backward to cradle the spot.

"Was that really necessary?" he seethes, eyes barely opened as he speaks.

"You're mad! No seriously ment." I scream at him. The boy could have gotten us killed. He could have gotten killed.

I look up at the orange-violet horizon, willing myself not to cry as I usually did when I was angry.