UNTAMED

Part Eighteen

{I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain}
          They rushed at him counting on their numbers, if one’s weapon didn’t touch him, the other would. They were two at his front and one at his back. His first kill was not the fight he was looking for, this was the fight he wanted. His adrenaline and survival instinct came alive. Just one wrong move or the right move but a millisecond late could cause his targets to get him with their weapons. In the seconds they came after him, he had marked out their attack method, the one with a cutlass would hit his shoulders, the one at his back with pointed dagger which could be mistaken as a knife was going to stab him at the back. Chances of the man stabbing his neck was zero because he was short and he was already hysterical. The third one with knife, their leader was going straight for his stomach. If he turned left at the last second, the one with the dagger would miss but the leader would hit his waist while the one with the cutlass would still not miss. He waited for the few seconds it took them to get very close, he did not allow them to get so close to the point of impact, he fell backward to his right, but the force of their movement did not let them stop on time, he spun right knowing the one at his back would get to him first. He stumbled on him and as he fell towards him with his dagger still raised up, he seized the hand with the dagger with his left hand, he used his right elbow to raise and push him to his right same time his comrades hit him with their weapons but before they could realize their weapon would touch their partner, it was too late. Everything happened in less than five seconds. The cutlass sliced the waist of the man that it would have separated into two if it was laser. The leader’s knife went straight into the man’s back very close to his neck. He died unable to utter a single scream. Blood splattered everywhere staining his light blue T-shirt, even his jacket was not spared. The shock of killing their comrade propelled the remaining two backwards. He stood up and immediately knew the drug they had injected or inhaled had cleared off.
“Next” he said remaining in the invincible circle he had created in his mind.
“Who are you?” the leader asked again but this time, his voice shook.
“Hunter” the one with cutlass gasp his eyes balls seeming larger.
“I like that name.”
“We did not come here because of you. Leave us alone” the leader said looking at the door but unfortunately they would have to go through him to get to the door.
He hoped Circle were listening. He now knew the name they had tagged him.
“Next” he repeated.
But from their stance, they were no longer willing to fight him, they were looking for a way to escape. It was one thing to fight an enemy you didn’t know but another thing to fight an enemy you believed would defeat you. The leader suddenly pushed the one with cutlass towards him. His comrade’s cutlass was down and he was not ready for the betrayal. But from the very time the leader started focusing on the door, he had known that was what he would do. Distract him with his comrade and escape while his comrade was being killed would be his best option but unfortunately for the leader, he was prepared and his laser knife was already raised when he pushed his comrade towards him. The push sent the one with cutlass straight at his already raised laser knife which went straight at his chest, he left the laser knife there and caught the leader before he could pass his circle. It took just two seconds. Seizing the hand with the knife, he push the leader to the ground and brought out his Ruger pistol. The fight was no longer interesting if they were no longer willing to fight.
“Please, spare my ….”
He bent down and shot the man’s ears. The close contact opened the man’s skull stopping his plead midway. Blood splattered towards different direction staining his shirt which was already stained from the second kill.
He turned towards the man that had his laser knife in his chest, he had already fallen down and blood was still flowing out of his lifeless body. He pulled his laser knife from the man’s chest, brought out his hearing tools and inserted it back in his ear after clicking a tiny button on it.
“Tamed, you are no longer Tamed, you are becoming worse than when you were the beast” Major said.
“I hope the Beast is now satiated?” Wild asked.
“Mission accomplished. Over and out” he said removing all communication gadgets.
The torches on the ground were still bright and one could clearly see the ugly sight of the dead robbers. He turned towards the family who had scurried close to the old lady. The young lady had her hands on the face of the little boy while the elderly man held his wife close to him.  He moved towards them and they cawed in fear pushing themselves to the wall. His leg kicked the bag of money making him bend to pick it.
“Take the money, I beg you please, don’t kill us” the man pleaded.
He picked the bag and moved closer to them.
“Why did you withdraw such large amount of money? Are you stupid?” he asked still feeling angry.
“I did not want to, it’s my pension money. I wanted to use it to complete my house and buy other things but my brother told me my bank will be closing down tomorrow and any one with money will lose it. I quickly rushed and withdrew all my money but before I could take it to another bank, it was too late, they’ve closed” the man answered with his pleading voice.
“Your brother you just mentioned is behind all this. He made a deal with these robbers.”
“That’s not possible, Ike cannot do this to me. I trained him in school, he cannot pay me back like this” the man cried.
Although in his words he had not believed his brother had sent the robbers, it was clear in his mind that his brother had done it.
“The police will soon be here, make sure you tell them….don’t look at me” he said putting enough command in his voice.
The man bent his head down almost immediately.
“I’m sorry, sorry” he pleaded.
“Tell the police that the only one who knew about the money and who told you to withdraw it is your brother. They will know he was behind it because no bank will be closing tomorrow.”
The man nodded. He turned towards the door and started leaving.
“You are a lion’s cub, home fresh from the kill, my son. Look at him, crouched like a lion, king of the beast; who dares mess with him.”
He turned, it was the old lady who spoke. He found himself moving towards her. He had read that in his mother’s diary. He called it a dairy because he could not find what else to name it. His mother had written it on the day he had almost killed his uncle with an arrow.
“What do you mean? What are you quoting?” he asked bending towards the woman.
“Look at you, the cub has become a full grown lion, the beast is full of rage. I can see through you my son. Your raging emotions are bare for everyone to see and I’m afraid it will get worse. You say these are bad times for me, it’s one thing after another. God is pilling on the pain. I’m worn out and there is no end in sight, but that gift was not the gift you think it is. There is another gift, and it is unfortunate the gift is there with you but you don’t know. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar, and that raging emotion will be calm when you discover the true gift my son” the old lady continued, her hands on his face.
“I don’t get you, please explain.”
But the old lady had already rested her head on the cushion, she was already sleeping as if nothing had happened, as if she had not said anything.
“I’m sorry, my mother has amnesia, she hardly talks but when she talks, it is always out of context. She won’t remember anything even if I wake her up, please don’t mind her sir” the man said.
He stood up staring at the sleeping woman. His smart wrist watch vibrated in his hands, he looked at it
“The police are on their way. Time to leave.” 
He had no idea who sent it.
Within a minute, he was back in his pickup and on his way home. After driving for about twenty minutes, he stopped his pickup, picked his android phone, opened the Circle app and typed the first words the woman had said.
‘Jason please can you find out anything about this quote’ he wrote.
He ignited the pickup and was back on the road. There was no way he could overlook what that woman had said as gibberish. She had not only quoted something from his mum’s dairy but had also mentioned that the gift his mum had given him was not the last gift. There was another gift in the house which she had left before she died. His mum had been told she had cancer at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital but she had never mentioned it. Anytime she had lied down making him worried, she had either said she had a fever or she was tired. She had said she will die a happy mother after he applied to join the army. He had thought she was speaking in general term not knowing she had spoken literally. He increased the speed of his pickup and almost clashed with a corolla vehicle he was trying to overtake. Notwithstanding, he still increased his speed. There must be somewhere he had not searched.
Immediately he stopped the pickup at his compound, he was out and inside his house. He ignored the big bags and plastic rubber that were placed outside his door and went to search his mum’s things. He searched her bag of clothes but found nothing. He hit the wall with his right leg in frustration.  This was insane, there was no way what the old woman said was a coincidence, or did she make that quote after seeing what he did? But what about her talk about a gift. Suddenly, he felt a serious headache like a punch on his forehead, then he remembered he had not eaten, but the headache was overpowering his hunger. He needed to sleep. He went out to switch on the generator, there was no light in his compound because he had cut it off himself. He did not want any one visiting him because of some unpaid bills. He needed the light because he was going to rest after finding something to eat, and he would need the fan close to his head. As he walked back inside, he carried the bags, one was a big box while the other was a Ghana-must-go bag. He dragged the bag to the kitchen, then carried the box to his master’s bedroom door. He went out again and carried the box-like white plastic rubber. Inside the rubber were one big and a medium size flask. He opened it after entering inside. The big flask had jollof rice with chicken wings, his favorite part of a chicken, the other still had jollof rice and chicken. Cindy had also sent him food. He knew foodstuffs were in the bag in the kitchen but he was not ready to sort them out. He took a jug of water from the fridge and a small cup from the dining table. He pulled off his spectacle and carried the medium size flask with the jug and the cup to his master bedroom. He opened the door, placed the flask under his armpit and switched on the light. She was sitting close to the wardrobe and jerked up when the light came on. She gave one glance at him and pushed herself to the wardrobe shaking with fear. He stood there confused on what was scaring her like that. He moved inside and dropped her food, then he pushed the box inside.
“This contains your new clothes and all the things you will need, make sure you sort them out and hang them in the wardrobe, take the ones you need for bathing to the bathroom” he said but her head was bent with her hand folded across her chest and her body was seriously shaking.
His anger which seemed to have subsided came back again, he moved close to her and pulled her hand from her body. He held her jaw and raised her head up but her eyes were closed.
“Halima, look at me when I’m talking to you” he commanded.
She immediately opened her closed eyes. The fear he saw in her eyes was pissing him off to a new level. Although his anger was not directed at her, he could not figure out why her fear usually gave him an outburst. She was stammering something but she was not audible.
“What is it?”
“Blood” she stammered pointing at his shirt.
“I just came back from a hunt and it was not fun, I could only fight two, and had to make do with killing two. And they are Chief’s comrades.”
He just knew that was the wrong thing to say. Her fear was turning to dread. He was sure he was not the right person for this job. He left her and walked towards the door.
“Are you going to touch me today?” she stammered.
He had flung her to the bed before he realized what he had done or was doing.  His hand was on her neck and her eyes were popping out in fear. He immediately stood up and was out of the room in a jiffy. His headache hit a high scale as he entered his room. He placed his hands on his forehead groaning.
“What the fuck is wrong with me. God why are you doing this to me? Why this uncontrollable emotions? Why this pain?”
He stood up and pulled off his jacket and T-shirt. He located the bathroom outside his room and had a quick shower. He went to the dining table and forced himself to eat half of the jollof rice and chicken wings. He searched for his panadol but only saw his sleeping medicine. He had not used it for a while because for a long time, there was no emotions and no nightmare, he took two tablets not caring if they were expired. It never worked on him anyway, it just made him drowsy, but at that moment it was the best option available. The bird would alert the Circle of impending danger which they could take care of meters away and he would stand up if someone tried to open his door. He went back to his room, switched on the air condition and fan, then he pushed the standing fan close to the head of the bed. He climbed on the bed and as he waited for the drug to take full effect, he thought of what the old woman had said. He tried to understand her statement but failed. Soon the drug took over, temporally giving him the peace he needed.  But as the drug made him drowsy, he had a feeling that he had missed something.