Chapter Seven - Staying Alive

Six months after the plague, everything Nneka knew was gone- the people she loved, the life she loved, and the world she knew and loved.

Everyone around her had turned out dead or into hungry undeads. Some had lost their minds entirely, while others still had cognition- they looked dead, pale skinned and dark lipped but they still had a form of humanity. The world she knew was gone forever, and she decided she didn’t want to be a part of this present world, it was far from what she was used to.

She was different from everyone around her, she wasn’t sure exactly why, but everybody looked different. Every moment was gruelling, she was always indoors, and sometimes there were thoughts of taking her own life, but she didn’t consider it much. She had always been a tough girl and had always found her way even in the tightest situations. She had decided she was going to fight it through no matter how long.

She missed her life, and wished it could all come back. The fun days of partying, travelling, meeting people, winning beauty pageants, and being the centre of attention was all gone. The world had turned into a morose and sad place where survival was paramount. You either killed or you would be breakfast, lunch or dinner for some flesh hungry zombie.

The humans that were still sane had formed communities to protect themselves from the ravaging beasts that roamed the streets, but she was different form all of them. She was neither undead nor flesh eater. They were sad, quite gloomy communities, but considering what a lot of them had to do, it was understandable. A lot of them had had to take the lives of loved ones who had turned into flesh eaters. The world had become a terrible and sad place to live in.

She had stayed alone for most of the six months. She didn’t know whether to count herself lucky or not. Everyone else had died except her. She was alive; she still breathed, and still had pure red blood flowing through her veins. She had to rely on a lot of make-up not to look different from the undead. She was always terrified that one day she would be discovered, and she didn’t want to imagine what might happen.

What had happened to the world? Every night she would sit in a corner and cry herself to sleep. Since the incident at her house she hadn’t returned home. She had found a way to escape, escaping harm from her sister who had turned into a flesh eater. As she took the window and climbed the fence into her neighbour’s house she could still hear the terrifying screams of her sister as she banged the door continuously. 

Every night she still heard her sister’s screams. She hadn’t seen her sister since then, and she had no idea where she was, it was a sad thought that she tried to avoid but couldn’t. She also hadn’t seen or heard from either of her parents. Her guess was that they were now part of the horde of flesh eaters that roamed the earth or were dead, the thought wasn’t palatable and she tried to blank them out. Sometimes she thought she heard their voices, sometimes she would stare at the front door of the house and wish they would just walk in and tell her it was all a dream.

She was still within Lekki, but she had found a house to stay in a few streets away. It was big, the fence was high and fortified, and no one lived in it. So far, it had been a safe harbour. The beasts couldn’t get in, and she only went out to get supplies. There was an abandoned supermarket around the corner; she would usually take as much as she could carry to the house. She also went out to get fuel, to fuel the generator. There was one on the lekki express way that still had fuel, and since there were not too many people to use it, she had been getting more than enough fuel from there. She had been able to gather enough supplies to last her two years- mostly grains- enough food to stay alive. She was afraid of the day when she would run out of supplies; she tried not to think of it much.

 She would usually put on the generator in the day to make sure the food she cooked could last a few days in the refrigerator. She didn’t use the generator for any other thing. She knew she had to conserve fuel. At night all the lights were off, she had heard that light attracted the flesh eaters. She had learned to survive in the world as it was...dead.

The only way to generate light was through the generator, since power supply from the Lagos power grid had been terminated for about two months. After the plague, there was supply for a few months, and then everything suddenly went off one day, a complete black out. Whether it was power generation that had exhausted itself due to lack of man power or the transmission network had been sabotaged by crazy flesh eating zombies, she wasn’t sure.

She was a survivor, and she had learned to survive in the new world she had found herself, but she wasn’t sure for how long. She remembered the day she was attacked by some flesh eaters on her way to get fuel. She was on her way back when a flesh eater threw itself at the car- it was an SUV she had found in the house she stayed, strong and bulky. The effect of the collision was a little dent by the side. Then another one showed up, then another, and before she knew it, she was surrounded by five flesh hungry zombies. The guttural scream that came from creatures wasn’t new anymore, she had lived with it for six months and survived, and she wasn’t ready to die just yet.

She ran into one of them that stood in front of the car. She could hear the crunching of dead bones as she drove over the creature. Two other chased after the car but they couldn’t catch up, after a while she could see them at a distant through the rear view mirror. She had averted a threat. After then she had gotten herself a gun. It was a Smith & Wesson revolver, and she had about a carton of bullets. She wasn’t going to leave her survival to chance anymore.

She had gotten the gun from a supplier in one of the settlements just a few streets away- it was a risk she had to take. She had applied the necessary make up to look like one of them before going out. Some powder mixed with dust, some dark eye liners and a black lip stick lightly applied and mixed with a little bit of brown gave her that zombie look. The transaction was quick and straight to the point. No pleasantries, just a ‘What do you need? What do you have?’

‘Some gold, and electronics,’ the transaction was swift, and that was that, no questions needed, no friendships made.

Money had become useless, just a piece of paper that didn’t mean anything. Purchases were made with metals- gold, iron, silver- electronics or anything that could be put to good use. Fuel was also a good exchange commodity since some people either didn’t know where to get it or didn’t want to risk facing the flesh eaters.

We had gone back to trade by batter. That’s how the world worked now- you rub my back, I rub yours.

The world was in a mess, but she was determined to survive. She wasn’t sure for how long, but no zombie was going to take her life.

‘Not today,’ she told herself as she drove back home. Tears came down her eyes as she remembered the days when everything was normal- her mother’s smile, her sister’s laughter, her babes and their parties, the players, the pageants...the world.

She missed it, but right now, there was only one thing she had to concentrate on...

Staying Alive...

Z

The General stayed in a mansion, but I would call it a fortress. The walls were massive, with long curled metal barbed wires surrounding the fence. The barbed wires even extended to the sides of the fence.

‘Over the years I’ve tried to make my house as secure as possible,’ the general smiled, seeming to read what was going on in my mind, ‘I didn’t know it was for a purpose,’  General Yakubu paused seeming to skim through his mind, ‘Do you believe in the divine, Jide?’

‘Yes I do,’ we all grew up to believe in the divine. God was an integral part of every Nigerian growing up. I remembered when as a kid we’ll wake up by six every Sunday morning to prepare for sunday service. My mum would dress in her iro and buba, a popular Yoruba attire, and my dad usually just stuck to his suits. Though he did wear native attires sometimes, he preferred wearing the English three piece suit to Church; he had an endless supply of those suits. Pain filled my heart as I remembered my child hood, Sunday school, neighbourhood friends, school, play... Had God forsaken us? I wondered. I wondered if the Biblical hell could be any worse than this.

‘God has forsaken us,’ I could see the sadness in the general’s eyes. He must have been a very religious man. ‘I did a lot of terrible things in my life. We did anything to get to the top, but sometimes it was a case of doing what you had to do. Either you killed or you got killed. Things were insane. We lived in a world of madness, so maybe we deserve what we got. This must be punishment for all the evil we did,’ the general said. His eyes conjured all sorts of pain and regret.

‘We can correct it. Now mankind has another chance,’ we had a chance to correct all the wrongs we did before. Mankind now had the chance to correct its wrongs, start on a clean slate. I couldn’t wait to see the living girl. I wondered how she had stayed alive for so long.

‘You’ll see her soon Jide, and I’m sure you’d like her. She’s a sweet and very strong girl; So much resolve to stay alive, so much determination. Being the only human alive must have given her inner strength. She must have surmounted countless challenges. I remembered the first time I saw her- I could see the strength in her eyes,’ the general said. There was a spark in his eyes as he spoke about the girl. I would have though he was speaking about his own daughter.

We walked through an inner gate that was inside the fortress after the main gate.

‘Watch your steps, and make sure you follow my exact path,’ the general walked ahead, and I followed right behind him. The compound had been bobby trapped. I could see the signs, the bulge under the sand here and there, the wires cutting through the sand- mines; stun bombs, electromagnetic bombs, alarm triggers. The house was flesh eating zombie proof; none of those uncoordinated creatures would stand a chance here. ‘You can never be too careful,’ the general said.

‘I totally agree,’ I now understood why the General was so sure the girl was safe; in this fortress I would also be absolutely certain of the girl’s safety.

We finally reached the entrance of the main building. The door was fortified steel, the general typed in a secret password to get in. Inside was the girl, she stood in the middle of a large sitting room.  The furniture was elaborate, traditional Arabic styled furniture- massive and well sculpted. I never thought a place like this still existed in our present world.

The general laughed, ‘I kept my furniture.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ I imagined how wealthy the general must have been in his time.

‘Thank you,’ the general smiled as we approached the girl. She stood at the entrance of a corridor adjacent to the sitting room, staring at me. Her eyes were sharp and intelligent; I saw toughness in her eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had managed to survive the transition- years of turmoil and chaos.

I looked at her skin, it was smooth and beautiful. Her lips were full and she had the most amazing shape I had seen in a long time. Her veins throbbed with flowing blood.  She was alive and she was beautiful.

‘Nneka this is Jide, and he’s a very good friend of mine,’ the general’s introduction didn’t change the look on her face; she continued staring at me, analysing my every move. ‘Don’t worry Nneka, he’s a friend,’ even the general sensed the distance, ‘Jide, meet Nneka.’

‘I’m honoured,’ I was almost stuttering. I wasn’t sure if it was her beauty or my surprise at seeing a living breathing human after so many years. The succulence of her skin, the redness of her lips, the way her chest moved to the rhythm of her heart beat; it was all amazing. I could feel her life force even from a distance, it was beautiful- to live again and feel human once more would be the best thing that would happen to mankind.

Was I just a living dead, something just above mindless zombies, or was I a man, who would one day breathe and feel blood flow through his veins. I wanted to be a living and breathing man one day, and the only hope to that dream coming true stood right in front of me.

‘Nice to meet you Jide,’ she finally responded.

‘Em…Nice to meet you too Nneka,’ my voice seemed to come out in disconnected beats. I still hadn’t gained my composure.

I somehow felt a connection between the both of us, or was it only one way? She was beautiful, yes, but I was dead. We kept staring at each other.

‘Jide, feel free, we are safe here,’ the general gestured for me to sit down.

‘Thanks,’ I took a sit on one of the big comfortable chairs.

‘I guess both of you need some time to get used to each other. I’ll see you in a few minutes Jide,’ the general left the room, leaving me entirely alone with Nneka.

I looked around at the flat screens on the wall; some were surveillance, showing images from cameras stationed around the mansion.  Some cameras even captured the streets surrounding the fortress that housed the only hope of mankind. I imagined how Nneka must have looked before the transition, she was beautiful even now. I looked around at everything else except Nneka. Was I getting shy?

I finally summoned courage to talk. ‘It must be hard being the only one alive,’ what did I just say? That must have sounded really stupid.

Nneka smiled.

‘Sorry, I mean it must be great to be alive. You don’t get to see too many people like you these days,’ it only got worse.

Nneka laughed, ‘I guess so. You are really funny.’ Nneka took a seat on the adjacent chair. ‘Sorry, I’ve been a little cold since you came in. I just don’t trust people, except the general. He saved my life.’

‘I understand,’ I couldn’t stop staring at her. Her beauty was undeniable, but I also saw sadness in her eyes. She must have lost everyone she loved, like a lot of us. She had a cold calculating look. Her perception of things must have been skewed, taking lives to stay alive, killing to avoid being killed. I could see a lively spirit beneath everything, a spirit that had been tainted by fear and uncertainty, by death and chaos, but I also saw courage and a strong will. She wanted to stay alive. I wondered how it would have been if we had met years ago before the transition, maybe I would have had a chance with her. ‘The general is a good man,’ I said.

‘He’s a great man,’ she smiled, ‘he’s been like a father to me since we met.’

One of the screens was connected to the web; I could see data streaming continuously from the web. New findings, discussion forums, online communities by country, HOPE 411... That was my blog. The web was not as populated as it was before the transition, but it was still used as a means of information exchange, mostly for research information, movements, technological advancements, information exchange; everyone trying to find a voice in our present chaotic noise. There were servers worldwide that hosted all the data, and the end users had devices that could d******d data real time, and save data on the central server, a sought of cloud computing. There was a server in China, the USA, England, Germany, South Africa, and Calabar in Nigeria. We still used technology for a lot of things, defence, research and information exchange been the major uses.

‘The general has told me about you and your blog. But you know these days, a lot of people come up with all sorts of ideas,’ she had caught me staring at the monitor, ‘but, we are never really sure who’s genuine,’ She said looking straight into my eyes. She didn’t want to trust me.

‘Really, who can we trust in these crazy times-?’

‘I wasn’t exactly-’

‘I totally understand. It must have been tough staying alive in a world filled with dead people. I understand you must have lost loved ones, we all have, and believe me...it hurts. Or do you think we don’t have feelings. Of course not, we are dead; we are not supposed to have any feelings. But you are wrong, we do have feelings, and that’s what’s keeping us from becoming one of those flesh eaters out there- not that they asked to become flesh eating zombies, it’s just the way things are. We still don’t understand why we are the way we are and they are the way they are, or even why you are the way you are,’ I looked right into her eyes, and I could see tears streaming down her cheeks.

‘It’s just been so hard Jide, I feel lost in this world. Sometimes I wish I was dead, and I didn’t have to fight to survive every day. I wish everything would just be the way it was,’ Nneka said, the tears pouring down like a stream.

I could see a fighter, a survivor. She was strong, and I already admired her. ‘Nneka, I totally understand. I’ve also fought all the way to this point. Fought for what I believed in, fought to make people believe in a hope I so much believe in, even fought with my own doubts. If there was a chance to change the world as it is and create a future that would be better, even if we don’t get to live in that world, should we not take our chances?’

‘And you believe I am the one who can change everything?’ Nneka said, staring at the ground.

‘Yes Nneka, with all my heart. I believe that right now, you are our only hope, and you have to keep fighting because the whole world needs you. I believe in hope, and I believe you are the hope we’ve been waiting for,’ I smiled.

‘Thank you Jide, but that puts me in an odd position,’ she smiled back.

‘I guess so.’

‘To even think I am the only one living human in the whole world is such a burden. Before now the only burden I carried was staying alive, now I am the only hope of the world? That’s not much of a relief is it?’She lifted her gaze to the ceiling, and then dropped it to look at me. Our eyes met for a second before she looked away again.

She was beautiful, and I couldn’t help thinking how it would have been if I was alive, ‘I can imagine how you must feel right now. But just know one thing, we are all behind you- the general, I, and the whole world- and we’ll make it through,’ I could imagine the battle going on in her mind, the weight of the world had just been put on her shoulders.

‘Thanks, I feel better already,’ she said looking into my eyes and smiling. She was a mixture of everything; shy, strong, confident, soft, and hard. I guess that’s what been alive was about. Sometimes I felt as if I had never been alive, like I never had the breath of life and had always been the way I was. It’d been such a long time since I saw a living breathing human, it sometimes felt like the world had always been the way it was.

‘Jide, its time to prepare for tomorrow,’ the general came down the stairs. ‘Let me show you into my armoury, you’ll love it.’

I stood up to follow General Yakubu. ‘I’ll see you around Nneka,’ I paused and turned to look at Nneka who remained on the chair, she was beautiful.

‘Sure,’ she said, smiling.

Z

Now that Okoro was sure that Jide was out of the way, his plan was falling into place. Nobody dared to stand in his way, while some didn’t exactly care, and he had been able to gather more following. 

Why hope for something better when what they had was the best that could happen to any being- immortality. He was going to usher in the new world of immortals, the age of the immortals, and he would rule that world. Though it will take a few years before his total plan was achieved, he was willing to keep playing his cards, and so far he’d been winning.

He had waited a few days before going after Jide’s mother, though a part of him didn’t want to bother at all, she wasn’t a threat to his plan since Jide was out of the way.

He had considered the resources he would spend on going after the beast, but his stubborn part wanted to finish what he had started. The tracker that was on her indicated she was in the Ogba area of Ikeja, Lagos.

He didn’t care, he would go all the way to Ogba, go through the zombie infested streets, rebel settlements, pirate clans, and whatever it took to get to her. He was going to find her, and when he did, he would kill her. He would destroy every trace of Jide’s existence, the son was gone, and now the mother would be effaced from the face of the earth.

He smiled at himself- the future emperor of the new Earth.

Earth Immorta.

Z

This was General Yakubu’s gadget room. I could see all sorts of guns, the AK47, the Isreali Uzi, the MAC-10 sub machine gun, the M16, the R4, the new ST4 Nigerian Laser gun... it was a feast of artillery. There were trackers, electromagnetic guns, vibrator bombs, light grenades. Everything I needed was here, tomorrow was the day. I was now in perfect condition, and was ready for war. First I was going to find my mother, and then I would hunt down Okoro.

I needed a good plan to infiltrate the settlement since Okoro would have won the allegiance of most of the settlers, and I’m sure he would fight back with everything he had. But I had one thing he didn’t, the element of surprise. Okoro thought I was dead, and that was the advantage I had. He should have killed me while he had the chance.

My soul was more alive than it had ever been. Now I knew there was hope, something to fight for, a chance to life... and she was beautiful.

The thought of her made me smile, and I wondered why.

If Okoro knew about Nneka, I wondered what he would do. I knew of Okoro’s delusion and was sure he would go to any length to destroy any form of hope if he sensed there was any. Okoro loved the world as it was- the chaos, the hopelessness; and chance for absolute power. Okoro was too dangerous to be left alive, or rather to be left to exist at all. One man shouldn’t stand in the way of hope.

‘I’m sure you like them,’ General Yakubu said, finally breaking the silence.

‘They are beautiful,’ in the room I had everything I would need, the guns, the trackers, and every single gadget I had planned on getting, it even surpassed my expectations, ‘You have quite a collection. It’s amazing.’

‘Thanks, I spent years collecting the best weapons. This is the result,’ the general said raising his hand. ‘Tomorrow morning, we’ll find your mother, and then make sure this Okoro of a Man doesn’t cause any more problems.’

I thought I heard ‘we’, was the general planning on going with me? ‘General, you don’t have to go with me. It’s going to be risky and I have no assurances of safety.’

‘I was trained for Danger my boy. I need some new action. You don’t need to worry about me,’ the general replied, smiling and feigning holding a riffle with his hands, ‘ I have been in battles all my life, and this is just another one, and I would like to help a friend.’

It was going to be a dangerous one, and I could use all the help I could get, ‘Thank you General,’ I shook the general’s hands, I already liked the former general- to me he was still a general. In his eyes I saw wisdom and experience... and I remembered my father.

Tomorrow was my day, and I believed it.

Z

Nneka couldn’t get Jide out of her mind. He had gone into the armoury with General Yakubu for about 30 minutes, and a part of her couldn’t wait for them to come out so she could see him. What was it that made Jide different? She wondered. He looked like the rest of them, pale skin, dry lips, grey eyes. He was dead like everybody in this God forsaken world, so what made her feel different towards him.

The last time she had felt like this about anyone was when the world was as it used to be, Bade was a tall handsome Yoruba boy, just like Jide. Not that she had any particular penchant for Yoruba boys, but her first boyfriend happened to be Yoruba, so was Jide, and tribes didn’t exactly matter in the new dead earth. There was only one common factor in the present earth....Death. Everyone was dead, except her.

There was something in his eyes that cut through her. Something in his soul that burned, she had never seen such intense fire in anybody before. He believed in everything he said, and part of her believed him. But was she truly the only hope the earth had. That was an immense burden to carry. A part of her didn’t want to believe she was the only living human, there must be others.

Sometimes she felt so much pressure especially with this new messiah status. General Yakubu had told her about her being the key to the future. She still wondered why she lived through it all. Why had she survived the transition? Why had she been able to survive several zombie attacks? There had been some close calls that she was only able to survive by luck.

General Yakubu called it destiny. God had kept her for this moment, to be mankind’s only hope. But why had God allowed such fate to befall man in the first place. A part of her wanted to run away to a place where nobody would find her.

Then she thought of Jide again.

Why?

Staying strong was the way she had stayed alive this long. She laughed at herself; did she already have a crush for Jide. It reminded her of her school days when babes would develop instant crushes for any guy that was good looking and smooth. Those days were forever gone and she missed them. She wished everything would just go back to normal.

She had to deal with these feelings. She needed to stay strong, for herself, for her survival... but she did like Jide. He was still good looking despite the zombie status.

Jide and General Yakubu walked into the sitting room, and Nneka’s heart skipped a bit. She almost felt Jide’s hands moving all over her skin. She had to snap out of it.

Stay strong Nneka. He’s dead for God’s sake.

‘Hello,’ Jide said, smiling at her.

‘Hi,’ she responded in a very cold manner.

Jide wondered why she was so cold. ‘Are you ok?’ he smiled.

‘Yes,’ his smile... She had to be strong. This was the wrong time to start having feelings for anybody. She had to be strong, on her own. ‘I’m off to bed.’

‘Ok,’ Jide said. He had a bewildered look on his face. She was sure why. They had spoken deeply a few minutes ago. They had connected on an intimate level... She had cried. But all of that wouldn’t help her at this point. She needed focus.

‘Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight,’ she walked straight past him, wanting badly to have one more look at him, but instead she kept her gaze straight ahead. ‘Good night, General.’

‘Goodnight, Nneka,’ General Yakubu replied.

She could feel his gaze stroking her back. For a moment she imagined his hand stroking her back.

Snap out of it Nneka! She had to stay focused. Her mind was her most valuable asset in these crazy times. She couldn’t afford to lose that too.

Sorry Jide... Goodnight.