Chapter 61

At Chingwere Level 1 hospital, a patient in a ward kept shouting and screaming at the nurses. It had been three days now since he was brought in. The people who brought him in didn't wait to answer much questions; they just dropped him in and rushed back to where they had come from. The only thing the nurses knew was that he was a prince from a certain village which apparently, the Chief's house had caught fire. They felt pity for him because he is the sole survivor of the ghastly accident; His whole family had died in the fire outbreak.

Two nurses heard the loud screams from the ward. 'When will he shut up?" The first nurse asked.

'He's in pains and you could see he is a village boy, he's probably scared and not used to all these," the second nurse added.

'Huh, it's now becoming irritating and he still doesn't want anyone to wash his wounds. How will he get well?"

'He got burnt so bad. His whole leg is reddish. These jobs we dream of. Sometimes i just wish i was a teacher."

'Just go and settle him down. Give him a sedative before washing the wound."

The nurses parted ways while the other one walked to the wards where the screams were coming from. She reached the ward and found everyone complaining about the noise.

'Give him something," one patient shouted upon seeing the nurse.

The nurse walked to a stall, flipped open the curtain and found the boy crying, obviously in pain. She felt pity for him looking at the wound.

'Time to wash the wound," she said regretfully.

He screamed, 'No, it hurts," sending the whole ward into a frenzy.

She quickly got a syringe and assured him it minimizes the pain he was feeling. She rolled him over to the other side and injected him. She stayed by his side waiting for him to feel numb in his legs.

'So what's your name?" She asked.

'Walutanga," he answered drowsily.

'Okay Walu," she paused. 'Can i call you Walu?" She stood up.

'Yes."

'Lets have this wound cleaned up."

'Where is my family?" He asked before closing his eyes.

****

Limping into the woods, Hunter had escaped the village clinic. He could hear the nurses shouting behind him but he wasn't going back. From the time he had been awake in the clinic, he had strategized how to take off. It wasn't difficult to do because the staff at the clinic weren't as many. Another thing he couldn't stop thinking of was the fire that killed Walu's family. That was no ordinary fire, he thought to himself.

He reached the small hut he had spent the night in the night of the fire. He changed his clothes. He threw the clothes he had wore and packed a few things. He walked to the site where they were building the school. There was no one. He walked round the unfinished building and knelt down where there was an anthill. He looked around one more time. He dug deep into the ground and removed a black plastic bag from it. He opened it and checked. There were a ton of kwacha bills in it.

He was torn between going to the city and going to the next village to meet up with Walutanga's sister. He first decided to go to the Chief's place and see what was happening.

Upon reaching there, he found people gathered crying and some people were searching for some things on the burnt down house. He stayed off sight until one woman recognised him.

'You're supposed to be in the hospital," she said feeling sorry for him.

He only looked at her.

She felt afraid especially looking into those eyes, 'The boy is alive. He's in the city."

'Where?"

'Matero level 1 hospital," another woman joined in. 'This has been a tragedy. We hope he will get better because as it stands, it is only his uncle who is fit to rule this village and yet nobody knows where he disappeared to together with his….."

'Don't talk about that," another old woman interrupted. 'It's such a shame to even think about it. Moreover, a message has been to his sister in the next village. Everyone is just wondering why she hasn't showed up yet."

More reason to go to the next village, Hunter thought. He didn't want to think about the mentioned uncle because he had never heard of him. He left the women with his mind made up of where he would go next. Two names kept bugging him though, Ben and Devi, he somehow felt they had something to do with the fire, but why? What he knew was that they were almost getting the land they wanted. Why would they set fire to the palace? He limped his way into the road that led to the next village. He knew he would reach by evening.

*****

Angry, Ludo almost raised her hand, when she saw how Caesar looked at her. She quickly came back to her senses realizing that her job was at stake. She calmed herself down and stopped. Bowing her head, she turned around leaving Erica and Caesar and directly went to the reception and left Caesar's car keys with the receptionist. When going out, she bumped into Jean who recognised her.

'Ludo!" He exclaimed.

She clicked her tongue and felt like she could insult him. It was no surprise to her seeing him here because where Erica was, that's where he definitely would be. She was only surprised that he was still with her after all these years.

'Excuse me," she walked right through him hitting him.

As she was walking, she heard a young girl screaming and shouting, 'Dad! Dad! Dad!"

She turned around and saw the little girl running towards Jean who embraced her. Ludo rolled her eyes and figured what that was. Who thought Erica could even have a child? She probably was one of the most worst mothers, Ludo thought to herself as she walked to the bus station. She boarded a bus to Melanie's place because that was the only place she would want to be at that moment. She wanted to talk but as it stood, she didn't know what would happen to her job which she had almost just sabotaged with her temper.

*****

Hunter arrived at the village around 7:30pm. He was exhausted and needed some water. He asked for it as soon as he saw the first hut. He drank the water briskly and left. He didn't want any attention to be drawn to him. He had been in this village before with Walutanga. They had visited some two years ago but Hunter didn't reach the Chief's house though He knew where it was. He found his way but reaching there, the place was dead silent.

Noticing the unusual, he took cover. His instincts told him there was something wrong. There were no guards in the vicinity and not even voices speaking, and Hunter thought it somewhat strange being the Chief's house. Whilst kneeling, he tried to pick up any sound but there was none. He crawled to a hut that seemed like a kitchen. Whilst heading there, he bumped into a dead dog. He checked the dog and figured it was poisoned. Now he was sure something was definitely wrong.

The only house that had lights on was the small main house. Getting closer to the house, he heard a sound of what seemed to be a generator. He slowly stood up and opened the first door he encountered. Whilst his hand was on the door knob, the generator stopped and took the lights out with it. He was running blind.

Luckily, he had a small torch with him. He got it out from his bag and switched it on. He got into a room and found a body laying on the ground. He knelt down to check but the person was long dead. He continued moving until he heard a moan.

'Don't kill me please," a woman cried.

Hunter heard her and pointed the torch at her direction, it was Walutanga's sister. He recognized her from the last time he was there, he had seen her from a distance. He rushed to her. She was laying on her back with a machete buried deep into her stomach. He lifted her head not knowing what to do to help her.

'Don't kill me," she cried again. 'My children."

'Who did this?"

'My children." she repeated

'Please tell me who did this."

'Who are you?" She asked him.

'I'm your brother's friend."

'You must be Hunter," she was certain. 'Take care of my brother please, the people who did this wants my whole family wiped out. He trusts and looks up to you."

'Let me get you out of here," Hunter didn't know how to carry her.

He tried to see what he could do with the machete in her stomach. He reached for it and as soon as he grabbed it, he heard a noise.

CLICK CLICK followed by the flash of a camera.

He couldn't see the person behind it but whoever that was, took off running. Hunter chased the man. He slowly increased his pace ignoring the pain his whole body was feeling. Getting out of the house, he saw the man disappearing into the woods. He quickly took off. He ran to where he heard the branches of the small trees breaking off. He got nearer to the person by running as fast as he could and when he was a meter away from him, he dived at him sending them both onto a road.

Hunter quickly got up and got on top of the man. There was no light, he couldn't see him. He punched the man in the face and when he wanted to punch him again, the man blocked him and gripped his burnt hand so hard that he let go of him thereby giving the man a chance to smack him in the face with his temple sending Hunter on the dust road.

Trying to get up, Hunter saw the man taking off again. He quickly got up and sprinted to him like a cheetah, grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him back smashing his back on the road. He got a stick from a nearby tree and repeatedly whipped him.

'Who are you?" Hunter shouted. 'Why did you kill those people?"

Blinded by anger, Hunter didn't see the car coming at the speed of light behind him and by the time he saw it, he just saw a very bright light shone on him followed by a skidding sound. Before he could know it, he was hit and sent flying into the woods breaking each and every branch of the trees he bumped into. His wounds bled heavily.

His eye sight became blur until he finally passed out.