"We are going to use you as a ransom to get Austin back, our boss and member of the Zeal society." he said, changing the gears and pumping more gas as he pa.s.sed Josiah Tongogara road. It was the same old job: extraction and delivery with a hint of malignant intent. Nicholai cruised along Sam Nujoma road with one objective in hand. To get Austin back! However, in between feeling driven and switching gears, Nicholai heard a loud shrill. Bob who was in the pa.s.senger seat was startled by the unusual sound. Eventually they began to hear unintelligent voices, the kind that desecrated purity and innocence. The street lights and many other lights that emanated from the buildings in the Avenues neighbourhood began to lose their visibility. Even the far background and foreground that showed the Na.s.sa building and the rest of Sam Nujoma road up to George Silundika Avenue could not be seen. It was as if someone had poured black paint over Nicholai"s field of vision. Everything had begun to lose its visibility to the point that it became pitch black. The screaming and disturbing voices grew louder and progressively thunderous to the extent Bob screamed out, "What the h.e.l.l is going on?!" Nicholai roared as he lost sight of the road, swerving his vehicle to his own demerit. The darkness had engulfed the encompa.s.sing environment, maiming it with a void of unquestionable depth. Nicholai"s vehicle flipped over and crashed. This was an unexpected turn of events and something that Nicholai had not prepared for beforehand. The coming of the infinite darkness had made its appearance, an era of weeping and gnashing of teeth that was surely going deface all manner of life, the coming age of terror.
The horrors echoed in the background as the incapacitated two remained motionless in the now upside down car. After a few minutes Nicholai woke up, dealing with the sores and bruises on his arms and temple respectively. The window screen cracked with fragments of the shards of gla.s.s all scattered around. These intricate details weren"t visible at all to Nicholai who seemed to be only seeing black. He fumbled through the vehicle as he heard the noises. He called out bob"s name and got no reply. He could feel his partner"s body but could not tell whether he was dead or just knocked out due to the crash. In his claustrophobic predicament, the violent and depraved noises reigned supreme, muting any other possible sound. Nicholai felt like covering his ears with earplugs but his hands didn"t have such a leeway to manoeuvre. All Nicholai could do was just endure as the diabolical noises sent chills down his spine. The sounds of hopeless, the sounds of suffering and sound of death were all he could hear and in that moment, Nicholai was vulnerable. Suddenly his breast pocket, which had been concealing a tiny spherical marble, began to glimmer. The sphere glowed and dispersed the darkness in the car. The light was differed and didn"t have much intensity. In an instant Nicholai could now see the shard of gla.s.s and the rear view mirror that revealed to him cuts and sc.r.a.pes on his face. Nicholai examined the sphere, which was glowing and prodded it with his fingers. He then remembered what it was and said out loud, "Its Austin"s essence." He said this in an absent minded state as if he was expecting his discovery to be also marvelled by Bob. As soon as he glanced at Bob"s body, he noticed that his temple was bleeding and that most probably he had suffered a severe head injury. Nicholai tried shaking Bob but the man from Newcastle didn"t budge at all. After giving up on the effort to awaken his colleague he decided to unstrap the seat belt that had incarcerated him in the uncomfortable bind. As he tried to yank off the belt, he suddenly heard a deep exhale of a creature. It was somewhere near the vehicle, but he couldn"t quite pinpoint its location. Its guttural nostrils sniffed the vehicle, searching for its meal. Despite the loud and disturbing cacophony of horror in the background, Nicholai could hear this creature. Its slithering gave away its size, which was probably that of a whale. In an instant, the vehicle that had crashed near Five avenue was flung by the beast. Nicholai was helpless in this situation as his body felt the impact of the vehicle being tossed. It was no different from being in free fall, but this was the kind of fall that promised great pain and fl.u.s.tration.
The clanging of the metal as the vehicle crashed bruised Nicholai"s back with relentless severity. The demon however did not consider his misfortune and thus pursued the flung vehicle with murderous intent. Nicholai sensed the coming of the oblivion and disembarked himself out of the now disgorged BMW. He kicked the door open and hurled himself out as the demon dropped its weight on the vehicle. Bob"s body was pressed down to the point of graphic mutilation. The terror in the eyes of the Russian man was one that could not be described in words as he saw the state of his vehicle and his partner go through a grotesque desolation. This was not what he had planned for and this was clearly going to inhibit his plan. The luminous sphere in his breast pocket did not do much to add clear visibility of what was before him, but the little he could distinguish in the infinite darkness was enough for him to take relative defensive action. Nicholai was worried about Tanaka who was in the boot as the creature slithered over the pa.s.senger seat, crushing the right side of the vehicle. Nicholai crawled his way to safety as he saw the demon glare at him with empty eyes of savagery. The two Berettas, which had been strapped to his lower back, were quickly unsheathed and fired at the wretched abomination. Nicholai clenched his teeth as he gutted it down, emptying both cartridges of his two weapons. The demon"s exterior flesh was destroyed by the bullets, peeling it to death as it slithered towards Nicholai. The fiend tasted death and fell before Nicholai who looked as if his heart had almost given out. His sweat had dampened his clothing and his adrenaline had kicked into another gear. His breathing, his concentration and even acceptance of what he had seen, were all distorted and trying to find precedence in his situation. The moment of shock quickly disappeared as he felt the flow of blood on his hip. The vehicle being tossed had done much more damage than he had expected, but there was no time to whimper over his pain. The creatures in the infinite darkness were sure to come and grab his attention, but what was even more dreadful was what was happening to the inhabitants of the Avenues. The hapless souls who had been asleep in their apartments, mistaking the darkness for the usual power cuts that occurred in Zimbabwe were now in great suffering. As the teeth of the depraved sunk their teeth into the flesh of the ma.s.ses, a great unanimous cry was echoed in that area. Nicholai could hear children, fathers, mothers and the elderly scream to their heart"s content. The forced entry into the homes and private property were audible in the cacophony. The breaking of windows, furniture, walls and even the bursting of pipes were complementary to the already existing discord. In that moment, Nicholai realised how grave his situation was and pondered over what to do next. He remembered his initial objective and thought about retrieving Tanaka"s body. He hoped that the boy would be still alive, and as soon as he got back on his feet, he made his way towards the car. As he trotted, clinging onto his hip to stop the flow of blood, something suddenly descended from the sky. It was abrupt in its landing and quickly devoured the carca.s.s of the creature he had just killed. The unusual act of cannibalism was the least of Nicholai"s concerns as he was faced with the dreaded choice of either retrieving Tanaka whilst nursing his injury in a hostile environment or fleeing from the scene until he recuperated. Though these options played out in his head, the unknown beings of the infinite darkness were not like people who would act according to his logic. Nicholai eventually made the decisive call and ran away from the dreaded creature. Whatever would happen to Tanaka was now beyond his control. His decision had peeved him inside, but his pride would not equate to his survival in this situation. All Nicholai could do was just trot down Baines Avenue as he tried by all means to avoid the distracted beast which was relishing on the flesh of its own kind. The light that emanated from the breast pocket slowly began to increase in vigour, going from being dim to being a bit bright. As this happened he had just pa.s.sed the Baines avenue flats" neighbourhood main gate, getting a glimpse of a screaming man who was being pursued by reptilian maggots which had serrated teeth. This ghastly imagery made him wonder whether he would encounter such as he trotted away. Nicholai could only recall hearing the tearing of human flesh and demented laughter as the man met his end in the darkness. This was only going to escalate further into a nightmare of obscene proportions and Nicholai was already beginning to doubt his chances. As his light became more luminous, he could now see at most a meter"s worth of visible objects within his immediate position. The sudden rise in intensity from the sphere of light had surprised Nicholai, but what he had not prepared for was when the sphere dissolved. It liquefied itself and soaked his chest, but as a result of such happening, the unexpected happened. Nicholai grew a white fiery aura, which covered his body from head to toe. He was now no more different from a fluorescent walking light bulb inside a thick black fog of darkness. Nicholai darted at his body, marvelling at the glistening aura, which seemed to be keeping him warm, but the pangs of his bleeding hip made his awe short lived. He coughed out blood and cursed as he moved along. The sound of a plane that was plummeting began to increase gradually, even getting to the point of muting the screams of the people who were suffering in the Avenues. As Nicholai wondered what was going on, he heard a sudden boom and loud explosion. The impact of the crash landing was as if a thunderous drum interspersed with the friction of sc.r.a.p metal. The plane had crashed in Chinamano Avenue, just before new Mazoe road. This was to the north east of Nicholai"s current position and this, as he expected, was one of the elements that was going to escalate the chaos and carnage. The level of uncertainty reached a towering high in Nicholai and made him wonder what he was to do next in a situation that he could not predict. His aura of light, which acted more like a bulb emitting light, managed to show him the sign post of Baines clinic. It was the towering facility that was just after the Baines Avenue flats, separated from the compacted neighbourhood by the usual asbestos durawall. The visage of the facility made him realise that he could patch up his bleeding hip with the medical utensils inside. His first objective had become clear and he thus made his way to the clinic, which looked more like a hospital. As Nicholai turned right, heading towards the entrance that had the usual guard post and barricades, the demon, which had ignored him to devour its own kin had now averted its attention towards him. The fiendish beast galloped towards Nicholai, smashing into the durawall that acted as the bulwark to the facility. The escalation towards a bitter and grave night had now begun and this surely he would never forget.
Nicholai pa.s.sed the pharmacy, which was locked and sprinted towards the adjacent block that had the patient wards. As soon as he reached the gla.s.s revolving doors, he found a nurse who was crouching near the receptionist counter. The great darkness that had infringed the room before had now been subsided by his aura. The light that emanated from his body revealed to him a perfect example of ma.s.s hysteria in a chaotic environment. The corridors had nurses and other complimentary staff members cringing in fear on the floor with some screaming at the sound of the unintelligent voices. Nicholai took out his carbine, which he had tucked away in his jacket and pointed it at the nurse. The sight of a glowing man was one thing, but the sight of one pointing a gun at her was something that the nurse wasn"t prepared for. She immediately rose up from where she was and ran the opposite direction. Nicholai was speechless upon seeing the young ebony skinned nurse leave before he had a chance to siphon information from here. He only needed to ascertain where the medical kit and drugs were kept, but this was probably the worst time to be interrogating people. Nicholai thus pa.s.sed the ground floor and made his way to the first floor where encountered people who were either being devoured by a grotesque being or were running away aimlessly without the ability to perceive anything in the darkness. Some staff members in the clinic mistook Nicholai as a man with a flash light. The moment they noticed that the light was just aura around his body, the staff members were startled at the sight of Nicholai. This was a perplexing situation for them indeed and to make matters worse a number of creatures had invaded the premises. Patients who had been sleeping in their wards were devoured without a forewarning. As Nicholai began to call out for a doctor, he began to see a lot of carnage and mayhem in the hospital. The brutality in which the janitors, nurses, security guards, and patients were ma.s.sacred was represented on the walls: gallons of blood, limbs, and protruding flesh were all decorating the walls. Nicholai from time to time fired his carbine at the creatures, as he called out for a doctor. He opted to treat himself but realised that he wouldn"t have time to do so. The demon, which he had left outside, had entered the facility, but it soon forgot about him when it discovered humans that had been quivering in the darkness, unable to see and in a stationary position. What that creature did to them was beyond the descriptive capabilities of any sane man, it was purely horrid and beyond remorse. This all took place on the ground floor, which Nicholai had left. He finally found a medic kit compartment which was mounted on the walls and broke it open by striking the gla.s.s casing with the hilt of his gun. The shards of gla.s.s all decorated the hospital floors and made a sc.r.a.pe-like sound as Nicholai walked over them. He took a bottle of spirit, a needle and thread, bandages, morphine bags and a plastic container full of penicillin. Nicholai then immediately ran into a random ward and settled in it. In the room, he found a nurse and a female doctor crouching and hugging one of the patients on the bed respectively. The sight of him walking in and dispersing the pitch black darkness that had engulfed the room had given them relief, but at the same time, seeing a glowing man was something no one would be ever ready for. The chubby toffee skinned nurse with an oblong face, puffy cheeks, small succulent lips, pulled back hair and a blue attire screamed out, "Mhama mhama!" Nicholai ignored the scream of the woman and the astonishing glare from the female doctor. He instead tended to his wound and began to st.i.tch it up, applying the spirit and subtly grunting at the pain. The young boy on the bed, who was being embraced in the form of a mother-like hug from the female doctor, glanced at the man. His faint voice, which echoed a weakness only peculiar to those maimed by illness, addressed a question at the man.
"Are you an angel?" asked the young boy. He was an 8 years old, scrawny, pale ebony skinned boy with short hair, a thin and narrow face, and eyes that looked droopy. His question startled the doctor who had been covering his head to alleviate him from the anxiety of the screaming monsters in the darkness. Nicholai was bewildered by such a question, but quickly replied, "Um no angel, just a man. You over there, doctor aren"t you? Come here fix me up." The doctor"s eyes were instantly drawn towards the man"s eyes with utter stupefaction. Her initial reaction towards the summoning was that of stern refusal. However, Nicholai raised his carbine, which consequently caused both the doctor and nurse to scream. Nicholai fired one shot at ceiling, which caused some plaster to fall onto the floor. The warning shot filled the doctor with horror and petrified the nurse. The doctor, who was in her mid thirties, had a healthy and well maintained thick figure, wavy curly hair fresh from the salon, squint eyes, a supple round face with well-defined cheek bones, and a height of 6 feet. She looked at Nicholai with great uncertainty and at the same time tried to take in the reality that things had gone way off the tangent of sanity. The glowing man to her was as frightening as the absence of light and the disturbing voices in the darkness. Her inner being wanted to stay put where she was, but she decided to oblige the man with the gun. She kissed the young boy on the forehead and told him, "Listen to me John, don"t panic on me. Everything is going to be okay. Keep calm and think happy thoughts. Everything is going to be okay. Dr. Rondozai isn"t going anywhere, just stay strong."
"Hurry up now or else I will shoot your friend!" roared Nicholai. Dr. Rondozai slowly removed herself from the bed-ridden boy called John and shuffled slowly towards the glowing man. Nicholai could have easily continued to patch himself up, but believed that the best thing he needed was the expertise of one in the medical field. As Dr. Rondozai approached him, the window at the opposite end from where Nicholai was" was broken from outside. A yeast-like creature with dark granular textured skin with orifices all over its exterior and a withered amphibious body, was fuming with the souls of those it had devoured. The now exposed part of the room facilitated the rush of hot humid air. It was no different from a mid summer heat wave as a result of diffusion. This change of atmosphere complimented the arrival of the demon, but what was more frightening was the fact that there was another person at the far end of the room. The other bed, which was adjacent to the one John was lying on, was separated from his bed by a curtain. The heavy drapery had concealed almost half of the rest of the room and only exposed the window, which had been broken by the demon. The nurse jumped back upon hearing the smashing of the gla.s.s and even shrilled upon hearing the scream of a young teenage girl. It had become apparent to everyone that there was one more human being in the room. Dr. Rondozai, acting upon instinct, ran to get John off his bed. Nicholai observed the frenzy that took place before him and quickly reloaded his weapon and fired 6 shots at the demon. The bullets didn"t do much to stop it, as it prepared to lunge itself at him. The screaming girl behind the curtain had been ignored by the creature and it was now Nicholai who was on the menu. The nurse fastened her body at the very corner of the room whilst Dr. Rondozai concealed John in her arms. The creature"s speed of propulsion was like lightning and so was its quick death. As soon as it got close enough to maim the man, its ghastly body disintegrated into a pile putrid flesh. The remnants of its muscle tissue crinkled away into nothingness and disappeared. Nicholai who had not blinked at all at the sight of such a phenomenon feigned heavy panting. The girl who had been behind the curtain continued to cry, pouring out her tears without a hint of reservation. She eventually made her way to Nicholai and the rest, with a brisk walk that reflected her fear. She was 5.5feet tall, pet.i.te, light ebony skinned with an oval shaped head, greasy elongated hair, and wide hips. Her face was crisp and etched with a brazen look that was complemented by her thin and sharp nose, but yet still maintained a feminine elegance expected from a young lady. As soon as she got to the other side, she curled into a ball right next to Nicholai, cringing in fear as she chanted, "Daddy still loves me, daddy still loves me." Nicholai glanced at the young child and whispered said to her, "Um sure he does, you"re safe now." He grunted as he said this, now tending to his wound. The nurse went on a cursing spree, wondering what the h.e.l.l was going on as she quivered in her corner. The doctor who had earlier on feared the presence of Nicholai soon enough asked him, "Who are you? What was that thing just now?" Nicholai wanted her to tend to his wounds but realised that this was the wrong time to be subjugating civilians. He instead took a long pause and asked, "Do you believe in the principle of natural selection?" Dr. Rondozai remained quiet and didn"t attempt to answer him. She hugged and comforted John who was at the breaking point of fear. He was in a state of shock and undeniable dread. His heart was thumping hard and somehow Dr. Rondozai knew that he needed every bit of her comfort to remain strong. This was the horror and fret everyone was sharing in the room. Nicholai who was irked by her silence went on to say, "Well you see, natural selection has made mankind obsolete... well the majority at least. Only the select few who survive will become part of the paradise."
"Select few?" asked the nurse who seemed perplexed at the same time still afraid of the glowing man.
"Yes, the select few under the leadership of my boss, in the era of Austin." said Nicholai with a grating smug on his face. None of them understood what Nicholai was saying and at this point, anything he was going to say was going to be considered as gibberish. An ominous silence fell in the room, which was soon to be toppled by the sounds of two women crying and one boy sulking. The only two who did not indulge in the whimpering were Dr. Rondozai and the glowing man from Russia. The door, which had been shut in the room, was suddenly burst open. The face of a stout light skinned ebony man wearing a standard Hawaii summer t-shirt and denim trousers was accompanied by 3 other men. The man who had just waltzed in was covered in blood, but not his blood. The flesh of those who had been mutilated in the Baines Clinic hospital had been sprinkled all over his body with such murderous precision. The man who walked in felt relieved to have just escaped the carnage in the darkness. It was the same for other two who were trailing behind him; however, the fourth escapee wasn"t as lucky as his companions were. As the three walked in, Dr. Rondozai and the rest of the gang were startled by their dramatic entrance and the nurse did not miss an opportunity to scream her lungs out upon seeing the blood drenched stout man. Dr. Rondozai blocked John"s ears and held him tight, not even giving the time of day to the peculiarities before her. It was clear to her that things had completely gone south. She was as petrified as the rest of them, but she was remaining strong willed for the sake of John. However, that strength was soon short lived upon the arrival of the fourth man. The fourth man had just put one leg into the room before a mangled thorn like ligament had punch through his chest, coming out the other side. Everyone who was in the ward watched in horror as he was yanked back into the darkness. He was returned to the void where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth, unprecedented violation of one"s body and s.a.d.i.s.tic brutality. Dr. Rondozai cried upon seeing the gratuitous violence and subsequent death of her colleague. In that moment, she let lose her emotions. The 3 men who had survived; the stout man with the Hawaii summer t-shirt who had entered first, the security guard who was wearing his black uniform and a semi-athletic 20 year old boy, had arrived to further their understanding of fear. The moment they realised that the source of light which they had a.s.sumed was from a flash light or solar lantern was actually Nicholai, they went into another frenzy of fear and one of them even began to chant a prayer. Everything in that moment had gone to s.h.i.t way too fast for their ability to be desensitized. The only room with the light became the one Nicholai was in. From the top floor to the bottom floor of Baines Clinic, there was murder and suffering. Patients, staff, doctors who had stayed for their night shift and the neighbouring flats all around had been subjugated to great terror and savagery. No one knew what was going on exactly in the world except for Nicholai who had just finished patching up his wound. However, what they clearly shared together was their mutual acknowledgement of the present fear in their lives, the existence of the infinite darkness. At the back of Nicholai"s mind, he was wondering whether Tanaka was still alive. Austin had told him that he was going to be the one who brings the child to him and as far as he was concerned, Austin was never wrong. As those in the hospital met their fatalistic end and those in the surrounding neighbourhood met their demise, Nicholai could not help but burst into a guttural laughter saying, "The world is dead; this is now the era of darkness!"