LIFE IMPRISONMENT 1
WRITTEN BY: GRACE OLAYEMI
The clouds of misery descended fiercely as Danger and his boys dreadfully alighted from their van. The ground shook, the leaves quiver and the walls tremble as they gallantly proceeded with guns, cutlasses, knives and other dangerous weapons. Everyone present at the scene wished they had died before having to witness such a moment. Panic flooded through their veins and fear built a stupendous edifice in their hearts. The children cried in fear and held on forcefully to their parents clothes as though their lives depended on it. The women released the contents of their bladders as every vein in their bodies loosed coordination and the men perspired like Christmas goats.
Danger was not in a hurry to leave the scene and he and his men took their time to ransack every vehicle. They were fully masked and therefore were not bothered about getting caught. They didn’t have to issue out any instruction to any of their victims because they all handed over their car keys, money boxes, jewelries and every other valuable in their cars. The victims knew resisting Danger or trying to act smart was like signing a death sentence. They were already face to face with Danger and leaving that place alive would be a testimony as they all longed for the misery to end.
Danger looked from car to car as though he was searching for something. He checked the faces of every man present at the scene and he hissed in disappointment when he could not spot the man he had gone on the street for.
“What is the meaning of all this nonsense?” He spat in rage.
“What?” Trouble asked while the others trembled at the tone of his voice. Trouble was Danger’s childhood friend and the only one that seemed bold enough to answer his question with a question. Danger was a terror to all and even his guys knew that their lives meant nothing to him and he could waste any of them at any time if they stood in his way, misbehaved or stressed him.
“Who gave us the information that Chief George would be here?”
Silence rented the air and the guys looked at one another’s face. They had gotten the information from their secret informant that Chief George, the Chairman of that Local Government, would be going through that route after a party congress. Chief George had sought for Danger’s help while contesting for the Chairmanship position and Danger had given him his ultimate support through out the electioneering process. The Chairman, however had not kept his own end of the bargain and Danger was ready to waste his life to make a statement that ‘no one messes with Danger and lives to tell the story’.
The guy that answered the call from the informant signified and Danger shot him.
“Find out where that stupid Chairman is, he ordered.”
The guys immediately got to work at his instruction, except Trouble who felt he should talk some senses into Danger to curb his excesses. His anger towards the Chairman was justifiable as they were all witnesses to the ill treatment he got from him after he won the elections. But, it was very wrong for Danger to transfer the aggression on an innocent guy who only answered the call from their informant. He however kept mute as he was not ready to be the next scapegoat.
They got the information on the Chairman’s whereabouts and they all got into the van in a hurry.
“Are we going to leave this place without leaving a statement?,” Trouble asked as they got set to leave and all the guys giggled.
They got out of the vehicle and selected some beautiful ladies from the crowd of victims that laid trembling on the floor. They raped them mercilessly. Some of the victims were asked to make out with each other right there. With tears, regret and trembling, the victims obeyed every instruction they were given.
Some of the ladies that refused when they saw that they were been filmed were shot dead at the spot and that made the rest to cooperate. They went ahead to give their final statement by cutting off the heads of ten men and hanged it on the car’s wipers, that was the very one Danger did by himself. They left the scene while singing their usual song.
The exit of Danger and his guys was followed by a large cry from the crowd. The raped victims cried to their heart’s content. The women whose husbands were massacred wept, some passed out, some children became hysteric and the scene was such a pathetic sight of mourning and sorrow.
Sympathizers came out of various hiding places. Some called for ambulances, some tried to console the women that were weeping, some were trying to resuscitate the people that passed out and others stood agape too confused to know what to do. Children ran helter-skelter in confusion as they watched their fathers’ headless bodies being wrapped with clothes.
The siren of the police vehicle brought anger to the remnant that were still helping the victims and they stoned the policemen that came out of the vans that were packed at the scene.
“Where have you bastards been since morning?” An enraged woman screamed in pain.
“Those idiots were here for over 6 hours. We put a call through to you since then but you are only showing up now.”
“What is the use of having a Police Force in the city when it is obvious they are good for nothing?”
“What are you here for? They have done all they came to do and have gone. So we don’t need you any more.”
“Get your filthy selves out of this place!”
The rage from the crowd continued and the police had to retreat to their van. They spoke in quiet tones to one another for few minutes before they got out of the van again. They pleaded with the crowd and promised to bring the criminals to book.
“That is what you always say,” a man said as tears flowed from his eyes. His wife had been one of the rape victims and they were yet to get a vehicle to take her and the remaining few to the hospital.
“The last time they robbed the bank, killed all the customers, the staff and set the place on fire. The police said they will get to the root of the matter and make sure all the people involved in the case faced the wrath of the law but it’s over two months and you have not gotten anyone.”
“That one is still near. The school children that were kidnapped by this same devils had been since last year yet our dear government and police have not done anything.”
“We are trying our best and I want to promise you based on my honour that this would be the last time such a thing will happen in this city.”
“Which honor? The Police Force in this nation has no honour, so, please keep your honour to yourselves.”
“Leave us to lick our wounds.”
“It is only God that can save us in this nation. We have no Force to rely on as corruption has made all of them to be useless to the citizen they ought to be serving.”
The police took the statements of the witnesses and victims, took snapshots of the scene and videos in some cases. They helped the victims get their things together and also got the doctor’s report of the rape victims. The bodies of the massacred men were assembled together and taken to the mortuary.
The robbery had taken place on a major road in the city and no one in the city missed the gist. The news spread across the city like wide fire and the pages of every newspaper had something to say about the incidence, bloggers also shared their opinions, news stations, TV stations, Radio stations and every social media platform had the news of Danger shutting down the city in broad day light for six hours and no one could challenge him.
The fear of the citizens multiplied as they knew that such development was tantamount to terrorism and if Danger’s gang could graduate from being bandits to terrorists then they were completely done for.
The youths took to the street and began to campaign against the government to secure their lives, properties and future. The entire streets, major roads and every other road in the city was shut down by the citizens as they relayed their fears to the government and called out to international bodies to step in and curb the activities of Danger and his gang before they killed them all.
To be continued…
Wow so interesting