EFE (Book 1 in The N. A Series)

Chapter Seventeen

Seventeen

David's eyes glowed red as he held up Okafor's head. "Avoid Me! It's not my fault you are incompetent" He spat angrily then dropped okafor's head to the floor.

"I think... we've gotten... pretty good... compared... to a before I left" Efe spoke in between exercising. The backs of her knees were hung on a pole while she did sit ups and air punches effortlessly. Mide was running out of exercises to give her now that she had become better. He had her do everything. Even rage was getting bored of training, mentally exercising was stressful too. 

"1000" Efe did a backflip, landing gracefully. 

"Great work" Mide clapped "Now for our last and final training..." Efe composed herself getting ready for her last training "I want you to..." He drew to build suspense "Finish that tub of ice cream" He pointed behind her, at Ayo who was bringing in a tray of ice cream. Efe laughed at his silliness and so did Ayo.

*********

"I just want to say you've come a long way from that night and I'm extremely happy for you. I also want to tell you that rage is a very powerful feeling on its own but having that as a superpower is something else entirely. Please make sure that in whatever situation you get yourself into, that you learn to be calm. I'm talking to the both of you. Rage can be really fun as we have seen but it can also be extremely dangerous and destructive" Mide thought for a while "All in all don't forget to have fun while you beat up bad guys" They laughed.

"Umm Efe I was thinking..." Ayo started after a while of secretly stealing glances at Efe.

"Yes?" She stuffed a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth

"Since you're done with training, maybe we could leave for Benin the day after tomorrow" he shrugged.

"Why the day after tomorrow?" Efe tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well, it's bad luck to travel the day after a long week and I was wondering if we could both do something together tomorrow" he stared at her.

"You mean like a date?" Her eyebrows twitched.

"Not particularly, I mean if you want it to be... maybe?" Ayo stuttered, poking holes in his melting ice cream.

"Yes, I would love that" Efe smiled widely. Spending time with you is definitely what I need.

"Okay" He laughed nervously "Does tomorrow afternoon sound great to you?"

"Yes. Although I'll go with anything you come up with" 

"Jeez! I feel left out" Mide whispered loud enough for both of them to hear.

"Maybe we could all have dinner at night after that? Yeah?" Efe suggested to the boys.

"Yes that will be great... I have this friend of mine that's a chef. We could go to his restaurant tomorrow evening. He'll be delighted to have us" Mide chirped.

"So it is settled then! Now, let's go home. I need to sleep for hours without any disturbance." Efe murmured the last three words referring to Mide who had a habit of jumping on her bed to wake her.

"I'll go start the car" Ayo ran away from the scene to think of a plan for tomorrow afternoon. He didn't think Efe would say yes. That was stupid of him but his plan only included asking Efe out and not think of anything else. 'Karachi mi' He hit his head.

Translation:

'Stupid me'

"Where's Mide?" Ayo asked as Efe came out of the warehouse alone. He was parked in front of the deserted space. There were some uncompleted storey buildings around the area but none of them seemed to have life in them apart from birds and lizards. 

"He went back in to get his phone" Efe held the door to pull it open when something caught her attention. The sun reflected something like a glass, high up in a half built apartment complex. Efe squinted hard to see what was up there but when she did, it was too late. Everything slowed down for about a second for her to see the large bullet heading straight for their gym. Mide was just opening the front door.

"MIDE!!! RUNNNN!!!....." The bullet went straight in through the wall, exploding on contact with a gas cylinder, destroying the whole building. The force from the explosion pushed the car back, shattering the windows and throwing Efe away. Ayo was immediately knocked out by the blast, his seat belt was the only thing holding him in his car. His head had hit the glass just before it shattered and dug into his flesh.

A high ringing sound echoed in Efe's ears. Dust fell all around her, she shook her head stumbling to get to the car. She fell. She had to make sure Ayo was alright. Her head pounded and her knees wobbled. She got to the drivers side of the car to see Ayo limped in his seat with his head on the steering wheel and his seat belt still securing him to the chair. Shards of glass were in his right arm and his head was bleeding. Blood destroyed his white long sleeve top.

"Ayo!! AYO!!" She cried then unbuckled him from the seat, even though she couldn't hear herself shout. How did she expect him to? Efe checked, his heart was still beating thankfully. 

Hospital! I need to get him to a hospital. Mide is dead! I need a hospital!! I need to get him to... Mide is dead! I need...

Blood slipped down her shoulder from where she hit her head. Efe took out Ayo's phone to call his doctor friend that was in town. 

"There was an... an accident... I nee.. need help..  Ayo is bleeding I think he's dying... We need a hospital... Please... We are at the ware...warehouse behind fox plazas. Please hurry up" Efe hung up the phone after she heard him run out of his house with his car key jangling around in the background. She cradled Ayo in her hands on the dusty floor. 

"He's here." Rage whispered. Just then Efe turned around to see the figure of a boy standing in the midst of dust and rubble. She could vaguely make out his outline but when the dust cleared for barely half a second, she saw who it was. "David? My baby??" She whispered yet somehow he heard it and snapped out of his trance. He took a step to move to her but stopped when he heard sirens. Efe turned to the noise. By the time she turned back, David was gone.

The paramedics ran out with a stretcher for Ayo and led her into the ambulance after asking if there was anyone trapped in the building.

What was David doing here? Why did he attack her? Why did he stop? Why did he kill Mide? "Will Ayo be okay?" She asked the nurse who was ushering him into a room.

"Yes but we will be completely sure in time. We just have to completely clean up the wounds and do some scans t make sure there isn't any internal bleeding" she replied "Meanwhile, you need to get your wounds cleaned up"

"I'm not injured" Efe was sure her wounds had healed up. Even though the spots still pained her.

"Is he okay?" A tall round bellied man walked up to Efe. She had met him earlier that week when Ayo introduced him as a friend from his university.

"They need to run some tests but I'll be happier knowing you're the one overseeing it. I'll wait in the lobby for you" replied Efe. 

"Okay, don't worry too much" he rubbed his hands up and down her arms to comfort her. She didn't need it though.

"Go!" She ordered. 

He scurried off.