in the rise of the dark

behind the county

- if I beg that you let me die, would you please oblige me that request? -
- so long as you are still breathing and alive, I am not ready to give up on any of us. No matter what it takes, my first priority in this journey, my number one obligation is to keep us alive. If you don't give up your ghost, I won't give up on you. -
We kept chatting, until we reached the top of the hill John pointed out to us.
Nothing to eat or drink, drained of strength and courage, we sat on the floor down casted, and heavily ladened. I know that I am in trouble, but who said others are not, they have saddled me with the responsibility, a leader, but what is a leader when you have no one to lead?
I have always refused to let them know when am weak, and now, is either I show it, or I go somewhere else, where I will not be seen and die quietly. Just need to take a walk.
The breeze up here is a whirlwind, a night up here is just a deliberate suicide, but then is just the safest place for us right now.
Emeka and Ebere, have slept off beside Amaka, Uche sat down folding up his legs, while locking his hands round the his legs. Lotanna laid sideways, using his bag as a pillow. I looked at them round, then I began to walk down the hill. Uche wanted to say something, he probably wants to know where am going to but, couldn't. He unlocks his hands then lay on his back. What I do not understand is the height of quietness of this area, it has been stone quiet and faultily silent over here, right from entering the bush path that led to the old port county, to here, the top of the hill.
Walking down the other side of the hill, I felt real life and new air, some things are not well clear here, and some things needs to be well explained. The more I descend from the hill to the other side, the more I feel the friends on the hill, as a long gone people, at the same time the stronger I became. I was happy, overly happy with renewed strength and vigour, I just have to move away from this doldrum, at good I feel once again like a hu.....ma.....n being. I stopped and was like a huge no, then I began to backtrack, I had not turned to face up the hill, but going up with my back, when like a revelation the face of John came to me, reminding me once again what it told me leaving the old port county, that we should not spend a night on the hill. Then I was able to hear what he had whispered, the second night he came visiting us in the old port county. He had whispered something while leaving, but I did not hear it, and now I was able to hear him whispered it still.
- what ever you do, don't face up the hill from the side of life. -
Till date, I do not understand what that means, and I don't know what would have happened, if I had climbed the hill facing up. All I know is that I went up the hill with my back.
Then I remembered as I was doing so at the airport in Morocco, when our flight was called off with my father, I'd asked him, why we have to go back home, and not rather board the flight to Tunisia, and from Tunisia fly to Nigeria, and he said to me that. It is best to obey a simple instruction than to wriggle off it, because, it is those small things we ignore in life that are more decisive in result, but because they are seen as small, we always want to buy a corner around them, and thus, we end up rearranging our lives the way its not meant to have been.
- change those big things, and live on the thin road, those thin roads are the shape of your life, and the big ones are the world's. -
We took extra days not traveling, because that flight to Tunis landed in the ocean, if not we would have returned the next day, to the airport. The flight company we are to board to Nigeria, advised us not board the flight to Tunis, then from Tunis to Nigeria, because we don't know as yet what the arrangement from there to Nigeria would be like.
I got to the top of the hill, and behold unexpectedly, I saw about ten scathed beings already like five meters to the top of the hill, and it was dark already. Dudes were still sleeping, they don't even know they have company, I am at this point extremely tired, and can barely carry the spear, but somehow I have to, but it baffled me how they were able to ascend the hill. I waited in them to complete their climb, and one by one I send them back to where they are coming from.
Amaka, no longer breaths freely, she was more less wheezily, and non of us can even move on their own, so carrying a more less dead Amaka, is not advisable, Lotanna would not even carry his bag. I will not leave Amaka, so long as she still has breathe in her. I carries her on my back against her will, as we wobble down the hill, at a point Lotanna was crawling, Emeka had to help carrying his bag, that chap is strong a guy, while Ebere carried his spear. Uche was carrying his weapon on his shoulders, while I kick my bag down the hill as we descend from it, as we descend from the hill I cried, I cried because my father will do anything to make sure I do not pass this situation, he would planned a way out, or helped me through this, but here I am not on line of what is in stock for me, I even cried the more when I remembered baba and Sarahdina.
As we descend further, my countenance was becoming lifted, my mood good, my head, cool, and my spirit high.
We descended from the hill on to a very long but empty road, confused at continuing with either left or right, we walked on to the middle of the road, and stood there, looking round and about, everywhere seem foreign to us. How come we spent more than a year in the old port county, and did not know about anywhere as this.
I dropped Amaka on the side of the road, her eyes distressingly closed, you could see the pain she is passing through, by mere looking at her face. Ebere and Emeka sat beside Amaka, Lotanna was just descending from the hill, it seem as if we were waiting for him, but the fact is that we don't even know he's yet to arrived, he looked the more hit than us.
I stood looking round and thinking about the next thing we should do. I know for definite, that laying down to rest, is out of the equation, if we dare it, we all will end up there.
This is a major road, that divides a hill and a blind bush. "What we usually referred to as a blind bush, is such that one can not guess what the inside had" from outside such bush you only see the immediate, going inside they usually have no readied foods such as fruits or vegetables.
Lotanna rested his back on the hill, disagreeing with life shaking his head, whispering no to himself, until he slept off. I just need to sit down and rest, or better still lay down and have a good deserved sleep, even a nap will not be too much a thing right now.
Uche, sat on the hill looking at me, asking with signals from his head and hand, inquiring what next. I did not respond but look calmly into his eyes, he rested his back too on the hill.
I knew there was no way I am going to make them go further, and at the same time I know we will soon become food collapsing here. So I tear branches of trees, especially that of cocoyam which has big palm, or is it leaf and used it to cover them. I was glad they did not wake up, because they will slow down my movement. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I just know that staying here will spell no good, and will pay nothing worthy of a living to us. I wanted to go  the left hand side, but somehow it felt empty, it took a while before I finally decide to go through the right hand side. I have done like a fifty meters walk, when I realized that someone was coming after me. I held firmly to the spear, and like a lorry turns full length to the other side of the road to face whoever it was coming.
- Ebere! What happened? You are not sleeping. -
- you were leaving without me, and covered us all up. Are we drawing you backward, or have became a liability to you? -
- I was going to search for food for us, you guys are tired, you are my friends, and I can't watch you guys be like this, die of hunger. -
She did not say anything again, she just continued. About a hundred meters away from where the rest a sleeping, we met a bush path into the opposite side, and as we made to enter it, we saw some scathed beings, too late they've seen us. I was then that I realized that I can not run any longer, my foot are practically weak on the floor. Ebere, was just helping, pulling me along, the way one would do helping a blind person, to crossing a road. There were about a dozing of them, and they look starved. One was so close that it was like a meter or two behind me. Ebere was just good, she jumped into the road, because it has a platform of about a feet and half, and as she jumped, she pulled me along, she was still standing, while I fell on my back, the scathed thing fell to land on me, stretching out the spear, I stabbed the chest, and at once shifting away for it to land on the road.
Ebere is truly a strong wise girl. She stood beside the entrance of the bush path, while I was struggling to get on my foot, she was kicking the knees of the scathed, some breaking them at the instance, while others causing them to fall, hmm, that was great. All I did was to continue stabbing away at them. The platform helped a great deal, but I was glad Ebere came.
We entered the bush again through the same path, and before we could go half a pole, we saw smiling down at us,  a tree of fully ripe pawpaw, shiny thick yellow colour it has on it. I can't carry Ebere, and she can't climb the tree, so what I did was to embrace the tree, Ebere matched on me and climb to the fruit. We tore the fruit to pieces right away, and the aggression melted on the innocent fruit, will make one wonder if the fruit is the cause of our predicaments. It was after dealing with the third fruit, that it dawned on me that the moon was our source of light, is already deep in the night, the bush had became scary all of a sudden. The muscles are waking up, coming back to life, the power of food. We plucked five more leaving three behind. Ebere carried two, each under his armpits, I pulled off my shirt and used it to carry the other three, and the spear. I noticed group of scathed beings on the road, so quietly we followed them. This is not time to kill them. Follow the rhythm of their steps, they got to where Amaka and the rest laid, and past them, a good number of them and not one looked at where they laid.
The pawpaw was aggressively dealt with, knowing how the leaves shielded us, we knew how safe we are underneath the leaves, and come to think of it, the old port county is just right there behind us.