Manifest

Twenty-two

A quick exhale sent smoke up, above her head as Anne squatted behind a tree. She was on the edge of the camp, overlooking a small, running stream. It was masked by trees, but Anne could still see flecks of the moon on the stream's surface. The only other light nearby was the lantern they'd kept on the other side of the tree.

"My dear captor," No-name said from the other side of the tree.

Anne squeezed the cigarette stub between her fingers.

"I can't imagine what you're going through," he continued. "Sitting there, thinking about the love of your life and his future."

Snatching her phone from the ground, Anne stood. She took another puff, discarded the stub and went around the tree. No-name was sitting on the ground, tied to the tree by thick ropes. He wasn't the only man in camp. The few men who'd been around had already been confined to guarded huts on the other side of the gathering. A couple more had shown up after the call had gone out.

With each arriving man, Anne's heart flipped when she checked, and it wasn't Nature. She was happy he hadn't been confined. She was also, incredibly worried that his prolonged absence could mean horrifying things.

"There's nothing to worry about," Anne replied. "Nature's future is fine."

No-name smiled. His expression was minimally hidden from the lantern light by the angular lines on his face.

"You're new to the faith," he said.

"Been here ten years."

"Aiya. You don't know anything about the man you've been sharing a bed with for... months? Years?"

"He's an honest man."

"Is he, though?" No-name asked. "Can't imagine what it would be like when you have to choose."

"There's nothing to choose. Nature is faithful."

"You're not sure of that. Even Uduak isn't sure, that's why she's confining faithful mbono with actual ekpo. Nature could be as clean as a whistle and it wouldn't matter because when he shows up, they'll lump him in with all the others."

"Uduak will be fair. If he's innocent, she'll let him go."

"And if he's not?"

What if he wasn't? She couldn't imagine Nature tied to a tree, like this vagabond, as an mbono questioned him with an order to terminate when it was all over.

"Are you planning to be useful or should I just go ahead and put us both out of our misery?" she asked.

"I'll be useful to you, Anne. Because I like you-"

"Eww."

"You have three choices: you can let him get captured and hope that he's faithful, or you can take him and run."

Run to where? Abasi Isong was the President. Where would she go that wouldn't have someone willing to give them up for a favor? By now, everyone leaving the country with an Akwa Ibom drop in their blood would be stalled till further notice. Traveling by road wouldn't even prove better because-

Anne, stop it, she chastised herself. She was a fool for considering it.

"You have another option," he said.

"What's that?"

"Help ekpo bring Abasi Enyong to power. He has no vendetta against-"

Anne buried the dagger into his throat before he could finish the next sentence, relishing the look of utter terror as the light dulled in his eyes. She held on, even though the handle of the dagger was very short and not meant for continued contact, she couldn't bring herself to flinch away as the blood gushed from his neck and onto her hand.

She hadn't taken a bath in two days. What was a little blood in the grand scheme of things?