Manifest

Thirty-six

All roads leading into Akwa Ibom were blocked. Social media was abuzz with videos of the border and people were speculating about what it could mean. There were videos of people filming cars stuck in traffic, unable to move. There were also videos of other cars, far enough to turn back who had luckily avoided the rain, altogether.

There were three motorable roads from Arochuckwu into Ini. One was tarred and the other two were dirt roads, covered in sand. Uduak took a chance and decided to check the untarred roads first because the main road would be full of traffic. And there was no way Dara would remain exposed if Anne had called her. If it were Uduak, she'd have changed location, promptly.

The first road turned out to be the one because, even though it was surrounded by thatched houses and had not one soul on the street, Uduak spotted a shimmer of light from the roof of a car. The area was a winding, downhill slope. Uduak could see the shimmering top of a car's roof, on the edge of the rain's spray.

At the point where the rain sparked with lightning that night, Uduak could see where it tapered into drizzles. The wind blew, pushing some of the rain out of its path. Judging from where they were on the boundary, the rain spanned from one hundred to one-hundred-and-fifty feet. There were homes inside the rain. People who'd expected nothing of it. They didn't have to worry because Abasi Isong had a plan for replenishment and healing once it was all over. They'd just have to power through till help came their way.

What was Dara's plan? Did they think they'd be able to wait Abasi Isong out? Ridiculous.

Uduak lifted her hand to tap the driver when Dara's car lights came on, illuminating a man running out from the rain, screaming in agony. An old man like Mr. Martins would never have been able to make a one-hundred foot run in acidic rain, which meant Dara had, somehow, convinced a young ekpo to run back and forth in the rain.

Was she crazy?

"Move in now," Uduak commanded.

The car shot down the hill, just as Dara emerged from the car and ran to help the seething man. She collected the thing he had wrapped in his arms and slung one arm across her shoulder as she began to move him back to the car. They were slow and the man was crying, but when they noticed the car speeding towards them, they picked up the pace. Dara placed the man into the car and entered behind him just as Uduak's car levelled with it.

They drove off in the direction of the houses, hoping to disappear into the mist of the acid rain by sticking close to the homes shrouded in it, while still able to see the area without rain. Uduak wasn't about to lose them, so she patted the driver.

"Stop."

As the car slowed, she got out. This was important. Whatever the sacrifice, Uduak couldn't let them get away.

She braced herself and punched the ground as it reverberated and a ripple erupted, travelling away from Uduak's position as it pursued the car. The car went behind the first house. Uduak pushed the ripple till it passed the car and protruded into a fence that stopped Dara's car.

"Go! GET THEM NOW!"

Her car drove off as Uduak fought through dry bones and an indifferent ground. She needed to see what was happening before mbono got there. Uduak wasn't going to risk using both hands, no matter the pain, but her feet were calling out to her, begging her to lay off. Uduak pushed till she felt the people in the car get out of the car. Dara, a driver and the runner.

She twisted her hand on the ground and the sand around Dara began to twist and give way as all three of them started to sink into the sand. They tried to run and scramble away. Uduak kept them in place till they were waist-deep.