TAKEN

[25]

Carlos, the boy who was almost stumped to death by one of Mama's guys led the way. He navigated us through the maze Mama had turned this place into. Finally, we made it to a depot where she stored weed and other illegal drugs.

We all stood there staring at Dozens of stacked-up boxes, huge ones. Over five hundred of them filled the makeshift warehouse.

"These are her merchandise." Carlos began, pointing at the mountain of boxes.

"I wonder what's in them." Nurse Dima chipped in.

Carlos shrugged and danced his eyes around the room in a second, nodding. "Well, they are mostly heroin, cocaine, marijuana, tramadol, crystal meth....."

"OMG! You mean she deals with drugs too?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "She's way worse."

Carlos brought down a box and began digging through its contents, "If you like, I can check through them."

I lifted my right hand to stop the boy because the rest of the girls were mumbling. And because I'd heard enough, enough of Mama's cesspit of atrocious dealings. 

"There are more..." Carlos urged, his eyes watered as his head shook. "More killer drugs." He wasn't giving up.

But I shook my head and lifted both hands to signal that it was enough.

Just then he broke down and angrily kicked one of the boxes, making them clatter. His friends, the girls who previously fought on his behalf ran to him and gave him a warm hug.

"His brother died here just three days ago." Kene, one of the girls explained. Mama drugged him until he was wasted, just so that her perverted clients could rape him as much as they wanted.

Dima and I gasped, shooting daggers with our eyes. But the rest of the group didn't. Instead, they stared a heads, bodies restless. In my definition, nothing would quench their thirst for revenge.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Nurse Dima walked up to the boy, comforting him with a gentle pat on his shoulders.

I couldn't say a word. However, I glanced behind to gauge the emotions in the room.  Some of the girls wiping off tears and pitying their heads together.

It was an open secret that Mama drugged her victims, but only when they were on a mission. And no other person helped with such wickedness except her loyal cook - Ifechi.

Carlos wiggled his head up to suck in some air. Gently, he disengaged from the group hug and glanced at me. "We don't have much time. What do you want me to do?"

I thought for a second and imagined the whole camp in flames, but that action would give us away. "I say we portion ourselves in batches and find the others."

"What about Mama? Shouldn't we find her first?" The tall big girl asked. She was restless on her feet and waving a machete in the air.

She came off as one with so much anger and rage. All that mattered to her at this point was to get to Mama. Not one statement left her lips without demanding for Mama's head. I just couldn't imagine how much damage she'd done to her.

"Let's get ourselves in a group and then we match on." I finally said.

In seconds, everyone was in the groups. Just five groups, two people in one. I hoped that as we freed more people, our numbers would increase.

So we set out like that, paring Carlos with us while Ezinne, the ring leader went along with another fierce-looking girl.

"Do not set anything on fire until you have set the captives free. If worse comes to worse, escape and find a larger group."