Delayed Diagnosis {Book 1 of the Rex Obasi Trilogy}

Chapter 29

At first my mind was so far away that I didn't pay attention. I glanced at him, but it didn't register. Just another face in the crowd but that tribal mark was so familiar...running from ear to chin in a farmiliar curve...wait that was Sule!...my mechanic.

He had warned me when he had taken my car that an attack against my life was coming which had turned out to be Jumbo and his partner (who was in a neck brace and dead respectively) and I hadn't seen him since and to be honest I hadn't given him much thought since then.

What was he doing in the hospital? He was standing to one side and his eyes were roaming as if he were searching for someone.

I shouted his name as I headed in his direction."Sule"

He turned and saw me and by his reaction I knew I was the one he had been searching for.

"Oga, Rex!" He hurried towards me.

He seemed frantic as if he was dying to tell me something and he squeezed between the bodies because the hospital was crowded as usual. It was a general hospital in every sense and even at 9:30pm the movement and rushing of bodies had not slowed.

I had a feeling he had something very important to pass to me as a sudden feeling came over me...something like déjà vu, although I had never experienced anything like this before but somehow I knew what I was going to learn was very important to my survival.

He was just a few steps away from me when the power went out and the whole hospital was plunged into darkness.

What kind of bad timing is this ehn!

Everywhere was pitch black and I couldn't see my hands which I put in front of me to prevent someone from barging into my face.

The light was off only for a few seconds then the back up generator came on or so I thought until someone shouted, "Who in God's name switched off the light ehn?"

I turned towards the voice to see a nurse man wearing a big frown standing beside the light switch which he just switched on.

Suddenly I was afraid, very much afraid! I looked back at Sule but he must have disappeared!

What was the meaning of this? What exactly just happ-

The shrill scream bursted my thoughts out of my head and I could swear I heard glass crack.

It was a deafening and very high pitched scream! The kind of frequency that Lois lane normally uses to reach superman in no time.
Immediately there was a commotion as people started hurrying about in a stampede like manner.

I hurried towards the cause of the outburst where a young lady kept pointing at the floor and screaming.

Sule lay on the floor. His eyes opened wide and lifeless, his lips blue and his body rigid as though rigamortis had set in. I couldn't believe my eyes. I hurriedly knelt down at his side which wasn't hard considering people were running away from him. I checked his pulse but felt nothing. I knew he was dead but how could this be possible? I had seen him just few seconds ago, hurrying towards me and he had even called my name.

Then I saw the mark on his neck, just a small mark like a dot and almost invisible to the naked eye that I wondered how I had seen it. I knew what had caused it. This was a needle mark.

Someone had injected him with some potent stuff while the light had been off.

But who? I stared blankly around at the people rushing about almost like they were running in circles. I heard the lady still screaming and screaming. She just stood at a spot and let rip continuously.