Several times, we corpers are being posted to towns and villages that doesn't please us . Sometimes we get terrified by the horrific stories we've heard about the villages. Some of us even got their rejection letters from the PPA(Place of Primary Assignment) that they were posted to because of the connections that they have. But for a person like myself whose survival through university was by God's grace and have no connection with anyone, I've accepted my fate.
I'm Daniel Abu. A graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University. The PPA I was posted to is Akeke village located in the western part of Nigeria. On the day I arrived at the village, myself and other corpers were taken directly from the entrance of the village to the palace of the King. He is a averagely tall man with broad face and slender jaw. He welcomed us nicely with his awesomely deep voice.
You are all welcome to Akeke. A town where people live in love and harmony, he said.
Thank you sir, we all responded.
One of my chiefs would come to your lodge tomorrow and take you round the village as it is already getting dark, he said and wished us a peaceful sleep on our first night in his town.
We corpers were led to our lodge by a guard. As we were going, I saw a lot of people wailing at different locations in the village. They all seemed to have a dead person in their household. It was strange but it meant nothing to me at this time as I was seriously hungry and was eager to get to the lodge.
My sleep that night wasn't really comfortable as I had not yet fully adapted to the environment. Around 2am in the night, I was pressed as I had ate a lot that evening and urgently needed the use of the restroom. There was no good restroom around us so the only option I had was to go into the bush close to the lodge to defecate.
I took my phone and went to the bush. After I was done defecating, I began to hear strange voices and eerie sounds in the bush. I was curious and wanted to know the cause of those sounds. I moved nearer to the voices and deeper into the bush. Suddenly, I saw a group of ugly looking creatures. They looked scary that I began to vomit praying that they wouldn't catch me. Then as I looked further, I saw them bring in a woman. The woman was crying and begging them. But soon enough, they sliced the throat of the woman, drained her blood and took her body away. I was terrified and attempted to go back but then I unknowingly stepped on a stick that made noise . Then one of the creatures started searching to see if anyone was around. As he was about going back, he began to look in my direction. I was terrified as her gazing seriously at my side. Then suddenly he went away.
I sneaked back to the lodge and wasn't myself anymore as the thought of the ugly looking creatures and the death of the woman kept flooding my mind. I couldn't sleep that night as I was afraid.
Early in the morning, we corpers steeped out to meet the chief that would take us round the village. As we were going, we saw lifeless body on the ground and people crying around it. Out of curiosity I moved closer to the wailers to have a better glimpse of the dead. As soon as I got there, I screamed as that was the body of the woman I saw that was killed that night. Throughout our walk round the village, I was just thinking.
Is this how people die in this village? Who are those creatures? Where do they come from?
These questions to which I have no answer to kept flooding my mind. My curiosity became intense and I decided to take the risk that find out more about the killing and those zombie looking-like monsters. That night, I went into the bush around 2am in the night and waited to see if I could get any clue. After waiting for close to an hour, I wanted to leave the scene but came back as I saw a group of people coming to the same place used by those monsters. I looked at the faces of those people and I saw the face of someone who had the same face, height and appearance of the king. As I was thinking if the king could be behind the killings, the humans began to wear scary masks. When they were done wearing the masks, they looked exactly like zombies I had seen a night before. One of the human-monsters stepped into their midst and then he began to recite some incantations.
While he was still reciting the incantations, another monster brought in a human being. The human brought in was a man. I looked at the man carefully and noticed that he was one of the men I met in the scene of the dead person earlier in the day.
I felt sympathy for him, but I couldn't do but help to pity him. After the monsters killed him, they carried his body and the calabash of his blood and started to move deeper into the bush .
I then decided that I would follow and see what they want to use the body and blood for.
As I wanted to move and follow them, I felt a tap on my body, I was scared.
"The person who tapped me must be one of the monsters", I thought.
I started to turn terrifyingly ,in order to see who tapped me. As soon as I turned back, I saw a huge man .
I was terrified, as I thought that he was one of the monsters. As I wanted to run, he held me.
"My son, he said. Immediately he spoke I recognized the voice as that of the king of Akeke village.
"Let's go to your lodge, he said and continued, "I have something to discuss with you"
"Alright sir", I said still scared.
We moved away from the bush and went to my room.
As soon as we entered my room in the lodge, he sat down on a stool beside my bed, I also took my position on the bed. Then he began speaking as I was still scared as I told I had saw him earlier amongst the monsters.
"My son what were you doing in the bush, he asked.
Knowing that he already knew what I was doing in the bush, I told him about my findings and my intentions.
"I know, my twin brother is the one behind the missing persons in this village", he said.
I was astonished because I never knew that the king was a twin.
"He began the year I ascended the throne" he continued.
"But why is he doing that sir", I asked.
"Let me begin by telling you a story",he said .
"Alright sir", I said and adjusted myself on the bed.
"When we were given birth to, he came out first making him the eldest one. When we were in our youths our father called us and told us that he would soon go and meet his ancestors. He told us to forfeit anything that would make us regret in the future. After he spoke with us, he called me back and told me and I was going to become the next king because of my brother's bad behaviour and ways. My brother eavesdropped on our conversation and was angry and he vowed to kill me", he said and continued.
"That night around 1pm, he came into my room and started beating up because he wanted to kill me.
After beating me up and I was weak , he brought out a knife and in order to kill me. As he raised the knife up, an unknown person dressed in white told him to stop. Due to fear he ran out of the room", he said and continued.
"Then nine years later, our father died". There was a lot of riot and killings in the town that was caused by my brother, he killed to the extent that he killed one of my best friends", he said and sighs regretfully.
"Well, to cut the long story short, I ascended the throne and during my preparation for my coronation, he came to me and told me that he was going to make my reign miserable, that was when the news of people's disappearance started", he said and ended.
After listening to the whole story ,I was astonished.
"But how come he appears as a zombie", I asked
"He is not a zombie, it is only a masks he and his friends wears", he answered.
"Well I think we could arrest him", I suggested.
"That's a great idea, but.....,he was interrupted by a knock on my door.
"Who's that", I asked
"Don't ask me, open the door", the knocker said
Panicking, the king told me that that was his brother voice, there and then, I knew that it has to be the zombie.
I was scared to the extent that I wanted to urinate on my body.
Then I took my phone and messaged my uncle who happened to be a police officer informing about the present situation I was in praying that he would see it immediately and come to my rescue since his station was not really far to the lodge.
Then suddenly, the door broke open and men with mask like that of monsters came in .
I was scared but the king just looked on not surprised.
"I've been looking for a way to kill you all this while, now is the perect opportunity to kill you. I would kill you today", the head monster said .
"Please who are you because I don't think I know you, the king said in pretense.
Then the monster removed his mask revealing his true identity. Then the king screamed the monster's name because the monster was his brother.
"Adeediimeejii, so you are the one, the king said. Then the monster slapped the king.
"Whenever you want to call my name you must add respect to it, the king's brother said and continued, well I would kill you today and claim what belongs to me , the monster said pointing to the crown on the top of the king's head.
Then the monster commanded the other monsters to strip the king off his clothes. After they had stripped the king of his clothes and were about to take the king into the bush to kill him, the king's brother turned to me and commanded the other monsters to beat me up before killing him.
Then I started to think about my life, my parents especially when they hear about my death, my friends and my fiancee who would be expecting my arrival from service.
Then immediately they started to beat me, their hands were so thick and I even thought that they were once soldiers. After beating me up for like five minutes , one of the monsters brought out a knife to kill me.
Then immediately noises were heard and the monster with the knife fell to the ground and died, I looked up and saw the police and began to search for the face of my uncle in the midst of the police and seeing him, I felt relieved.
As the police were trying were trying to take all the monsters to the station, a fight ensued and as I was trying to take a look at the scene of the fight, a person who had only under wears on his body stood in my front blocking my view of the fight.
Behold it was the king ,he was thanking me for saving his life, as he was thanking me I was just smiling and pleased that I could help just a day after my arrival in the village.
Then I took a look at the people fighting and I noticed that the king's brother was trying to escape and the other monsters were trying to kill one of the police officers but they were all shot on the leg in order to prevent them from moving
After some time they were all taken to the police station and were detained. When they were asked about how they use the body and the blood of the people they killed. They told the police that they usually dispose the body off to where people can easily find it and drink their blood or sometimes give the blood to some herbalists who needed them. They were all taken to court and were all sentenced to death by firing squads. The whole villagers were happy and hailed me for my actions towards the exposing of the killings in the village.The king made me his special adviser and paid me very huge amount of money every month. And finally I was happy that I had become the village's hero.
THE END