KOLLUPIA EPISODE 2

The smell of burning flesh filled the air.

 Damiete stood looking at the people with him.

Aside from Kadilo,Ebi,Opuwari,and Joe the bouncer, there were three other people in the group.

There were the skinny brothers Ben, Simon and a fat Girl named Ngozi.

They had been walking for almost an hour.

Everywhere they turned was death and destruction.
Dead bodies,burning cars and bullet riddled buildings.



Occasionally,they'd hear gunshots and have to stop,......holding their breaths to listen.

Then they'd continue walking  again.

Kadilo had stopped muttering, but she still had that far away look in her eyes as if her body were on Autopilot.

Ebi was quiet mostly.

She hadn't said anything since they'd left the club.

As for Opuwari,he wouldn't stop talking.

"You need to find a way to inform the authorities"he was saying with his voice a little out of breath.

Damiete was trying to clear his head.He couldn't stop thinking about Obinna.The look in his best friend's eyes as he just lay there.

Was it wrong to have just left him there like that?What else could they have done?

He wondered where his family was.How wide spread was the violence was.

Was it an all-out war, or just pockets of violence across Pride-Land?

And if it was a war,exactly what was he supposed to do?

He really had to think.

With all the bizarre craziness going on,he could do with a little silence.

"...if we can somehow get to a phone,we could call the Police..."Opuwari was saying.

Damiete knew he was scared.... Who wasn't?



Then he heard something as they past a battered bullet riddled car.

They all heard it.

The car radio was still on.

Between bursts of static,....they could hear someone talking.

"Is that a radio....?"Opuwari began.

"shhh!!"went Damiete.

And they all listened as they approached the car. The morning chill was slowly ebbing away to the afternoon heat.

The stink of death was slightly overpowering in the air.

Damiete approached.......slowly and Peered into the empty car.

There was a lot of blood on the torn up,bullet riddled leather seats.

It was doubtful if the former occupant(s) of the car had survived.

So much blood.

Damiete looked over at Kadilo.

Her eyes were still vacant and she seemed lost.

From the bloodied dashboard came the sound of the radio.

".......(static)......killing civilians....(static)all over the state....(static) the death toll is in the thousands.My fellow Kollupians, our nation is at war...."

Damiete and Opuwari, exchanged a fearful look.

".....people are being dragged from their homes and hacked to death in the streets.....(static)....there are corpses everywhere(gunshots).......My name is Steve Tombere....and this is the last broadcast of Radio FM Pride Land....(more gunshots...screams in the background)....Oh my God.......they're killing everyone in the station....(more gunshots)...."

The man's voice became frantic.

"......if you can hear this...(static)....try and survive....you may be the last hope of.....(loud explosion)....(screaming).........(static)

They all stood there listening to the static from the radio for a long time.

No one said anything.

"Jesus!!" Joe said under his breath.

Damiete's heart was racing like crazy in his chest.

His worse fears had been confirmed.

More static

"We have to call the police"Opuwari began the terror in his voice seemed infectious.

"Yes he's right...We'll be safe with the Police "Ben said looking at his brother for support.

Damiete couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Didn't you hear the radio?....it's a WAR" Damiete said looking at the two clearly confused men.

"Kollupia can't be at war..." Opuwari said staring at everyone

"What about our families?....you think International Community is going to allow us fight a war with all our Oil?"

It almost sounded like a campaign speech.Damiete thought.

"They have too much interests here to protect to allow that happen.....this Violence is clearly the work of a handful of hoodlums with guns"Opuwari continued.

"Didn't you hear the radio.....?"

"That could have been anyone on the radio inciting fear and panic ....there is no war.The world is too civilized for that" Opuwari said picking off the faces of his companions one after the other.

Some of them seemed to agree with him.

"He has a point" Ngozi said in a small voice.

"What point?" Damiete was in shock.

"Am I the only one who heard the radio?"It was Damiete's turn to look at their faces.

"There is no Police,...no army..no schools.....WE ARE AT WAR!!!!!"he shouted straining his voice to do so.

There was another long silence.

" So assuming you're right,.....what do we do now?" the sarcasm and scorn in Opuwari's tone was very evident.

Every one (including Kadilo)turned to stare at him.

He returned their gazes as another whiff of burning flesh sailed past his nostrils.
He didn't have any answers.
He had no idea what to do.
All he knew was they had to keep on moving.

"Listen..." Damiete began.
"I don't have all the answers...but I do know that we can't stay here....At the very least we should try and find our families... and get out of the city"

"So that's your big plan,...find Mummy and Daddy and run?"Opuwari said folding his arms across his chest.

"No wonder your friend was killed you...."Opuwari began

But the split second he opened his mouth, Damiete's fist slammed into his face.The punch caught
Opuwari totally off guard.
But he gathered himself together quickly and swung back.
The two men fell to the ground,grappling, punching and slapping each other.

"Hey hey hey" said Joe as he tried to use his large frame to break up the two men.

In a distant part of her mind, Kadilo was watching the two of them fight.
She could see them grappling and punching at each other.Then she heard something else.

It was the sound of a car.

She looked down the road, past the dead bodies and burning cars.Her mother had always said;
"Kadilo, you have the eyes of a Hawk"
She wondered where her mother was right now. She wondered if she was alive or......
Kadilo shook the thought out of her head just as the car turned into the street.
It was heading their way.

"Em...guys?" She began but the rest of the group was too involved in breaking up the fight to hear her.

She could hear the engine.

"GUYS, THERE IS A CAR COMING!!"

Two things made everyone stop;

1.The volume of her voice,
and
2.The fact that it was her talking(some of them that didn't know her,assumed she couldn't speak)

But there was no time for that now.
The car was coming their way........ slowly.


It was a Police Vehicle.

They all scrambled behind the car with the radio.

Holding their breaths as the car approached.

It didn't seem to be in a hurry, as if it's occupants were taking their time ...looking around.

"It's the Police....We're saved" Opuwari's Bloodied face whispered.

"Stay...low....we don't know who they are " Damiete hushed.

The car was close. From their hiding place, Damiete could see the man on the passenger side.

He seemed to be wearing a Police uniform.

" His right...it's the Police" Ngozi said in a hushed tone. She seemed excited.

Damiete put a strong grip on her arm.

"....relax...we don't know who these people are"he was trying very hard to contain himself. The adrenaline was still pumping through him. It was a little difficult breathing.

"This is crap!!!" Opuwari whispered in disgust.

"...these are men of the Kollupian Police.....it is their duty to protect us"

"That sort of thinking could get us killed......we need to stay low"Damiete responded. He fought back the impulse to punch him again.

Before he could Stop him, Opuwari got up.


"We surrender!!!" he shouted as the vehicle suddenly came to a halt.

The shock on the Driver's face matched the one on Damiete's.

He couldn't believe what Opuwari had just done.

The driver of the car hopped out of the vehicle....he was a smallish man with a very big rifle in his hand.
The Passenger stepped out too.

If Damiete's heart was beating  fast before....it was POUNDING in his chest now .

"Officers!" Opuwari said holding his hands in the air as the men approached.

"We've been walking for hours,...please take us to a safe place" the two men looked at each other for a few seconds. There was a lot of humor in they stare they exchanged.
They both looked .....dangerous.

"You said...'We'...so where are the other people?" the pottbellied one asked he casually caressed the body of his rifle.

"Yes ....come out it's safe" Opuwari urged turning to Damiete and the rest of the group.
They all exchanged curious looks .

"I SAID COME OUT!!!!" the smallish man said.The sound of his voice was accompanied by a loud metallic CLICK-CLACK sound.

"No need to shout nau, they're coming out" Opuwari said.
The Pottbellied man threw him a "If-looks-could-kill"stare and barked;

"ALL OF YOU FALL OUT AND KNEEL DOWN HERE.....NOW!!!!" there was an extremely  dangerous  edge to his voice.
The rest of the group rose from their hiding place....and slowly walked out.

"Ah, ...Officers, there's no need to shout....we will obey y..."
But before Opuwari could finish the sentence, the smallish man raised his rifle, .....and fired.

Hot metal screamed through the air slamming into Ebi and Ben, tearing open their chests in a series of vicious rounds and flinging their bodies backwards

Long silence.

There  was stark HORROR in  Opuwari's eyes as he suddenly realized these men were the opposite of their Salvation.

"THAT, was for talking too much.."the Pottbellied man smiled devilishly.

Kadilo started screaming,.....and So did Ngozi....LOUDLY.

Joe, Simon Damiete and Opuwari stood with trembling bodies as the smallish man casually Pulled out a small pistol, went to Ebi's twitching body... and shot her in the head.
Then he did the same to Ben.

Each gunshot sent a SHARP JOLT through Damiete as the girls continued screaming.

"SHUT UP!!!" the smallish man ordered as he placed the nozzle of his pistol in Ngozi's terrified face.

"Please,..please don't...just wait...." Damiete was pleading as the frightened girl wouldn't stop screaming.

Then the smallish man pulled the trigger.

Long silence

Sound of Kadilo whimpering .

Damiete was helpless. There was no doubt that these men would kill them all here.

"Please... please...."Opuwari was saying as the smallish man pointed the gun in Kadilo's whimpering face.

"No...don't do this...please" Damiete was saying

The smallish Man had a diabolic look on his face as Kadilo continued whimpering.She seemed to have lost control of her body.

Gunshot.

The back of the smallish Man's head explodes as his body is thrown to the ground.

STARTLED,The Pott-bellied Man  SPUN around with his rifle searching for.........

Second Gunshot

The side of his face is literally blown away in a spray of blood and chunks of brain matter.

His body hits the ground......hard.


Another long silence

They all stood there, bodies trembling...deafening gunshots still ringing in their ears.

Even Kadilo stood perfectly still....holding her breath...wondering what was going on.


Then they heard approaching footsteps.They all turned.

That's when they saw him.


He was tall, lean muscled and was wearing the uniform of a Corripian  Soldier.
The Nozzle of his rifle was still SMOKING as he walked towards them.

They all stood staring at him not knowing if he were friend ...or Foe.

He seemed oblivious to their presence as he kept adjusting his weapon.

When he got to them,he simply stared at the corpses around them.

Long Silence.

" Pick up their weapons" he said mechanically.
He started to turn around.

"....You can mourn your friends later,.....for now,....We need to get off this street" he said, walking away from them without so much as a backward glance.

They all stared at each other with a mixture of horror and confusion

...to be continued

My very good friend Nelson Bright is one of the most Talented Movie Directors/Script Writers this Country has ever known.

He recently completed a series of photos titled "the murder investigation". it features three unrelated murders of three beautiful young rich girls that strayed off into the wrong path 

and one of their killer in his epiphany moment of regret.

LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIEND
SO CHOOSE WISELY( say NO to POLITICAL VIOLENCE)
ENOUGH SAID