KOLLUPIA episode 3

The Guy moved like a seasoned sprinter.

His pace never faltered.He was definitely military. Damiete thought as he tried to catch his breath.

The rifle Damiete had picked up from the dead Pott-bellied guy was heavy.He'd never held a rifle before.It just seemed Alien in his hands.

He could hear the labored breathing of his companions behind him.He would deal with  Opuwari later he thought.



Right now his primary concern now was Kadilo.
She was running by his side as they tried to keep up with "The Soldier"

Who was this guy?He wondered And where the hell were they going?

In his mind's eye,he could see Ebi's shot-up body.

This was a nightmare he thought.

He'd never seen any one killed before.

It was a strange experience.

He knew there was adrenaline  rushing through his veins and his heart rate was almost at machine gun rapidity.

The sweat beads on his body were thick.
But strangely,he couldn't feel them.It was as if the fear had intensified to a degree that it had numbed everything else.
Not even the loud buzzing of flies over corpses.

He'd never known this kind of fear before.Every fiber in his body was in a state of panic.
He literally couldn't feel anything else.

Without warning, the Soldier ducked into an alley.At the end of the Alley was a red steel door.
 Damiete followed.
 He glanced behind him briefly behind him to see how Kadilo  and the others were faring .

She was still there.

So was Simon,Big Joe...........and Opuwari.

Damiete passed by a window with a thick rancid smell  coming from inside. He didn't bother to check.He had a feeling he knew what it was.
The door looked quite thick and formidable.

The Soldier opened the metal door with a small key from his pocket and stepped aside to let them in.....
Opuwari was the last one through.
They all ran up the stairs to yet another metal door.

The room on the other side  was quite spacious. There were stacks of canned food in the corner.

It had just one window facing the street. The window had the same sort of metal covering the doors had on them.

Damiete noticed at least Ten Ak 47 rifles on the table by the window.


 Damiete's thighs were on fire as he tried to steady his racing heart.

Somewhere in the last three minutes or so, the Numbness had ebbed.

 He was now beginning to feel other things, like the pain in his thighs, the burning sensation in his chest an insane pain in his head.

Every one else(except the soldier) could barely stand as they all tried catching their breaths
 Every muscle in his legs hurt. He felt pain in places he'd forgotten about for a long time.

"We're safe " Opuwari said between large  intakes of breath

"What is this place?...... who are you?" Damiete asked the  Soldier.

The Soldier was staring out the window into the street below.

"We're safe.....for now" He said coolly as if he hadn't heard the questions.

"There's some food over there in the corner"he said.

Damiete looked over at the canned food.

Food was the last thing on his mind.In just a few hours, he had seen enough blood shed to put him off food for a few more hours. Everything seemed so unreal.

It was like waking up inside a civil war movie, only this wasn't a movie.

"I'm so hungry" Opuwari said as he made his way towards the heap of canned foods

Without thinking, Damiete lunged at him but the Soldier must have seen it coming.

 In a flash he was standing between them.

"Bastard!!,It's because of you they are dead.....why the hell didn't you just hide like the rest of us????" Damiete was shouting. The images of their dead friends was still fresh in his head.

"Well at least I did something...I took some initiative instead of just walking around aimlessly"Opuwari said defiantly.

Damiete took a swing at Opuwari, but the soldier deflected the blow as if he were swatting a lazy fly from the air.

Long silence.

Damiete noted the strength in the man's arms. This was clearly a guy who could beat the crap out of him with minimal stress he thought.

"I have no issues with letting the two of you have a go at each other"The Soldier said without the slightest indication of breathlessness.

"....But noise attracts trouble....and if you draw attention to this place,I will kill you both....understood?"

The air inside the room was humid.

There seemed to be a smell of decay coming from somewhere.

Damiete and Opuwari eyed each other for a few more seconds and then retreated to opposite sides of the room.

Every one else sat down quietly as the afternoon heat wore on.

Time passed.

Occasionally, gunshots could be heard in the distance.

This always sent a momentary wave of panic through the room.As everyone(except The Soldier) seemed to hold their breaths.

Such moments were frequent.

Opuwari had managed to open up a can of corned Beef and was stuffing his face with the contents.

Kadilo Sat with Damiete on the floor with their backs to a wall, while The Soldier busied himself with dismantling and cleaning up of rifles on the table by the window.
It was impossible to tell how long this went on.
Maybe an hour

But The Soldier was so focused at the task at hand, that it seemed he didn't notice anything else.

"So what's going to happen now?"Kadilo whispered.

Ever since the nightmare on  the street. She seemed to have snapped out of her zombie state.
Damiete didn't know If this were a good or bad thing.

Then again what's good or bad in a situation like this?
Two of his friends had been killed within the last six hours,he was running for his life,He had no idea whether his family were alive, now they had been rescued by a stranger who for all intents and purposes was a very dangerous man.

"I don't know"Damiete replied as he stared at Simon who was silently sobbing in a corner.

Big Joe just sat by himself staring thoughtlessly into a section of the floor.

"Ebi....."kadilo began

".....obinna.....this can't be happening"she started sobbing silently as Damiete put his arm around her.
He felt like crying too.

Long Silence.

The silent sobs had stopped.

They had almost gotten used to the occasional gun shots and distant explosions.

Life is funny Damiete thought.
Hours ago,his biggest problem was getting a Girl to like him.
Now he was holding an AK47 Assault rifle, and was slowly growing accustomed to the sound of gunshots.

The Soldier had finished cleaning the weapons.

Now he was just staring out the window again.

"Em....I want to...."Damiete began as he approached the still seated figure of The Soldier.

The man didn't even look in his direction.

"What is it?"Damiete couldn't tell if the man were irritated,or  just indifferent.

He was impossible to read.

"....I just want to(clears throat)...thank you for saving us... and"

"You're all going to die"The Soldier said simply.

Damiete was silent for a long time as he stared at The Soldier.

"You're disorganized,slow and can't defend yourselves...I just delayed the inevitable"The Soldier spoke dispassionately as if he were a describing the eradication of a colony of ants

".....your group wouldn't last a day out there."

The Guy scared Damiete.

".......then......why did you save us?"

Long silence.

The Soldier turned to look at him.

Damiete swallowed a small lump.

The man's eyes seemed..... Empty.
Totally devoid of any emotion(at least none he could recognize).
It reminded Damiete of the eyes of a python he'd seen at the zoo when he was a child.
Cold,Merciless Unfeeling Eyes.

They were the eyes of a predator.

"....I didn't do it for you"The Soldier said.

And with that, he causally stared in....... Kadilo's direction.

Damiete followed his gaze.

".....you....you know her?"Damiete asked,not knowing why he was afraid of asking.

The Soldier rose to his feet.
He was truly a formidably built Guy.Damiete thought.

Maybe not as big as Joe, but Damiete was certain Joe wouldn't last a heartbeat in a fight with this guy.

The Soldier casually picked up one of the rifles from the table.

"She just reminds me of someone"he said as he turned to the rest of the room.

CLICK-CLACK!!!!

Went his rifle.startling everyone in the room.
"Listen up"The Soldier began.

"If you remain quiet,you'll be safe here for a while.....there's enough Food to last for a few days...but after that,you have to go out and find your own food."

They all looked at each other fearfully.Everyone seemed to be silently  asking the same question.

Was he leaving?

"This is an Ak 47 Assault Rifle" He said holding up the rifle.

It holds 30 rounds  in a clip.....it loses most of it's accuracy with  distance..my advice.....?" The Soldier said simply.

"Shoot at close range"

They were all staring at him, then at each other with fear in their eyes.

"This is crazy "Opuwari said

"....but necessary"The Soldier concluded, as he cocked his pistol and holstered it.

"You're leaving us?''Kadilo asked in a small voice.

The soldier paused.

It was the first time they'd seen his Steel Exterior ..FLUCTUATE.

When he spoke his voice was strangely gentle.
"Make for the border as soon as you can....stay off the main roads,travel at night"there was a flicker  of emotion in his eyes as he stared at her.

"Please, you can't leave us...we wouldn't stand a chance" Damiete pleaded.

"I need to find my wife, she's in Pride-Land West" Joe said.

"PLW is gone" The Soldier said simply.

".....your wife is probably dead"

"You can't just leave us..."Opuwari began frantically

" You're a Member of the Kollupian Army it's your duty to....."

But the Soldier cut him off with a stare that was louder than than a gunshot.

Long silence.

"I'm leaving," The soldier said staring at them again.

Opuwari's  eyes strayed towards the table with guns on them.

"Where I'm going, is dangerous.....you will slow me down...just make for the border"The Soldier concluded.

Damiete was shaking his head.

"I.. I don't even know where the border is"

The Soldier was already moving towards the door.

"We won't make it without you"Damiete hated the desperation in his own voice.

"That's not  my problem" the Soldier said as he opened the door.

"Please....." Came Kadilo's Voice.

He paused at the door.

"At least get us halfway...at least just show us how to get there"

Long Pause

The Soldier turned around slowly and walked towards her.

Kadilo didn't know what he was going to do. The man was Unpredictable....in a scary way.


"That's far enough" Opuwari's Voice said.

They all turned to look at him.

He had one of the rifles in his hands.....

The rifle was pointed at The Soldier.

There was a maniacal look on Opuwari's face

"Leave them here if you like,....but you're taking me to the border.....or I start shooting people"Opuwari said flatly.


..to be continued.



LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIEND
SO CHOOSE WISELY(say no to political violence)
ENOUGH SAID