4 Bloody Wedding

"We are ready, waiting on your command".

Agbala stood, looking out his window as the night thickens, the wind chilly this time of the year.

"I have waited for this day for a very long time now," picking up his blades as he spoke to the young rebel soldier standing beside him.

Stroking his blacked beard, mixed with few strands of grey hair as he walked across the room.

"Tonight, we seek retribution. I can hear its voice call to me, we dance and battle for our freedom".

The cheers and rumble from his soldiers grew loud as they called out his name with each stomping foot.

His voice was stentorious with a resonating effect as the roars of a hungry lion about to devour its prey.

Agbala is six-footed with a large frame and athletic build. He was dark and gruesome, with a distinctive scar across his right chin.

One cut through with a large knife.

Casually he dressed in military apparel, a gold necklace around his neck, appearing like a disfranchised rock band member.

On him, an array of weaponry. An assault rifle, hanging behind his back, bandoleer hanging across his chest, pockets knives, hand grenades placed strategically, having an unambiguous appearance of a commando.

Stacked around his thigh was a large butcher blade, which he referred to as [Domingo].

"Who is with me"? he questioned as he made his way for the van.

The soldiers behind him rounded up, gathering with them their weapons of hazard and mayhem, as they followed their commander with loud cheers and blood lust in their eyes, barging their feet as they made way for the exit.

******

FIRE! FIRE!!...HELP!!!

The loud cries and shrieks of the occupant resounding through the area. Screams coming from inside the building.

The joyous moments just turned to misery instantly. The memorable wedding party has ended in a disaster as the neighbors ran for safety. Chaos had taken over with the occupants trying to save what they have left from the fire, children crying and calling out for their mothers.

"EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!"

The building has been surrounded by rebel soldiers, shoving and gathering most occupants and lining them up in ques.

Kevan missed his friend Henry, who had just stormed out at the sound of the explosion looking for his mother.

The eruption had caused disarray and dismay, fire burning some section of the building, fumes emanating into the clouds.

Kevan could see the rebels rounding up the occupants of his building immediately he thought of his own family.

The commotion had left him disorientated, unable to think of his family.[how could he?] he had just witnessed an unprecedented catastrophic incident that had shattered the only home he had known, fire devouring its treasured memories with lives and properties right before his very eyes.

"How could I have forgotten about my family?"

"Where could they be, by the way? Good gracious, not a single one is with the rounded-up tenant.

He gently crawled his way through the rubble, hiding in the shadows, making his way to a more secure position, where he can visibly locate his family.

Anwuanwu took out his old shotgun from beneath the bed of his apartment.

He had heard the loud explosion while laid in bed resting after the wedding event. The loud bang and the disruption had stirred him up as he stumbled from his bed onto the floor as he made way for his weapon. As a scout, he was always ready.

He quickly dashed for the next room to check on his family with an anxious look on his face.

Mrs. Anwuanwu stood frightened as she quivered, trying to comfort her crying daughters.

"What is going on"? he asked, recognizing how terrified she appeared.

"Where is Kevan"? as there was no visible sight of his son anywhere, only noticing his two daughters cling to their mother.

"What? I thought he was with you".

"Damn woman, if he is with me, I sure would not have been asking" he shrugged.

"How am I suppose to know? he left with you to join others outside for the celebration".

"Well, where is he then? he sure is nowhere to be found".

"Where do I go searching for this boy in this dangerous situation"?

"What do we do"? she asked.

"I have to get you and the girls to safety, then go look for our son".

His reassurance did not hold water for her. She has been left petrified by the entire incident and wondered where her only son could be at this time of the night.

Mrs. Anwuanwu had no other option but to trust her husband at a difficult time like this. She has always felt protected by her husband, though sometimes his aggressive and violent nature tends to get the better of him, where he tends to display an unruly pattern of behavior.

"Come on quickly", Anwuanwu spoke up again.

He made his way for the back door of his building that led to the lavatory, holding his shotgun with his left arm, guiding his family as they made way through the narrow passage lane that emits a stench. They clasp their breath, laying low as they flee toward safety.

STOP...! Anwuanwu commanded.

She froze at the sound of rebel soldiers conversing as they picked up few bodies lying lifeless on the concrete.

She held her lips in signal to her daughters to stay quiet.

"Alright, keep moving."

They continued moving towards the open arena, keeping out of sight. From this vantage point, a glimpse of the neighbors was caught at the far end, [whatever left of them] tied and lined up. All frightened, praying and hoping for some miracle or a rescue mission.

"Now you will have to climb over the fence for me to pass the girls across to you" as he slowly dropped his shotgun across the walled fence.

Mrs. Anwuanwu glared, bewildered at the enormous concrete wall fortified with broken glass, spikes, and sharp-edged scrap metal.

"What"?

"How do you expect..."

"STOP THERE!"

Light rays from a flashlight emerged on his face, conveying and exposing his frightened expression as he froze at the sound of the voice.

"Freeze before I shoot", the voice continued as it drew closer.

Anwuanwu swiftly reached for his gun.

BANG!

He fired at the approaching rebel soldier, who collapsed on impact. "That is going to get their attention". He said to himself.

The reverberating sound of the gunshot, followed subsequently by the screams of mother and daughters, alerted the rebel soldiers mounting guard, who came rushing towards the location of the originating sound.

Hold it right there another voice yelled out.

At this point, Anwuanwu and his family surrendered their hands in the air and begging for their lives.

The cries of the young daughters grew much louder when more horrid-looking rebel soldiers grabbed and whisked them away while they jolt and nudge to regain their freedom.

"My dear old friend, it has been a long while. We have been scouring all over for you. I thought you went down in the rubble".

Agbala steadily emerged from the pitch dark corner of the night into the burning firelight casting a silhouette on the wall as he drew closer. His voice was menacing as he lodged a weird grin on his face.