THE HUNT

"What was that" I exclaimed, "someone must have activated the trip wire, which means they followed us here" Mike replied. Even as he spoke he was already headed to the kitchen, I doubted some plates of rice and plantain would stop our pursuers.

He opened the cabinet at the bottom, it was filled with condiments, he pushed those aside to reveal the very back of the cabinet and he pulled the side also. So the cabinet had a false back no biggie, I thought. But what I saw next stunned me.

Right before me in a cabinet that had contained condiments twelve seconds ago, now contained guns, different varieties of them some I even considered illegal in Nigeria.

Mike brought out some of the guns and laid them on the table, and he started arming himself, my hands picked up a pistol, and he wrenched it away from my hands, "what do you think you are doing" he said, "I want to fight also, I have to kill these bastards" I replied.

He stared hard at me and I stared back not backing down, he looked into my eyes searching for any signs of unwillingness, and I didn't show him any, all he could see was a cold blank face with eyes that screamed death.

We had played this game several times before and Mike uses it mostly to check if I wanted to do something out of my own will, he must have seen sheer determination in my eyes cause he sighed and said "fine we don't have time for this take this and stay close and low, I'm not ready to lose you tonight", I grabbed the gun and weighed it in my hands, it was well balanced.

Moving quickly, I armed myself with a couple of knifes and we crept out the back door, it was dark now, the moon was out in a crescent shape providing little but just enough light. Mike brought his phone and opened an app, this was not the time to tweet about our imminent death I thought.

The screen of the phone broke about into the different segments which showed live feed all around the woods and the cabin, I saw that the gang had divided themselves and now they were coming from different directions headed towards us. "This way" Mike nudged me and I followed, a few minutes later we were crouching behind a tree and three guys were approaching us but they hadn't seen us.

Mike trained his gun on them and squeezed out four shots, two of them dropped dead while the third threw himself against the bushes , we couldn't spot him, we tensed ourselves watching, a little movement happened in the corner of my eye and I shot out, a cry and the third guy dropped dead. I felt scared, I had taken a life, this was against any moral conduct my parents had thought me, I steeled myself again, the same moral hadn't saved my family when they were murdered, to hell with it.

Mike continued onwards and I followed, we spotted another two, crouching silently we advanced towards them, Mike brought his knife and sliced across the throat of the first and I stabbed rather violently against the second throat, in any case they both dropped dead. And that was our routine for the next few minutes, moving quietly in the shadows and taking out guys one by one.

We had already taken down ten of them maybe more, I had lost count, we had just taken down another two guys when gunshots sounded above our heads, we ducked towards both sides, me to the right and Mike to the left, I looked up and I saw them advancing, about five of them in their weird looking mask, I glanced towards Mike on the other side, he had already brought out his gun and taken aim, I did the same.

We both fired at the same time, both of us hitting our marks, but we had only taken down two of them, the remaining three took cover behind a tree. We both fired again, the other side also fired neither of us finding our mark, we were just bidding our time waiting for one of the two sides to make a mistake and then the other would act on it.

The gunshots were loud and I was sure that in a few moments, backup would arrive if there was any left and then me and Mike would have nowhere to run, I looked at Mike again he seemed to be straining as if he had taken a sleeping drug and was fighting hard against the sleep, he looked at me and said "cover me" and he moved away from the cover the trees and started shooting.

The other side tried to return fire but I was fast, I took the shot as calmly as Mike had always thought me, thee last guy tried to pull a fast one but I took him down nonetheless. Mike looked back at me and nodded, I approached him and asked if there were any left, he checked his phone and the woods were quiet without any movement as if nothing had happened in the last half of an hour.

Thank God we were safe and I then noticed Mike holding onto his side, he had been hit surely but he would make it, I just had to take him inside and administer first aid, I put his arm around my neck and supported his weight as we limped towards the cabin.

There was a loud gunshot and he crumpled in my arms, I dragged him behind the cover of the bushes and I looked around, there wasn't supposed to be any one left we had checked the footage.

More gunshots sounded and it was in our direction, I looked up and I saw him advancing, only one of them maybe he was the only one left, Mike was bleeding very fast and I could see him struggling to stay conscious, "get out of here kid" he whispered while tugging at my arms .

I have had enough, first my family and now Mike was almost gone too, I came out of the bushes with nothing but my knife and I put my hands up, I was shivering and I didn't try to hide it. And it worked, the shooter should have taken me out immediately he saw me I guess that was his orders, but what he saw was a helpless defenseless boy with a little knife in his hands, he must have probably thought "hey it's just a kid no biggie".

He stepped gingerly around me and kicked away the gun that Mike was trying to aim at him, Mike fell down because of the lack of support, I winced as he landed on the floor, "Hey it's me you want right come get me" I shouted.

I don't know what he was thinking but he threw his gun far away and produced a knife from his belt and he lunged towards me like a mad man, I twisted just in time to feel the blade pass beside me, centimeters from my stomach, I striked back at the same time aiming for his throat, and he stepped back in time, we stepped around each other as if performing a dance routine, both of us looking for an opening.

We both lunged at each other again, I dodged and swiped low but he jumped back just in time, I glanced at Mike and his eyes was closed, the shooter chose that time to strike, he aimed at my head and I turned to meet his strike but he switched at the last moment and slashed across my thigh.

I screamed, plain flaring up the side if my legs, I limped around to face him, I could imagine him grinning under the mask, I knew I had to finish this fight if I wanted any chance if saving Mike. I threw myself at him, he tried to step back but I was faster I clung to his neck, he tried to stab upwards and I slashed his wrist making him drop the knife, he pushed me away and held his bleeding wrist.

I threw myself at him again and I tried to stab downwards, he held my hands and I pushed down making him drop to his knees, but he still held on, I remembered a trick Mike had shown me once and I dropped the knife letting it fall slowly to the ground, I quickly grabbed it with my other hand and I stabbed it into his neck, blood sprayed on my face and neck, he gurgled and went down, blood dripping from his neck like a tap.

I rushed back towards Mike and I put my hand against his nose, I felt a little warm air come out, good so he was still breathing. I tore at the fabric of his shirt and I used it to block the seeping blood pressing it tightly against his body, I removed the lace of his shoes, it was long enough and I used it to hold the cloth padding in place, I checked for the other gunshot wound and it was deeper than the second, it had caught him in the shoulder, with a deep gash, I binded it as best as I could.

All I had to do was get him medical attention, but how I thought, then I remembered seeing the cars that had brought the shooters in the footage, all I had to do was get him to one of those cars and then I could drive him to an hospital.

I tried dragging him up, but he was heavy, I tried again and this time with a little luck I got him on my back, there wasn't much time left, I raced for the car, it wasn't easy I almost gave up at every step but remembering that I couldn't lose Mike again gave me a new surge of strength, I got to where the cars were parked and then I remembered that I didn't bother checking the killers for their keys, I tried one of the doors and it was open but no key in the ignition same for every other car.

I couldn't go back to search them one by one and I was running out of time, the main road was not far up ahead and I raced for it with Mike on my back. Normally the road was meant to be mostly deserted even in the morning, but luck was in my side once again, a truck was coming towards me and I quickly waved at it, it came to a stop beside me and a chubby looking man stepped out.

"Help me my friend is dying" I cried, he glanced at Mike on my back and maybe he was use to seeing half dead people because he helped me get Mike inside the truck and he raced on into the night. When we arrived at the nearest hospital, he was pulling Mike out of the car while I ran to get the nurses attention, they came out with a stretcher and helped him into it before wheeling him away, I paced the lobby and the chubby man that helped had left saying he didn't want to stay any longer than he was supposed to.

Hours later the doctor came around and invited me to his office, there was still blood over me and I guessed the reason why nobody bothered with it was because they assumed it was Mike's blood. The doctor asked me about what happened, and I told him that my brother and I were coming from an event and we had been attacked by bandits, we barely escaped with our lives, I sobbed as I talked about it which wasn't very hard to do.

The doctor nodded his head and told me that Mike was in coma, he had lost a lot of blood and he was not going to be going anywhere soon, I nodded my head in understanding, he then took me to his ward and I sat beside him, the TV was on for no particular reason, I didn't see how a patient that was in coma would enjoy the TV.

It was on the news channel and the highlight was what caught my attention "Attack on Chief Adewale mansion, Terrorist attack or Political Mishap". I had already stood up, they were now showing images of our house, most of the courtyard was in fire, I couldn't find anything on my family, there was no dead bodies shown, but I knew they were holding the information private to avoid public unrest.

The next headline took me by surprise "David Adewale missing" an image of me was shown alongside the headline, the police was asking for anyone's help in finding me, I remembered what Mike had said, that someone high up had ordered the attack, If I showed my face now I would be killed instantly and that was it.

I didn't think anyone in the hospital saw my face clearly, I was wearing a hoodie, of course I had met the doctor but only briefly and most of the time my head was down, so he couldn't recognize me, if he had saw my face he would have known who I was immediately, my face was a brand on it's own, I couldn't count how many products had my face in it just for adverts. The chubby man that helped us couldn't have seen my face too ,It was dark.

That only left one thing for me to do, I had to leave immediately.