1 OUTBREAK!

It's 7pm. The sun is setting in Nairobi, and everybody is out on the streets. The end of a long workday. The beginning of a Friday night. Some people are still in their office suits, others are in colourful party outfits. A parking boy directs a driver into a vacant parking spot and then approaches the window for his tip. It's the start of the weekend rave. Just another Friday night in the green city in the sun.

I'm watching the street from the picture window of The Coffee Place. It's an average cafe on an average street corner in the middle of Nairobi's central business district. There are places just like this one on virtually every corner in town.

The Coffee Place is full to capacity, regular Nairobi middle-classers who come here so often that they know what's on the menu without having to look. Me, I'm in here for the first time. I'm waiting for the editor of Nairobi's most popular news blog. A semi-formal job interview: formal because we're meeting to discuss my application to her newsroom, and semi- because she also happens to be my aunt, and we plan to catch up on a social level, as relatives.

Regardless of the family link, I know that I need to impress her. I don't expect her to give me a free pass just because we're kin. No, Auntie Shakilla is not that type of person. You have to work for her favour.

So, I'm dressed as well as I could manage, with my limited budget: a knee-length chiffon dress, a pair of heels that I can't walk in, and a bra with underwire that feels like a blade against my skin.

A waiter approaches my table. A tall guy with a wide smile. I've been staring at the menu for 15 minutes, not sure if I should order before my aunt arrives. My phone beeps as a text comes through. Auntie Shaki. "Stuck on Westlands Road. Crazy traffic, complete standstill. Sad emoji."

Looks like I'll be waiting for at least another half hour. If I'm going to keep this table, I'll have to make an order.

"Ginger tea," I say, and the waiter nods with a wide smile and ducks away. It's the cheapest thing on the menu. I don't want to get stuck with a bill that I can't pay, just in case my aunt doesn't make it.

Around me, couples are lost in each other's eyes, small groups are in semi-formal meetings. I'm probably the only solo customer.

I turn my attention to my phone and log onto Twitter. The first tweet on my timeline is from a breaking news site, and it makes my heart stop.

Westlands Road terror attack, happening now!

What?!

My brain-freeze lasts about two seconds, and then I fumble with the phone and dial my Auntie Shakilla's number. I look around as I hold the phone to my ear. Everyone is lost in their conversations; nobody else has heard that there's a terror attack happening in the city right now.

I get dial tone for a solid 30 seconds. No answer. She just texted me less than a minute ago, and now she's not answering her phone? Shit.

I go back to Twitter. The tweet has moved a few scrolls down on my timeline, but it's still there, and there's a video attached. I hit 'Play.'

The video shows a familiar turn of Westlands Road, a stand-still traffic jam, and a setting sun. Clearly, it was recorded just a few minutes ago. The footage is taken from inside a car, camera pointing out through the windshield. It's confusing. There is lots of hooting, and people running through the traffic, weaving around the parked cars. Some are hawkers, running with their goods. I can't see what they're running from.

The driver in the car ahead leans out of his window, apparently also trying to see what everyone is running from. He cranes his neck, and then he opens his door and steps out of the car. Evidently, he sees something up ahead, because he tracks back, and then turns and starts running. But before he can get far, someone grabs him from behind and pulls him back roughly.

They get into a fight, and the footage isn't clear there because the person recording reacts to the scene and the camera shakes and moves up and down as the camera person moves their hands. There's shouting and screaming in the background, and when the camera steadies on the scene again, the man who had stepped out of his car just a few seconds ago is now covered in blood, staggering as he leans against his car.

A knot forms in my stomach. What just happened to him?

More people are running now, and there is the sound of breaking glass. It's chaos, and the footage once again goes out of focus, and becomes confusing for a few seconds before cutting off.

I stare at the tweet for a few seconds. That looked bad. I had expected to see an explosion, or maybe an active shooter. I don't understand what I saw instead, but it didn't look good.

Someone rushes into the cafe, staggering through the wide door. I suddenly become aware of all the hooting outside. Several cars are blaring their horns. I look out to see people on the street turning towards the noise, also trying to see what all the hooting is about. Some people are looking at the entrance/exit of the cafe, pointing, and I turn to see what they're pointing at.

At the cafe door, the bouncer is in a scuffle with two people, who both look drunk and rowdy. He's trying to keep them from entering The Coffee Place.

Before I can figure out what's happening, there's a shriek from inside the cafe. I turn to see a waiter scuffling with the guy that barged in a few seconds ago. It's the smiley guy who just took my order. They're wrestling, bumping into tables, spilling drinks and snacks to the floor as customers yell out in protest and move out of the way.

And then Smiley begins to scream and to struggle vigorously under the grip of his attacker.

The scene escalates from 5 to 100 in a few seconds: one moment they're wrestling, and the next they're on the floor, Smiley writhing, kicking and shouting. The attacker drops his head to the waiter's neck and bites down, and it takes only a moment before blood begins to pool underneath. Too much blood, coming too fast.

Waiters swarm around the scene, kicking and pulling, defending Smiley, five against one, but it's like this attacker is high on something else. He just keeps BITING!

The cafe erupts into chaos as customers begin to scream and shout, some of them joining in on the fight, piling on top of the attacker.

I feel panic rising in my chest; there's too much blood. I grab my bag; I need to get out of here. I want to go home.

I have a ten-minute walk to my bus stop, and I'm not going to do it in these heels. That's why I have a pair of rubber shoes in my bag, and I hurry to take them out, kicking off my heels.

At the door, the bouncer is lost in a scuffle, and it looks like the royal rumble in high speed - all kicks and blows, bodies rigid with the tension of a fight.

Several customers have come to the same conclusion I have, and are making their way towards the door, to leave.

I pack the damn heels into my bag - I'm not leaving them on the floor at Coffee Place - and get up in my walkable shoes just as the bouncer breaks free of the royal rumble, a wild look in his eyes. His opponents are down on the ground, but still moving towards him, and he kicks out at them as he tracks back into the cafe.

On the street, people are running, and screaming. Cars are hooting. What the hell is going on?!

The cafe suddenly sounds silent, and I notice that Smiley's shouts and screams have stopped. His neck is crooked, and looks broken as he lies on the floor unmoving. One waiter is kicking the shit out of his attacker, bashing his head in with black leather shoes. A solid hard kick to the attacker's head, results in a wet crunching sound, and the guy finally stops moving. The waiter keeps kicking, and his colleagues try to pull him back and calm him down. Customers are streaming out of the cafe, at varying levels of speed and urgency. Someone rushes to Smiley's side with a small First Aid kit that looks like it can't possibly hold enough gauze to help Smiley now.

It's all happening very fast, and my chest feels tight. Smiley looks dead. No, he's definitely dead, because nobody can live without a neck.

I've seen a lot of weird stuff, and even watched some kinky porn in my campus days, but this is the most unholy scene I've ever seen.

Someone rushes past me, bumping my shoulder, and I almost fall over. My phone flies out of my hand and skitters across the floor, disappearing under a table.

The bouncer rushes into the cafe and bangs the door shut, and the noise from the street is suddenly cut down to a muffled din.

I hurry towards the door - I need to get the hell out of here before he locks it. Something slams against the window, and I turn to see that it's a person slumping forward on the glass. It's the parking boy that I had seen earlier. But half of his face is missing, the flesh simply gone where his cheek should be. His arm is broken into an awkward angle, hanging loose on his side. His movements are uncoordinated. With such injuries, he should be unconscious, at least. But he's standing, eyes wide, staring at me through the glass, snapping his jaws like he's chewing on a piece of leather.

I freeze in my tracks.

This is not a movie, and this is not a dream. Something terrible is happening in my city, and I'm in the middle of it. I have to make a split-second decision, and my choices in the next few minutes will mean life or death.

What should I do?

A) Get the hell out of The Coffee Place, and head for the bus stop. I need to get home now, before whatever this is gets worse!

B) There's no way I'm walking into all that chaos alone. Stay in the Coffee Place; I might find some help here.

Leave a comment/note to tell me what to do, and check back to see if your advice saved my life or not, in Chapter 2!