Z stands for Zimbabwe - Part 10

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Later, Akinyi is looking at the hallway, with an energy bar on her left hand, and a submachine gun on the other hand. She is sitting on a bench and thinking about something. The woman is contemplating about something while is eating that energy bar. Steps are heard coming from her left, the woman quickly drops the energy bar and aims the submachine gun to that direction, aiming to Monifa who's quickly raising her arms up and whispers.

"Don't shoot, Akinyi! It's me. Monifa."

"Monifa." says Akinyi lowering the weapon and feeling awkward. "Sorry."

"It's alright." responds Monifa approaching Akinyi. "You are tense. Just like me."

"You want to take over the watch?"

"Yes. I can't sleep." says Monifa who is approaching Akinyi and sits near her. "If you want to go to sleep."

"No." responds Akinyi. "I can't sleep either."

"It's because of the Class F zombie, right? The one that Quanda and Abeni told us about?"

"That. And many others."

"Others?"

"I don't trust some people from here. Like that Udo guy."

"Yeah. He is looking sceptical. And holds that shotgun to him all day. I saw him sleeping with it in his hands."

"Eze told me that guy hold him at gun point and was close to shoot him."

"Should we go with them?"

"I don't know. I trust the others, they seem to be good people, but that Udo… I don't really trust him."

The two hear a scream coming from outside. The two women are getting out of the bench and run outside the museum. When they got outside, on the streets, both are looking around, but cannot see the source of the screaming because of the darkness outside. The two women notices a second scream, which sounds one coming from a man. Akinyi prepares her submachine gun and runs to the source of the screaming, which was coming from about a hundred steps from the museum, in a flat complex.

Akinyi arrives at the front of that flat complex, where she sees a group of three zombies eating a corpse of a human. The woman is looking at them for a few seconds, then she sees on the ground a metal pipe and use it to smash the head of a zombie. The other two zombies look at Akinyi and Monifa, then abandon the fresh corpse of the human. Akinyi manages to hit another zombie in the head, who falls on the ground, but doesn't die. Akinyi hits the third zombie in the head, which falls on the ground and stays unmoved. Akinyi sees the second zombie tries to rise, and she hits the thing in the head again, killing it this time.

"Are you alright?" asks Monifa who was behind of Akinyi, with a log 2X4 she just found in the street to use as a weapon.

"Yeah…" says Akinyi breathing heavily she is looking at the corpse of the man.

Cannot see much on this darkness that surrounds her, but from the fresh blood that drips from the upper body of that man she can deduce he was killed recently, and the screaming must've come from him. Akinyi observes the man starts to move, which means it is still alive, and hear him whispering in an English language.

"K-Kill… me… please…"

Akinyi and Monifa heard the dying man last wish, and Akinyi complies by smashing the metal pipe four times to the man skull, making sure he won't reanimate into a mindless zombie like the others that surrounds this planet. Monifa notices there is a backpack near the corpse of that man and goes over it. She checks the backpack and finds something useful in there, a flare gun ammo.

"Holy shit." says Monifa holding the flare gun ammo.

"Like no way…" says Akinyi looking at the flare gun ammo Monifa holds. "Chidi will be so happy to see this."

"How can a flare gun ammo be here?" asks Monifa passing the thing she found to Akinyi, and she continues to search for more items like this in the backpack, and finds a walkie-talkie. "Woah… Found this weird device."

"It is a walkie-talkie." says Akinyi looking at the device Monifa is holding. "Never saw one of these?"

"No… Only in a film when I was younger. But how do you know it?"

"My uncle used one of these frequently at work." says Akinyi putting the flare gun ammo safely and taking that walkie-talkie, but sees the device doesn't have nay batteries on him. "Crap. Don't have batteries."

"Do you think the second group has any?" asks Monifa.

"If they do. We might be able to call for help."

"It's worth a shot?"

"It is." says Akinyi sounding happy.

The two girls are taking that backpack, they bid farewell to the corpse of the human and say to him a "Thank you." for letting him take the supplies. The girls flee the scene, leaving the fresh body of the human, in the dark, surrounded by the other three corpses.

Back in the Mutare museum, Akinyi and Monifa arrives with the backpack, and the two are greeted by Udo, who is holding his pump shotgun at them and says to them in whisper tone.

"What are you two doing?"

"Look." says Akinyi who is raising her arms up, together with Chimola, who is shaking. "We found something."

"And?" asks Udo while holding the shotgun. "Does it have your name?"

"What?" asks Akinyi confused.

"Give that backpack. To me. Don't say anything and I will not shoot both of you."

"Why?" asks Akinyi holding her arms up, looking a bit sceptical. "Why would we do this?"

"Because I won't blow your brains away. Now. Give them the backpack and I will leave your group safe. I want to leave this group. And I need something."

"B-But why? Why?"

"I got bored." says Udo with a smirk who wants to keep the reason hidden. "Now. Give it to me."

"You are insane." say Akinyi to that man.

"Give it to me. And nobody will get hurt. You scream, you both get killed."

The girls have thought about this for a few seconds about what to do. Both seeing they do not have any choice, they give the backpack to Udo, who is taking the backpack and leaves this place while he is aiming his shotgun at the two girls who continue to keep their hands up. Akinyi handed the backpack because she didn't have any choice. If she screamed for help, the man would've shot both of them and run with the backpack. And if she were to try to fight him, what he could've done? Grab the shotgun and try to beat him? That man is one head bigger than her and stronger judging by the appearance of the robber. 

"Why did you do that?" asks Monifa to Akinyi after they see Udo leaving the perimeter.

"I acted without thinking." says Akinyi to Monifa. "The man had a shotgun to our face. How would you act? Catch it?"

Monifa did not say anything to this because she knows what did Akinyi earlier was the only option she could've done. Akinyi did not say anything, she goes to the bench and sits. Monifa hasn't said anything, and she goes toward Akinyi, sits on the bench near her and both of them are sitting without speaking a single word. Both of them would say what happened to their leaders.

"Did that fucker just robbed you?!" says Quanda shocked to Akinyi and Chimola.

"Yes." says Akinyi. "On that backpack we've only found a walkie-talkie, a single flare gun and a lighter."

"And you just give it tot them?!" asks Chidi to Akinyi looking nervous.

"The man had a shotgun to my face." say Akinyi. "What do you want me to do?"

"Fuck." says Chidi angrily, and goes back a few steps mumbling something.

"Look." says Quanda to Chidi. "That man was always sketchy. I never trusted him."

"Then why you let that man join you?" asks Chidi to Quanda.

"The man helped us." say Abeni in her defence and to the defence of Quanda. "The man has helped us get here, and saved us."

"Ugh…" say Chidi.

The two argued for a few more minutes about this incident, and decided to leave it alone because they have a more important business than to speak about this rob, to get to Mozambique and get on a boat to leave this cursed continent.