There’s nothing exciting about fireworks at night. Especially when
it’s trained in your general direction. Cameron Vidai kept his head
low & studied the shadows his attackers. Judging by their sizes, he
could tell how close they were…and they were getting closer every
time he looked.
He turned to check his ‘borrowed’ assault rifle. If only its previous
owner had had the grace to die quietly. The lung power of a dying man
never ceased to amaze him. It wasn’t a typical situation. Nothing is
typical about dealing with nuclear weapons. He had to keep his eyes on
his watch. His instructions were simple: Stop them from selling the
device. Even if you have to kill everyone involved.
Coming back alive, as usual, was assumed to be understood. A warehouse
was very unimaginative. Good thing he had back-up of sorts. An
air-strike was on its way. He checked his watch. 7 minutes left. Time
flies by when you’re trying not to get shot.
He’d been told the blast would cover 2 kilometres. He set the
gun-sights on the power box & let off every round he had. Darkness was
frightening when sudden. But it was his friend. He unsheathed his
knife & ‘worked’ a path to the car park. The last person he cut was
beefy. He had to go for the tendons until he had a bellowing beast
flailing on the floor. When he got to the car, heard the plane coming
to make its run. He found a Hummer and wriggled into it. The visual
performance of orange fire & black smoke was breath-taking & bone
jarring. He saw his ‘bellowing beast’ make crude movements to shield
himself from the fire. It was a strange kind of art because he
suddenly froze as he turned into an ugly mahogany, dripping fat &
flesh. The smell of a burning world crept into the jeep. As soon as he
thought it safe, he came out with his jacket over his nose & his eyes
stinging from the smoke. The heat was stifling. As he walked quickly,
he noticed that the mahogany beast was still moving. The was a pocket
of fire near him. Cameron walked over to him & kicked him into the
fire. Cameron saw anger in his eyes before they became vacant.
“Well, come judgment day, you’ll thank me.”, he said.
When he got to fresher air, he dropped his jacket from his face &
walked to his Pick-up Zone. The helicopter pilot asked him how he was.
“Have you ever had to burn someone out of their misery before? No?
Then shut up and fly.”

* *  * *
About Me: My name is Remi Olutimayin, a writer in Lagos, Nigeria. When
asked what I write, I reply, “Well, whatever finds me rewarding, I
hope.”

Here you can read another story by Remi – Broken line.