Chapter 17

  Sigh.

  “Ah shit.” He said, the helicopter interrupting his voice.

  The soldier next to him looked over at him, unsure if he had said something.

  “Nothing. I was just talking to myself.” He said, looking out at the sunset, sighing once more.

  “What’s wrong captain? You nervous or something.”

  The other soldiers turned their attention to them, with a expression of amazement splattered all on their faces.

  He chuckled.

  “You trying to make me laugh. … I’m just a little shocked, that's all.”

  The soldiers faces changed from amazement to confusion.

  “What’s to make you shocked. We do stuff like this all the time. Both in training and on the field.”

  He rubbed his eyes.

  “Don’t you feel like there is something off about the president of South Sudan?”

  “What do you mean by off.” Another soldier asked.

  “The man ordered the killing of rebels in underground of city, right. I heard he didn’t spare the children either. It gotta take a really messed up individual to order something like that. …Maybe he is a mad man, …or maybe he is a monster. But who knows.”

  “Do you have a grudge against him captain?” One of the soldier asked.

  “No, not really.” He said, reaching for his pocket to pull out a cigarette and a lighter.

  “Oh, by the way captain, isn’t your family a part of the revolution in Bentiu.”

  “Yeah.” He said, lighting his cigarette.

  “Then shouldn’t you be worried.”

  “What for.”

  The soldier paused, unsure of how to say what he wanted to say properly under the circumstances.

  “... You do realise that our mission, … it’s in Bentiu.”

  His eyes flew open as he coughed the cigarette from his mouth.

  “You good captain?”

  “Wait. You said our mission is in Bentiu?”

  The soldier nodded.

  He looked down on the floor a couple of seconds, before picking up his cigarette and tossing it into the bin.

  “Shit.”

  “Didn’t you listen to the briefing.”

  “No I don’t fucking listen to that shit. I do my job and get paid. That’s what I do best.” He said, rubbing his eyes once more.

  “We will be at the landing spot in less than 2 hours.” The pilot said in microphone.

  Sighing again, he leaned back and closed his eyes. Damn it all. … Nephew, I trust you to be strong enough to handle this. At least until I get there, he thought as he started counting the seconds away, until those seconds turned into minutes and until those minutes began to make his consciousness fade.

  A hour and 47 minutes later.

  “Captain. …Captain. Captain, wake up.” A soldier said, shaking him awake.

  He opened his eyes.

  “It’s time to go.”

  He quickly got himself together.

  “Did they shut down their cameras?” He asked, looking at his comrade.

  He nodded.

  “They used the device to stun all cameras in the sewage for 6 hours. That’s more than enough time to get in and out of there.”

  “Stun, as in.”

  His comrade cut him off.

  “As in they will see a still image for 6 hours.”

  “Oh.”

  He looked down on the ground as the helicopter descended. He watched as the propellers blew away the dirt on the ground, until he could feel the bump of the helicopters impact on the ground of South Sudan, his home, before he ran away to South Africa. Memories of the past flashed before his eyes, transporting him to a time he does not want to remember.

  He clenched his teeth and fist, as a single tear ran down his face. Luckly for him, he was able to wipe it away before any of his comrades could notice, as he breathed in and out, that his comrades noticed.

  “Hahaha. Captain you good.” A soldier said laughing, along with others joining him.

  He smiled at them.

  “Hahaha. Ah i’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.” He said, exiting the helicopter.

  The captain immediately looked around for the hidden spot, he had been informed about in the briefing until finally he spotted it.

  “Hey, give me the shovel.” He yelled.

  A soldier immedaitely ran towards him with the shovel and handed it to him. And he began to dig along with his comrades. It took about 4 to 5 minutes of digging until his shovel finally hit something hard. He hit it again to make sure. And he wasn’t mistaken. It was the sound of metal with a hollow interior. They kept on digging until their efforts revealed a circular hole cover with another circular cover above it, with handles at each side, clearly meant to turn it.

  “This is it.” He said, as he and his comrades turned the cover.

  The hardest part of it all was lifting the heavy cover up. But thanks to the efforts of he and his comrades they manage to lift it.

  “Fucking hell. Why did they make the cover so damn heavy. And why was it so deep?” A soldier asked, as his comrades nodded.

  “What do you expect? This hole leads directly to the revolution. Of course they can’t allow one of their secret entrances to be easily found.” The captain said, as he jumped down the hole.

  Immediately his vision was obscured in darkness, so he turned on his flashlight a top his military helmet. It revealed a passage with webs in the corners, along with a small river of water flowing down the passage.

  One by one his comrades jumped down, and they turned on their flashlights as well, making their vision in the passage much better.

  “It’s this way.” A soldier pointed out, volunteering to lead the way.

  As they ventured deeper in the tunnel a wave of unwanted memories began manifesting in the captain’s mind. He could see and feel everything clearly, not a moment wasn’t clear to him.

  The sky was hidden above a gray vail of clouds, howling as if it could feel pain, weeping as if it was in distress. The setting and the music of tears hitting the earth was all too perfect for the great tragedy he had just committed. As if the heavens already knew it would happen, before it did.

  At the base of a tree he could here his sisters quiet crying, as she hugged her legs and her face buried in her thigh. But unlike his sister, he wasn’t scared at all, in fact, he gripped the knife tighter and drove it deeper in the man’s neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, even on his face and his ripped shirt, but it was quickly washed away by the rain. Then suddenly he let go of the knife that was still lodged in the man’s neck, and looked upon his hands that was covered in blood, but the rain quickly concealed it. It may be invisible to the the necked eye, but that didn’t matter because he knows it’s still there.

  Then the adrenaline began to fade away. Before he was fearless, consumed by drive, rage, and purpose, but as it all began to fade, he had been changed back into the boy he was before, or a reduced tainted version of the boy he was before. He was indeed the same boy he had always been on the outside, the major difference was he no longer carried his innocence. His core, once clear in colour, was now deformed in black. So the only thing he could do was sit on that corpse and stare down at his hands. He only came too when he heard a scream behind him, along with the rallying of people approaching with haste to see what the alarm was for. Quickly he grabbed his sister by her arm and ran home with her. And even that was clear. He could hear the crying of his sisters and the several screams of the people behind him. But at that moment he didn’t care about anything, not even his sister. He fled because he wanted to escape from the sin he had committed, despite if he was in the right or the wrong, he doubted the people would see it the way he did.

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  At home he endured the screaming of his mother and the mighty roars from his father. Eventually they locked him away in his room, and argued. He could hear his mother throwing glass across the room. Every time it broke on impact his heart would lunge, as tears fell from his eyes, as he stared blankly in the darkness of his room, unsure of what the future would look like for him. Am I going to be in prison? No, that mongrel was going to defile my sister, they will understand. They know that I would never do something like that for no reason. …But will I get expelled? Will everyone look at me differently? Will they think I'm a monster? What will they think of me? What would my friends think of me?

  He asked, but he was left with only silence. Then all of a sudden he heard.

  “We should hand him over to the police. We can ask them not to tell anyone that the murderer is our son.”

  “Wait. Mother no. That man was going to rape me. If he hadn’t.”

  “Shut up.”

  He heard a loud slap in the other room, along with a thud, followed by the low sound of crying.

  “You are 20 years old, when are you going to stop acting like a child. …. And that man your brother killed was going to marry you. Just today he came to us talking about bride price. Now look. You are useless now. What other man would marry a girl like you now. You and your brother have doomed us.

  “.....When Micheal goes to sleep we will call the police to come get him.” His father said.

  “...NO. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN SON?”

  “Shut up. Don’t let him hear you.” His father said.

  His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach.

  Micheal heard muffles, as if his father had covered his sister's mouth, or gagged her. But he doubted he could do anything to save her this time. He looked at his shaking hand down to his trembling legs, in the mental condition he was in, he doubted he could take several steps without collapsing to the ground. All he could think was run. His body, as if it had a mind of its own, got up, stumbling. And all he could hear in his foggy mind was, run. Micheal rushed to the window, and jumped out, he didn’t even bother putting on any shoes. As he hit the ground he heard the sound of the door opening then not even a second later he heard the bone chilling words.

  “HE’S GONE.”

  Micheal immediately bolted, all while hearing his parents shouting and the loud scoffling of the place that was his home. As he fled, house lights lit up one by one, with curtains being pulled back, exposing a group of dark silhouettes behind them. He ran faster, avoiding the constant stares of the silhouettes from all corners. As he ran, he felt as if the entire world’s eyes were all on him. They don’t understand, he thought, as he quickly turned a corner to a different street. If they were me they would have done the exact same thing. So why, …why are they looking at me like some kind of monster, he thought, tears flowed down his eyes. I just want this to all be just one big terrible nightmare, …please be a nightmare, he thought as he hid behind a wall of houses, that was just in front of a gully. A place where he and his friends would often meet up and play. To him the place was a safe haven, a place to escape from school, parents, and all the worldly influences. The place was his entire world. He slide his back against the wall of a house, until he was sitting down, hugging his legs tightly with tears leaking down his eyes. He didn’t make a sound. When he was just a toddler, he made the decision to never cry in front of anybody again and when he cried he will do it silently, that way no one will be able to witness his pain. Micheal believed involving someone else in one’s own suffering was a really selfish thing to do. His reasoning for this belief is rooted in his past. One day his sister came across a crying toddler Micheal, covered in cuts and bruises, as well as dirt that covered his skin. On his way back from school a group of boys Micheal wasn’t particular on the best of terms with, attacked him, beating him so bad his lower lip bursed, released blood that missed with his saliva. When his sister found out what happened she flew into a rage and went to confront the children’s mothers, demanding an apology and a return for the money their children stole. But things didn’t go well, a fight broke out between the mothers and his sister. She was beaten and humiliated just as badly as he was. But through her determination she had the police order the mothers to pay 5 times the amount of money the children stole. The police also left them with a warning. Although he got even more money than the amount that was stolen from him, he believed if he was never so weak and never allowed his sister to witness his vulnerability, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt. What he learned from that whole experience was that human suffering is contagious, it can spread from person to person, rotting them from the inside out, until they were just as rotten and feeble as he was. Suddenly a thought popped in his mind, perhaps if he had swallowed his pain just a few hours earlier, he wouldn’t be in the situation he was in. Maybe if he had accepted being wronged and his loved ones wronged, things wouldn’t have escalated. But why should I keep taking lashes from the world in order to live with a slight chance of happiness. Why should I bow my head to others and receive their ridicule and judgment? They are not gods, they do not have power over me. They are flesh and blood, just like I am. They are man. …But ….why are we so different from one another. What separates me from them, he thought, as he stared at the black gully water. His eyelids slowly gave way, submerging him into the realm of dreams.

  “Captain. You aren’t day dreaming are you.”

  Life returned to Micheal’s eyes.

  “Of course not. My mind was occupied on how to make this mission go by smoothly.”

  “Well you might wanna focus on something else. We are gonna have action up ahead.”

  Micheal immediately understood. He clenched his weapon. Up ahead he could see a huge whole of light. Big enough for multiple men to fit through. As they slowly approached the entrance they could hear the loud voices of men, bouncing off the walls of the sewer. One of the soldiers aimed his rifle, looking through the scope. His hands gripped the rifle tightly, yet it was shaking. Even though the soldier’s face was covered by a helmet and a mask Micheal could still tell that he was ready to reap lives. But before he could take the shot Micheal stopped him.

  “We are not engaging if we don't have to. Remember our mission." He whispered.

  The soldier was a bit hesitant, until he nodded slowly.

  Micheal peaked out of the hole, being careful to not have his head blown off the moment it became visible. Immediately Micheal found the reason why the soldier was so ready to take lives. What he saw was a group of soldiers, all ravaging the revolution’s camp. Taking down tents, pushing over barrels and taking guns. But that’s not what Micheal nor the soldiers were paying attention to, what they were looking at was the blood and the several corpses splattered all over the camp. At a close look Micheal noticed that the blood wasn’t fresh, it was dry, making the blood stick to the tents and the ground like glue.

  “Hey. When are we gonna leave Bentiu. This place reeks.” A soldier said, packing the gun’s in a cart.

  “When we get more information on the revolution and the alliance. We still don’t know for sure which country is involved. We need concrete proof before we engage.” Another soldier said, helping his comrade look through the camp for any documents or letters they could possibly find.

  “Yeah. That’s the reason on paper, but what’s the real reason.”

  His comrade gave him a glance before sighing.

  “Since you already know the reason why are you asking.”

  “So I can make sure i’m not the only one who thinks the same thing.”

  “Are we even supposed to talk about this.” Another soldier that was rummaging the camp said.

  “Aren’t you even the least bit curious. Every major country on this planet has their eyes set on this asteroid. Even the United States wants it. …That asteroid must be worth a crazy amount if pratically every country in the world wants it. It must be made of gold or something.”

  “Isn’t it landing somewhere near here?” Another soldier said.

  “Well I guess we will never know. …Now stop talking and let’s get out here. This place smells disgusting.” A soldier said loking back, pinching his nose, before turning around and walk to the sewer camps exit.

  “It looks like they already know a lot about us captain.”

  Micheal didn’t respond, he just nodded and stepped down from the hole.

  “Take 10 minutes to look through the camp. Try to find any letters or documents they may have missed and either secure or destroy them.”

  His men nodded, dividing themselves.

  Micheal also went searching in the camp. Flipping over and searching anything that looked like a good hiding place. He did this all while his heart beated violently. He wanted to find anything, any proof that his sister might be alive, but alas he couldn’t find any. Micheal clenched his teeth and banged his hand against a wooden table.

  “We couldn’t find any captain.” His comrades said.

  And almost as if his face never showed any emotion, he turned to them and said.

  “Let’s carry on with the mission.”

  25 minutes later.

  A manhole cover slowly popped open in the surface of a alleyway in Bentiu. And one by one Micheal and his comrades climbed out. And almost immediately they used the butt of their rifles to smash a building’s windows. Then they jumped inside and rushed to the highest floor. Micheal wanted to pull off this mission as quickly as possible.

  “It looks like the spy did his job. There’s nobody in here.” Micheal said, setting up his rifle.

  “Alright boys, this is gonna go down in the history books.” His comrades chuckled.

  Micheal adjusted his scope and zoomed in on the once quiet now raging crowd below. What got them so angry, he thought as he zoomed in his scope on his targets head, but suddenly he smelled something vile. He smelt it before, but he couldn’t recall what it was. Out of curiosity he adjusted his scope to the crowd and instantly a smile appeared on his face. He is alive. …But who is that boy, he thought. Through his scope he saw a boy with a shocked expression plastered all over his face. It was as if the boy had lost his soul, leaving his body in a petrified state that told the story of the moment when his body did have a soul. A sweat ran down the side of his face. He glanced away. That face and the emotion the boy must have felt was all to familiar to him. He didn’t want to remember, he didn’t want to go back. It’s far too painful for him.

  Not wanting to dwell on the past Micheal re adjusted his scope to his targets head. He closed his eyes, he calmed his breathing. And just as he re opened his eyes, prepared to take the shot, he was interrupted.

  “WHAT THE FUCK.” A soldier yelled, stumbling back.

  He looked back, asking what’s wrong.

  “Look over there.”

  Micheal and his comrades peaked out of the window, curious to find out what could possibly make one of their comrades act like a frightened child, and immediately they understood why. One of his comrades fell down to his knees and started vomiting. His other comrades backed away from the window, shocked at what they just witnessed. But Micheal, he didn’t back away. No, he was frozen, just like he was many years ago. The image before his eyes burned into them, just like the images from that day. Is this a dream, he thought. This can not be happening. No. Not again. Then suddenly the unthinkable appeared in his mind. No there is no way right, he thought as his shaking hands adjusted the scope of his rifle to the origin of that god awfull smell. And almost immediately his eyes began to leak. The one person he wanted to live in this entire world is gone. Gone in the worse way possible. The smoke from the fire burned his eyes, causing them to leak profusely, as he quickly re adjusted his scope to his target. And with eyes full of rage he pressed the trigger. Almost immediately the crowd went quite. Took them a couple of seconds to fully understand what happened before they began dispersing. Micheal re adjusted his scope and noticed he missed his intended spot, so he prepared to take his next shot, but before he did he stopped. Is this some kind of sick joke, he thought, his hands trembling, looking right at him was his target. But the fact that he some how could knew where he was, was not what shocked Micheal. What shocked him was the face. It had been years since then, but Micheal could never forget that face.

  Petrified Micheal just stood there, staring into his scope before he heard a yell from one of his comrades.

  “Captain watch out.”

  The soldier pushed Michael aside, and almost immediately the glass shattered and fast zooming orange lights went through him, killing him in less than a second. This caused Micheal to finally wake up from his trans. Enraged he picked up his rifle and started firing away in the direction the bullets were coming from.

  “Captain, we have to go.”

  Micheal ignored them and continued firing. This is not going to happen again, he thought.”

  “Captain.”

  He clenched his teeth and began slowly retreating down the stears. But as he was backing up firing, he caught sight of his dead comrades body, laid out on the floor, blood leaking from his body profusely. A part of him wanted to rush past all of the gun fire and retrieve his body, but he was no fool. He knew the moment he did something that foolish he would end up just like him. So hesitantly he retreated down stears and as his foot touched the lowest floor of the building, the wall beside him exploded, sending him flying in the wall of a alleyway. His body dropped to the floor. He couldn’t move and his vision was obscured in blurred. The only thing he could hear was the distorted yelling of his comrades and the only thing he could see was smoke ascending into the already blackened sky. Then his eyelids began to grow heavy, and before they could close he hoped.

  “Arop, escape from here alive.”