DEADLY RIVALS by AKINTAYO PHILIPS (Crystal Knight) Genre: Action Thriller. PROLOGUE “Life is a series of meetings and partings” _Charles Dickens (David Copperfield) KIGALI, RWANDA 27 YEARS EARLIER EVERYWHERE is enshrouded in wools of darkness and death rolls-out from the muzzles of AK-47s, spewing out hot and deadly bullets, in a wide horizontal parabolic path, from the hands of eight tall and muscular men in combat dresses at the front of a red brick bungalow in a thickly wooded neighborhood. The sound of the bullets echoed through the night. Craaack! Craaack! The guns sputtered their deadly gut into the ghostly night. It was the third week into the genocide that seems to last for eternity in Rwanda. The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) ─a rebel group─ are just gathering momentum to launch a counterattack at the Hutu dominated Rwanda Military Forces (RMF). The battle sizzles on unrelentingly. In a corner of one of the red brick bungalow’s bedrooms, Kola Allison ─a Nigerian and Tutsi sympathizer─ try to scramble his family to safety as hot bullet volleys shatter everything in its path. Wood splinters, shards of window glass, concrete chips and dust and bullets ricochet fly around the room amidst the eerie reverberation of unceasing automatic fire. Acute fear strummed on the string of his nerves as he was, squatted beside a cupboard in the kitchen, beads of sweat converged to form a tributary on his brow. His sound sleeping one year old son was clamped to his chest with his left arm. With his right hand he patted the shoulder of his wife, squatted and whimpering beside him like a rain beaten duckling seeking comfort from its mother. Stroking her hair gently, he said: “Liza, take our baby and leave immediately. I’ll give myself away to distract our assailants from your escape through the back door. Every second will count, so don’t try dissuading me…do as I say and leave now.” He handed over the sound sleeping baby to his wife and escorted her to the back exit door. His wife gave him a pleading look, but he remained undaunted and unmoved even given the uncertainty of his fate in his chosen course of action. “Go straight to Mr. Donald, he’ll arrange how you’ll get to Nigeria. As for me I’ll be fine. Please leave now…everything will be OK”. He kissed the temple of the undisturbed baby and gave his wife a quick peck on the left cheek. Waving them into the night, he jammed the back door and crawled on all fours to the front door. The booming of the automatic guns rocks on like a symphony without an end. ** ** ** ** ** ** ** MRS ALLISON ran with fear etched on her askew visage, perspirations stream down her back and her bust in branched sinuous lines, making her cloth wet and sticky at the back and front. She hugged her baby tightly to her heaving bosom. The dry night wind swirled her loose dark hair crazily about her sorrow clouded face. A rat ran across the path. Mrs. Allison panicked and lost her balance when her feet cut a twig across the path. She rolled on the ground with her baby still held firmly in her arms. Placing her left hand on the trunk of a nearby tree, her other hand wrapped tightly around her baby, she struggle back to her feet. She felt her heart hammering against her rib like soldiers on a parade ground, stamping their feet on the ground at close intervals…PIM…PIM…PIM. Streaks of light from gun fire flashes across the dark horizon with the sound of the deadly projectiles punctuating the eerie intermittent flashes of light. Screams and wailing could be heard in the distance. The tearful mother and her still sleeping baby nestled in the crook of her arms disappear into the gaping mouth of the deadly and melancholic night. If you want to know what happen next post your comments and likes. When the likes is up to one thousand (1000), Ill release the chapter one for your reading pleasure. Make DEADLY RIVALS, the most popular book in Africa.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 02:36:23 +0000
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