CHAPTER 1
Kelechi and Yemisi were in their hotel room enjoying each other’s company. Kelechi opened a video camera and positioned it on the table, facing the bed, to film herself. Then she backed away from the camera, jumped on the bed and started tickling Yemisi.
‘What are you doing? Stop!’, Yemisi squealed with laughter.
‘It’s for my vlog. Say hi’, Kelechi said, still tickling.
‘Stop, stop’, Yemisi said and got off the bed, trying to catch her breath.
As they were still laughing, there was a knock on the door. Yemisi looked through the peephole and saw a sweaty hotel attendant, wearing the usual white shirt and black slacks. She opened the door and all of a sudden, felt a blow to her face which caused her to stagger backwards and down to the ground.
With pain surging through her head, she opened her eyes to see what the heck was happening. She saw three figures heading for Kelechi on the bed and two figures towering over her.
Kelechi was screaming but Yemisi was too stunned to speak. She tried to get up but she felt a blow on her back and she bit the ground. Then she felt a pair of hands holding her legs down. She tried to wriggle free but another set of hands were holding down her hands pressed to her back and her head to the ground.
She could see Kelechi being held down by three figures on the ground next to the bed. One was holding her hands down, another was holding her legs apart and the third was on top of her, and pulling down its trousers.
Who are these creatures and why are they hurting us, thinks Yemisi. They look like men, as they were all tall and hefty, wearing army-green t shirts and black jean trousers. They were all extremely quiet and organised and fast and brutal.
‘Yemisi’, Kelechi cried bitterly as she made eye contact with her.
‘Kelechi’, Yemisi muttered as painful tears streamed down her face.
A sudden burst of energy filled Yemisi and she struggled out of the grips of her attackers and headed for Kelechi. One of the predators dragged her back. She turned and hit him in his mid-section. He grunted painfully, but did not let go of her. The second attacker punched her in the stomach, she doubled her and she was kicked until she fell. The kicking continued. All over her back, her stomach, her head, her legs. She strained to look at Kelechi, whose screams she could her very clearly. She started feeling light-headed and with one last kick to the head, blacked out.
