The fight to live

A Story by julz

It was raining very hard. The rain drops felt heavy. They fell on Marie hard. She struggled to see ahead of her as she dragged herself in pain. The main road shouldn't be far from where she was. Her left hand was pressing on the wound on her right arm. She had bled all over her white lace blouse. The pain was just unbearable but she knew if she stopped moving she would die. She turned around. She couldn't see much so she kept going. She slipped on a twig and fell straight into the mud. She cried as she forced herself up. Then she heard the sound of a car. She gained some energy all of a sudden and moved faster.

She got to the side of the road just in time to catch the car. She was just about to wave with her uninjured arm when she recognized the car. It was her father's Range Rover Evogue. She gasped and hid behind the bushes. The car stopped by the side of the road. She knew she was in trouble. What were her chances of survival now? She crawled around and headed back to her house. Maybe she wasn't thinking straight but she remembered the men were three. One got shot while wrestling with the guards in her house, the other followed her and the one driving the must have been the third one. There could be more she missed but she would take her chances. She heard the car door slam shut and increased her speed. The mud had blackened her blouse and with her black jeans it was hard to see her. The rain helped too.

As she moved towards her father's house she thought about a week ago. Her father suggested they go to Ghana for a holiday. She didn't like the idea because she had really gotten used to Abuja. They traveled so often that making and keeping friends was a problem. "Holiday? Dad, we travel enough. Last year we were in Singapore for 6 months oh and Germany before?" She complained. They still came anyway. She now realized why her father was in such a rush to leave Nigeria. He probably messed with the wrong people but they obviously caught up with him.

Marie was almost at the house when she heard the sound of a car behind her. She was doomed. With the headlights they would spot her! She gathered all the energy she could find and run. If she could make it to the trees on the side of the house she could hide. The speed of the car kept increasing. There were tears pouring harder than the rain as she run for her life. She pictured the last time she saw her father lying on the floor in a pool of blood with three bullets in his chest. She didn't see her mother die though. She just heard her pleading and after a gun shot her mothers voice was gone.

She fell flat when she got to the trees and watched the car lights pass by seconds later. The fact that the house was alone on a hill was the only thing that thrilled Marie when they first got here but now she wished they had neighbours. She was stuck at the top of the hill at night with 3 killers with guns! Then it hit her. Her father had 2 guns in almost every house they lived in. He would hide one in his room and the other in the garage. That was her only chance to protect herself. Marie waited till the men went into the house before she made her move. They were arguing and looking around.

Once they were gone she rushed to the garage. The men had left the door empty when they took out her father's car. She slipped in and looked around. She couldn't find it. "I'm going to die." She said to herself. Then she heard a sound. She cried and turned around. She saw a little boy. It was the cook's son. "What are you doing here?!" Marie asked shivering. The boy was shaking even more than her. "My, father send me. Say I bring bread. It start rain so I wait for rain stop at back of house. I hear gun I come hide here." He said. "Poor child." Marie thought. He was too young to be exposed to this but then again so was she. The boy went on crying. Marie felt the need to be strong. "Look we will be fine ok?" She whispered to him. Then she saw a long wooden box behind him. She moved him aside and opened it. It was a riffle.

"Dad, what where you into?" She whispered to herself as she held the gun. The boy moved back. "Don't worry we will get out of here." She said to him again. He nodded. She loaded the riffle with bullets. She had never shot a real gun before but she would do anything to save her life and that of the cook's boy. After she fixed the last bullet she accidentally pulled the trigger. The boy screamed as the gun fired. This was bad. The men came rushing in. She held the gun up with her shaking hands and fired when she saw them. Her arm still hurt. She missed and they laughed. "Foolish girl!" One yelled. Marie fired again. She missed again but the bullet hit the hinge that held one side of the metallic garage gate back. The hinge broke and the door flung open hitting one of the men and knocking him unconscious. The other man looked at his partner in disbelief. Marie shot again. This time she didn't miss. She got him in the hip and he fell down in pain. She stood in silence for a few seconds and run out. The gun strapped around her and holding the hand of the boy. She saw her father's car keys and grabbed it. The second man was trying to get his gun but she pushed it away and kicked him in the side. She took his gun and shot holes in their tryes and the petrol tank. She opened the car and they both got in. She sparked the car and drove off leaving the terror behind them on a lonely hill.