Either Way You're Dead

By Akweh John Ven

Cheers on your graduation. Everybody wishes you well. But what happens when one of them wants you dead and goes to extreme massacre just to see your lifeless body? And not just you. Your classmates too - twenty in all. You've been forced into an adventure where your life and those of others tethers on a single thread. Will you go to the police who may never believe your story without a sterling proof? Or do you keep running to risk vengeance knowing that it might just be your last breath? The choice is yours'.

In this life-threatening adventure. you have nowhere to run. It's coming for you. You only have to fight back. But will you live to see the end or will you eat the dust? Either way . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Akweh John Ven
• Release date: Dec 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386479574

Book preview

Either Way You’re Dead

Akweh John Ven

To those who think the world is fair.

PROLOGUE

It felt like only yesterday. We were happy. Like it was the last days at Forcados High. Grinning in pictures.

Dancing like monkeys. Eating like gluttons.

We had no care in the world. We were the frolic graduates of St. John's Day, set 2017.

Clad in purple hats and gowns with our testimonials in our hands. We felt like professors. Our teachers beamed at us with encouraging smiles. Our guardians couldn't conceal their proud smiles as it was indelibly plastered on their faces like a cobbler's glue. Twenty of us were awarded the best set since the school was first pioneered in 1982. It was an honour. Then the music came. And we went loco. One minute, we were composed as Aliko Dangote in a business meeting. And the next, we were like Denrele Edun. It was the joy of seeing ourselves pass through a missionary college after six years. Alive. Some girls cried like hungry babies. But no one taunted them. They could cry all day, we were all happy.

Until, it came. Like a desert storm. Like an Egyptian plague. Like a zombie raid. It withered the joy and planted sorrow in its stead. No one believed the Devil could be so bold. He was. Our dear mates were adeptly assassinated.

It was like an episode in Arrow where a lady kills newly weds because her groom deserted her on their

wedding day. She spilled nuptial blood. Not caring if the bride was with child. Our mates deaths made front page news.

Made reporters vy for information. Made journalists ask for leads. While, our parents were petrified without Voldemort's Basilisk. They refused to be comforted. Some, lost an only child. To who? Who was this monster? Why did it have to kill just-newly-graduated teenagers? Why did it do this? Why? Why? This is something I should tell you all. Some story.

Some tale. Not what the journalists say. Not what the reporters report. Not what the news speaks. But what a survivor tells.

My name is Godo Matthew. And I didn't die. Vincent, Martha, Susan and Gab, too. So sit back and read my story. You might cry. You might faint. Because this is a story of surviving. Of terror. Of tragic loss. It might leave you reading overnight. It might take your breath away. It might make you miss school tomorrow. Miss your flight tomorrow. Or it might make you miss us. Or miss ever reading a great story that begins now. Once upon a time...

CHAPTER 1

Aba Sem

It's raining outside, Sem. Get indoors!

Just a second, ma.

Sem ran to the car, grabbed his chess kit from the back

seat, and ran back inside. His mom was shooting daggers with her eyes.

You wanted to get cold just for that? she

demanded.

It was only for a second, ma he replied and went to his room.

Sem put his chess kit on an ebony table and sat on his bed. His room was old fashioned. Not that he cared. The only new things added were the photos from his graduation, a week ago. He looked at them and smiled. Nothing felt better than great friends around you. Minutes later, he sat at dinner table eating white rice cornered with cabbage, cucumber, lettuce and tomato stew, with his mom and sister. Anne, an only sister, was dark-skinned like the rest of them. Except their dad. But he was late.

Sem hated remembering that unfateful night his dad had look at him on his sick bed and spat out four words:

DO NOT DIE YOUNG

Sem was still pondering these words when his dad died of lung cancer. They were his last words. From that day on, he lived for the only two people that mattered in his life. Anne drank water from a glass cup and cleared

her throat. Incoming, he thought.

Mom

Hmmm?

Anne folded her hands on the table.

"Sem's birthday is tomorrow and I’ve

invited almost everyone. But what about the cake?"

The woman put on a slight smile.

It'll be here tomorrow morning.

Anne grinned like a monkey. She turned to face her brother.

He was starring at her.

What? she spat.

You invited who?

Shrugging. Don't worry. You know everyone that's coming tomorrow.

"Uh-uh. I know my sister too well. How many did you

invite?"

Not much

How. Many. he persisted.

Your mates-

He lost his appetite. He nearly screamed.

Birthdays are for girls, Anne! I didn't call for a village meeting!

Anne rolled her eyes.

Well.. I invited my friends too.

He turned to his mom for help. But, she was enjoying it. She was smirking. It'll be lovely, sweetheart, his mom encouraged. I also invited your uncles and au-

Sem literally flew from the dining. The joke was on him today. The last thing he heard before slamming the door closed was their laughter. Sem hated birthdays. Precisely, he hated being the subject of a gay crowd. And they knew it. His phobia turned him into a chess addict. He could play chess all day and ignore you even if you shouted your throat out about the new beautiful girls in the neighbourhood. Sem. Wouldn't. Care. A. Thing. It was

around 10:21pm he deserted his chess board and went to bed. The