THE ESCAPE (6)

Taking the Chance

Monday night and John said his prayers before drifting off to sleep. He prayed about the escape plan he had been hatching in his head for the past few days. Whatever he was planning, he knew that God was the only person he could count on and that with divine help, he could save himself. He had listened to the discussions of the gang for the past two nights, but there was nothing significant in their talks; the only new thing was the discussion of the sharing formula of the revenue generated from their latest release.

This night, John slept off and he didn’t wake until it was morning. How did he sleep through the night? Was it the cold weather caused by the rains? Well, he was up now and that was what mattered. They were just getting served breakfast when the clouds began to gather. John hoped that the rain wasn’t going to fall heavy, he didn’t have enough clothes to keep warm, and sleeping with light clothes did little to help him when he was already sleeping on an already bare floor.

The rain started as they were rounding up their breakfast, and it fell at intervals. The weather wasn’t as cold, but it was still cool. John lay down in a corner, and he noticed that Khalid wasn’t with them. They had barely spoken in a while and he was fine with that, it pricked him to talk to the mole as if he didn’t know what he was.

With nothing to do, John passed the time by sleeping, he couldn’t do anything else. His sleep was interrupted by shouts coming from a corner in the hall, it was the other guy. He shouted again, clutching his belly. John rushed over and asked him what was wrong. He could only mutter two words repeatedly: “It hurts!” Trying to comfort him was a futile effort, John had to get help. “Help”, he called out, trying to get the attention of the kidnappers. It took over ten shouts before he heard some movement. Three of the captors came and before they could ask what the matter was, John pointed to the figure that was sprawled on the ground. They rushed to him and quickly realised it was a serious matter and they had to get help for him.

Two members ran out to get help while one stayed behind. The young man was in pain and John wished they would appear with a solution real soon. Two people returned in about five minutes, but this time, it was Khalid and one of the men who left. Khalid tried to do his usual act, but John knew he was faking it. “The doctor said he could not come over because of the rain; and that they have to bring him there”. John said nothing; he only nodded his head and said a prayer for the sick guy.

They carried him out, all three of them, leaving John behind and alone. Again, John fell asleep as the rain resumed falling. He woke up about two hours later and saw that he was still alone. The rain had stopped and the whole place was quiet. He listened for sounds but there were none. The door was unlocked, and the sun was out, but it wasn’t as high in the sky. He checked his time and it was 4:24 p.m.

It struck him as he gathered himself together: HE WAS ALONE! For the first time since his kidnap, John was neither with a captive nor a captor, this was his chance!

He couldn’t be so sure, so he carefully checked around as he tiptoed to the door. There was still no movement. He stooped and creaked the door open and crawled out on high alert. This wasn’t going to work; if he got caught he couldn’t make it look like he was trying to escape. He held his head high and walked, steady but unsure of what he was going to meet. He was bringing his escape closer, but he wasn’t sure there was going to be a better opportunity for him to make this one attempt. He stopped, went through the plan again, and said a prayer. Right now, it was escape or bust!

There was still no movement around him, no soul in sight. The air was cool and the smell of fresh vegetation was in the air. The ground was slightly muddy, he couldn’t afford to run, at least not yet; he had to get to a sandy environment before he could run. It was already evening and there was no telling what could happen if he delayed any further.

Making for the nearest bush, John walked confidently, the only thing he could hear was the thumping of his heart as it beat loudly in his ears, almost like a bass drum. He resisted the urge to run as he maintained his stride, he was not more than twenty metres from the bush now, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being watched. He was now in the bush, and he was going round looking for a path that led outside the unfenced perimeter; he knew it was the one place he had to avoid, if anything, he had to go in the exact opposite direction.

He found the path, then made for a 180-degree turn and resumed his walk, with enough luck; he would be out of this area in no time. He was barely out of earshot when he heard voices coming from the den. He couldn’t afford to look back, they were back!

There was no more time to be civil, he had to run, and run he did, the sound of the whistle confirming that his escape had indeed been confirmed.

Returning to reality, John sighed as he remembered his ordeal and the last two weeks. It wasn’t over, he knew, and they were definitely going to come looking for him by morning. He was hungry and tired, but his endurance threshold had increased since the day of his capture, so he was going to be fine. He couldn’t decide between sleeping in the hole or in the bush, so he just stayed awake and spent the time praying for good fortune and fantasising about being at home, until fatigue decided for him, and he began to drift into blissful sleep. The croaking of the frogs and the chirping of crickets were his lullabies, he was going to be fine. It was 11:52 p.m. and he had not really made any post-escape plans.

He would plan when he woke up, for now, he could do nothing but sleep, and sleep he did.

John is back to where he started, and you now know his story. How does he proceed from here? Join in next week.

Stay smart!