The Torch Chapter 9-A Lonely Night

Darkness had engulfed his world again, leaving him with tears as he walked away from the remnants of the now demolished Southerland heights flats. Tanaka couldn't handle the loss of Mr. Hambira and felt totally responsible for having failed, but what struck him the most was the fact that the fear he had gotten from the first time he had sighted the creatures of the infinite darkness had returned to him. The haunting image of Mweya Mutema had crippled him, making him scared once again. He was in a nightmare, with no means of return. All he had left was the will to live, in a world where choice was replaced by inevitable suffering.

The bruises he had gotten from tumbling as the upper levels of the flat collapsed were now beginning to sting on his body. He was in Baines Avenue, pointing his torch at the building opposite to where Southerland heights was. The flats opposite it, known as the Ross.h.i.+re heights flats, had its own mural of flesh and depravity on its walls. The sight of more ugliness made Tanaka sick inside and he immediately twirled his torch elsewhere. The pungent smell of decaying flesh and sounds of crawling creatures in the infinite darkness had become a ubiquitous annoyance to him. Tanaka even began to think of diseases a.s.sociated with ominous air and thought that soon enough he would get tuberculosis because of the air. At some instances, he felt like he was going to suffocate, dying from asphyxiation as a result of the pungent air. He twirled his torch backwards to glance at the road that divided the Baines Avenue flats and the private property that was on the opposite end. Tanaka heard the cracking and shaking of the ground from afar and witnessed something diabolical from where he was looking. The ent.i.ty of horridness sprouted forth from the road Tanaka had directed his torch. It was a giant mole with the body of that of an exomuscular serpent with gelatinous reeds on its chest. It smashed through the surface of the road, leaving gusts of steam as it slithered away. Tanaka watched in horror as the creature disappeared into the darkness, evading his light like the rest of the monsters in the night. The inclination that Tanaka had of actually looking for a place to rest at the Baines Avenue flats soon vanished from his mind. He was still grieving over the old man and wanted to avoid anything that registered the possibility of him dealing with creatures that would disturb his peace. Like a nomad, he now had to relocate to somewhere else with the will to live keeping him from committing suicide.

Tanaka pa.s.sed the new Mazoe road and crossed the rocky remains of the tarmac that was in between Leopold Takawira road and Mazoe road in the Baines Avenue.  The giant foot prints left by Mweya Mutema's demonic centipede were of great depth. Tanaka felt like he was in a G.o.dzilla movie, pa.s.sing through the landmarks left by its grotesque gargantuan feet. Tanaka took time to gaze upon the completely levelled down Baines Medical centre number 52 hospital. His torch pierced through the infinite darkness, highlighting the rubble and debris left due to the wreckage. Whatever life had existed within the walls of the facility had most probably been flattened into compacted flesh by my Mweya Mutema. This was what went on in the mind of the young boy who could not help but feel pessimistic towards the dreaded scenery. The sadness pressured his mind into deep thought as he thought about what old man Hambira had said. The creatures from what the old man had said were a product of mankind's sin, a vice that came back to devour the root of its origin. Tanaka who had tried to be realistic and doubtful towards anything farfetched before was now open to the idea that maybe everything peculiar was not nonsense. The organisation known as Zeal as stated by the Russian began to resurface in his mind. Could the events concerning his brother and his so called captive 'Austin' be connected at all to what was happening in Harare? As he pondered over his thoughts, just as he was about to cross Leopold Takawira road, he suddenly roared in anger. Tanaka was irked by the fact that he couldn't at all connect the dots of the information that was in his head. The existence of Mweya Mutema and the events that involved his family being murdered did not have any relation to each other. In the end it all seemed like randomly placed misfortunes that were left there to ensnare him. He was the world's tragic tale and as far as he was concerned, he was living by the ma.n.u.script of suffering, word by word, without any comic relief in sight.

Tanaka crossed the Leopold Takawira road in Baines avenue, finding a flat that had part of its durawall still intact. The level of degradation that he had seen on other buildings wasn't present at all on this flat. The balconies still had clothes, vases, and lots of curtains to cover furniture. This was going to be the shelter for Tanaka for the night. The sounds of the creatures in the darkness were still prevalent, but were very far. Even the precarious movements that were part of the menu of this nightmare were scarce from Tanaka's current position. Tanaka glanced to the right to see the rest of the road that was known as Leopold Takawira. He glanced at the various buildings: the Salvation Army church that was demolished, flats and a small mosque that was utterly dishevelled. At the far recesses of his light's range, he could see the divided Leopold Takawira road and the glimpses of Parinyenatwa hospital. The intensity and luminosity of his torch had improved immensely, showing him things that were more than a kilometre away. Tanaka could see the different breed of demons from afar, noticing one of them that looked like a lizard with an abdomen of that of an octopus. Though everything from afar lost its resolution as Tanaka observed, it was quite clear to him that there was a banquet happening at other side of town. Tanaka eventually twirled to the opposite direction, gazing upon the emptiness that led to the heart of the city. Past Fife Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Avenue, Tanaka could see a lot of abandoned vehicles that were all covered in red and black substances. There were also shrivelled remains of limbs and organs that Tanaka could see even from afar. Each disturbing image had its place next to the birth certificate office and the outer regions of the Harare gardens. It looked like a fas.h.i.+on runway that was adulterated by chunky meat with visible bite marks. The revolting scenery never lost its edge, getting more grotesque the more he looked at it. Fortunately for him, the street he was in was clearly free from the prowling demons, engraved with a haunting silence that was foreign to him ever since the nightmare had started. After he was satisfied by the situation at hand, he decided to enter the flats.

 He pa.s.sed through the hole of the demolished durawall, pointing his torch downwards as he trotted. Pieces of broken gla.s.s were scattered everywhere and the damp soil stained by the b.l.o.o.d.y rain was sticky. He felt like he was walking on bubble gum, having to sc.r.a.pe off the web like thick blood on the tiles of the flat's ground floor pavement. Tanaka scoped out the 4 story flat, looking for possible signs of life and any nasty surprises. Climbing up the stairs that led to the 1st floor, he found doors numbered 1 to 4, all opened with the wind howling in a ghostly manner. Tanaka peaked through each door, seeing the various insides that had signs of struggle and tonnes of blood. The hapless victims were most probably caught in their sleep, tasting death without any knowledge of its depraved form. The apartments registered different walks of life: from the sophisticated to the mediocre, they all had a tale to tell. Tanaka scrutinised the homes briefly with intent of finding a place to rest, checking for any irregular creatures in the homes. He was fortunate enough to find nothing at all, seeing only blood and signs of struggle as the anecdotes of a past life. Tanaka went through all floors, finding only a few decent apartments that weren't tarnished by gratuitous violence on the 2nd floor. The third and fourth floors were a blood bath. These particular floors where were the most heinous acts of sadism were performed, covering the aspects of eviscerations, scattered organs, cartilage that was hammered onto the walls of the hallway and regurgitated sternums. The smell was enough to get him to consider the 2nd floor as his final choice, defeating any possibility of him thinking otherwise. Tanaka having learned of the efficiency of mirrors before as a means to ward off the beasts of the night had decided to dismantle several mirrors from the top floors. He felt driven by his desire to survive, taking even packaged foods with him. The chips, biscuits, and fruits were all part of his loot. Most of the Baker's inn loaves and other bread brands of the country were more or less in the household basins. Most of the non perishable foods that were stored in each house had gone either stale or completely bad. Room 20 on the 4th floor had stored away goat meat, pork, beef, and chickens. Tanaka's tummy could not help but rumble to spite him in that situation. The meat in the refrigerator he had opened was now mouldy and smelling bad. Such a waste of food had occurred and now Tanaka was left with only a gruelling truth that he would later run out of food if he wasn't careful. The tension and graveness of the world had driven the boy into a manic alertness, filling his mind with paranoia. His knowledge of survival from what he had seen on television also played a pivotal role in distressing him with a lot of thought. This was what went through his mind as he gathered his resources, thinking of what would happen to him now that he was alone. The only consolation he had in the world at the present moment was the fact that he had his torch. It was a weapon against the monsters and kept him safe from evil, but its lasting functionality was his main concern. In the event the device stopped working or got damaged, this would be the death of him. Apart from that, he was also concerned with the possible of the vanity of his choices. With very little information to go by and no signs of life, Tanaka began to wonder what the next day would amount to, thinking about whether there would even be  another day to survive. Checking his watch, he noticed that it was now a few minutes past midnight, 3hours after the death of Mr. Richard Hambira. With the way the encompa.s.sing darkness looked, Tanaka felt as if checking his watch was now just a futile thing. There was no sun and no moon, just an infinite oblivion that reminded him that things were never going to be the same. After a while, his thinking weighed down on him, maiming him with fatigue. He had gathered all that he needed in room 9 of the 2nd floor and was now prepared to call it a night. His choice for this particular room was more pertaining to his personal preferences rather than something tactical. It was an apartment filled with books and foreign antique items. It had several burglar bars; some were even devastated by the forced entry of the demons. The master bedroom was where the gross slaughter of the inhabitants of the home had happened. It was a nasty scene, but the only room that was untarnished was the bedroom of the supposedly son of the inhabitants. It was filled with movie posters, magazines, video game consoles, comic books, and lots of sporting accessories. Tanaka had reasoned with himself on his way to room 9 that if he was going to go through the madness of the world he would need something to distract him from depressing ideas. This at first seemed contrary to what he had seen in survival TV shows where everyone turned angst and were mostly concerned about surviving. However, with the torch in hand, immune to the demonic attacks, not all he had to worry about was losing sight on a reason to live. With that said, he was slowly adapting to the situation he was in, accepting that this was life and this was now how he was supposed to live it.

Tanaka opened a bottle full of water and washed his hands in the sink of the home. Having noticed that the faucets only released b.l.o.o.d.y water as soon as he had opened them, he said to himself, "I guess ZINWA (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) does it again" He surprisingly chuckled sardonically, peeved by the sight of the contaminated water, but at the same time he was thinking about where else he would get clean water for his sustenance. The mere fact that he had to think about planning ahead had begun to worry him. He had gotten close to 50 litres worth of drinking water into the bedroom he had reserved for sleep, but wondered if it was going to be enough. As far as he was concerned, the nightmare wasn't going to end soon and this added to his subtle hypertension. After he had cleansed his dirty hands, he dined on a packet of maputi, Zimbabwe's own version of popcorn, which resulted from the use of maize. Tanaka took in 2 packets and then stopped. His gluttony wanted him to go on further into a binge eating feast, but he realised that it would only be logical if he only devoured food when he felt hungry. However, the oranges and bananas that were available were not spared. After his light meal, he sat on the bed of his room, placing his torch on the candle stand so that it wouldn't change position as it lighted up the surrounding mirrors. The room was filled with so much light that it felt as if the infinite darkness didn't exist. The light could also be seen from outside, even lighting up part of the Leopold Takawira road as it came out of the window. The colour of the bedroom walls, which was brown and lime, was now visible. As Tanaka embraced the light, he dropped his back on the bed, relaxing as he stared at the ceiling. The light bulb that had a lavish casing distracted him for a bit, as he looked at its intricate design. It looked very pricey, especially the stand of the bulb, which looked more fitting for a chandelier. As Tanaka rested his back into the therapeutic bed, he began to feel something that was small but solid. After a while, he realised that it was two items and then uncovered the blankets to unveil what was underneath. Tanaka found a PSP 2 vita and an iPod. He took a hold of the two devices and a.n.a.lysed them with great scrutiny. He turned on the PSP gaming device and immediately saw the dashboard. The device was half way charged which he could clearly see on the battery icon on the screen. As Tanaka looked at the screen, he noticed the date and time. It was a shocking reminder that the world had gone to s.h.i.+t in the past 3 days ever since he was abducted by the two strange men. Tanaka could not help but shed a tear as he realised that he had lived through 3 days of h.e.l.l. As soon as he began to trickle tears of despair, he quickly wiped them away as if he felt weakened by his emotions. He immediately tensed his face to shrug off his sadness and continued browsing through the PSP applications. Tanaka temporarily forgot about the iPod and began to play the games that were available on the device. Tanaka found Metal Gear Solid 3 in the PSP and played it from the last saved mission. He was quite familiar with the other instalments, but hadn't really played the 3rd one in the franchise. The game consumed most of his time, devouring it, and making him forget temporarily that he was living in a hopeless world. After a solid 5½hours, his watch began to sound off his early morning alarm. The ringing startled him for a bit and made him realise that he had been too engrossed in the game. He soon pressed the b.u.t.ton on his watch to end the noise, returning to the game for an extra fix. The battery of the PSP began to complain soon enough, annoying him with the reality that his fun was soon going to end. The mission on the game was almost complete and the battery was almost flat. The PSP eventually turned off, making the boy snivel in silence. Tanaka immediately grabbed the iPod lying next to him to avoid feeling the withdrawal effect. The ear phones were fortunately connected to the iPod, making the listening experience even better. Tanaka scrolled through the music gallery of the device only to find an armada of rock in it. The genres were wide in variety, ranging from alternative rock to death metal core. Tanaka wasn't a ma.s.sive consumer of rock neither was he not receptive towards it, but he skipped the noisy bands that mostly focused on hardcore sounds that really irked him to the point of having a migraine. At least with an iPod he was guaranteed that its battery would last for a longer time. He was even fortunate to find out that it was fully charged. Tanaka began by listening to some of the soft core rock as he rummaged through the magazine and comic book contents of the room. The magazines were primarily Mojo, Empire, Popular science, and video game magazines. Tanaka had surprisingly hoped that he would find adult magazines, hoping that the infamous pent house magazine would be there. Explicit magazines were his guilty pleasure, one shared commonly by young boys with raging hormones, but in the end, he would have to make do with what was immediately available to him. The comic books that were available were mostly western, with a few j.a.panese and Chinese manga and manhua respectively. Tanaka devoured volumes and volumes of the available t.i.tles, feeling immersed in the worlds that were depicted by each story. With the inactivity of the infinite darkness and long lasting battery of the iPod, Tanaka was in luck. He would pour a gla.s.s of Mazoe blackberry into his cup from time to time, imbibing it as he read. He at times would laugh to himself, sighting humorous things in the comics. Then suddenly, as if he was driven by pure instinct, he called out his sister's name after seeing something epic in one of the panels. The actual act reminded him of his loss and made him feel sullen again. The involuntary action was something he was used to exhibiting whenever he noticed something cool and called forth his sister to mutually enjoy the experience. The mellowness became very apparent to him and he ended up closing the book he was reading. Tanaka eventually felt the fatigue of being up for several hours and then ended up sinking into the cosy blankets on the bed. He began to scroll through the music and then tapped the playlist icon on the iPod. He was surprised to find a playlist t.i.tled 'Suicide vibes.' The t.i.tle was peculiar, but somehow grabbed his attention. Tanaka opened it and played the music in it. The music was dark and atmospheric rock, which at first depressed him, but the message somehow connected to him. The lyrics addressed his pain and worries, talking about the pain inside him. There were songs from bands like Opeth and a lot of Katatonia's alb.u.m t.i.tled Discouraged Ones. It was surprisingly therapeutic and made him appreciate the genre even more. He even sang along, singing, "Find me another heart." Tanaka then dropped his head on the pillow and looked to the side. He saw an action figure, which he hadn't initially noticed before when he first entered the room. Tanaka fumbled out of his bed, grabbed hold of the toy and began to play with it. It was a Zulu warrior with a spear. He moved the limbs and made childish expressions on his face as he raised its hands. After a while, he placed it beside his pillow and said, "You're safe with me Zulu warrior Hambira." Tanaka looked at his watch before covering himself with the blankets and noticed that it was nearly noon. In normal circ.u.mstances, he would have considered that as unusual behaviour, but in this case, the normal cycle of life had lost its face. With exhaustion engulfing his body, he decided to sleep. He had survived and he was alive, enjoying his long awaited rest, but in the back of his mind, something still bothered him. The thought of how he would carry on in the world of infinite darkness. Whether he was prepared to meet the anguish of the days to come was the pressing issue at the moment, but what scared him the most was that deep down inside he preferred death to living in the endless nightmare. The very fear he could not repress as he slept in the world of infinite darkness.