Noor(31)
Everyone benefited, Ultimate Corp social networking influencers and spokespeople boasted. The corporation’s slogan in Nigeria was even, “Family first.” Ultimate Corp warehouses were known for giving out “excess” bags of periwinkle flour to those who came to the warehouse entrances at 5 PM and agreed to post a photo of themselves holding and smiling at their bag of “free” flour.
Few in the south spoke ill of Ultimate Corp. I never really knew how to feel about it. I bought most of the car parts for the shop from there; it was just the easiest and cheapest place to find what I needed. But it permeated every aspect of where I lived, and I’d never liked that part of it. Ads were everywhere, most roads and massive swaths of land were owned by the corporation, a lot of the smartest university students had their tuition paid by them and Ultimate Corp products even showed up in the local markets often cheaper than what locals could sell. I was torn, though I knew Ultimate Corp was a problem. In the end, I just focused on myself and how it affected my own life and in that way, I guess, I was able to live with Ultimate Corp’s pervasiveness.
It was a helpful cog in a thriving Nigerian country, even with the disaster in the north. Nevertheless, I’d never heard anyone mention this or any warehouse in the north. And battle between the local Black Market and Ultimate Corp, “The Reckoning” as DNA had called it, had clearly been covered up in the news. No, not just covered up, erased. I’d never heard a thing about it and I was pretty attuned to national news. Nevertheless, a humongous charred edifice in the desert can only be erased by the desert, and the desert takes its time.
Inside, I held up my left hand’s light to see ahead and the darkness seemed to swallow it. DNA used his phone to light the area around our feet, and we saw that soot already caked his sandals and my metal feet. GPS sneezed several times, and Carpe Diem kept snuffing as if she couldn’t stand the smell. Walking inside the burned warehouse was to enter a huge black cave that could crumble in on itself at any moment. Every step we took was a crumbly grainy sooty risk. And the smell, my God.
“Maybe hiding in here isn’t such a good idea,” I said, coughing into my arm. “This whole building is probably carcinogenic. How’s it still standing?”
“Sheer will,” DNA muttered.
The place might as well have still been on fire, the smoky smell was so concentrated. And it was cool in here, giving it an even greater feeling of entering the bowels of something dead. Above, there were holes in the vast stainless steel sheeted ceiling, blackened by soot, as if something had tried to cut its way in.
“Being in here is better than being out there, where all they have to do is burn us down,” he said. “This place is already burned.”
“They can more than burn us. Plus, they’ll know we’re in here.”
He nodded.
“We’re caught,” I said.
“Hmm,” he said, as we kept walking. He looked up at the aisles which were so burned you couldn’t tell what had been stacked on them. “We should try and get some rest while we can,” DNA said after a few moments. We were only nearing the middle of the place; that’s how enormous it was. The sound of the fire blazing outside was loud enough to hear through the walls, but it sounded distant. There was no sound of anyone or thing trying to enter or land on top of the building, at least not that we heard. I was tired and Baba Sola’s marijuana had left me ravenous, so I had no aversion to some rest. Plus, it was only a matter of time, so best to get our energy up.
“I’m going to chance something,” he said. He brought out the anti-aejej. “There’s a way we can get some true rest. But there’s a price to pay.”
“What is it?” I asked, going to Carpe Diem, who’d already sat down and gone to sleep right there beside one of the aisles. GPS was sitting, too, but he looked ready to jump up and flee at the slightest command.
“My anti-aejej has surveillance capabilities. It can detect movement and an electronic or digital signal for a mile radius. So that would include the roof, but leaving it on, even for a few hours, will deplete the battery.”
“Meaning, if we have to go into the Red Eye again, all we’ll have are our masks?”
“The anti-aejej will have some energy, but yes, not much.”
“It doesn’t use solar to recharge?”
“How much sun is around here?” he snapped.
I frowned, pinching my chin. “What about wind? Can it recharge using that?”
He kissed his teeth, more deeply irritated. “Do I look like I can afford that kind of anti-aejej?”
We stared into each other’s eyes, and I looked away when I felt the tears come and my heart begin to race. I looked at my hands and made two fists. My left shoulder wouldn’t allow me to raise my left arm all the way, but I could still make two fists. “Sorry. So . . .” I cleared my throat and shut my eyes. “Well, we probably won’t make it past them to the Red Eye anyway, so . . .” I sighed.
DNA switched on the anti-aejej’s surveillance app. As we’d both suspected, nothing was trying to get in, hover above or dig beneath the burned warehouse. I wondered if they’d even left the fields of grass to keep burning. We settled in for some rest.
I was sad, scared, tired, and more than a bit angry. Everything smelled like smoke from both inside the building and outside in the fields. The winds made the place creak with every gust. Yet and still, I ate well. It had felt like only a few minutes, but according to DNA’s anti-aejej and mobile phone, Baba Sola had kept us for nearly a day in his tent. How quickly they’d have found and disposed of both DNA and me if it weren’t for his shenanigans. That said, a blend of the marijuana and not eating for so long made the day and half old leftovers the tastiest things on earth. The dates had started to dry, but they were sweet and wonderfully chewy. The fried chicken had grains of sand on it and had lost its crispness, but it just seemed like the perfect food for the moment. The water was warm, but so nourishing I’d had to sneak off twice to relieve myself.