ADSactly Short Stories - The Other Side of the Coin
Every day they come to the room where he was kept hostage after he was forcefully taken on his way to carry out some secret government. They have tried every conceivable means to break him, but he remained resolute. His two years of intensive training never to divulge the secrets of the government made this hard task an easy one to do. The food they gave him was apparently tainted with poisons as he was getting weaker by the day. If the plan was to kill him, the prisoners were doing a great job of that.
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He also has his suspicions that toothless fat secret agent that brings in his cup of water had put something in the water; it tasted odd. His suspicions were not just a figment of his imaginations as he had spied her, through a slotted vent in the white room where he kept, on more than two occasions, surreptitiously slip something into the water as she is walking towards his cell.
Saka, the prisoner, was not feeling too well, the cause may be the drugs they must have been slipping into his water. The room was painted white also, and the bulb is never switched off. He suspects there is a cleverly hidden CCTV in the room monitoring and recording his every move. The captors are obviously watching to see if he would give out any state's secret. But he was too smart for that. He played dumb and only eat tiny morsels of the food they bring.
1
He needs to plan his escape and have some energy to escape. Not eating means that he will be too weak to run. Overeating means he will be weak or even die from their poisoning. He was using every part of his instinct, by pretending to lie near the door he listens to the footsteps of the fat agent that brings his food. He counts her step and calculates the time it takes her to get to his door. From the number of agents that have visited him and frequency, he was able to get the number of staff in that facility. Within a week he was able to know their shift schedule.
On Saturday was the day they have the fewest staff; about five present. Today is Friday and tomorrow would be the day he will try to escape or die in the process.
It was Saturday and true to his prediction the staff he could see was just four. He watched as the fat agent; her face all smiles brought his food. As usual, he was in a straitjacket and had to be assisted to eat. As he was eating the food went in the wrong way, and he choked and started coughing violently. The fat agent, alarmed, jumped back and called the colleague standing outside who immediately rushed into the cell. They tried to save him and had to remove the straightjacket quickly. That was the chance Saka needed. He jumped up with a surprising agility that knocked down the agent that came in to help. He landed on the ground dazed. The other fat one was too slow in reaction, and that was ok with Saka as he leapt towards the door to freedom.
Saka had been running for the better part of 30 minutes, and he was getting out of breath. He wanted to stop, but stopping would have been suicidal as the prominent white figures wanted nothing but to have his head in their bags.
He was shouting for help, "Please help me! Please, I do not want to die. Please, anyone who could hear me should come to my aid!" But no one seems to care. People look at him but are too afraid to intervene as they fear they may be a target also.
2
He sees a door out of prison and looks back to see if his pursuers are near. Looking back would be his undoing as his foot caught on a twine growing in the undergrowth. He falls to the ground. That nearly knocked him out. But the adrenaline of a dying man kicked in, and he miraculously sprang to his feet and continued running. Wheeeew! That was close.
The heart now is beating with the ferociousness and rhythm of an African juju priest summoning the gods by drumming. In the midst of his turmoils, Saka blessed the day he started training for the Olympics. Even though he did not make it to the top, at least the years of training is paying off now. His fitness is about to save his life.
Escape is now sure. Saka smiled, and wiped the cascading sweat from his brow and quickened his pace. Just as he turned a bend, from the corner of his eye, he could make out three more figures all bearing down on him. Their faces were a murderous mask of rage. The big machetes they each hold, swinging grimly in their murderous hands. He feinted a swerve and changed direction, and the three murderers collided against themselves, and Saka once more was a free man. But the dangers are not over.
The place seemed to be crawling with these murderers; if he is to make it out alive, he would need to get out of the woods and see if there are people on the other part of town who could help. He was almost approaching the end of the bush when out of nowhere a burly man threw him an uppercut. It caught him straight in the chest knocking the wind out of him. As he lay dying one of the white assassins approaches him with his machete a victorious smile on his face
3
Saka is schizophrenic patient with the psychotic disorder at The Fix Psychiatrist Hospital, and he had just destroyed a lot of medical equipment, wiring and had injured the nurses in his attempt to escape the hospital. The nurse that approached him now is holding a 5mg haloperidol intramuscular injection to calm him down. That was his fourth escape attempt this week, and the doctors are getting wary of giving him treatment at the risk of harm to their physical wellbeing.