The Torch Chapter 13-Welcome Beloved Apocalypse

The great gulf of blood spiralled with violent velocity as it dragged down the two survivors of the infinite darkness, leading them to the centre of the whirlpool. Tanaka and Daniel could only scream as they endured the cold translucent b.l.o.o.d.y whirlpool that took them along for a dreadful ride. Their immersed bodies were hopeless against the current and all they could hear in the darkness was the laughing and grunting of the voice. Its guttural s.a.d.i.s.tic laughs pervaded the air and engraved it with atmospheric hopelessness. The torch behaved as it usually did, piercing the darkness and only revealing what was within its rays, but this made the two feel uncomfortable. They could hardly see the encompa.s.sing rapids of b.l.o.o.d.y water and at times, wondered what the centre of the whirlpool looked like. The haunting sounds of the wind interchanged with the sound of water clashing against each other and caused mental instability in the minds of the confused two. Tanaka held the torch with a clenched fist, grasping it tight as they completed several revolutions in the downward spiral of the b.l.o.o.d.y whirlpool. With his whole body soaked in the red of the sea, Tanaka was unfortunate enough to have the blood that splattered and splashed around him enter his mouth. The taste of scarlet blood was like lavishing on rotten eggs mixed with acidic bile. Tanaka shared this same burden with Daniel who kept on spitting blood out of his mouth, coughing and grimacing at the very thought of the hideous taste. Being submerged in the rapid was the worst thing that could happen to them and not knowing what lied below in the deep red sea strengthened their fear of sinking into the whirlpool. As they drew closer to the centre, Tanaka decided to muster the chance to make use of his torch. Having remembered what he had done before to counter the great flood that came from the heart of Harare's CBD, he began to concentrate on one thought at hand, evaporating all the blood before him. Daniel was not prepared to see the show case of power that was about to be exhibited by the youth and neither was his mind at all thinking about what Tanaka could do. In the end, Tanaka felt the surge of power course through his forearm and thus watched as his torch fired a great beam of light into the sea of blood. The spiral of blood was immediately disrupted, greatly changing the structure of the whirlpool and changing the velocity in which their bodies traversed in the blood. The glimpse of shinning light gave both Tanaka and Daniel a sight of insurmountable horridness. The depth of the whirlpool was great and had a hollowness that resembled that of a grating abyss. This reinforced their fear of reaching the centre of the whirlpool as they were unfortunately being dragged downwards by the spiral of blood. Despite the beam of light having disrupted the current for a bit, the blood soon enough returned to its spiral shape as it pulled the two in like a vortex. As the blasted b.l.o.o.d.y water recoiled back to the whirlpool, Tanaka felt a concise flow of warm to hot blood striking his body. The recoiled blood, which had been heated by the blast from his torch, had returned to spite the two, burning them with its boiling state. The degree of the burn was nullified by their clothes and concoction of cold blood, but both men surely screamed in pain that night. As all hope came to a close as they completed several more revolutions, Tanaka couldn't help but wonder whether or not the end was near.

The voice kept on laughing in the darkness, depleting Tanaka's optimism with its disturbing spiteful laughter. The torch finally revealed in detail the imagery of the centre of the whirlpool. Tanaka twirled it randomly, at the mercy of the b.l.o.o.d.y current. What Tanaka saw was a grotesque gargantuan oesophagus that was draining all the blood and the reason behind the whirlpool. It sucked all the air like a black hole and had slightly visible serrated teeth that seemed to be filtering the contents of the blood by grating whatever came its way. Tanaka even witnessed rubble and chunks of dismembered apartments from two flats: Kellar's court and Earl's court, which he recognised, having seen them at Fife Avenue, corner Prince Edward road. The torch made every detail of the buildings including their sign posts visible as Tanaka observed the vortex down below. The serrated teeth of the oesophagus destroyed the debris of concrete and bricks and made it nonexistent from Tanaka's field of vision. The velocity of the current didn't waver and whatever hope Tanaka had in mind was slowly losing its significance in his dreadful predicament. All Tanaka could only hear was Daniel's m.u.f.fled screams as he cried for his life. Tanaka thought about firing a beam of light at the centre, but the current never gave him a chance to fire properly. His aim was greatly disadvantaged with no feasible vantage point. His desperation lead to a tantrum that only he knew about as he sulked over his pitiful situation. Tanaka's hand coursed with energy yet again and relayed that power to his torch. It fired a beam of light which made everything glisten, showing the ma.s.siveness of the coiled b.l.o.o.d.y water. The upper levels of the spiral that they had pa.s.sed became quite visible and Tanaka could tell that he was at least 30feet below ground level. The fired beam did not do much to thwart the structure of the whirlpool nor its velocity. The blasted water emanated great vapours of red smoke and ended up recoiling to join the main spiral of the whirlpool. Tanaka's loins became weak as he pondered over his bleak situation, cringing internally in fear of his d.a.m.nation. The revolutions that remained to reach the centre of the whirlpool had become too few for comfort. The voice in the darkness didn't even spare any moment to relish in their anguish, increasing the intensity of its spiteful laughter as the two reached the centre. Daniel had already conceded defeat and was just hoping for a painless end, however no matter how much fear or sense of uselessness had afflicted Tanaka, the will to live somehow persisted in his inner being. The fear of continuing on with his existence at the clinic had now subsided in the face of great peril. Tanaka wasn't sure whether or not if his fear of dying was greater than the fear of living in a world of suffering, but soon enough the resolution to his problem came, but at a price. Tanaka began to realise that his right hand had procured a mind of its own, raising itself upright as if to fire a flare. This strange phenomenon was observed by Tanaka who looked ambiguously at his hand, which began to bulge out with veiny muscles. Tanaka began to feel a stinging pain in his cranium, one that quickly became gruelling in a flash. His nose began to bleed, but with the surrounding b.l.o.o.d.y water, he wouldn't be able to distinguish his own blood from that which smeared his face. In the end, he grimaced as he watched his hand act on its own. As his veins began to glisten with vine like glowing patterns, Tanaka began to see the forming of compacted light on the muzzle of the torch. It started off as a ball of light, the size of a soccer ball, but it gradually formed into something more grand and luminous. As Tanaka reached his final revolution before encountering the end, the light that had acc.u.mulated into a sphere of bubbling energy was violently ejected from the torch as if he had just fired a cannon ball. The force of the ejection pushed back Tanaka to the point of him being submerged in the b.l.o.o.d.y current alongside with the hapless Daniel who he had clung onto with a clenched grip on his blazer lapels. The two immediately drifted into the violent rush of the blood, at the mercy of the suction power of the demonic oesophagus. The sphere of light traversed with great speed towards the centre. It was immediately sucked whole by the vortex. The collective group of photons reached the very depths of the oesophagus, pa.s.sing through its serrated teeth and then immediately exploded. The blast sent a rush of light, which travelled vertically as it destroyed everything around it. The ominous whirlpool was ended abruptly with a great burst of blood gushing out upwards and releasing a violent wave similar to that of tidal wave. Daniel and Tanaka's bodies were consequently swept away by the blanket of b.l.o.o.d.y waves as they endured the gruelling sea of blood. Tanaka wasn't a very good swimmer and all he knew at best was how to float. After overcoming the vortex of death, he was now faced with the possibility of drowning. Unlike the former predicament, Tanaka had to rely on his own wits. Tanaka didn't dare open his mouth to take in cups of the putrid blood which tasted like gangrene, all he did was swim hurriedly towards the light of the torch, which he had let go off due to the incapacitating force of the ejection.

The blood around him was translucent and looked more like diluted red juice as Tanaka swam towards his sinking torch. The encompa.s.sing darkness in the water gave him quite a fright, but somehow he ignored it. His right hand had gone numb as if maimed by a terrible muscle spasm cramp, which ended up making him do strokes with one hand. These were the kind of strokes that any decent swimmer would jeer at, but his resolve made him swim with such effective thrust to the point that any doubters would be put to shame. As he got closer to the torch, he began to feel a great pain in his lungs as if they were going to burst due to lack of oxygen. His field of vision also began to malfunction, becoming milky due to the blood. It got to the point where Tanaka could only see hazy figments of light, which did not help to ease the young man's distress as he swam towards the light. As he got nearly close to the torch, something to his disadvantage happened. His body gave in! His lungs couldn't take not having any air anymore and he thus began to involuntarily convulse. Tanaka wanted to reach for the sinking torch, but his body was having the shakes and he was immediately immobilised. His body even involuntarily forced him to open his mouth as if to seek out air, but he ended up imbibing cups of putrid blood into his system. This was death and it had finally won over him. Tanaka's final moments were now marked with agonising pain in his lungs and a very horrendous taste of things that almost destroyed his taste buds on the spot. He had fought the good fight, but in the end, the world of infinite darkness was too strong for him. The fleeting dream of survival had now lost its significance to the now pa.s.sing out Tanaka. A significance he sadly wished would come true.

Not everything had gone completely to waste. Daniel had been close by in the sea of blood and had gotten hold of the torch, heading towards the now drowning Tanaka. Unlike Tanaka, Daniel showed signs of actual notable swimming capabilities and soon got a hold of Tanaka. The distance between them and the surface level was great and Daniel was also running out of air. As if by some wild guess, Daniel fastened the torch into Tanaka's right hand, which triggered a shock in the body of the boy. The shock instantly woke him up and made the torch fire a beam of blazing hot light. The very force of the blast thrusted them backwards and sent them flying out of the b.l.o.o.d.y water. Both Tanaka and Daniel were flung out of the putrid blood and experienced 5seconds of airtime before plummeting to the bottom. However, Tanaka quickly resurfaced after being submerged again, coughing out the cups of putrid blood, which made him feel sick. His right hand had clenched onto the torch as if it were nailed to it, ceasing it with no intention of letting it loose. Tanaka hadn't the time or the luxury to find out how such a thing had happened and instead, coughed up more blood and vomited twice. His vomit was washed away in the ripples of blood as he hyper ventilated over the exposure to air. The air wasn't satisfactory due to having the stench of putrid flesh and the pungent smell of the sea of blood, but it was better than possible asphyxiation. Tanaka later began to float in a dumb founded manner, glancing everywhere. His torch only revealed to him the vastness of the sea of blood and he could see the silhouette of Harare's skysc.r.a.pers from behind. The Herbert Chitepo Avenue road had inadvertently turned into the sea sh.o.r.e of the dreadful b.l.o.o.d.y sea. The distance between him and any feasible land was possibly close to 4km. The encompa.s.sing b.l.o.o.d.y water was as haunting as any nightmare could be and gave Tanaka a grave experience he would never forget. To be all alone and immersed in the sea of blood was Tanaka's own personalised tragedy. The blowing of the wind and chill of the blood added to his resentment of his current circ.u.mstance. After all his senses had become clear, respiring now with a normal heart beat rate, he began to think about Daniel. The voice in the darkness' guttural and hoa.r.s.e voice soon became m.u.f.fled, but had a sonata laughter, which still irked and dreaded Tanaka. After glancing now and again to see whether or not Daniel had resurfaced, Tanaka began to feel uneasy. He was feeling weak in the knees again and a tang of anxiety, one he a.s.sociated with depression and mood swings. As he searched anxiously for Daniel, his eyes began to flicker as if he were about to sob as he said, "Daniel, Daniel, don't leave me all alone. Daniel!"

Tanaka began to swim with a down casted expression, heading towards the city. His right hand still felt numb and stiff as a mounted sign post, but he managed to think of a way to swim cohesively. He would stroke with his free hand and then pause to see where he was or where Daniel would probably be. He didn't want to believe that he was dead, but the life expectancy of one in the infinite darkness was something, which almost a.s.sured him that Daniel's survival was impossible. However, he had not seen any swimming obscenities yet and that was something worthy of relieving his mind from anxiety. The swimming process after a while got tiring and gruelling to the point that Tanaka began to reflect on all those swimming shows he watched on TV during the Olympics. He had been told before by his dad, that swimming was used to work on the flexibility of an athlete and that it was also quite a feat that required raw strength. Tanaka back then would have just shrugged his father's words and said, 'Swimming is a white man's sport. They swim fast because it's in their blood', but this time he realised that it was a possible feat, but one that required strength and practice. His body had now become extremely soggy and his eyes were slightly growing tired. Though all of this was happening to him, he did not waver and kept on swimming without giving into his body's desire to rest. Further ahead he could see the plane that had crashed which seemed to have disgorged pieces of itself lying everywhere, floating aimlessly to the motion of the ripples of blood. In the back of Tanaka's mind, it looked like a possible good resting point, one he would surely need after enduring such tiring hurdle as swimming in blood. As Tanaka got closer to the wreckage of the plane, he began to see a peculiar disturbance in the water, as if there was something moving in the blood. Tanaka didn't waste any time over thinking what that was and aimed his torch instantly at where the disturbance had occurred. Though this was an ambitious act, Tanaka only noticed the boiling of blood and the emanation of red vapours due to his torch light, but couldn't quite see past the translucent blood. This irked him and gave him great anxiety, as he had to antic.i.p.ate what was coming, but that effort of predicting was soon made obsolete when Tanaka saw the source of the ripple. It was a serpent: a demonic shark, which had revealed its dorsal fin as it swam, but also flipped its lower body to reveal its caudal fin. Tanaka noticed a growth or abnormal connection to its body. At first, he thought he had misinterpreted what he had seen, but alas, it was a scorpion tail on the shark. Tanaka's heart raced to epic proportions and left him with a stern face of alertness. At that moment, his right hand retained some form of fluid movement that was quite convenient for the boy, but moving his limb was now no different from flexing swollen muscles. The effort was excruciating, but Tanaka wasn't going to die from a shark attack. The fact that it was hard to see past the surface layer of the blood reinforced his fret and sense of urgency, sending more energy again to his torch. Tanaka randomly beamed the b.l.o.o.d.y water around him as if he was playing acupuncture; dipping lasers into blood. The blood around him began to vapour the more he burned it. After a while, the ripples stopped as if to signify that things inside the blood were scared off by his tactics. Tanaka didn't feel rea.s.sured at all and glanced at the wreckage ahead. One thing he did know was that being unable to tell what was beneath him was a bad idea and he needed land. Tanaka began to swim, heading towards the wreckage of the plane to salvage a means to protect himself against the fluvial creatures. Tanaka swam and swam but suddenly paused upon hearing the voice of an unexpected survivor. Daniel! Tanaka immediately averted his attention and glanced at the direction where he heard the voice of Daniel. Tanaka shouted out, "Daniel where are you man. Where the h.e.l.l did you disappear to? I was worried d.a.m.n it! Where are you?"

Tanaka waited until the m.u.f.fled voice of Daniel responded, shouting out, "I can't see a thing, it's too dark where I am. Tanaka okay, okay. Just listen to my voice and find me!" Tanaka upon impulse began to twirl his torch, looking for any signs of life in the sea. He eventually noticed Daniel whose whole body was completely covered in red. Tanaka immediately began to swim towards him and then remembered the creatures that were in the blood. He immediately took this opportunity to shout out, "Dan um coming there, hold on tight. Be careful, there are things in the water, but I will be there, just waiting for me!" Tanaka had not realised to what degree his revelation had frightened Daniel who had been hoping that there wouldn't be any swimming depravities in the blood. Tanaka's forewarning ended up just making Daniel more uncomfortable and uncertain of his own environment. Tanaka began to swim towards Daniel with little much pace and his incompetence was relayed with each splash he made. Daniel in conjecture to this, suddenly shouted out, "Tanaka let me come to you. It's much safer for me that way. Point your torch at me and don't point it elsewhere. As long as I am in the rays of the light I will be safe."
"Okay, alright um pointing it at you!" shouted Tanaka with a driven and angst expression. Tanaka refocused his torch on Daniel and then watched him swim towards him. Daniel was indeed a fast swimmer and Tanaka began to think that Daniel was actually gifted in the art. As Daniel swam, Tanaka was worried about the shark he had seen before in the blood and really hoped that Daniel would make it to him alive without a scratch. Tanaka was now left with just the task of watching over him, but the ripples he saw way ahead of him burdened him with great vexation over what he had to do next. The creatures in sea of blood were now racing towards Daniel with a diabolical intent. Tanaka wondered what he was supposed to do, averting all his focus from Daniel and firing multiple beams of light at the locations that relayed the most peculiar surface movement. This only made Daniel panic, but sadly it did not break the pursuit of these monsters. They were going for the jugular and Daniel was their full course meal. Tanaka began to panic as well, trying to think about a solution that could help safe guard Daniel from peril. The monsters were clearly protected by the layer of thick blood in the sea and these creatures used this to their advantage. Tanaka fell into deep pensive thought and wondered what he was going to do and at the same time felt useless. Daniel kept on swimming regardless of the violent ripples he had seen before him. He had put his faith in the young man which was pretty much all he could do. Time was running out and Daniel was about to be devoured. Tanaka then hissed to himself, "If only there was light in the water." Tanaka had uttered those words with an absent mind that was anxious, however upon saying such, an idea came to his mind. Tanaka then immediately shouted out, "I have a plan, just stay where you are Daniel. Um gonna save you!" Daniel didn't know what to do with those words but surely felt less trepid than before. He halted his swimming and antic.i.p.ated the great plan Tanaka had come up with. Tanaka began to recall the emotions and actions that had taken place before the whirlpool was destroyed and charged his torch. He began to feel the same pain he had gotten before in his head and saw the build up of light, which turned into a soccer ball sized sphere of light. Tanaka then immediately ejected it into the blood and in an instant, the blood began to glisten and all the shapes and morbid things were cast with shadows. The shapes of the serpent and the shark with a scorpion tail were all revealed to Daniel and the shadows immediately disintegrated into fragments of flesh. An encompa.s.sing s.p.a.cious bracket of light illuminated the distance between Daniel and Tanaka. It was as if there were underground giant flood lights directing their rays upwards to make the blood gleam. Unlike the light that blew up in the demonic oesophagus, this one remained in a spherical shape, which didn't lose its form. Daniel now had a reason to keep calm and began to swim towards Tanaka who seemed as relieved he was. The unexpected turn of events of the whirlpool and the demonic marine life in the blood had really changed the scope of how messed up the world had become. Daniel eventually reached Tanaka and upon getting to him he embraced the young man and said, "You did it kid. You did it." As Daniel embraced the young man, it began to rain again, with sounds of thunder and violent winds as the motif of the darkness. The raining of blood became all too monochromatic to the point that both of them could no longer recognise the colour of their skin. Everything had become scarlet red in the infinite darkness. 

Daniel and Tanaka were just about to reach the wreckage of the crashed plane as they swam through the dampness of the vast blood. None of them said a word and all their thoughts rested on one goal; getting out of the b.l.o.o.d.y water. The rain poured down and also came with a repugnant stench, the kind that made the word noxious seem like an understatement. The two finally reached debris of the plane and found a floating rudder, a propulsion system, and interior walls of the crashed plane. Tanaka spoke slowly into Daniel's ear and said, "We are almost there." Daniel increased his swimming pace and tugged Tanaka along. As they got closer to the remnant of the plane's rudder, the voice began to laugh again but in a more jovial tone than its usual malignant self-did. Tanaka ignored it as he flung himself on top of the rudder, feeling the cold rusted metal as he laid himself on its surface. Just as Daniel was about to embark the rudder, a scorpion tail from underneath the rudder threw itself at him and stabbed his left arm. Tanaka was quickly shaken up by this unexpected circ.u.mstance and darted his torch at Daniel. The tail immediately felt the burn of the light and deteriorated into a gunk of flesh. The shark which had been lying in wait underneath the rudder quickly swam away to avoid the wrath of the young man. As if driven by instinct, Tanaka's torch instantly surged with vibrant luminosity and deployed a small sphere of light at the creature. The sphere splashed into the blood and illuminated a huge portion of its volume. The shark instantly deteriorated like a vampire exposed to sunlight. Tanaka then quickly averted his attention towards the now incapacitated Daniel who was as much taken by surprise by this manic ordeal as Tanaka was. Tanaka laid Daniel on the ground, ripped off his blazer with surprising strength and looked at his sting. Daniel grunted in pain as Tanaka checked for his wound, feeling the venom circulate into his system. Daniel went on to shout, "It hurts, ahhh! d.a.m.n it, darn it hurts." Tanaka had never seen manly tears before, but in the moment of Daniel's gruelling struggle he finally saw how they looked like. The sight of the arm, which had been stung, stirred a plethora of emotions. Daniel's hand subsequently withered into crinkled flesh, the kind you would find on a starved human being. The severe form of tissue necrosis had infected his arm. Daniel's eyes were now slowly becoming heavy and Tanaka was left speechless at the sight of his deterioration. Daniel looked at the boy with tears of anguish and said, "Um sorry Tanaka. I thought I could make it. d.a.m.n this hurts, ah!" 
"No, no, no, no! No, why did this happen. No, you can't die. Listen to me Daniel; I don't want to be alone anymore. You can't die!" cried Tanaka who held onto to the man. The effort that these two had made, the tribulations they had experienced, had all come to this, a dreadful tragic end. Tanaka glanced ahead and noticed that the city was now closer than he expected. He quickly rummaged through the wreckage sc.r.a.p and got two cylindrical parts of something that consisted of the plane's propulsion system. He began to row the rudder saying, "It's not too late, there should be a pharmacy or two in town, we can reach the end. You're not gonna end up like everyone. You're gonna survive this Daniel!" Daniel watched the boy row and to his surprise, the rudder moved with plausible speed. Tanaka was pouring tears as he thrusted back and forth the poles into the blood, to get to the Herbert Chitepo road sea sh.o.r.e. Daniel laid there on the rudder and glanced at Tanaka with an empathetic eye. Though the pain had maimed him with insurmountable agony, he felt obligated to tell the boy something important before he met his end. To his fortune, his pain sensory system was dishevelled by the venom to the point that he couldn't feel what was killing him. He then took this moment to tell Tanaka a few words of encouragement.

"Tanaka," he hissed, "stop, stop."
"Daniel I can't stop now, you once did medicine in school right. I can find a place with the drugs and medicines and stuff that can help you. This isn't over!" he said pouring tears.
"Tanaka stop, stop. It's okay. You don't have to go to a pharmacy. Um not gonna make it in time."
"Don't say that man. We made it out of the water together. We can make it to the end." said Tanaka who was now venting with great sadness.
"Tanaka, it's okay, but please stop, I don't have much time to argue with you. Just come here." said Daniel who looked as gaunt as an ebola patient did. Tanaka felt like resisting the command, but went on to oblige Daniel. He placed the cylinders that he was using to row on the surface of the rudder and lied next to Daniel. Daniel was now breathing slowly and coughing at the same time. The toxin of the sting had spread to his neck and his veins were now looking green and black. Tanaka felt reinforced with more reasons to burst out in tears at the sight of the terminally ill Daniel. Daniel then spoke slowly and said, "It's okay to cry Tanaka, it's okay. You know ever since I started working at bank FBC after graduating I always wanted to be the top dog. I wanted John Mushayavanhu, Webster Rusere, and Felix to notice my worth but the pressure to impress got to me. The work environment was tough and there seemed like no hope for it to improve. I went through a lot of a.s.s kissing to get to my post but forgot the very reason I did in the first place." 
"What-what was your reason?" he asked as he shivered and lisped his words with heavy breathing.
"Family and love Tanaka. That was my reason. I have only told my wife this and she gagged at the chivalry, but I used this example to give you a reason to continue on. You have been quite an interesting kid in the short time we have been together. No matter what this dark world tries to do to you, survive. I think there are more people who have the torch just like you. Where there is a spark of hope, the night is flooded with many stars." he said as he coughed out blood.
"But what if I can't go on, you're leaving me alone. Um just a kid with a freaken magical torch. I can't continue on' on my own. I need help." he said with his head now lying on his chest.
"Yes you can Tanaka, yes you can. You must be strong you're strong. You took out those monsters all on your own before we even met. You destroyed that thing in the water. I couldn't even do anything. It was all you. I know that this world is scary, but you can survive." he said with saliva now foaming from his nose and mouth.
"But um all alone on this, what's the point of living?" asked Tanaka who seemed sullen beyond measure.
"Tanaka remember this as you carry on living. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ISOLATED HOPE! IF YOU HAVE THE LIGHT THAT PROTECTS YOU FROM THE DARKNESS THEN THERE ARE SURELY OTHERS THERE LIKE YOU. AS LONG AS YOU'RE BORN INTO THIS WORLD YOU'RE NEVER ALONE."

The words spoken by Daniel struck a chord in Tanaka's mind and made him realise something. He had encountered the torch by chance but it was indeed in the possession of the two strange men or at least he found it in their boot. Tanaka had been against the idea of there being some form of cavalry, but Daniel had sowed the seeds of hope into the young man. Tanaka was motivated by Daniel's words but was sadly scarred for life by his final moments. Daniel began to foam in the mouth and he convulsed until what const.i.tuted life in him had subsided. He had died and Tanaka wept for the loss of his friend.

The distance between him and the sh.o.r.e had been minimised to less than 200m. Tanaka had been rowing and he had made it past the discouraging distance. He intended on burying Daniel's corpse and following through with the plan of leaving Harare. How he would do that was a question he would ask himself once he had reached dry land. As he rowed, the rain intensified, spraying blood everywhere. Hypothermia had been discarded as a possible concern and Tanaka was now grinding through the dampness and soldiering on. He was now a driven man and he didn't feel like entertaining any negative thoughts. He had his eyes on the ball and he was going to catch it, however something peculiar happened. Daniel's decayed body moved. It turned its head and glanced at Tanaka and said, "Well h.e.l.lo there Tanaka. I have one question for you. Did you really believe all the s.h.i.t he was saying?" Tanaka instantly glared at the corpse and pointed his torch at it saying, "Get out of his body d.a.m.n it!" The corpse began to shiver and cry with Daniel's voice saying, "No Tanaka don't point it at me, its burning my skin." Tanaka heard the cry of Daniel and halted. The corpse began to laugh and then echoed the laughter of the voice in the darkness. Tanaka pointed the torch at the surface of the rudder, which bounced off its differed light at the corpse. The corpse plucked off its cheek, took a bite, chewed it, and said, "Those sharks do come with dreadful venom don't they, my body surely tastes G.o.d awful." Tanaka felt enraged by its presence and asked it, "What are you things, what do you want?" The corpse replied, "Well well, you denied us your flesh and now you're asking us questions. Your selfishness knows no bounds boy! You want to know the how, why and what, you gotta pay with your blood!" The corpse began to explode in guttural laughter after uttering what it had said. Its lower jaw immediately slid off like a disc falling out of its compartment. The corpse eventually fell apart like a house of cards. Tanaka watched in horror as Daniel's body was desecrated to a pitiful state. The body fell into pieces that slipped into the sea of blood never to be seen again. Tanaka could hear the laughter of the voice, which had become audible as if emanating from the clouds. The voice had now become like thunder, roaring in the heavens with its ominous terror. Tanaka was not ready to hear what was coming, but he would surely remember it all in the world of the infinite darkness.

"You want to know what we are puny filth? Well very well, we are the bane of your existence carved out of the cup of wrath. As man continuously sinned, the world's gauge of sin was eventually broken, filling the cup of wrath to its brim and when deadly wine overflows, it intoxicates the ma.s.ses. We are the wine of wrath that all of mankind is being subjected to. We are here to completely feed on you weak morsels to our own satisfaction!" roared the voice in the darkness. Tanaka was shocked to hear this and began to recall biblical scriptures that referenced the end times and the end of the world, but soon enough his thoughts were interrupted.
"I am the father of all darkness and Mweya Mutema is my son. My son lived because you cast all your sins upon him to ensure his existence and he exists to cause ma.s.s terror! You're lucky that you have that little flash light boy. My children would have ripped you to shreds. The creatures of the darkness are my creation, they are my offspring and their sole purpose is to feed. My children will be filled up with fat bellies as they ravage all of humanity. There is no hope for you. There only lies death and destruction. My son Mweya Mutema will devour the vessel of innocence and will transcend from his form. You will live in suffering Tanaka, give up your flesh and die. There is no hope, no chance, nothing! You will try to fight it, you will live in my world, but reality well set itself in you. We conquered the north, east, west and your pathetic south region of your world. There is nothing for you here, only continued suffering if you remain alive!" The voice had spoken and left a dreadful truth. Tanaka had nothing to say as he heard it laugh. It was truly their world and he knew it, but Daniel's words carried weight and Tanaka for once didn't cave in to the pressures of the nightmare. Suddenly as the voice laughed with its thunder like pitch, the state of the weather changed. The sound of clouds was rendered into the crude sound of people weeping. The voice went on to say its final remarks, "This is the world of the weeping and gnashing of teeth. h.e.l.l on earth Tanaka. Embrace it to the fullest!" The state of the rain changed from blood to human tears, pouring heavily as if it were a product of the Amazon forest climate. The tears didn't cease and neither did the weeping. Harare was drenched in the tears of the fallen and their sorrow could be felt across as the clouds thundered.

Tanaka finally reached Herbert Chitepo Avenue and was now walking in Harare Street after disembarking off the rudder. The pa.s.sport office to the left was beyond comprehension and was the archetype for ancient ruins. The same went for the Girls high school hostels to the right. The durawalls had all tipped over and signs of great debauchery had wrecked it in its entirety. The demons were all around him, minding their own business, and giving him way. The creatures dreaded the light and went on with their wicked business as usual. The sight of such sickened him, but the fact that he was all alone, the only sign of life in a world that was now owned by these creatures made him sad. As he got close to Park Lane Street and Samora Machel road, he noticed that the tile and carpet store and other nearby buildings had a few vehicles that had been flung at them. The infinite darkness had come at night so it made perfect sense for the whole road to be mostly empty, but as Tanaka glanced to the right, he saw the lengthy road that led to the show grounds, which looked empty as well but had blood puddles. Glancing to the left, he saw the rest of the buildings that were all spoiled and cracked. There was a giant nest on the reserve bank building which his torch clearly showed with great detail. As he walked slowly along Samora Michel, he found a truck that had smashed into the Western union complex, a Mercedes long nose truck. It was drenched in greasy blood and was beyond repair. However, suddenly the door of the truck began to bang open. A young girl, who was wearing hospital clothes, had greasy hair, was the same height as Tanaka, and had bloodshot eyes. She came out of the truck and she was wearing a shiny pendant. Upon getting out she screamed out, "Nicholai you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you came back. Why did you leave me here? Do you know what I had to go through you sick f.u.c.k. You left me here to die. You left me here on my own you sick f.u.c.k!" Tanaka at first thought that it was a possessed corpse, but the dishevelled body that ran towards him told a different story. The girl was another survivor like himself and she ran towards Tanaka in a crippled like stance. She had cuts on her wrists, which were healed up and light ebony skin. She clung onto Tanaka who was speechless and said, "Nicholai you f.u.c.ken a.s.shole why did you leave me here to die!" The girl prodded Tanaka and cried, however the name Nicholai sounded familiar but for the life of him, he couldn't remember the source. The world of infinite darkness had presented another human being who had survived the carnage, but this time, Tanaka wanted this survivor to pull through the horrors of the nightmare. He had remembered what Daniel had said and he hissed to himself, "There is no such thing as isolated hope."