The Torch Chapter 5-We Are A Product Of Our Environment.

"Come on!" he said, swinging the femur with ill intent. He had lost his mind and had masked his fear with his hatred in the absurd situation. The hideous corpses were all layered before him as if a construction site designated for s.a.d.i.s.ts was underway. He was but alone in the infinite darkness, deprived of peace, sleep, and mental composure. If he was going to die, he was not going down like a helpless animal. He was going to strike his enemy, leave a mark before being devoured or so he thought. Each thrust of the femur in hand had kept his tears together, bounding them in a ferocity that made his face seem as if it aged 10 years into his old age years. He twirled around, observing these obscenities as they came, and what made it more unbearable was that he could only see one of them at a time. His torch's LED light form made the encompa.s.sing darkness more chilling and petrifying. He would see one of them, twirl, not there anymore, twirl, three of them now in that position. What made the wait to pandemonium even more unbearable were the sounds they were making. Their unintelligent dialogue and sickening sounds were like a foil to innocence; it accentuated depravity at best.

The boy kept on swinging incessantly as he heard the demonic creatures' ghoulish movements in the dark. The macabre had still not attacked him and he was beginning to wonder why. He turned around to see the creatures just feeding on the corpses and regurgitating things that looked like they had lost any traces of their once cherished humanity. They had been reduced into red phlegm, with black veins and snake sized leeches drinking the succulent blood of whatever was left of the body. The irritating sound of blood being sucked was no different from that of weevils munching on corn, an unsightly reminder to why he hated bugs. Tanaka continued to shout vehemently, "Come on you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" His mustered strength, though conjured out of unwillingness to die like a dog, was now being atrophied by the uneventfulness of his situation. He was in a despicable pit, probably a play ground for these creatures of the dark, the unknown beasts that had put the world into its current state of horror and despair. The demons had rebuffed him or so he thought, but one consistently clear thing was that they surely didn't like being in the lime light. They tried by all means to be evasive to his torch light, something that he soon realised when had decided to reason instead of cultivating his rage. Tackling his fear head on had not entirely desensitized him from what he was seeing, for the variances of unsavoury horridness had an ugliness you could never get used to. Tolerance would have to be a choice, in his case, a must. His left arm was still hurting, regardless of his attempts to treat it earlier at the mini supermarket. Though his effort had been abated, he didn't come out as the disgruntled one. Instead, he took a warm delight in knowing one fact that had kept him alive in this nightmare, his torch light gave him immunity. They could not touch him. It all made sense now, how he had survived on that corner, p.i.s.sing in his pants, frightened by the monsters he only thought existed in demented horror films. He was alive because of his torch. In that moment, it dawned on him that the torch wasn't normal. How could his torch be the only manner of light? His acceptance of his trump card ended up filling him with many questions. Where did this torch come from? Whether or not his kidnappers had left it in the boot for future use, was beyond him by now. His realisation of his fortune drove him into manic euphoria. His bad luck had run out and lady fortune was smiling at him. He began to laugh, a gradation of laughter that started low and ended up high pitched. He was embracing this and could not help but hiss to himself, "They can't touch me, these s.h.i.ts can't touch me." Though he chuckled at the realisation of his fortune, he was still in an angst mood. His interrupted sleep had given his brain a weird sensation, one of weariness and p.r.o.neness to insanity. The world had gone mad and he clearly was going through severe psychological changes. In a short while, he had been maimed by the infinite darkness.

Tanaka was now fully confident that he wouldn't be eaten by the adversaries from the night and embarked on getting out of the pit. The coliseum of corpses was ridiculously huge and greatly inclined. For Tanaka to get out of the pit, he would have to climb over dead bodies to get out of this gore party. Noticing the features beyond the ridge, he began to see a few flats that were in ruins. These flats were all soiled in blood and lodged with human remains. The creatures behind him had continued on with their banquet, relishing on human flesh as if it were thanks giving day. The sound of drooling saliva, putrid smell of corpses and ominous sounds were like an endless motif in his horrific tale. Tanaka began to move upwards, stepping on dead bodies. Unlike last time, when he had puked, his mind had blocked any form of revulsion to facilitate his progress, making him trample on bodies that were either tampered with to the point of irredeemable ugliness or were just naturally unsightly. The bodies all plastered in the pit, ranging from little kindergarten kids to fully aged senior citizens. Tanaka never thought about how these hapless folks had been taken by surprise by the circ.u.mstances of death by mutilation. All he did was walk and stomp on these cadavers. As soon as the slope became greatly inclined, Tanaka began to climb up the wall of corpses, though his left hand was in pain, he didn't waver at all, grabbing onto a shrivelled head with exposed brains, as if he was a rock climbing expert on an organic mountain. He crawled his way upwards with his fingers, elbows, and feet, latching onto gelatinous flesh as he made his way to the top. As he was drawing close to the end, a hand from nowhere grabbed him. It was a man who was still alive, buried in the wall of corpses. Tanaka was startled by the hand that had grabbed onto him and almost struck it with his right elbow, but what made him hesitate was the man's appeal.

"Help me! Help me! Don't leave me here to die, take me with you!" is what the man had screamed at Tanaka. He sounded like a young adult with a typical Zimbabwean English accent. His grip on Tanaka was similar to that of hand cuff, something that gave the impression that this man's situation was dire and he wouldn't give up until he was saved. Tanaka who had given up on the belief that there were other signs of life in the bleak world of death, tried to pull the man up, grasping his torch tightly as he offered him his right hand to save the only life he had encountered. Tanaka even emotionally spouted out, "Grab my hand! Grab it!" The man did as he said, crying and moaning as he latched onto Tanaka. What Tanaka had not realised was that the wall of corpses had been soaked in the b.l.o.o.d.y rain and had been greatly imbued with dampness. The moisture, which had marinated the corpses, and the man's sudden movements, began to cascade the pile of bodies downwards. Tanaka used his strength to try and pull out the man, motivated by the fact that he had found another life. This life could help him feel less lonely in this dead world, someone he could definitely share his fears with to ease the depression that came from the current state of things. The constant repet.i.tion of the words 'I don't want to die' and 'save me' were what was hammered into his subconscious mind. He inadvertently internalised this as an act of heroics that he had to fulfil. This man was counting on him; he called for his help and wanted to be saved. As the man slowly began to squeeze out, the bodies far ahead on top began to lose their place on the walls. The wall of corpses on the man's side began to crumble down like an avalanche. The differed light from his torch could show how desperate he was and how he was full of tears due to his dire situation. The man screamed, "Don't drop me! Please I don't want to die! Help me! Help me! Don't let go!"
"I won't! I promise you I won't drop you!" he said, crying now for he didn't want to fail the man. He had been angry before, but tears were now streaming down his face. Was it because he had clung onto hope again? Tanaka had gone manic mad to face his peril head on in the pit, a suicide mission that would have gone sour fast if it weren't for the creatures' aversion to his torch light, but this time, he was emotional. He had another man's life in his hands, something precious to him having had to survive close to 2days of mental psychosis and depression. His rage and confidence before was truly a lie, a facade to keep him from breaking down. In the moment he saw the man slip before him, falling to the base of the pit below, the rest of the corpses tumbled down like dominoes. He realised right there that you only ever truly value life when you're deprived of it. The man, who was in shock and had a fretful expression as he fell down, was consumed with bitter sadness. What lied below him was a reptilian demon with serrated teeth, a huge jaw, and indefinable grotesque features. It had its mouth open like a baseball glove, waiting to make the perfect catch, in this case, a gruesome bite. By the time Tanaka had turned to look at what had happened to his hapless friend, his whole body was painted red with the blood of the man. The bite had an unprecedented impact that propelled large quant.i.ties of gushed out blood. The vanity and hopelessness of the world became clear to him at the sight of the dead man. There was no hope, only unapologetic despair. His eyes, which were now bloodshot, engraved with exhaustion and abominable scenery now had to deal with his cascading tears. Life was so fragile, indeed, humanity was puny, and weak compared to the evil creatures of the dark.

Tanaka had climbed out of the pit, heartbroken and extremely sullen. The man dying had really done something to him. He had cracked. He began to walk slowly, using his light as a guide, leaving the now infested Josiah Tongogara road behind him. His body's movements were heavy, each step for him felt as if he was carrying sand bags in deep water. He began to cross over Chinamano Avenue, looking to his right, seeing the same plane that had crashed looking uglier than ever before. The fiends were roaming about, near the crash site. He dragged his body, this time with no tears, but a lifeless expression as if he had seen a ghost. He would glance at weird things that would try by all means to hide since his light was a bane to their existence. He looked at his left to see the remnant of the once profound Baines hospital. The durawall for the ground floor was totally bombarded. The car park, ground floor where there was the reception, pharmacy, ambulance garage and emergency rooms were all desolate. They were all painted red with thick and putrid flesh overlying on the walls. The cracks on the windows and previously observed levelled top section of the building were still a sight to behold. Regardless of the carnage being displayed, Tanaka had become hollow and indifferent.

Tanaka walked, aiming for one of the flats that were within Baines Avenue. He was one quarter done with part of the journey to get there, shuffling his feet on the ground, as he looked dead. His lack of cognisance towards his surrounding environment soon ended when he heard the sounds again. The sounds had begun to annoy him, irritating him to the core. The alien dialect and corrosive tone, which had started off scaring him in the beginning was now just aggravating him. The sound irked him, driving him to complete aggravation. It wasn't enough that these creatures had murderous intent towards the rest of humanity, but they also had an insatiable desire to make that dreadful noise. That noise, that excruciating noise! Tanaka was now filled with acrimony. He heard things slithering around him, making ominous sounds as usual. He began to scan these sounds to find the source. He saw another one of the crawling foetuses and then directed his torch at it. The creature quickly showed aversion by moving away from the light, but unlike the last time, Tanaka wasn't going to give it one glance, he was going to probe this thing till the very end. He began to follow it and was constantly directing his light at it. When it had realised that he had caught up, it tried to run away, but he also began to run, tormenting the creature. He looked at it with much discontempt as its body boiled and ruptured and bled. It was dying because of his light. Tanaka began to utter out contemptuously, "It hurts doesn't it? It hurts, it hurts! Now you know how I feel you monster!" Tanaka continued to torch this thing until it died, bursting into sticky blood that soon withered and wilted into something gross. Tanaka had witnessed this with much pleasure and the irony now was that the annoying sounds close by began to give him a sense of purpose. He had to kill all of these sons of b.i.t.c.hes. He gave so much attention to his hearing capabilities and turned to where he could find any that slithered. He found another foetus and torched it to death. He found another a monster, a dog like maggot, and levelled it to the ground with his light. The chasing was beginning to exhaust him; he was injured and deprived of sleep. He then got tired and decided to maintain his previous course, heading towards the flats to catch a nap, hoping to find a room that had not yet been desecrated by these fiends. As he walked, having completed half his course, he stumbled upon a horrid scene. He saw 2 demons devouring a human body, hooking their teeth onto the exposed rib cage and yanking it with their teeth. The process was disturbing as the things were forcefully deboning the lump of meat that had a visible kitkat T-shirt fastened to the meat. The way these things chewed was shameless, giving off a subtle burp sound, which gave the impression that they were enjoying this violation of human integrity. The fact that they did this feeding without any reservations, without any concern for the person they had just ravaged, infuriated Tanaka. Tanaka had glanced at these things for 10seconds and on the eleventh second his rage coursed to his torch and it began to beam with more intensity than before. Its rays of light began to glisten so much that it ended up brightening everything within a radius of 20m. The light rays blasted out like a laser canon, incinerating and burning the flesh of the demons. The slaughter was quick and brutal, blowing the demons into a pile of mince meat with vapours of smoke all fuming from what was left of them. Tanaka did not wait to marvel at what had just happened; he just went on to burn other nearby demons. The killing spree was surely giving him joy. The once emaciated by exhaustion boy was now venting out his rage. Everything close by was decimated, incinerated by this teenager who had gone crazy. After wiping out everything near the hospital, the adrenaline in him was coursing in his body, making him hyper, but he had to go to the flats and sleep now. The annoying sounds were now gone, he had just killed the demons around him. As he walked onwards, he could here subtle sounds back at the pit where he had come from. At the back of his mind, one of his voices was saying he should forget about it and find some rest. However, the voice he listened to was the one that desired retribution and carnage, the voice that hated the things that had scared him in the dark. Tanaka eventually looked back and immersed himself with the view of the edges that led to the pit. He grimaced and then said, "Its time you monsters learned how to die."

It was a fellowship of human flesh and defiling of corpses as some of these demons turned to necrophilia, filling the corpses with black brittle s.e.m.e.n that acted as an acid that would incinerate the bodies from the inside.  This was done to both s.e.xes, a sick and unprecedented act from these demons in the pit. The wickedness soon ended when an angry Tanaka appeared at the top, directing his light everywhere. All that was in the pit, immediately turned into a bonfire of death, even the corpses were turned to ash. His ambivalence in that fierce moment gave him so much discomfort. He was angry at the monsters and at the same time jovial that the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were dying. The banquet soon turned into a burnt offering: the pit looked like an apparatus for burning incense and what came out were great amounts of smoke, going to the point of looking like a mushroom cloud after nuclear detonation. Tanaka had destroyed his enemy and with much satisfaction. The fact that this power was in the torch meant that there was something strange going on in the world, something far more mystifying than the horror before him. Tanaka turned back and walked away as the smoke behind him consumed the bodies in the pit. The torch was something special indeed and Tanaka couldn't help but wonder what it really was. Tanaka began to stroll to the apartment ahead with his head held high, knowing that this time, he had beaten the infinite darkness.