Zombie in Lagos

Segun pushed the accelerator down.

The yellow danfo jumped forward.

He turned the steering wheel hard, squeezing through a narrow gap between two abandoned cars.

The side mirror clipped one of them.

CRACK!

Tunde grabbed the side of his seat.

"Jesus!"

Segun didn't slow down.

The road ahead was almost impossible to recognize.

Cars stood at strange angles.

Some had been abandoned with their doors wide open.

People were running in every direction.

A motorcycle lay on its side, its engine still running.

Smoke drifted across the road.

Segun leaned forward, searching for a way through.

"Hold tight."

Tunde looked outside.

"Bro..."

Segun glanced at him.

Tunde pointed toward the pavement.

A man was lying on the ground.

Three people were standing over him.

One of them suddenly bent down and began biting his shoulder.

Tunde looked away.

"God..."

Segun kept driving.

His eyes stayed fixed ahead.

He couldn't afford to stop.

Not now.

⸻

The closer they got to Idi-Araba, the worse the streets became.

A police vehicle was parked across part of the road.

Two officers were trying to hold back a crowd.

"BACK!"

"Everybody move back!"

One officer fired into the air.

The crowd scattered.

But only for a moment.

Then people began running again.

A group of area boys came charging from a side street.

One carried a metal pipe.

Another had a wooden plank.

A third held a broken chair leg.

They were chasing a man covered in blood.

"Hold am!"

"Don't let am bite you!"

The man turned suddenly.

His mouth was covered in blood.

He lunged at the nearest area boy.

The metal pipe came down.

The man dropped.

Nobody celebrated.

They simply ran.

Segun swallowed.

The streets were no longer controlled by police.

They weren't controlled by anyone.

⸻

Then the coughing started.

COUGH.

Tunde turned around.

The sound had come from the back of the danfo.

The masked passenger sat near the window.

The same man who had barely spoken since Oshodi.

He coughed again.

COUGH.

The woman with the child pulled her son closer.

The masked man raised a hand.

"I'm okay."

A passenger stared at him.

"You sure?"

The man nodded.

"Just cold."

Another cough.

This time, everyone heard something wet in it.

A young passenger stood.

"Oga..."

The masked man looked at him.

"Wetin?"

"You need come down."

The man shook his head.

"I'm not infected."

Another passenger stood.

"Na everybody dey say that."

The woman with the child immediately protested.

"Abeg, leave am!"

The argument spread through the danfo.

Segun glanced into the mirror.

"Everybody calm down!"

Nobody listened.

The young man grabbed the masked man's arm.

"Come down."

"Leave me!"

The man pulled away.

Two other passengers moved toward him.

The woman screamed.

"Stop!"

Segun slammed his palm against the steering wheel.

"Enough!"

For a second, everyone froze.

Then the masked man coughed again.

Blood appeared across the blue mask.

Silence.

The young passenger stepped back.

"Jesus Christ."

Someone opened the door.

The masked man grabbed the seat.

"Please..."

His voice trembled.

"I'm not infected."

But fear had already taken over.

Three passengers pushed him toward the door.

The woman with the child shouted:

"Stop!"

Segun tried to reach back.

"Leave am!"

But the passengers were stronger.

The masked man fell onto the road.

The door slammed shut.

Segun immediately drove forward.

He looked into the side mirror.

The man was still alive.

Still sitting on the road.

Still watching them.

Segun looked away.

⸻

They had barely gone another street when the road ahead erupted.

People came running toward them.

A woman carrying a handbag.

A man with blood covering his shirt.

Two school students.

A policeman without his weapon.

Behind them came the infected.

Dozens.

They poured around the corner.

Tunde stared through the windshield.

"Segun..."

Segun hit the horn.

"Move!"

Nobody moved fast enough.

An abandoned car blocked the lane.

Segun turned sharply.

The danfo mounted the edge of the road.

Passengers screamed.

The vehicle bounced violently.

Then they were through.

Behind them, the crowd crashed into the abandoned cars.

Tunde looked back.

"They plenty."

Segun nodded.

"Yeah."

His voice was low.

"Too many."

⸻

They passed another intersection.

A man was fighting an infected woman with a wooden plank.

She bit his arm.

He screamed.

People pulled them apart.

The man fell against a car.

Blood ran down his arm.

"Help me!"

Two men dragged him away.

Segun watched through the mirror.

Then something caught his attention.

The man stopped struggling.

His body became completely still.

Tunde noticed it too.

"Why he no dey move?"

Segun slowed slightly.

They watched.

The man's head lifted.

His breathing changed.

His eyes became empty.

Then he attacked the man holding him.

Tunde's face went pale.

"How long?"

Segun looked at him.

"What?"

"How long before he turn?"

Nobody answered.

The man who had been bitten had changed in less than two minutes.

Tunde stared at the road.

"Less than two minutes..."

Segun nodded.

"Yeah."

Tunde looked down at his phone.

His hands were shaking.

He called his wife.

No answer.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

He sent a message.

Where are you?

No reply.

Tunde stared at the screen.

"My wife suppose don reach house."

Segun kept driving.

"She go dey okay."

Tunde didn't answer.

He called again.

Nothing.

⸻

A few minutes later, Segun saw a small side street ahead.

The main road was becoming impossible.

Vehicles were abandoned everywhere.

Smoke covered part of the intersection.

People were running across the road.

Segun turned into the side street.

It was narrower.

Quieter.

For the first time in several minutes, there were no infected immediately around them.

Segun slowed the danfo.

He found a small open space beside a closed roadside shop and pulled over.

The engine remained running.

Tunde looked at him.

"Why you stop?"

Segun looked through the windshield.

"This place safer."

Tunde stared at his phone.

Then he looked at Segun.

"Bro..."

Segun knew.

"You need go home."

Tunde nodded slowly.

"My wife. My daughter."

His voice broke slightly.

"I need make sure say they dey okay."

Segun looked at him.

"We still dey go LUTH."

"I know."

Tunde swallowed.

"I know say I tell you say make we go save Adunni."

He looked down.

"But I no fit continue."

Segun said nothing.

Tunde continued.

"I keep thinking about them."

He looked at the road outside.

"If something happen to my family while I dey here..."

He shook his head.

"I no go forgive myself."

Segun understood.

Tunde looked at him.

"I'm sorry, bro."

Segun nodded.

"Go."

Tunde looked surprised.

Segun repeated himself.

"Go find your family."

Tunde's eyes became wet.

"Thank you."

Tunde reached into his pocket and brought out the money they had collected from the passengers.

As conductor, he was the one who kept the day's transport money.

He counted the notes quickly.

Then he held them out to Segun.

"Take."

Segun looked at the money.

Then at Tunde.

Tunde pushed it closer.

"Na our money from today."

Segun stared at the notes for a moment.

Then he smiled.

It was a tired smile.

Almost sad.

"Keep am."

Tunde frowned.

"Why?"

Segun shook his head.

"Money don become useless."

Tunde looked down at the cash in his hand.

For the first time, he seemed to understand what Segun meant.

There were people dying in the streets.

People were fighting to stay alive.

Nobody was thinking about transport fare anymore.

Nobody cared about money.

Segun looked at him.

"Go to your family first."

Tunde said nothing.

"Go save your wife and your daughter."

Tunde slowly closed his fingers around the money.

His eyes became wet.

"I'm sorry, bro."

Segun nodded.

"Go."

Tunde opened the door.

Before stepping down, he looked back at Segun.

"Please find Adunni."

Segun smiled faintly.

"I will."

He stood beside the danfo for a moment.

Then he started walking.

After a few steps, he turned around.

Segun was still watching him.

Tunde raised his hand.

Segun raised his own.

Then Tunde disappeared around the corner.

Segun watched until he was gone.

The danfo suddenly felt much bigger.

And much quieter.

⸻

Segun looked at the remaining passengers.

There was no point pretending anymore.

He turned around in his seat.

"I'm going to LUTH."

Nobody spoke.

"My sister is still inside there."

He looked around the bus.

"If you no want follow me, get down now."

Silence.

Segun continued.

"I no go force anybody."

The passengers looked at one another.

The old market woman held her bags tightly.

The mother held her sleeping son.

Finally, the young passenger near the door stood.

"I'm getting down."

He stepped out.

Another passenger followed.

Then another.

The bus slowly emptied.

The mother with the two-year-old son remained seated.

She looked outside.

Then at Segun.

"Oga..."

Segun waited.

"Where I fit go?"

Segun thought for a moment.

"Go toward the Island."

She frowned.

"The Island?"

"For now, e safer."

She looked down at her son.

Then nodded.

She stepped out of the danfo.

Segun watched her walk away.

She disappeared into the street with her child held tightly against her chest.

⸻

The old market woman was still sitting at the back.

Segun looked at her through the mirror.

"Mama, you never get down?"

She shook her head.

"I get nowhere else to go."

She lifted one of her bags.

"My children dey Badagry."

Segun sighed.

"Badagry far."

"I know."

"Na opposite direction from where I dey go."

"I know."

Segun looked at her for a moment.

"You no fear?"

The old woman looked outside.

"Fear no dey carry person reach house."

Segun said nothing.

She continued.

"For now, Badagry still safe."

Segun looked toward the road.

He didn't know whether that was true.

But he couldn't argue with her.

He looked at his phone.

Adunni:

Please come.

Segun locked the screen.

Then started the engine.

"I'll take you there after I find my sister."

The old woman nodded.

"Okay."

⸻

Segun shifted the gear.

The yellow danfo rolled out of the side street.

The road ahead was still filled with smoke.

Sirens echoed in the distance.

Somewhere nearby, someone screamed.

Segun tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

He glanced at the rear-view mirror.

Tunde's seat was empty.

So were all the other seats.

Except one.

The old woman sat quietly behind him.

The bus that had carried eleven passengers was now almost empty.

Everyone had chosen their own direction.

Segun had chosen his.

LUTH.

His sister.

Whatever was waiting for him there.

He pressed the accelerator.

The yellow danfo disappeared back into the chaos.

It was 5:20 PM.

Lagos still had more than two hours before darkness.

And Segun was driving straight toward the center of the outbreak.