SATURDAY MORNING NEWS…
"good morning and welcome to Saturday morning news, my name is Chioma Ugechi." the presenter said.
"first in the headlines today is breaking news concerning the Nucron cell antidote. The operation was carried out in all schools in Abuja simultaneously and according to the report issued by Kronos labs this morning, the antidote had a 96% success rate…" she explained.
"it is also being reported that it wasn't all smooth sails, some students refused taking the antidote and resisted any form of intervention… a total of 5 students were registered as "missing" and a total of 11 students outright refused the injection and were reported to have been seen using their powers to repel school and government officials and then quickly escaping, they were registered as "resisting intervention." she continued.
"the federal government has issued a statement regarding this issue saying… "the distribution and consumption of the Nucron cell antidote is compulsory for all students and government workers currently, all of which should be registered afterwards, we have acknowledged that some individuals have refused this and have fled their schools and or places of work, therefore, the federal government is giving these individuals till Monday morning to come forward and take the antidote or else disciplinary action will be taken when they are caught, and if they are still at large they will be regarded as public threats and will be dealt with as such."… that was the statement issued by the federal government this morning…" she continued.
12:47pm…
Ahmad opens his eyes, waking up from his deep slumber, his vision blurry, head aching and his entire body shaking. He slowly sat up, still configuring and composing himself. Still feeling nauseous, he stands up from his bed, looking down at himself he notices he's still in his school sports uniform, he stumbles across his room towards the toilet, he opens the door and holds the sink beside the door to stabilize himself. He stands at the sink and looks himself in the mirror while breathing heavily, he suddenly turns to the toilet seat and vomits horribly. After almost a minute of vomiting, Ahmad gets up and cleans the toilet seat with a tissue. Feeling better, he looks himself in the mirror again, his vision clearing and his headache going away, he cleans up and proceeds to take a shower. After his shower, Ahmad was feeling stronger and stronger, he then dresses up with his red t-shirt, black sweatpants and adidas slides and goes to the kitchen to have breakfast. Ahmad's mom had travelled the day before to Kano on a business trip, so the house was his till the end of the weekend. After making himself some indomie and eggs, he sits at the living room to eat, picks up his phone and opens whatsapp. He opens the group chat he has with his friends and sends a message.
GROUP CHAT
"who de?"
SADIQ:"omo!!"
SADIQ:"that stuff don fuck me up"
UMAR:"I woke up in my toilet"
"guy I don vomit everything wey de my body"
NASIR:"that antidote, be like say na another sickness dem give us"
"omo after vomiting I feel better tho"
SADIQ:"yh, me too"
NASIR:"I'm feeling strong too, maybe it had something else in it"
Forwarded- "be at the field today by 4:30 prompt!"
"from G"
NASIR:"noted"
UMAR:"yes boss"
SADIQ:"ok"
They continued chatting and went on with their day until the time to meet G at the field came, they all got together at the estate gate and proceeded to go to the field.
4:27pm…
The boys got to the field and opened the rusty old gate to get into the compound, G was standing by the river talking on the phone. As they walked up to him, they overheard him on the phone, he was being told something that seemed important, he was unusually irritated and was shaking his head. The boys sat on the bench quietly and waited patiently for him to finish his phone call. A few minutes later he ended his call and faced the boys.
"how far boys" he greeted as he shook their hands one by one while they greeted back.
"we're fine G, what was so important that you had to tell us?" Ahmad asked.
"hmm… yes, I'll tell you in a minute but first… how did you guys feel after taking the antidote? Anything abnormal?" G asked.
"YES NOW!!!" Umar shouted.
"really? What happened then?" G asked.
"it didn't start immediately, it was slow but through the day we got weaker and weaker, we were barely walking, none of us saw the sunset, we all blacked out immediately we got home" Ahmad explained.
"and we all vomited when we woke up… but felt a lot better afterwards" Sadiq added.
"that antidote had more than one job, I chatted all our friends, none of them felt the way we felt" Nasir said.
"It did one job though, it took our powers" Umar said as he stood up from the bench and walked to their old targeting position.
"yeah… it was fun while it lasted though" Sadiq said.
"well atleast now you can face your academics and build your lives up." G said.
"haba G, why are talking like you're not going to miss training?" Ahmad queried.
"who said I've stopped training you… ha, training just de start(training just got started)!" G exclaimed as they all laughed.
"eh… you're laughing? Oya jump up, start your frog jump now!!" G commanded jokingly as the boys ran off the bench to avoid him.
"haha… but your right Ahmad, I will miss that training" G admitted.
"yeah… it was SO MUCH FU…" Umar spoke as he stomped on the ground in a motion he used for attacks with his power. But suddenly the ground gave way and made a huge trench and making the ground shake in the process.
"wh… WHAT?" Umar stuttered in shock.
Everyone stared in shock as they tried to comprehend what had just happened. Umar pulled his leg out of the trench and stood back to see what happened
"Umar!! what did you do?" G asked in confusion.
"I… I don't…" Umar murmured. Then in disbelief he stomped his foot on the ground again, the ground gave way again and expanded the trench into a crater as the ground shook at his feet. Umar made a gesture with his arms which brought out a giant bolder from the trench, he then lunged forward launching the bolder into the distance and in crashing to the ground. Umar stood with a surprised but happy expression on his face but still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Upon seeing this Ahmad ran up beside Umar and in an attempt to answer his own question, lunged his hand forward as if to punch the air, firing a huge flame into the distance, as his fire blazed he smiled and stood upright. Sadiq also stepped in, making his gestures and channeling water from the river and shooting it into the distance. Nasir took a deep breath and blew a heavy and strong wind from his mouth.
"OUR POWERS ARE BACK!!" Ahmad shouted in excitement.
"YEEEEHOOOOO" they all shouted and celebrated.
G stood back watching all that was happening, he was left shocked and speechless, he stayed silent for a few seconds while the boys confirmed their powers, he then snapped out of it and screamed "I thought you guys said you took the antidote!!!"
"we did… maybe it didn't work or something" Sadiq said.
"my friend don't lie to me!!! you just used your powers and you're telling me you took the antidote, do I look like I'm joking?" he shouted in anger.
"G, look now…" Umar said as he pulled up his sleeve revealing the mark that was left on him to indicate that he was injected.
"...we were all there, we took it!" he said as the others walked up to show G their marks.
"what?… how is… I don't understand." G stuttered in confusion.
"none of us do… but to be honest, I don't care." Ahmad said.
"you have to care oh, there is a big problem at hand!" G said in something of a panic.
"what's the problem G?" Nasir asked.
"hmm…." G groaned as he calmed down.
"ok… when you boys came in you saw me on the phone right? I was speaking with someone that has close ears in the organization that's doing things concerning all this. Its called Kronos labs. He told me that by Monday, if the people that escaped or refused treatment do not come forward, a task force has already been formed and will be deployed to hunt down everyone who is at large and they will either capture them… or if they refuse arrest, deadly force will be used." G explained.
"whoa!" Umar exclaimed.
"yes… that's why it was so important and I didn't talk to you guys yesterday that's why I made it so important… I thought one of you may have resisted… but this is a bigger problem than that." G said.
"wait, we took the antidote already, it didn't work, so they can't do anything to us cause we haven't done anything wrong." Sadiq said.
"why are you talking like you're not a Nigerian." G asked condescendingly.
"if they find out we still have our powers after taking the antidote, they'll capture us, experiment on us and then kill us… and our families." Nasir explained.
"something like that" G said.
"so what do we do now?" Umar asked.
"you keep your mouths SHUT and you're powers OFF" G commanded.
"UNDERSTOOD" he shouted.
"YES SIR!" they all answered.
"good… we'll continue training here as usual but quietly and carefully, but until I find out more info and a safer option for you guys, KEEP YOUR MOUTHS SHUT!" G commanded again.
"oya start going home, rest and enjoy your weekend, we continue training on Monday… go, I'll talk to you later" he said.
They all began to walk home, excited and gitty, this new development would be a catalyst for what is to come in the future. The boys go about their weekend and enjoy themselves up until Monday morning and they go back to school with their new secret lingering in their minds.