KNUCKLE 3 | Finally, Evil Meets a More Macabre Brand of Darkness
Goodness! This particular story should go on record as taking the longest time to put together.
Well, it's finally here - the final and concluding episode of KNUCKLE.
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Advisory Content:
This poem contains very explicit
sexual content and language as well as gory details
KNUCKLE III
It all seemed to
happen in slow motion through Afolabi’s eyes
And the dog’s speed
and deadly intent were as real as the knife in his young hand
Just before the big
dog attacked Afolabi
Afolabi could have
sworn that he saw the tattoo’s blue glow go a little brighter
Again, Afolabi felt
as if he was watching himself
The boys eyes were no
longer glowing but the tattoo stood out like a halogen bulb
Bright and almost
blinding with its dazzling glare
The dog opened its
wide jaw in a hyper extension
Afolabi could not
believe it but he saw the dragon’s head rise out of the boy’s arm
Releasing a
bloodcurdling howl that was between a scream and a deafening howl
The dog was over
twice the size of the boy
And should have
killed him in less than a minute
But the dog suddenly
stopped
Stood still and then
took a step backwards
As if trying to
decide what to do
It launched a fresh
yet deadly attack
It lashed out with
its open jaws
And Afolabi shocked
the dog with swift movements that dazed the animal
What even dazed the
dog more was Afolabi
The boy no longer
looked like a boy
He had the physical
form of a boy but he moved like a ferocious demon
The dog could not get
a single bite in
It charged,
maneuvered and attacked over and over again with no success
Afolabi’s movement
and foot work stunning the animal
Suddenly, the dog
sensed a vicious intent in Afolabi’s eyes
And it halted, turned
around and began to sprint away as fast as its legs could carry it
The dog was
incredibly fast
And the men watched
the boy dash after the dog
His speed almost
matching that of the dog or did it surpass it?
They could not tell
After a while
Both dog and boy were
out of sight
The night went dead
silent
And then after about
30 seconds
The men heard the
same chilling howl they had previously heard
And then dead silence
followed
After 10 seconds
They saw a living
form approaching from a distance
Was it the dog or the
boy?
And then they saw
what was approaching
It was both the boy
and the dog
While the boy took
one step after another towards them
Only the dog’s head
dangled in the boy’s left hand
Blood dripping from
its severed head
While the other hand
held the knife firmly
Suddenly
The boy stopped
walking
Raised his face to
the skies
And released a
harrowing scream that sent Afolabi into a chill
Suddenly
Afolabi felt a human presence
And in a flash, he
found himself shooting out of the bed like an asteroid in motion
With the speed of a
puma, he threw his left hand out and grabbed what felt like a throat
And just when he was
about to crush the esophagus
His muscle relaxed as
if on auto
And when he opened
his eyes fully
He found himself
holding Bridget’s throat
With the same speed
with which he had grabbed her throat
He released it
She fell to the bed
coughing and breathing heavily
Apparently in pain
“Oh my God! What have
I done?” Afolabi asked aloud
He quickly grabbed
her
And held her in his
arms
He brought her head
close to his chest
Tilted her head up
and examined her neck
She was still
coughing sporadically
But the intensity had
reduced immensely from when he had just released her
“I’m so sorry baby…
I had no idea it was
you. I’m sorry,” he calmly said to her
She looked in pain and
Afolabi just held her
Slowly rubbing his palm
across the softness of her neck
After a while,
She spoke:
“…first, you sweep me
off my feet with attraction
You make sweet
passionate love to me
And then you try to
strangle me to death
Is that how you treat
the women you care about?” Bridget asked
Afolabi did not
answer
He just stared into
her moist eyes
Deep inside, he had
wondered what would have happened if he had killed her
He would have been
shattered
And he knew that it
would have been a loss he would never recover from
“What has come over
me?” Afolabi asked aloud
In response to this,
Bridget said:
“It’s my fault athlete
I should have known
better than to try to sneak up on you in bed
I understand how
tense you are even in your sleep
I should have known
better” she repeated
“It’s okay my dear.
Let’s just be grateful it’s not worse,” he said
And she managed to
flash a smile at him
He smiled back at her
and he slowly rose off the bed
And asked: “Is it
time?”
“You have precisely 8 minutes before you get into the ring,” came her reply
“Wow! That’s not much
time,” Afolabi said.
He hurriedly dashed
into the bathroom
Rinsed his face and
did a quick stretch
And when he stepped
back into the room
He put on a fresh
pair of black slack with a blue thin line on the left
Looking at Bridget
who looked even more dashing than before
Afolabi spoke:
“How did I do in the
first fight,” he asked Bridget
“You were amazing
But please remember
what we agreed about staying focused
When you’re with me,
you can let your thoughts roam
But once you get into
that ring, please concentrate on two things
Staying alive and
finishing off your opponent in the quickest
possible time
Will you do this for
me,” she asked and flashed him a dashing smile
He winked at her and
just as they got up and were about to exit the room
She pulled him and
hugged him hard
Afolabi could feel
her supple breasts press against his chest
Still hugging him,
she began to speak:
“Afolabi, before you
go out there again
I want you to promise
me that if you win the next fight, you’ll stop
Will you do that for
me?”
“But I’m already a
millionaire dear
Why don’t I just go
all the way?
I’ve already promised
you I will not fall to a mortal man
I have done it once
and I will do it again
Or do you have doubts
in my abilities?” he asked her
Her reply came
swiftly
“Oh no! I have
amazing confidence in your abilities
But I do not want you
to fight against Kamar. Please…,” she appealed
Afolabi suddenly
stood still
Looked her straight
inn the eyes and asked:
“Baby, is there
anything you’re hiding from me?”
She cast him a very
worrying look and said:
“It’s Kamar! He gives
me the creeps
I’ve never seen a man
so cold and brutal
He’s not human,” she
warned
“And who told you I
was,” he replied, laughed and winked at her again
Before she could
speak, Afolabi went on:
“Okay, let me ask you
three questions
If you answer yes to
the three, then he can be defeated
Does he have blood in
his veins?”
“Yes,” came her reply
“Does he feel pain?”
he asked
“Yes,” she said
“Do you love me?” he
asked
Rather than answer,
she just walked up to him, hugged him fiercely and said:
“With all my heart,”
she said
Afolabi could feel
her sobbing now and he said to her:
Bridget, there’s something I need to tell you”
“What is it,” she
asked
“… I’m married…”
Her reply took a
while but it came eventually
“Wow! That’s a
surprise but I don’t care Afolabi
It does not change
the way I feel about you
I love with and I’m
not ashamed to openly admit it like this
Before I met you, men
used to mean little or nothing to me
I have watched men
kill and get killed for so long
I lost touch with who
I really was
But from the moment I
saw you, a lot of things changed
…oh! It’s almost time
champ,” she suddenly chipped in
They stepped out of
the room
And began walking
towards the ring
When they got to the
doors, Afolabi flashed his knuckle and the doors swung open
He looked at Bridget
one last time
And began walking
towards the ring
When Afolabi got into
the ring, he heard the familiar voice of the commentator
“Ladies and
gentlemen, back in the ring for the second time today
Is Afolabi
We have all witnessed
his amazing speed and power
And how he silenced
his first opponent forever
His new challenger is
a 5 feet’ 11 inches tall
He was sentenced to
death
His crime?
He beat his wife and
brother to death after catching them in bed together
As if this was not
enough, he went on a raping spree
When he was arrested,
he had raped and killed 12 innocent women
But we got him out of
jail
And we have given him
an opportunity to buy his freedom
His name is Nduka”
Afolabi watched as
the crowd cheered when his opponent approached the steel ring
He was not as bulky as his first opponent
But he approached the
ring
His eyes on the ring
and the man inside it the whole time
When he stepped into
the ring
Afolabi could tell
that this man looked desperate
He didn’t need a seer
to know that this man had either killed
Or would gladly do so
just for the fun of it
Afolabi pondered over
how he must have raped and murdered a dozen women
Afolabi closed his
eyes
And inhaled deeply
He felt the rush of
blood all around his head
And he knew precisely
what he was going to do
The commentator doled
out the instructions once again
And when the bell
went off
Nduka watched Afolabi
put up his fist and assumed a defensive stance
Nduka wasted no time
He raised his hands,
balled up his fists and bent his head slightly forward
And stepped towards
Afolabi
Afolabi knew he had
just 5 minutes
When he saw Nduka
move, he saw the man’s inclination to attack
That was precisely what Afolabi had hoped for
And he knew he would
require a lot of precision for what he wanted to do
Just as Afolabi had
anticipated
When Nduka was within
reach
Afolabi put up his
defensive stance
He planted his foot
on the floor
With his elbows
taking up a zigzag movement
Nduka attacked with
two fast jabs
And was stunned at
what happened
Rather than his the
target, which was his opponent’s head
His fist had struck
Afolabi’s elbow which seemed to flash into focus at the last minute
The pain coursed
through his hands, into his head and he stepped backwards
And then he came back
at Afolabi in a renewed assault
He feigned an attack,
sidestepped and threw a jab and a straight right
Again his fists
smashed into Afolabi’s elbow
And this time, the
pain made him flinch
Anger flooded into
his blood
And he released a
five punch combination of hooks, jabs and uppercut
The jab missed but
all other punches struck the almost sharp point of Afolabi’s elbow
Now, pain seemed to
reside in his hands
He could barely fold
his fingers into a fist
His fingers ached
badly from the pain of smashing into Afolabi’s elbow
He was not a kicking
type but he knew the implication of losing
With the last pint of
anger and desperation in him
He folded his fist
again and moved towards Afolabi
When he was close
enough, he lifted his feet off the floor to kick Afolabi
But was stunned when
Afolabi covered the space in a flash
And raised a knee,
which stopped the Nduka’s leg before it went any further
Nduka tried kicking a
few more times but Afolabi deftly truncated the kicks
Nduka knew he had
less than 4 minutes left
Yet his fists felt
gravely sore
His hands felt like
he had been slamming his knuckle into a rock
…over and over again
– the pain was unbearable
He endured the pain and threw a body punch
Just as the punch was
about to connect
He felt his hard
knuckle smash into Afolabi’s elbow again
He followed with a
fast right aimed at Afolabi’s head
Right before the
punch could connect
Afolabi brought up
his elbow again
And before Nduka
could stop the punch
It crashed against
the waiting elbow
Nduka screamed out in
pain
As he felt more than
one finger dislocate
To say that he felt
pain in his fingers would have been a grand understatement
His entire fingers
were totally damaged
It was so bad that it
had virtually become impossible
For him to fold his fingers
into a knuckle
No matter how hard he
tried
He just couldn’t do
it
And Afolabi knew it was time
When he looked into
Nduka’s eyes
What he saw was
morbid fear
If this had been a
street
This would have been the
point where Nduka would have stopped fighting and run away
But this was not a
street match
Nduka knew that for a
fact
He could see what was
happening
As he feared the
worst, it came onto him
Nduka took two, three
then four steps backwards
Afolabi advanced in
on his opponent
Just as Nduka was
about to break into a run
Afolabi stopped him
with four ferocious hard punches to the body and head
He followed up with a
six-punch combination to Nduka’s ribs and jaw
Nduka felt Afolabi’s
fists break several bones in his body
The last thing Nduka
saw was an ‘Apoligi’ – what many would call an axe kick
He watched in
paralyzed consternation as Afolabi’s left leg rose high above his head
And before he could
duck
The leg came crashing
down like an Indian axe about to strike a fallen tree
When the Apoligi
struck Nduka’s head
It might as well have
been a pestle
Because what happened
to Nduka’s skull
Was the same thing
that would have happened to an egg about to hatch?
It cracked open
And the man fell like
a dead tree
His eyes open
And tongue hanging
out from his mouth
The allotted time for
the fight was not up yet
But the fight was
over
Because only one man
remained alive inn the ring
The crowd once again
broke into a deafening cheer
Afolabi just stood
still
Closed his eyes and
he felt the sweat trickle down his back and shoulder
The door of the steel
cage opened and Afolabi heard the voice of the commentator:
“…and the winner is
Afolabi… Congratulations!”
Afolabi heard the
familiarity of his name resonate all around the ring and beyond
And then the
commentator asked:
“Are you in or out?”
Afolabi saw the
microphone get lowered from above the ring onto him
When it was close
enough to be spoken into, he replied: “In!”
But as the crowd was
about to cheer, Afolabi spoke again:
“Ladies and
gentlemen…
I’m in for the next
fight and I see no reason why I should wait for 2 hours
If my next opponent is
as ready as I am, I’ll give him 5 minutes to step in here”
The commentator was stunned at Afolabi’s request
And he said:
“Well, I know our
lovely ladies and gentlemen in the crowd wouldn’t mind that
But let’s quickly
contact the authorities…”
And then there was a
moment of dead silence
Then Afolabi could
hear the murmuring from all around him
He could not hear
what they were saying
But as he looked
around, he knew
Bridget would have
grasped her rosary if she had one
He knew she would
never have allowed him make a move like the one he had just made
But Afolabi felt like
ten men in a single body
His countenance as
confident that of a lion about to attack a prey with a broken leg
After about 45
seconds of silence
The commentator spoke
into his mic
“We have consulted
higher authorities
And guess what?
The have agreed to
the winner’s request”
Sensing that the
crowd was on the verge of breaking into a round of deafening cheer
He resumed speaking:
“However, there’s a
twist to it
The next round of
fight will commence in the next five minutes
And while the winner remains in the ring
He would be joined by
not just one opponent but two”
Afolabi heard the
sound of exclamation echo through the crowd
And even he was
shocked at what had been decided upon
He looked around the
ring and took a mental picture of having three men within it
The commentator’s
voice broke his concentration:
“Is our winner up to
the task?”
The silence that
followed appeared to have a life of its own
Afolabi knew for a
fact
That after he
silenced his second opponent
He had become N100
million richer than he was before he came in here
He was not afraid of
what was to come
But he wondered if
any of the rules would change
He did not want to
keep the crowd waiting forever and he responded
“I’m ready!”
After he spoke, the
commentator’s voice followed
“There you have it my
fine people…”
This time, the
crowd’s cheer was not stopped as it erupted
Afolabi remained
standing in the ring
And he just walked to
a corner of the ring
Rested his back on
the steel cage and waited
He let his mind
wander
And he found himself
thinking about a lot of things
He thought about his
adulterous wife
Did he really love
her or was it just pity?
He thought about the
fact that he could have walked away after winning N100 million
Stupendous wealth
that could solve a canopy of problems
But he hadn’t
He felt as if there
was something else inside him
Something human yet
inhuman
Just as he cast his
eyes on the tattoo on the right shoulder
He heard the
commentator’s voice:
“Ladies and gentlemen
It is time
This is what you have
all be waiting for
A three-man thriller
Approaching the ring
is Abdulahi
Abdulahi was a boxer
He went rogue and was
condemned to death
After he went after a
man who was sleeping with his girlfriend
Abdulahi did not stop
at killing his rival
He murdered the man’s
mother, father, brothers, sister and uncle
What the police found
confusing was how he did it with his bare hands…”
Afolabi looked at the
man approaching the ring and could tell that the man was skilled
Yes
He could tell that
much from his countenance
Just as Abdulahi
entered the ring, the commentator announced;
“On the way to the
ring to join Afolabi and Abdulahi is Ubong
Ubong’s reputation as
a butcher precedes him
He was a butcher
about 6 years ago
But then his wife
began to suspect his late night outings
When she found a bag
of money in their matrimonial home
She confronted him
and threatened to report him to the police
Ubong was not afraid
of the threat
He was upset
And that night
He cut her head off
her body while she slept in their matrimonial bed
He went on to cut the
rest of her body into bits and pieces
Packed her head and
the rest of her into a traveling bag
And sent it to his
in-laws
He has since been on
death row
Awaiting execution”
Before the men came
into the ring
Afolabi had been calm
But after listening
to their citations
Afolabi was not
frightened by these men
He was revolted
And he felt a burning
sensation to bring their lives
to an end
Afolabi knew that
this was going to be a complicated fight
And he wondered what
would happen if both men decided to team up against him
When Ubong joined
Abdulahi and Afolabi in the ring
Afolabi looked at
both men
He knew it was their
first fight
And he knew they must
have watched him finish off two men in this same ring
He on the other hand
knew nothing about their fighting skills
He knew Abdulahi was
a boxer so he knew the man would be tough
As for Ubong
He wondered what was
going on in the man’s mind
Both men were as tall
as him
And each of them looking
at the others from the corner of his eyes
Afolabi knew that
when this fight came to an end
Two men would die
And why did he feel
so certain that he would be the last man standing?
Afolabi knew what he
was capable of
And he wondered if he
could ever lose a fight to a living being
He doubted that very much
The commentator’s
voice rang into their ears and he said:
I believe that all
fighters are ready for this
For this fight, there
will be surprises
That has been guaranteed
Unlike other fights,
this one will not be limited to five minutes
The time is infinite
But the basic rules
remain the same
This fight will only
come to an end when only one man remains alive
Well, in case you
didn’t know
If any of the
challengers – that is Abdulahi or Ubong wins
He wins twice what he
would have won in a single fight
Which stands at N100
million
As for winner, we
already know that he won N100 million after winning twice
If he wins this time
His win could earn
him an administrative position in KNUCKLE
If he wins, his prize
rises - not to N1 billion but to N10 billion”
At the mention of
this
Afolabi could see the
countenance of both men light up and then go menacing
He could see the lust
in their eyes
Not just for money
but for blood
Afolabi knew that if
any of these men won
They would only
become apostles of the Devil’s unholy crusade
Afolabi knew he was
just one man
And he knew that
before his recruitment into KNUCKLE
He had only killed
twice
And that those deaths
had been accidental
But the men who stood
before him were brutal, heartless and savage in their ways
Once again, the voice
of the commentator boomed from the speakers:
“Fighters! Are you
ready?”
Afolabi heard a bell
ring loudly
And then the
commentator announced:
“Let the fight begin”
All three men stood
in separate corners of the ring
Eyes darting back and
forth
Moving from one man
to another
Afolabi had decided
that he was going to kill the boxer first
He wanted to save the
butcher’s death for the final massacre
He knew the boxer
might give him some difficulty and so
He was going to make
his death an instant priority
He knew that except
the butcher had martial art skills
Killing him would be
relatively easier
He just knew that
save any surprises
A butcher without a
knife or axe would be much easier to kill
Except…
And just as he
remembered how a machete had ended up in the ring in his first fight…
Suddenly
The lights went off
Afolabi had seen everyone
in the crowd with a strange looking goggle around their necks
And he had assumed
that it was a form of souvenir or pass
But it suddenly
dawned on him that what he had seen around their necks
Had been night vision
goggles
So, while the
fighters grappled blindly in the dark ring
All members of the
spectators would be able to see them clearly using the goggles
The ring was as dark
as the bottom of the well on a gloomy night
Afolabi could not see
a thing
And then he began to
hear moving feet
Afolabi was not keen
on making himself conspicuous with loud movements
He was not sure when
the lights would come on again
So, at first he
stayed still
He strained his eyes
in the dark but he could not see a single thing
Yet he heard
movements getting closer to him so he moved away from the sound
Afolabi knew he was
not the only one in a disadvantaged situation
As both his opponents
were equally unable to see in the dark
After a few minutes
The fighters’ eyes
began to adjust in the dark
Afolabi depended
largely on his ears as he still could not see anything
Just when he sensed
something that looked like the man
He began to hear
sounds somewhere close to him
He heard the sound of
a knuckle connecting with flesh and bones
Then a cracking sound
Then a deafening
scream
And then he heard
something getting slammed against the steel cage
Then a harrowing scream
that echoed through the darkness of the ring
Afolabi was not sure
what was happening
But just as he heard
a movement to his right
He decided to take a
step backwards
And then he felt
something moving fast through the darkness
Before he could move
his body away completely
He felt an elbow slam
down into his shoulder blade
The pain was
incredible
And Afolabi knew that
whoever it was had been aiming for his skull
Afolabi struck back
in the dark
And he hit nothing
The next thing he
felt was a hard fist into his ribs
He raised his fists
to guard his face and head
And just as he did so
Two solid punches
connected to his hands
Right where his head
would have been if hadn’t raised his arms to defend himself
He knew that whoever
it was must now be in front of him given the angle of the punches
He planted his right
foot into the concrete floor
And released a
Duchegi
A deadly reverse back
kick
The kick hit
something hard
And Afolabi felt
whoever it was get lifted off the floor and fly backwards
The ring remained
dark
And Afolabi knew this
was going to be a serious problem
Afolabi felt intense
pain in his shoulder and rib cage
But kept his ears
fully alert to the slightest sound
Suddenly Afolabi
heard as hard objects began to hit the ground all around him
At first his
concentration was broken by the sounds
He quickly tip toed
backwards
And when his back
touched the steel ring
He remained there
The sounds continued
all around the ring
And when Afolabi
recognized the metallic sounds hitting the concrete floor
He realized what was
going on, dropped to his knee
And began moving his
hand across the floor of the ring
When his hand touched
something hard
He gently picked it
up
He could not tell
what it was yet but he knew it was a weapon of some sort
Just as suddenly as
the lights had gone off
They came back on
Afolabi saw Ubong in
a corner holding a sharp machete
He had a bleeding
nose and two swollen eyes
Afolabi immediately
realized that it was Ubong who had screamed
And that it was
Abdulahi who had inflicted the damage
He also knew it was
Abdulahi who had attacked him in the dark
Surely the man either
had very good eyes or great ears
Afolabi looked at his
own hand and realized he was holding a big knife
He saw another big
knife to his right and he grabbed it
He looked at Abdulahi
And noticed that he
was the only one without a weapon
Abdulahi could see an
axe barely four steps away from him
And while he dashed
for it
He did not notice
Ubong also dart in his direction
Just as Abdulahi
stretched out his hand to grab the axe
At that precise
moment
Ubong swung the sharp
edge of his machete hard
Afolabi could hear
the crowd scream
And he could see why
At the exact moment
when Abdulahi’s hand grabbed the axe
Ubong chopped off the
arm that Abdulahi used in grabbing the axe
With a single blow from
his machete, the arm was cut off
At first there was no
blood and then there was blood everywhere
Abdulahi’s arm was on
the floor an the blood just continued to gush out
He screamed out in
pain
He looked up at Ubong
and before he could raise the other hand to protect his head
Ubong struck again
Abdulahi’s scream was
cut short when his head flew off his body
Abdulahi’s head hit
the flood with a thud
And with the eyes
open
The head rolled on
the floor and stopped at Afolabi’s feet
Afolabi looked up at Ubong
and he knew that the man was about to charge at him
Afolabi kept his eyes
on the butcher
And slowly bent down
to pick up the head
He stuck one of the
big knives across his mouth and held it there with his teeth
He was glad Abdulahi
had an Afro hairstyle
As this made it easy
to grasp the head in one hand
While holding the
other big knife in his right hand
The light s stayed on
And Afolabi saw Ubong
break into a run towards him
Afolabi equally
advanced but not as fast as his opponent
Afolabi knew there
was only one thing he could do
Especially if he
didn’t want his head rolling on the floor like Abdulahi’s own
Still running, Ubong
began to move the machete into a striking position
When he was within
striking range
Afolabi saw Ubong
tighten his grip on the machete
And the sharp edge of
the machete began to descend towards Afolabi’s head
Afolabi pulled the
brakes on his feet
And just as the
machete was about to strike his head
Afolabi raised
Abdulahi’s head up
And positioned it
where his own head should have been
Supporting the head
with his other hand and pushing it upwards
The sharp edge of
Ubong’s machete struck the dead man’s head
Instead of Afolabi’s
head that he had aimed for
And the blade not
only dug deep into it
But stayed there
What followed would
have been Ubong worst nightmare if he had survived it
He saw Afolabi’s hand
move
Initially, he had did
not see the sharp edge of Afolabi’s knife
But by the time he
did
The huge knife had
punctured one side of his throat
And had come out
through the other side of his neck
Obong released his
grip on the machete
And threw his hands
over the knife wedged between his neck
But it was too late
Though his death might
have been silent, it was excessively brutal
While he struggled in
his final moment
Afolabi removed the
second knife from his mouth
Let go off Abdulahi’s
head
And drove the sharp
tip of the huge knife straight into the man’s heart
Still holding the end
of the knife
Afolabi drove him
into the steel cage
And held the man
there
There was a slight
struggle
And then the struggle
ceased
As Ubong’s body went
limp
Afolabi looked
straight into the man’s open eyes
And knew that Death
was the last thing the man had seen
Afolabi let the dead man
drop to the floor
And he stood still
Afolabi looked all
around him and the ring looked like an abattoir
There was blood all
over the floor and it was littered with a headless body
A head that had been
detached from its body
And a corpse that had
two big knives in it
The sadistic crowd
cheered in excitement
For some strange
reason, his mind raced into an unexpected flashback
And he remembered the
old man he had met that morning
He strained his eyes
to look at a huge digital clock on a board outside the ring
It was exactly 7pm
And again he
remembered the old man and his words:
My Dear son…
This day holds much
meaning
When it is 7pm today
You will remember me
When you do
End whatever it is
you are doing
And return home
May the gods be with you…”
The man had known
that there was something amiss that day
But how did he know
what would happen
Up until now, Afolabi
had always believed that no one could see the future
Yet, the precision of
the old man’s words
Shook the very foundation
of everything he had been taught to believe
Suddenly
Afolabi began to
think about the millions of spiritual entities
And other
metaphysical beings that dwelt in this world
Their powers and the
capabilities of the unknown
“How did the old man
know?”
Was he a fortune
teller, a spirit in human form, a deceptive demon…
So many possibilities
assaulted him
Yet
He was not any closer
to finding an answer
Afolabi was jugged
out of his mental permutations by the voice of the commentator
“Ladies and gentlemen…
There he stands
The winner
By this singular feat
Afolabi is not only
one of the strongest and toughest men alive today
But surely one of the
richest
We have no idea how
much he was worth before stepping into KNUCKLE
But from what we have
before us
He has won himself
the sum of N10 billion
At this point, if he
wishes, he could take up an administrative position in KNUCKLE
However
As we all know
The winner has conquered
not one, not two, not three but four opponents
This is the point
where we ask:
Are you in or out?”
The commentator went
on to explain:
“If you choose ‘out,’
you walk away with your N10 billion
But if you choose ‘in,’
Then you face the
most dangerous athlete KNUCKLE has ever seen
An athlete whose
reputation precedes him
An athlete whose very
presence sends bolts of fear and trepidation into all
An athlete who has
never been defeated in the history of KNUCKLE
Many have tried but
all have failed
He has never lost a
fight
And has killed and
slaughtered all who have stood before him
The taker of life
The god of death
The evil one
Lucifer’s very own son
He is known by many
names
But largely called by
his name – Kamar
Once again, we ask:
Afolabi, are you in
or out”
Again, Afolabi’s mind
raced into a highway of thoughts
Why was Bridget so
terrified of this man?
How did the old man
know?
When fate would
befall him if he chose to continue on this path
Should he just walk
away with his N10 billion
How many lives would
be better off if he didn’t take such a gamble?
What should he do
with his prize money?
What was he going to
do about Bridget and his adulterous wife?
Was he afraid of
Kamar?
Was today his day to
die?
So many thoughts
Yet so little time
Afolabi could hear
the crowd’s silence
It was deafening
He could have sworn
that they had all held their breath
They all stood still
awaiting his decision
All of a sudden
Afolabi heard voices
Initially they
sounded foreign and very strange
But just as he was
about to lay a finger on where and where the voice was coming from
He felt a something
inside him
It was as if there
was something inhuman inside him
And then just as the
feeling had come, it vanished
Afolabi knew what had
to be done
There were so many
answers he sought answers to
And he was convinced
that there was only one way to find out
He had to take a
final plunge with his life
Today had been filled
with whispers of death for him
How many times had he
come close to dying today
Afolabi had lost
count
He searched for the
slightest trace of fear within himself
He was not surprised
when he found none
He sensed an
incredible level of tension in the crowd
It was time to take
his destiny into his own hands
He knew that many
would consider his decision insane
But he was Afolabi
Afolabi had always
trusted his instinct
The same instinct
that had driven him towards suicide
The same instinct
that had brought him into the path of a mysterious old man
The instinct that had
led him to fighting for money
The same instinct
that had mystery and vague secrets written all over it
“I’m in,” came
Afolabi’s reply
And once again
The crowd came alive
with the familiar cheer and buzz
The commentator then
spoke:
“Well, there you have
it ladies and gentlemen
The choice has been
made
Afolabi will fight
Kamar
By implication
Kamar will once again
step out tonight
Many members of
KNUCKLE have seen what Kamar is capable of
And tonight, he will
step foot into this ring again
How much do these two
men have in common?
Who will die and who
will live
Tonight
We shall see what
happens when two killing machines clash
Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,
we shall all witness the final chapter
Tonight, only one
will stand in this ring at the end
In the meantime,
Afolabi will get a 2-hour break
When the door of the
ring opened
Afolabi stepped out
and walked towards the door that would lead him to his room
Surprisingly
This time, he did not
see Bridget
He knew he might as
well have killed himself when he decided to face Kamar
Afolabi flashed his
knuckle at the door
And the guards let
him through with a sight bow
When Afolabi got to
the door of his room
He had a strange
feeling that there was someone inside
He gently pushed the
door open and sitting on the edge of the bed was Bridget
One look at her
And she looked like a
widow
“At least you’ll let
me die before you begin to mourn my demise,” Afolabi said
She said nothing
When Afolabi looked
close at her
He noticed that she
was sobbing
She had her back to
him
And he could now see
her body trembling from sobbing
He walked closer to
her
And when he got to
where she sat
He gently placed his
hand on her shoulder
And that appeared to
be the straw that shattered the camel’s back
Bridget rose from
where she sat and faced him
Her eyes were as red
as if she had been smoking loads of marijuana
But the tears that
streamed down her cheeks and smeared her make up gave her away
Afolabi felt a wave
of affection wash over him
And he knew that here
stood a woman who genuinely loved him
“Afolabi, are you
mad?
…are you mad?
…are you crazy
Do you want to kill
me?
We agreed Afolabi…”
sobbing
Her dress was wet
with tears
And Afolabi wondered
how long she had been crying for
But he could clearly
see that it had been for a long time
He could hear her
questions
And he could see the
fire in her eyes
Afolabi took a step
towards her
And then another
When he was just a
step away from her
He saw her lift her
hand
He saw what was going
to happen
But he simply closed
his eyes
When the slap landed
on his face
It stung a little
more than most slaps would
He opened his eyes
And when he looked
into Bridget’s face
He saw that the
sadness in her eyes had been joined by a dose of fear
He stepped in front
of her and took hold of the hand that had used in slapping him
He then slowly turned
her palm up and gently rubbed her palm
Afterwards, he spoke
to her:
“I’m sorry baby
I didn’t mean hurt you
I know you want the
best for me
I’m sorry I had to
make you slap me
Now your hands hurt
and I’m really sorry about that”
When he looked into
her eyes again
What he was a blend
of misery and surprise
“I’m sorry for
slapping you Afolabi but I told you how I feel about this whole thing
Yet you treated me as
if my words were thrash
It’s not fair Afolabi
It’s not fair…”
An then she lowered
her gaze and began sobbing
Afolabi watched the
tears fall from her eyes and hit the rug
Drop after drop, he
watched the tears drop
Afolabi slowly raised
him arms
And wrapped them
around her
He felt her lean into
him
And the intensity of
her unhappiness hit him
Except she was a
perfect actress
Afolabi was 100 per
cent certain that she genuinely cared
He just stood there
and held her
In return, she held
on tighter to him
And continued to sob
After a few minutes
Afolabi could feel
the sobbing reduce
And he began to
whisper into her ears:
“Baby, I’m sorry
about what I did
I truly am genuinely
sorry
Bridget, I know that
we’ve been together for the most of today
It’s been less than
24 hours
Yet if feels like
weeks
I do care about you
And would not make
you unhappy for no reason
Bridget, there is
something I have to do”
Afolabi kissed her
forehead
And then kissed her
lips
Her lips tasted salty
And Afolabi did not
need to know what tears tasted like
He kissed her
passionately
And she kissed him
back
She was wearing a very
short yellow boob-tube
And had her hair in a
long pony tail
She smelt like an
expensive perfume store
And Afolabi inhaled
deeply
When she broke off
his embrace and took a step backwards
Afolabi knew what she
was going to say
“I know - I know – I
know
I know I’m a dirty
boy
You don’t have to
remind me
But please you have
to stop crying
You’ve got your make
up smeared with tears but you’re still super gorgeous
I think the Lord was
just too kind to you
You’re the reason why
some men get home and feel their wives and girlfriends are ugly
Gimme a minute, okay
Afolabi dashed into
the bathroom
And memories of what
they had done a few hours ago gripped him
And he smiled
In the shower
Afolabi knew that
most of his life had been shrouded in mystery
There were so many
things he wished he had answers for
And this came with a
strong feeling that he was on the verge of comprehension
When he stepped back
into the room
He noticed that
Bridget had wiped the tears off her face
And had stopped
crying as well
She looked breathtaking
and out of this world
And it didn’t
surprise him when he felt a stirring in his loins
“Athlete, why are you
looking at me like that?
Are you trying to get
me pregnant?
You virtually ran a
long distance marathon on my body earlier today
And now you’re
already looking at me in that strange way again”
Afolabi laughed out
heartily
And she giggled as
well
“Bridget, you’re too
hot to be left alone
Moreover, I can’t
help myself
Well, I would leave
you alone
But only if you can
transform into a girl
Or if I find a male
sex organ between your legs this time”
This time, it was
Bridget that laughed out
Afolabi walked over
to where she sat
Beads of water still clinging to his wet body
He had only a towel
strewn across his waist
And when he sat next
to her
He turned to face her
Took her chin in his
hand
Tilted it up a little
and kissed her lips tenderly
The kissing continued
for about three minutes
And then he could
tell from her response that she was getting sexually aroused
When he stopped
kissing her and slowly got up
She followed without
uttering a single word
Despite what they had
shred a few hours ago
Afolabi was sensually
consumed by what he was looking at
Her breasts seemed as
if they were going to leap out of the dress
He looked at her
thighs and he felt his manhood nudge at the towel
She saw the towel
rise a little
And knew that her boyfriend’s third leg was dying to be somewhere inside her
She smiled at this
and slowly turned her back to him
When she had her back
to him
He was the zip that
held the dress up and he slowly unzipped it
Beneath the yellow
dress was a yellow bra that struggled to hold her breasts
And he also caught a
glimpse of her yellow G-string when the dress began to go off
Afolabi enjoyed what
he saw
And his erection
nodded in acknowledgment
By the time the dress
came off
Afolabi could hardly
contain his excitement
If Bridget were a
goddess
He knew she would
have been a goddess of seduction
She turned around
And Afolabi let his
hands slide from her waist down to her backside
Her bums were soft
and as smooth as a baby’s bum
He applied a gentle
squeeze to her ass and she welcomed his touch
By now, his erection
was as hard as a plantain-sized carrot
She could feel it
press against her
And she slid her hand
under the towel and held his penis in her hands
Afolabi let out a
soft moan as she let her hand slide over his cock
They began to kiss
and the intensity of the kiss gradually increased
The kiss sent both of
them into a sexual frenzy
And while they
kissed, Afolabi unhooked her bra
And then gently slid
her pant down her thighs, her knees and then down her leg
By the time she
stepped out of her pant
She was already as
wet as a handkerchief in a bucket
And Afolabi could
already feel his manhood flex like a muscular athlete
He moved his hot
breathe and moist lips down to her breasts and nipples
He nibbled, he sucked
and gently ran his tongue all over her cherries
Her eyes were closed
and she felt the clouds open up before her closed eyes
As he sucked her, he
began to stoke a finger against her wet clitoris
This was pure ecstasy
for her
She wanted nothing
more than have him fill up every possible space in her vagina
“Ahh… Ahhh… Afolabi…
Come in… Come in…”
He gently laid her laid
her facedown on the bed, heaved her big ass up a little
He was moaning
already and then he gently guided his hard penis into her wetness
First the cock went
in and then the entire shaft glided into her
She moved her ass in
sync and then he began to thrust in and out of her
In and out he went
In and out
She moaned and
groaned against the size of his big penis as it went in and out
She urged him to go
faster and he picked up pace
The bed began to make
squeaky sounds as he rode her higher into the clouds
He thrust in and out
and she also thrust her ass at him
He held her hips with
both hands and he kept hammering away into her wet vagina
It was a bond of
bodies, emotions and so much more
After 20 minutes,
Afolabi still banged his big manhood into her
Back and forth they
went
After about ten more
minutes, her body went tense and her moaning got louder
She was climaxing and
Afolabi kept pounding into her
Just as her orgasm
was about to reach its peak
Afolabi also began to
feel his sexual boat approach a waterfall
As he ejaculated and climaxed
He shot loads of
semen into her
Still thrusting in
and out
Afolabi gasped for
breath as he continued to release his semen into her
After a while they
both moaned out loud and collapsed on the bed afterwards
Afolabi cuddled her
and she just lay there
And allowed her bare
skin rub against his
He kissed her neck
and she smiled a happy smile
“Bridget, you’re the
most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen
I know I’m married
but I feel single
Did I tell you that
my wife is carrying children that are not mine?”
Upon hearing this,
Bridget sat up in bed and exclaimed:
“What!
How do you know that?
Aren’t you her husband?”
“I am,” Afolabi answered or should I say I was
Until she started
sleeping with a neighbour
I caught them red
handed having sex over 10 occasions
I followed my
calculations and…
I’m not the father of
the pregnancy she’s presently carrying
I never cheated on
her but she shattered my trust in her”
A look of concern spread
over Bridget’s face
And she asked:
“Have you confronted
her?”
“No I haven’t,” he
replied
She then said: “Oh
baby, you don’t deserve any of this
You’re a good man and
you have a very good heart
That’s what amazes me
about you
Most men that I have
met who have your abilities are monsters
They are all dark,
vile and evil
But you
You’re different
So, what do you plan
to do?”
Afolabi looked at her
gorgeous face and said:
“I haven’t really
thought about it but now that you’ve asked, I’m not going back home
After I watched her
having sex with our neighbour
My feelings for her
have taken on a very different texture
I’ve got a lot of
money now Bridget
Is there any way I
can spend it right now?
Bridget answered in
the affirmative
And then Afolabi
began to explain to her how he wanted to spend the money
“I’m going to build
an orphanage
And then a home for
the old
I’ll also give out scholarships…”
He wanted to go on
but Bridget stopped him
“Afolabi
You’re still a part
of the competition
Your role as a
fighter in KNUCKLE has not come to an end
Have you forgotten
that you chose ‘In?’
A frown spread across
her face as she spoke:
“I begged you not to
fight against Kamar yet you chose to do so
Afolabi, the man has
never lost a fight before
He is a monster and I
know precisely what I’m saying
He fights as if there
are demons on his side…”
Afolabi simply
watched her as she spoke and looked very calm
“Aren’t you afraid of
anything?”
He remained quiet
then answered:
“Perhaps myself
That’s about the only
thing I fear – myself
I understand you
Bridget but I have to do this
I don’t want to wake
up grabbing your throat ever again
It’s bad enough that I’ve
already tried to kill you once Bridget
I’m never going to
let that happen again
What if I had not opened
my eyes?
You have to let me
finish this Bridget
There is no other way
Please Bridget – I’m
begging you”
“I’m not going to cry
myself to death Afolabi
What you’re asking me
to do is one that I cannot do
It’s like telling me
to allow you stab yourself in the throat
There is no
justification for risking your life like this
I understand that you
might not be afraid of dying
But there are those
around you who sincerely care about you
This is not just
about you Afolabi
I love you and you
know it”
“Bridget, I’m going
to ask you to trust me on this one
Have I let you down
so far?” he asked
She slowly shook her
head
“Then where is all
this fear coming from?”
Afolabi could see her
eyes go moist
He knew what would
follow and he hugged her
As he hugged her, she
leaned into his arms
And stayed there
It was almost time for Afolabi to step into the ring
And they were both
aware of this
She wished and prayed
that he would not leave her
And then he said
something to her
“Bridget! Life is
like a mirror
You can only see as
much as it reflects”
She did not say a
word
But she mentally
turned what he had just said over and over in her mind
“I believe you have
prayed for me,” he said
She nodded in
affirmation and he flashed a charming smile
She did not smile
back at him
And Afolabi knew why
She was worried to
death
And he wished he
could have given her what she craved
But simply could not
He stepped into the
bathroom for a cold shower
When he stepped back
into the room
He was surprised not to see Bridget there anymore
Afolabi knew she was
very upset
And that she had
chosen to be alone with her thoughts
Rather than endure
the pain of watching and listening to him
Afolabi could not
understand why she simply couldn’t trust him
He understood that
most men would be naturally terrified
But he just was not
He picked up his
wristwatch from the drawer
It was almost time
for his fight
His final fight
He was already rich
But Afolabi was
convinced that it was not about the money for him
He felt driven to see
this through to the very end
He had come this far
And was not ready to
throw in the towel now
When Afolabi stepped
out of the room
And began walking
towards the door that led to the ring
He missed Bridget’s
company while walking him to the ring
“Where could she be?”
he asked himself
He knew that despite
the fact that she would be too angry to want to watch
The love she had for
him would drive her to watch
When he close to the
door, he flashed his knuckle
And the familiar guards opened the door
When Afolabi’s eyes
fell upon the crowd
He could see the
hunger for violence in their eyes
It was a craving that
was very visible
Afolabi kept walking
and at a point, he could hear his name come alive within the crowd
They chanted his name
And his inner being
basked in the euphoria of the moment
When he finally got
to the entrance of the ring
He paused, glanced
his eyes across the sea of heads that caught his sight
So many of them
Turning his head
around, he made his way into the ring
And it looked totally
different from the way he had left it
There was no more
blood on the concrete floor
But Afolabi
remembered that the last time he was in the ring
It had been a
bloodbath
Afolabi stood in the
middle of the ring
And knew that this
was the final straw
Something he could
not understand told him that something dark was on the horizon
He just knew
This was more than
just a gut feeling
It almost felt like a
voice
A voice communication in a language he could not hear yet feel
Suddenly
Afolabi remembered
that dream
The dream where he had
seen his father
He began to remember
bit and pieces of the nightmare
It should have been a
nightmare
But something about
it felt metaphysically disturbing
It should have been a
dream
And then he felt a
warm yet crawling sensation on his right shoulder
He realized that was
the point where his tattoo was
Something was just
about to flash into focus when he heard the commentator
“Ladies and gentle
Tonight, it ends
Right here in this
very ring
We shall witness who
the true KNUCKLE champion is
As we already know,
there can be only one
Standing in the ring
is one man who has shocked the arena today
When this day began,
he was barely known
Now, his name
resonates within and outside the steel cage that he presently stands
A true athlete
Tonight, Afolabi will
face the ultimate test
He comes up against
the champion of KNUCKLE
The one whose very
name has become synonymous with death
We bring you Kamar
The Apostle of Death
The moment Kamar stepped into focus
Afolabi could see why
this man was feared
He looked calm from a
distance
But there was a certain
aura of darkness around him
If the Devil ever
decided to take a human form
Then Kamar would be
the perfect stereotype
He was very dark,
muscular and shaped like a one constructed to take lives
Afolabi saw the grace
with which this man moved
And he felt as if he
had been lured into a handicap death match
Afolabi had seen
bigger and more muscular men
Yet there was
something darkly sinister about the man who was approaching the ring
Kamar’s name swept
through the crowd
With every step he
took, the crowd cheered louder
When he finally
stepped into the ring
Kamar came into
complete focus
And for the very first time in his life, Afolabi felt the hair on his skin stand on
end
He wondered if this
was what it felt like to be afraid
But he knew deep
inside that he wasn’t
He however remained
confused as to how to explain how he was feeling
It was only now that
he realized that he was clenching his fists so hard
That he could feel
his hands and arms tighten and grow painfully tense
He was breathing much
deeper than he usually would
His eyes were now in
a thin menacing slant
He could see Kamar
glaring at him in return
And Afolabi suddenly
snapped himself out of the feeling when the commentator spoke:
“Without wasting any more time
We will unleash these
two athletes and witness what happens
On this momentous day
We shall watch them
tear each other apart
Only one will stand
in this ring
Only one will walk
out of this ring alive
So, ladies and
gentlemen brace yourselves…”
Both men now stood on
different ends of the ring
The stood unmoving
And stared at each
other with violence constantly knocking on the horizon
Afolabi could hear
the commentator but his mind was in a dark haze
“Men, the prize money
involved here today is N100 billion
You know the rules
You’ve got five
minutes to take your opponent out
But guess what?
After what happened
in the last fight
The rules have been
bent
Now, you’ve got infinite time
And this fight will
only come to an end when one of you is silenced forever
As you might already
know, there will be surprises during the fight
At the sound of the
bell, the battle begins
Are you ready?”
When the bell went
off
Afolabi remained
standing, shoulders full squared and fists clenched
Strangely, the old man’s
words swam into his thoughts:
“My Dear son…
This day holds much
meaning
When it is 7pm today
You will remember me
When you do
End whatever it is
you are doing
And return home
May the gods be with you…”
Just when he began to
wonder if the old man had been right
And that perhaps, he
should have listened to Bridget
He saw Kamar move
Kamar did not move
like any of his previous opponents
His fighting stance
struck Afolabi as different
He was certainly not
a slugger
It was hard to place
if it was a boxing stance
It looked like a
boxing stance but his footwork was dazzling
Afolabi knew for a
fact that if Kamar’s attack was as good as his stance
This was going to be
a very long night
Kamar advanced but he
did not barge in
Afolabi put up his
guard and hoped the man would attack
He was looking forward
to a knocking counter attacks into this champ
And indeed Kamar
attacked but it wasn’t what Afolabi had hoped for
Kamar suddenly
stepped off course
Afolabi could have
sworn it was a punch
But just when he
attempted to weave it
He saw another
straight right punch coming at his face
He knew he would not
be fast enough to duck it so he raised his guard
When the punch struck
Afolabi’s arm
The pain Afolabi felt
was equivalent to being struck by a baseball bat
It was so bad that he
found himself taking three steps backwards after the impact
Afolabi had known
that this would be a very dangerous opponent
And the man’s power
and force reminded him that to get distracted would be to die
As the pain began to
fade, Afolabi decided to change his strategy
He was not going to
sit around and let this man break his bones
They were just about
the same height
And Afolabi switched gear
He switched into an
attack mode
Afolabi moved in and
when he was close enough
He threw a dangerous
six-punch combination
His hook connected
with Kamar’s jaw
So did the body punch
– the other were simply blocked
Afolabi was not sure
if he had shaken his opponent up or not
But he was keen on
denting this beast
Afolabi could see Kamar
stepping towards him
And just when he
sensed that the man was on the verge of attacking
Afolabi planted his
right foot hard into the concrete floor
Just as Kamar’s fist
began to move towards him
Afolabi struck out
with a devastating Duchegi
The deadly kick
struck Kamar right in the solar plexus
When Afolabi cast his
eyes on Kamar
The man was flying
towards the steel cage
The power of the kick
had sent him crashing against the metallic wall
Afolabi did not stop
there
By the time Kamar hit
the steel cage
Afolabi was already
running towards him
As his spine crashed against
the metal
Afolabi was in front
of him
And before Kamar
could fully raise his head to see what was coming
Afolabi had already
executed a destructive head level 360 spin kick
Afolabi struck
Kamar’s head with an explosive force
Afolabi did not
strike for a Knock Out
His intent was to
kill
And when he heard
Kamar’s neck snap off his spine
And watched the man fall
to the ground and go limp
He knew the deed had
been done
The champion had
fallen
The demon had been
silenced
Afolabi looked at the
man as he lay on the floor – partly against the steel cage
And he wondered who
the real demon was
Was it Kamar or was
he the real demon
He turned around and
began walking to the centre of the ring
When he was two steps
away from the centre of the ring
That familiar
sensation of being watched struck him like a feet striking a ball
This time
The feeling felt much
worse he felt a biting sensation on his right arm
Right where his tattoo was
Afolabi knew there
was nothing to be afraid of
He had killed his
opponent
Yet
He could have sworn
that he heard certain inhuman voices calling onto him
The call seemed more
like an intense warning
Afolabi tried to
shake off the feeling
But it prevailed
“What is this?” he
whispered to himself
The voices in his
head suddenly seemed so many
Like demonic dialects
in a vocal clash
The languages were
immense
But Afolabi could tell
that they all said one thing
“T-u-r-n A-r-o-u-n-d”
Afolabi stood still
How could this be
happening?
There were only two
beings he could see in the ring
He was one
And the other lay on
the floor dead
When Afolabi felt
hands on his shoulders
He was no longer sure
if this was a dream or happening for real
But when he felt hot
breath against his ears
And a cold voice that
said:
“You should have listened to the old man…”
It was too late
He could not believe
it but he knew he had made a mistake
Afolabi tried to turn
around and side step away from the voice
But again, he knew it
was too late
He was grabbed in a
bear hug that felt like a human vice grip
At the same time, he
felt a huge weight slam against his rib cage
And he screamed out
in pain
As he felt more than
four ribs shatter from the impact
Whatever it was
lifted him up the floor and Afolabi felt himself being thrown
He felt like a Barbie
doll being flung
He found himself
flying at a great speed towards the steel cage
Afolabi knew this was
a problem
He was not flying on
his own accord
He had been thrown by
whatever had grabbed him and shattered his ribs
The pain coursed
through him
Afolabi realized that
he was heading head first towards the steel cage
With the speed at
which he had been thrown
Afolabi knew that he
was heading for an instant death if he hit the steel head first
With the last
strength he could muster
He swiftly raised his
left arm to protect his head and skull
When Afolabi made
impact with the steel cage
His arms struck the
steel wall first
He heard his arm
fracture but he prayed against the worse
The force broke the
arm - the bone before and after his elbow shattering upon impact
The side of his face
also struck the steel
Then his body also
crashed against the metal wall
And then he came crashing down unto the concrete floor
He landed with the
broken arm and when he landed on his side
He felt his broken
ribs stab his internals
For the second time
Afolabi screamed out
in pain
Afolabi was in enormous
pain
The pain was
unbearable
But he knew that he
could not just lie there and do nothing
By the time Afolabi
got up and looked at the direction of where he had been thrown from
What he saw almost
drove him through the walls of insanity
Standing across the
ring and looking down at him was the same man had just killed
This was impossible
He had detached this man’s neck off his spine
The man should be
dead
But Afolabi could not
understand
Kamar just stood there
looking down at him
He looked as menacing
as he had looked when the fight had begun
“Was I destined to
die after all?”
Afolabi asked himself
But even as he asked
the question, an instant answer came to him
As hard as he tried
to wish it away, the pain reminded him that it was real
For some strange
reason, Afolabi was not afraid
But he was very
disturbed
He did not understand
how this man could still be alive
After what he had
done to him
He mustered all his
strength to think less of what he had done
And concentrated more
on what Kamar was about to do
The man began walking
towards him
And when Afolabi
looked into his eyes
He saw only one thing
– death
As Kamar advanced,
Afolabi struggled to move into a crouching position
He was still
contemplating what he was going to do when the lights suddenly went off
Afolabi did not know
if this was a good thing or a bad thing
But he summoned all
the stealth he could and dashed to the left
He was glad he did
because just a few seconds afterwards
He heard Kamar’s foot;
or was it his fist crashing down against the steel cage
Right where he had
been a moment ago
Afolabi did not know how he
was going to attack Kamar with one arm
But he knew that to
wait was to expect nothing but death
Was this where it
would all end for him?
He remembered the old
man’s warning he had heard earlier in the day
The old man had
followed him a great distance to warn him
Yet when the time
came to make a decision, he had followed his instinct instead
Afolabi knew that to
stay at one point in the ring would prove suicidal
If he was going to go
down, he would do so fighting
He silently moved
around the ring
Trusting his instinct
to guide him here and there
He could hear Kamar’s
movement around the ring as the man searched for him
This went on for a
few minutes
And Afolabi knew for
a fact that the moment Kamar found him, it was over
Suddenly
Afolabi sensed
something in the air around him
He quietly ducked to
the right and realized that he was standing against the steel cage
The pain from his ribs and broken arm sending wave after wave of pain
into him
The sound of metal
objects striking the floor of the ring caught his attention
And Afolabi knew what
he had to do
He knew but he also
knew that he hoped for fortune and precision
When one of the metal
objects struck the floor next to him
Afolabi quietly moved
in that direction
When he found the
object
He slowly ran his
right hand over it and discovered that it was a machete
He grabbed the weapon
with his right hand and just waited
From time to time, he
silently altered his position
Especially when he
knew that Kamar was still moving around the ring searching for him
After two minutes,
Afolabi stopped moving
And just faced the
direction where he just heard a sound
He held the machete
tightly
Afolabi knew he was
about to take a final gamble with his life
And just before he
dashed in that direction
The lights came on
Afolabi was just
three steps away from Kamar
But Kamar had his
back turned to where Afolabi was coming from
Afolabi virtually
leapt into the air
And before Kamar
could turn around to see Afolabi
His head was already
off his body
With a single blow
from the sharp edge of the machete
Kamar’s head was in
the air
His headless body spurting blood all over the concrete floor
The head struck the floor
with a loud thud
And Afolabi watched
it as it rolled
Afolabi expected the
headless body to fall to the floor
Instead, the body
fell into a kneeling position
And just as it was
about to hit the floor
Afolabi witnessed
something that shocked him into temporary paralysis
The arms of Kamar’s
headless body shot forward
And stopped the body
from hitting the floor
“Oh my God!” Afolabi exclaimed
Afolabi just found
himself staggering backwards
When his back hit the
steel cage, Afolabi legs went numb and he fell to a sitting position
Afolabi watched in
paralyzed consternation
As Kamar’s headless
body suddenly stood up erect
The headless body
turned and faced him
After a few seconds, the body dashed to where Kamar’s head lay
on the floor
When the hands picked
up the head
Afolabi found himself
going into a state of shock
Clearly, this was
what the old man had seen
Demons in human form
The headless body
picked up the head
And repeatedly placed
it where it had been before Afolabi had cut it off
The hands of the
headless body kept moving the head back and forth
And then Afolabi saw
a red glow around the neck and in the eyes of Kamar’s head
Suddenly, a lot of
blood began to gush out from the neck of the headless body
And then Afolabi
watched as Kamar’s eyes began to glow in red
Kamar jaws dropped
open
And Afolabi saw that
the dentition did not resemble that of an omnivore
Rather, the canine
began to stretch and extend
When Kamar’s mouth
was full open
What Afolabi saw in
it was a full canine dentition
What he saw was a man
with the dentition of a wolf
Kamar howled like a
demented canine
And Afolabi began to
see the change
The man’s skin began
to change
Afolabi saw fur begin
to rise out of the man’s skin
His nails were replaced by claws and his back began to arch
Afolabi closed his
eyes
And for the very
first time in his entire life
Afolabi was afraid
He knew he was going
to die
And then he
remembered the dream where he had seen his father
And then he
remembered
It had seemed a dream
But in truth, it was
a flashback
Everything that had
happened in that dream had been real
For some strange
reason, his father had done something to him
Something that had to
do with powerful black magic and occult powers
Afolabi could feel
Kamar fully transformed into a giant wolf right in front of him
Afolabi knew he had a
broken arm and shattered ribs
But then he
remembered what his father had mentioned at the end of that initiation
“You have slaughtered
fear tonight
When you find
yourself against evil, occult powers and dark forces
Do not die my son
Open your heart to
fear
And witness the birth
of your darkest side
Your evil side will
be born my son
Always remember – to open up to fear is to destroy whatever confronts you…”
Afolabi was already
afraid
And he began to see
his father’s words manifest
By this time
Kamar was more of a
beast than a man
He stood on all fours
– growling like a beast that it was
He saw Afolabi in the
corner with a broken arm and broken ribs
It was time to end
this once and for all
When he saw a certain
blue glow in Afolabi’s eyes
He ignored it and
leapt forward to rip the man apart
Afolabi just sat
there with his eyes closed
When he opened his
eyes again, he saw an exposed jaw and sharp rows of teeth
As if on reflex, he
struck the elbow of his right hand against the beast’s neck
The beast felt pain
yet it renewed its attack
Like a power
generating set
Afolabi’s broken arm
came alive and he felt he broken bones go back in place
When the beast was
about to bite again
Afolabi saw the
tattoo on his right arm glow up like an automobile’s headlight
He threw the arm
forward and it caught the beast’s throat and stayed there
The beast growled,
snapped it exposed rows of sharp teeth at Afolabi
But it just couldn’t
get a bite in
Afolabi felt his
broken ribs getting restructured and realigned
His eyes shone with a
luminous blue
And then the blue
dimmed
The menacing beast broke free from Afolabi’s hold on its throat and charged
again
Afolabi was now on
his feet
The red-eyed dragon
tattoo on his arm now shone so bright
It could be seen from
over 100 feet away
The beast was huge
And it was devilishly
driven to destroy Afolabi
And indeed, it attacked
Again and again, it
attacked
When it leapt into
the air and slashed its sharp claws against Afolabi’s chest
A deep gash opened up
but a blue glow slowly healed the wound
The beast tried again
but this time, it came with its teeth
Afolabi took a step
backwards and slammed a hard right fist into the beast’s jaw
The punch sent the
beast flying and crashing against the steel cage
The beast was visibly
wounded but it still charged at Afolabi
Afolabi sent powerful
fists into the beast’s head countless time
And suddenly, the
beast began to bleed from the jaw and mouth
Afolabi’s tattoo
glowed brighter and brighter and soon
The beast could
barely look straight at Afolabi
The man looked like a
bright blue ray of light
When a blue dragon with blood red eyes suddenly emerged from Afolabi’s tattoo
The beast sensed the
presence of a more sinister breed of darkness
It attacked Afolabi
again
But was shocked when
the dragon
Lashed out with its
claws, and huge jaws
The dragon bit deep
in the beast’s body mass and bit off a huge chunk of flesh
With its claws, it
stabbed deeply into the beast
Blood spurted out of
the beast and littered the concrete floor
The beast was badly
wounded
And as it turned
around to dive onto the steel cage to escape
Afolabi rushed after
the animal
In a flash, Afolabi
took hold of its jaws
With one hand each on
the jaws, Afolabi ripped the beast’s jaws apart
Still in mid air,
Afolabi smashed the beast into the concrete floor
He struck his right
hand into the beast, ripped it open
And tore out its
heart
The beast slumped and
Afolabi threw the beast’s heart into the air
The dragon rose high
into the air and swallowed the heart in a single breath
The tattoo on his right arm began to glow and the dragon raced back in
Just as mysteriously
as it had emerged…
Composed by
Samod Biobaku
Dedication
This story is dedicated to all my unborn children – my
beautiful sons and daughters. I haven’t met any one of you yet as you have not
been born. When you’re old enough to read, I want you to know that daddy
specifically dedicated this story to you all. Never be afraid to express
yourself. I love you all.
This poem was composed by Samod Biobaku – Author
of Out of Time, KNUCKLE, Her ROOM, CLOSE, KNUCKLE II, Faceless FOE, Her ROOM II and Morgan.
This is the third and final sequel of
the KNUCKLE series. Other stories on
simplysamad.blogspot.com.
Simply Samad (group) Facebook
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Samod Olawale Biobaku Facebook
Remember
to drop a comment
Visit:
www.simplysamad.blogspot.com
This poem contains very explicit
sexual content and language as well as gory details
KNUCKLE III
It all seemed to
happen in slow motion through Afolabi’s eyes
And the dog’s speed
and deadly intent were as real as the knife in his young hand
Just before the big
dog attacked Afolabi
Afolabi could have
sworn that he saw the tattoo’s blue glow go a little brighter
Again, Afolabi felt
as if he was watching himself
The boys eyes were no
longer glowing but the tattoo stood out like a halogen bulb
Bright and almost
blinding with its dazzling glare
The dog opened its
wide jaw in a hyper extension
Afolabi could not
believe it but he saw the dragon’s head rise out of the boy’s arm
Releasing a
bloodcurdling howl that was between a scream and a deafening howl
The dog was over
twice the size of the boy
And should have
killed him in less than a minute
But the dog suddenly
stopped
Stood still and then
took a step backwards
As if trying to
decide what to do
It launched a fresh
yet deadly attack
It lashed out with
its open jaws
And Afolabi shocked
the dog with swift movements that dazed the animal
What even dazed the
dog more was Afolabi
The boy no longer
looked like a boy
He had the physical
form of a boy but he moved like a ferocious demon
The dog could not get
a single bite in
It charged,
maneuvered and attacked over and over again with no success
Afolabi’s movement
and foot work stunning the animal
Suddenly, the dog
sensed a vicious intent in Afolabi’s eyes
And it halted, turned
around and began to sprint away as fast as its legs could carry it
The dog was
incredibly fast
And the men watched
the boy dash after the dog
His speed almost
matching that of the dog or did it surpass it?
They could not tell
After a while
Both dog and boy were
out of sight
The night went dead
silent
And then after about
30 seconds
The men heard the
same chilling howl they had previously heard
And then dead silence
followed
After 10 seconds
They saw a living
form approaching from a distance
Was it the dog or the
boy?
And then they saw
what was approaching
It was both the boy
and the dog
While the boy took
one step after another towards them
Only the dog’s head
dangled in the boy’s left hand
Blood dripping from
its severed head
While the other hand
held the knife firmly
Suddenly
The boy stopped
walking
Raised his face to
the skies
And released a
harrowing scream that sent Afolabi into a chill
Suddenly
Afolabi felt a human presence
And in a flash, he
found himself shooting out of the bed like an asteroid in motion
With the speed of a
puma, he threw his left hand out and grabbed what felt like a throat
And just when he was
about to crush the esophagus
His muscle relaxed as
if on auto
And when he opened
his eyes fully
He found himself
holding Bridget’s throat
With the same speed
with which he had grabbed her throat
He released it
She fell to the bed
coughing and breathing heavily
Apparently in pain
“Oh my God! What have
I done?” Afolabi asked aloud
He quickly grabbed
her
And held her in his
arms
He brought her head
close to his chest
Tilted her head up
and examined her neck
She was still
coughing sporadically
But the intensity had
reduced immensely from when he had just released her
“I’m so sorry baby…
I had no idea it was
you. I’m sorry,” he calmly said to her
She looked in pain and
Afolabi just held her
Slowly rubbing his palm
across the softness of her neck
After a while,
She spoke:
“…first, you sweep me
off my feet with attraction
You make sweet
passionate love to me
And then you try to
strangle me to death
Is that how you treat
the women you care about?” Bridget asked
Afolabi did not
answer
He just stared into
her moist eyes
Deep inside, he had
wondered what would have happened if he had killed her
He would have been
shattered
And he knew that it
would have been a loss he would never recover from
“What has come over
me?” Afolabi asked aloud
In response to this,
Bridget said:
“It’s my fault athlete
I should have known
better than to try to sneak up on you in bed
I understand how
tense you are even in your sleep
I should have known
better” she repeated
“It’s okay my dear.
Let’s just be grateful it’s not worse,” he said
And she managed to
flash a smile at him
He smiled back at her
and he slowly rose off the bed
And asked: “Is it
time?”
“You have precisely 8 minutes before you get into the ring,” came her reply
“Wow! That’s not much
time,” Afolabi said.
He hurriedly dashed
into the bathroom
Rinsed his face and
did a quick stretch
And when he stepped
back into the room
He put on a fresh
pair of black slack with a blue thin line on the left
Looking at Bridget
who looked even more dashing than before
Afolabi spoke:
“How did I do in the
first fight,” he asked Bridget
“You were amazing
But please remember
what we agreed about staying focused
When you’re with me,
you can let your thoughts roam
But once you get into
that ring, please concentrate on two things
Staying alive and
finishing off your opponent in the quickest
possible time
Will you do this for
me,” she asked and flashed him a dashing smile
He winked at her and
just as they got up and were about to exit the room
She pulled him and
hugged him hard
Afolabi could feel
her supple breasts press against his chest
Still hugging him,
she began to speak:
“Afolabi, before you
go out there again
I want you to promise
me that if you win the next fight, you’ll stop
Will you do that for
me?”
“But I’m already a
millionaire dear
Why don’t I just go
all the way?
I’ve already promised
you I will not fall to a mortal man
I have done it once
and I will do it again
Or do you have doubts
in my abilities?” he asked her
Her reply came
swiftly
“Oh no! I have
amazing confidence in your abilities
But I do not want you
to fight against Kamar. Please…,” she appealed
Afolabi suddenly
stood still
Looked her straight
inn the eyes and asked:
“Baby, is there
anything you’re hiding from me?”
She cast him a very
worrying look and said:
“It’s Kamar! He gives
me the creeps
I’ve never seen a man
so cold and brutal
He’s not human,” she
warned
“And who told you I
was,” he replied, laughed and winked at her again
Before she could
speak, Afolabi went on:
“Okay, let me ask you
three questions
If you answer yes to
the three, then he can be defeated
Does he have blood in
his veins?”
“Yes,” came her reply
“Does he feel pain?”
he asked
“Yes,” she said
“Do you love me?” he
asked
Rather than answer,
she just walked up to him, hugged him fiercely and said:
“With all my heart,”
she said
Afolabi could feel
her sobbing now and he said to her:
Bridget, there’s something I need to tell you”
“What is it,” she
asked
“… I’m married…”
Her reply took a
while but it came eventually
“Wow! That’s a
surprise but I don’t care Afolabi
It does not change
the way I feel about you
I love with and I’m
not ashamed to openly admit it like this
Before I met you, men
used to mean little or nothing to me
I have watched men
kill and get killed for so long
I lost touch with who
I really was
But from the moment I
saw you, a lot of things changed
…oh! It’s almost time
champ,” she suddenly chipped in
They stepped out of
the room
And began walking
towards the ring
When they got to the
doors, Afolabi flashed his knuckle and the doors swung open
He looked at Bridget
one last time
And began walking
towards the ring
When Afolabi got into
the ring, he heard the familiar voice of the commentator
“Ladies and
gentlemen, back in the ring for the second time today
Is Afolabi
We have all witnessed
his amazing speed and power
And how he silenced
his first opponent forever
His new challenger is
a 5 feet’ 11 inches tall
He was sentenced to
death
His crime?
He beat his wife and
brother to death after catching them in bed together
As if this was not
enough, he went on a raping spree
When he was arrested,
he had raped and killed 12 innocent women
But we got him out of
jail
And we have given him
an opportunity to buy his freedom
His name is Nduka”
Afolabi watched as
the crowd cheered when his opponent approached the steel ring
He was not as bulky as his first opponent
But he approached the
ring
His eyes on the ring
and the man inside it the whole time
When he stepped into
the ring
Afolabi could tell
that this man looked desperate
He didn’t need a seer
to know that this man had either killed
Or would gladly do so
just for the fun of it
Afolabi pondered over
how he must have raped and murdered a dozen women
Afolabi closed his
eyes
And inhaled deeply
He felt the rush of
blood all around his head
And he knew precisely
what he was going to do
The commentator doled
out the instructions once again
And when the bell
went off
Nduka watched Afolabi
put up his fist and assumed a defensive stance
Nduka wasted no time
He raised his hands,
balled up his fists and bent his head slightly forward
And stepped towards
Afolabi
Afolabi knew he had
just 5 minutes
When he saw Nduka
move, he saw the man’s inclination to attack
That was precisely what Afolabi had hoped for
And he knew he would
require a lot of precision for what he wanted to do
Just as Afolabi had
anticipated
When Nduka was within
reach
Afolabi put up his
defensive stance
He planted his foot
on the floor
With his elbows
taking up a zigzag movement
Nduka attacked with
two fast jabs
And was stunned at
what happened
Rather than his the
target, which was his opponent’s head
His fist had struck
Afolabi’s elbow which seemed to flash into focus at the last minute
The pain coursed
through his hands, into his head and he stepped backwards
And then he came back
at Afolabi in a renewed assault
He feigned an attack,
sidestepped and threw a jab and a straight right
Again his fists
smashed into Afolabi’s elbow
And this time, the
pain made him flinch
Anger flooded into
his blood
And he released a
five punch combination of hooks, jabs and uppercut
The jab missed but
all other punches struck the almost sharp point of Afolabi’s elbow
Now, pain seemed to
reside in his hands
He could barely fold
his fingers into a fist
His fingers ached
badly from the pain of smashing into Afolabi’s elbow
He was not a kicking
type but he knew the implication of losing
With the last pint of
anger and desperation in him
He folded his fist
again and moved towards Afolabi
When he was close
enough, he lifted his feet off the floor to kick Afolabi
But was stunned when
Afolabi covered the space in a flash
And raised a knee,
which stopped the Nduka’s leg before it went any further
Nduka tried kicking a
few more times but Afolabi deftly truncated the kicks
Nduka knew he had
less than 4 minutes left
Yet his fists felt
gravely sore
His hands felt like
he had been slamming his knuckle into a rock
…over and over again
– the pain was unbearable
He endured the pain and threw a body punch
Just as the punch was
about to connect
He felt his hard
knuckle smash into Afolabi’s elbow again
He followed with a
fast right aimed at Afolabi’s head
Right before the
punch could connect
Afolabi brought up
his elbow again
And before Nduka
could stop the punch
It crashed against
the waiting elbow
Nduka screamed out in
pain
As he felt more than
one finger dislocate
To say that he felt
pain in his fingers would have been a grand understatement
His entire fingers
were totally damaged
It was so bad that it
had virtually become impossible
For him to fold his fingers
into a knuckle
No matter how hard he
tried
He just couldn’t do
it
And Afolabi knew it was time
When he looked into
Nduka’s eyes
What he saw was
morbid fear
If this had been a
street
This would have been the
point where Nduka would have stopped fighting and run away
But this was not a
street match
Nduka knew that for a
fact
He could see what was
happening
As he feared the
worst, it came onto him
Nduka took two, three
then four steps backwards
Afolabi advanced in
on his opponent
Just as Nduka was
about to break into a run
Afolabi stopped him
with four ferocious hard punches to the body and head
He followed up with a
six-punch combination to Nduka’s ribs and jaw
Nduka felt Afolabi’s
fists break several bones in his body
The last thing Nduka
saw was an ‘Apoligi’ – what many would call an axe kick
He watched in
paralyzed consternation as Afolabi’s left leg rose high above his head
And before he could
duck
The leg came crashing
down like an Indian axe about to strike a fallen tree
When the Apoligi
struck Nduka’s head
It might as well have
been a pestle
Because what happened
to Nduka’s skull
Was the same thing
that would have happened to an egg about to hatch?
It cracked open
And the man fell like
a dead tree
His eyes open
And tongue hanging
out from his mouth
The allotted time for
the fight was not up yet
But the fight was
over
Because only one man
remained alive inn the ring
The crowd once again
broke into a deafening cheer
Afolabi just stood
still
Closed his eyes and
he felt the sweat trickle down his back and shoulder
The door of the steel
cage opened and Afolabi heard the voice of the commentator:
“…and the winner is
Afolabi… Congratulations!”
Afolabi heard the
familiarity of his name resonate all around the ring and beyond
And then the
commentator asked:
“Are you in or out?”
Afolabi saw the
microphone get lowered from above the ring onto him
When it was close
enough to be spoken into, he replied: “In!”
But as the crowd was
about to cheer, Afolabi spoke again:
“Ladies and
gentlemen…
I’m in for the next
fight and I see no reason why I should wait for 2 hours
If my next opponent is
as ready as I am, I’ll give him 5 minutes to step in here”
The commentator was stunned at Afolabi’s request
And he said:
“Well, I know our
lovely ladies and gentlemen in the crowd wouldn’t mind that
But let’s quickly
contact the authorities…”
And then there was a
moment of dead silence
Then Afolabi could
hear the murmuring from all around him
He could not hear
what they were saying
But as he looked
around, he knew
Bridget would have
grasped her rosary if she had one
He knew she would
never have allowed him make a move like the one he had just made
But Afolabi felt like
ten men in a single body
His countenance as
confident that of a lion about to attack a prey with a broken leg
After about 45
seconds of silence
The commentator spoke
into his mic
“We have consulted
higher authorities
And guess what?
The have agreed to
the winner’s request”
Sensing that the
crowd was on the verge of breaking into a round of deafening cheer
He resumed speaking:
“However, there’s a
twist to it
The next round of
fight will commence in the next five minutes
And while the winner remains in the ring
He would be joined by
not just one opponent but two”
Afolabi heard the
sound of exclamation echo through the crowd
And even he was
shocked at what had been decided upon
He looked around the
ring and took a mental picture of having three men within it
The commentator’s
voice broke his concentration:
“Is our winner up to
the task?”
The silence that
followed appeared to have a life of its own
Afolabi knew for a
fact
That after he
silenced his second opponent
He had become N100
million richer than he was before he came in here
He was not afraid of
what was to come
But he wondered if
any of the rules would change
He did not want to
keep the crowd waiting forever and he responded
“I’m ready!”
After he spoke, the
commentator’s voice followed
“There you have it my
fine people…”
This time, the
crowd’s cheer was not stopped as it erupted
Afolabi remained
standing in the ring
And he just walked to
a corner of the ring
Rested his back on
the steel cage and waited
He let his mind
wander
And he found himself
thinking about a lot of things
He thought about his
adulterous wife
Did he really love
her or was it just pity?
He thought about the
fact that he could have walked away after winning N100 million
Stupendous wealth
that could solve a canopy of problems
But he hadn’t
He felt as if there
was something else inside him
Something human yet
inhuman
Just as he cast his
eyes on the tattoo on the right shoulder
He heard the
commentator’s voice:
“Ladies and gentlemen
It is time
This is what you have
all be waiting for
A three-man thriller
Approaching the ring
is Abdulahi
Abdulahi was a boxer
He went rogue and was
condemned to death
After he went after a
man who was sleeping with his girlfriend
Abdulahi did not stop
at killing his rival
He murdered the man’s
mother, father, brothers, sister and uncle
What the police found
confusing was how he did it with his bare hands…”
Afolabi looked at the
man approaching the ring and could tell that the man was skilled
Yes
He could tell that
much from his countenance
Just as Abdulahi
entered the ring, the commentator announced;
“On the way to the
ring to join Afolabi and Abdulahi is Ubong
Ubong’s reputation as
a butcher precedes him
He was a butcher
about 6 years ago
But then his wife
began to suspect his late night outings
When she found a bag
of money in their matrimonial home
She confronted him
and threatened to report him to the police
Ubong was not afraid
of the threat
He was upset
And that night
He cut her head off
her body while she slept in their matrimonial bed
He went on to cut the
rest of her body into bits and pieces
Packed her head and
the rest of her into a traveling bag
And sent it to his
in-laws
He has since been on
death row
Awaiting execution”
Before the men came
into the ring
Afolabi had been calm
But after listening
to their citations
Afolabi was not
frightened by these men
He was revolted
And he felt a burning
sensation to bring their lives
to an end
Afolabi knew that
this was going to be a complicated fight
And he wondered what
would happen if both men decided to team up against him
When Ubong joined
Abdulahi and Afolabi in the ring
Afolabi looked at
both men
He knew it was their
first fight
And he knew they must
have watched him finish off two men in this same ring
He on the other hand
knew nothing about their fighting skills
He knew Abdulahi was
a boxer so he knew the man would be tough
As for Ubong
He wondered what was
going on in the man’s mind
Both men were as tall
as him
And each of them looking
at the others from the corner of his eyes
Afolabi knew that
when this fight came to an end
Two men would die
And why did he feel
so certain that he would be the last man standing?
Afolabi knew what he
was capable of
And he wondered if he
could ever lose a fight to a living being
He doubted that very much
The commentator’s
voice rang into their ears and he said:
I believe that all
fighters are ready for this
For this fight, there
will be surprises
That has been guaranteed
Unlike other fights,
this one will not be limited to five minutes
The time is infinite
But the basic rules
remain the same
This fight will only
come to an end when only one man remains alive
Well, in case you
didn’t know
If any of the
challengers – that is Abdulahi or Ubong wins
He wins twice what he
would have won in a single fight
Which stands at N100
million
As for winner, we
already know that he won N100 million after winning twice
If he wins this time
His win could earn
him an administrative position in KNUCKLE
If he wins, his prize
rises - not to N1 billion but to N10 billion”
At the mention of
this
Afolabi could see the
countenance of both men light up and then go menacing
He could see the lust
in their eyes
Not just for money
but for blood
Afolabi knew that if
any of these men won
They would only
become apostles of the Devil’s unholy crusade
Afolabi knew he was
just one man
And he knew that
before his recruitment into KNUCKLE
He had only killed
twice
And that those deaths
had been accidental
But the men who stood
before him were brutal, heartless and savage in their ways
Once again, the voice
of the commentator boomed from the speakers:
“Fighters! Are you
ready?”
Afolabi heard a bell
ring loudly
And then the
commentator announced:
“Let the fight begin”
All three men stood
in separate corners of the ring
Eyes darting back and
forth
Moving from one man
to another
Afolabi had decided
that he was going to kill the boxer first
He wanted to save the
butcher’s death for the final massacre
He knew the boxer
might give him some difficulty and so
He was going to make
his death an instant priority
He knew that except
the butcher had martial art skills
Killing him would be
relatively easier
He just knew that
save any surprises
A butcher without a
knife or axe would be much easier to kill
Except…
And just as he
remembered how a machete had ended up in the ring in his first fight…
Suddenly
The lights went off
Afolabi had seen everyone
in the crowd with a strange looking goggle around their necks
And he had assumed
that it was a form of souvenir or pass
But it suddenly
dawned on him that what he had seen around their necks
Had been night vision
goggles
So, while the
fighters grappled blindly in the dark ring
All members of the
spectators would be able to see them clearly using the goggles
The ring was as dark
as the bottom of the well on a gloomy night
Afolabi could not see
a thing
And then he began to
hear moving feet
Afolabi was not keen
on making himself conspicuous with loud movements
He was not sure when
the lights would come on again
So, at first he
stayed still
He strained his eyes
in the dark but he could not see a single thing
Yet he heard
movements getting closer to him so he moved away from the sound
Afolabi knew he was
not the only one in a disadvantaged situation
As both his opponents
were equally unable to see in the dark
After a few minutes
The fighters’ eyes
began to adjust in the dark
Afolabi depended
largely on his ears as he still could not see anything
Just when he sensed
something that looked like the man
He began to hear
sounds somewhere close to him
He heard the sound of
a knuckle connecting with flesh and bones
Then a cracking sound
Then a deafening
scream
And then he heard
something getting slammed against the steel cage
Then a harrowing scream
that echoed through the darkness of the ring
Afolabi was not sure
what was happening
But just as he heard
a movement to his right
He decided to take a
step backwards
And then he felt
something moving fast through the darkness
Before he could move
his body away completely
He felt an elbow slam
down into his shoulder blade
The pain was
incredible
And Afolabi knew that
whoever it was had been aiming for his skull
Afolabi struck back
in the dark
And he hit nothing
The next thing he
felt was a hard fist into his ribs
He raised his fists
to guard his face and head
And just as he did so
Two solid punches
connected to his hands
Right where his head
would have been if hadn’t raised his arms to defend himself
He knew that whoever
it was must now be in front of him given the angle of the punches
He planted his right
foot into the concrete floor
And released a
Duchegi
A deadly reverse back
kick
The kick hit
something hard
And Afolabi felt
whoever it was get lifted off the floor and fly backwards
The ring remained
dark
And Afolabi knew this
was going to be a serious problem
Afolabi felt intense
pain in his shoulder and rib cage
But kept his ears
fully alert to the slightest sound
Suddenly Afolabi
heard as hard objects began to hit the ground all around him
At first his
concentration was broken by the sounds
He quickly tip toed
backwards
And when his back
touched the steel ring
He remained there
The sounds continued
all around the ring
And when Afolabi
recognized the metallic sounds hitting the concrete floor
He realized what was
going on, dropped to his knee
And began moving his
hand across the floor of the ring
When his hand touched
something hard
He gently picked it
up
He could not tell
what it was yet but he knew it was a weapon of some sort
Just as suddenly as
the lights had gone off
They came back on
Afolabi saw Ubong in
a corner holding a sharp machete
He had a bleeding
nose and two swollen eyes
Afolabi immediately
realized that it was Ubong who had screamed
And that it was
Abdulahi who had inflicted the damage
He also knew it was
Abdulahi who had attacked him in the dark
Surely the man either
had very good eyes or great ears
Afolabi looked at his
own hand and realized he was holding a big knife
He saw another big
knife to his right and he grabbed it
He looked at Abdulahi
And noticed that he
was the only one without a weapon
Abdulahi could see an
axe barely four steps away from him
And while he dashed
for it
He did not notice
Ubong also dart in his direction
Just as Abdulahi
stretched out his hand to grab the axe
At that precise
moment
Ubong swung the sharp
edge of his machete hard
Afolabi could hear
the crowd scream
And he could see why
At the exact moment
when Abdulahi’s hand grabbed the axe
Ubong chopped off the
arm that Abdulahi used in grabbing the axe
With a single blow from
his machete, the arm was cut off
At first there was no
blood and then there was blood everywhere
Abdulahi’s arm was on
the floor an the blood just continued to gush out
He screamed out in
pain
He looked up at Ubong
and before he could raise the other hand to protect his head
Ubong struck again
Abdulahi’s scream was
cut short when his head flew off his body
Abdulahi’s head hit
the flood with a thud
And with the eyes
open
The head rolled on
the floor and stopped at Afolabi’s feet
Afolabi looked up at Ubong
and he knew that the man was about to charge at him
Afolabi kept his eyes
on the butcher
And slowly bent down
to pick up the head
He stuck one of the
big knives across his mouth and held it there with his teeth
He was glad Abdulahi
had an Afro hairstyle
As this made it easy
to grasp the head in one hand
While holding the
other big knife in his right hand
The light s stayed on
And Afolabi saw Ubong
break into a run towards him
Afolabi equally
advanced but not as fast as his opponent
Afolabi knew there
was only one thing he could do
Especially if he
didn’t want his head rolling on the floor like Abdulahi’s own
Still running, Ubong
began to move the machete into a striking position
When he was within
striking range
Afolabi saw Ubong
tighten his grip on the machete
And the sharp edge of
the machete began to descend towards Afolabi’s head
Afolabi pulled the
brakes on his feet
And just as the
machete was about to strike his head
Afolabi raised
Abdulahi’s head up
And positioned it
where his own head should have been
Supporting the head
with his other hand and pushing it upwards
The sharp edge of
Ubong’s machete struck the dead man’s head
Instead of Afolabi’s
head that he had aimed for
And the blade not
only dug deep into it
But stayed there
What followed would
have been Ubong worst nightmare if he had survived it
He saw Afolabi’s hand
move
Initially, he had did
not see the sharp edge of Afolabi’s knife
But by the time he
did
The huge knife had
punctured one side of his throat
And had come out
through the other side of his neck
Obong released his
grip on the machete
And threw his hands
over the knife wedged between his neck
But it was too late
Though his death might
have been silent, it was excessively brutal
While he struggled in
his final moment
Afolabi removed the
second knife from his mouth
Let go off Abdulahi’s
head
And drove the sharp
tip of the huge knife straight into the man’s heart
Still holding the end
of the knife
Afolabi drove him
into the steel cage
And held the man
there
There was a slight
struggle
And then the struggle
ceased
As Ubong’s body went
limp
Afolabi looked
straight into the man’s open eyes
And knew that Death
was the last thing the man had seen
Afolabi let the dead man
drop to the floor
And he stood still
Afolabi looked all
around him and the ring looked like an abattoir
There was blood all
over the floor and it was littered with a headless body
A head that had been
detached from its body
And a corpse that had
two big knives in it
The sadistic crowd
cheered in excitement
For some strange
reason, his mind raced into an unexpected flashback
And he remembered the
old man he had met that morning
He strained his eyes
to look at a huge digital clock on a board outside the ring
It was exactly 7pm
And again he
remembered the old man and his words:
My Dear son…
This day holds much
meaning
When it is 7pm today
You will remember me
When you do
End whatever it is
you are doing
And return home
May the gods be with you…”
The man had known
that there was something amiss that day
But how did he know
what would happen
Up until now, Afolabi
had always believed that no one could see the future
Yet, the precision of
the old man’s words
Shook the very foundation
of everything he had been taught to believe
Suddenly
Afolabi began to
think about the millions of spiritual entities
And other
metaphysical beings that dwelt in this world
Their powers and the
capabilities of the unknown
“How did the old man
know?”
Was he a fortune
teller, a spirit in human form, a deceptive demon…
So many possibilities
assaulted him
Yet
He was not any closer
to finding an answer
Afolabi was jugged
out of his mental permutations by the voice of the commentator
“Ladies and gentlemen…
There he stands
The winner
By this singular feat
Afolabi is not only
one of the strongest and toughest men alive today
But surely one of the
richest
We have no idea how
much he was worth before stepping into KNUCKLE
But from what we have
before us
He has won himself
the sum of N10 billion
At this point, if he
wishes, he could take up an administrative position in KNUCKLE
However
As we all know
The winner has conquered
not one, not two, not three but four opponents
This is the point
where we ask:
Are you in or out?”
The commentator went
on to explain:
“If you choose ‘out,’
you walk away with your N10 billion
But if you choose ‘in,’
Then you face the
most dangerous athlete KNUCKLE has ever seen
An athlete whose
reputation precedes him
An athlete whose very
presence sends bolts of fear and trepidation into all
An athlete who has
never been defeated in the history of KNUCKLE
Many have tried but
all have failed
He has never lost a
fight
And has killed and
slaughtered all who have stood before him
The taker of life
The god of death
The evil one
Lucifer’s very own son
He is known by many
names
But largely called by
his name – Kamar
Once again, we ask:
Afolabi, are you in
or out”
Again, Afolabi’s mind
raced into a highway of thoughts
Why was Bridget so
terrified of this man?
How did the old man
know?
When fate would
befall him if he chose to continue on this path
Should he just walk
away with his N10 billion
How many lives would
be better off if he didn’t take such a gamble?
What should he do
with his prize money?
What was he going to
do about Bridget and his adulterous wife?
Was he afraid of
Kamar?
Was today his day to
die?
So many thoughts
Yet so little time
Afolabi could hear
the crowd’s silence
It was deafening
He could have sworn
that they had all held their breath
They all stood still
awaiting his decision
All of a sudden
Afolabi heard voices
Initially they
sounded foreign and very strange
But just as he was
about to lay a finger on where and where the voice was coming from
He felt a something
inside him
It was as if there
was something inhuman inside him
And then just as the
feeling had come, it vanished
Afolabi knew what had
to be done
There were so many
answers he sought answers to
And he was convinced
that there was only one way to find out
He had to take a
final plunge with his life
Today had been filled
with whispers of death for him
How many times had he
come close to dying today
Afolabi had lost
count
He searched for the
slightest trace of fear within himself
He was not surprised
when he found none
He sensed an
incredible level of tension in the crowd
It was time to take
his destiny into his own hands
He knew that many
would consider his decision insane
But he was Afolabi
Afolabi had always
trusted his instinct
The same instinct
that had driven him towards suicide
The same instinct
that had brought him into the path of a mysterious old man
The instinct that had
led him to fighting for money
The same instinct
that had mystery and vague secrets written all over it
“I’m in,” came
Afolabi’s reply
And once again
The crowd came alive
with the familiar cheer and buzz
The commentator then
spoke:
“Well, there you have
it ladies and gentlemen
The choice has been
made
Afolabi will fight
Kamar
By implication
Kamar will once again
step out tonight
Many members of
KNUCKLE have seen what Kamar is capable of
And tonight, he will
step foot into this ring again
How much do these two
men have in common?
Who will die and who
will live
Tonight
We shall see what
happens when two killing machines clash
Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,
we shall all witness the final chapter
Tonight, only one
will stand in this ring at the end
In the meantime,
Afolabi will get a 2-hour break
When the door of the
ring opened
Afolabi stepped out
and walked towards the door that would lead him to his room
Surprisingly
This time, he did not
see Bridget
He knew he might as
well have killed himself when he decided to face Kamar
Afolabi flashed his
knuckle at the door
And the guards let
him through with a sight bow
When Afolabi got to
the door of his room
He had a strange
feeling that there was someone inside
He gently pushed the
door open and sitting on the edge of the bed was Bridget
One look at her
And she looked like a
widow
“At least you’ll let
me die before you begin to mourn my demise,” Afolabi said
She said nothing
When Afolabi looked
close at her
He noticed that she
was sobbing
She had her back to
him
And he could now see
her body trembling from sobbing
He walked closer to
her
And when he got to
where she sat
He gently placed his
hand on her shoulder
And that appeared to
be the straw that shattered the camel’s back
Bridget rose from
where she sat and faced him
He eyes were as red
as if she had been smoking loads of marijuana
But the tears that
streamed down her cheeks and smeared her make up gave her away
Afolabi felt a wave
of affection wash over him
And he knew that here
stood a woman who genuinely loved him
“Afolabi, are you
mad?
…are you mad?
…are you crazy
Do you want to kill
me?
We agreed Afolabi…”
sobbing
Her dress was wet
with tears
And Afolabi wondered
how long she had been crying for
But he could clearly
see that it had been for a long time
He could hear her
questions
And he could see the
fire in her eyes
Afolabi took a step
towards her
And then another
When he was just a
step away from her
He saw her lift her
hand
He saw what was going
to happen
But he simply closed
his eyes
When the slap landed
on his face
It stung a little
more than most slaps would
He opened his eyes
And when he looked
into Bridget’s face
He saw that the
sadness in her eyes had been joined by a dose of fear
He stepped in front
of her and took hold of the hand that had used in slapping him
He then slowly turned
her palm up and gently rubbed her palm
Afterwards, he spoke
to her:
“I’m sorry baby
I didn’t mean hurt you
I know you want the
best for me
I’m sorry I had to
make you slap me
Now your hands hurt
and I’m really sorry about that”
When he looked into
her eyes again
What he was a blend
of misery and surprise
“I’m sorry for
slapping you Afolabi but I told you how I feel about this whole thing
Yet you treated me as
if my words were thrash
It’s not fair Afolabi
It’s not fair…”
An then she lowered
her gaze and began sobbing
Afolabi watched the
tears fall from her eyes and hit the rug
Drop after drop, he
watched the tears drop
Afolabi slowly raised
him arms
And wrapped them
around her
He felt her lean into
him
And the intensity of
her unhappiness hit him
Except she was a
perfect actress
Afolabi was 100 per
cent certain that she genuinely cared
He just stood there
and held her
In return, she held
on tighter to him
And continued to sob
After a few minutes
Afolabi could feel
the sobbing reduce
And he began to
whisper into her ears:
“Baby, I’m sorry
about what I did
I truly am genuinely
sorry
Bridget, I know that
we’ve been together for the most of today
It’s been less than
24 hours
Yet if feels like
weeks
I do care about you
And would not make
you unhappy for no reason
Bridget, there is
something I have to do”
Afolabi kissed her
forehead
And then kissed her
lips
Her lips tasted salty
And Afolabi did not
need to know what tears tasted like
He kissed her
passionately
And she kissed him
back
She was wearing a very
short yellow boob-tube
And had her hair in a
long pony tail
She smelt like an
expensive perfume store
And Afolabi inhaled
deeply
When she broke off
his embrace and took a step backwards
Afolabi knew what she
was going to say
“I know - I know – I
know
I know I’m a dirty
boy
You don’t have to
remind me
But please you have
to stop crying
You’ve got your make
up smeared with tears but you’re still super gorgeous
I think the Lord was
just too kind to you
You’re the reason why
some men get home and feel their wives and girlfriends are ugly
Gimme a minute, okay
Afolabi dashed into
the bathroom
And memories of what
they had done a few hours ago gripped him
And he smiled
In the shower
Afolabi knew that
most of his life had been shrouded in mystery
There were so many
things he wished he had answers for
And this came with a
strong feeling that he was on the verge of comprehension
When he stepped back
into the room
He noticed that
Bridget had wiped the tears off her face
And had stopped
crying as well
She looked breathtaking
and out of this world
And it didn’t
surprise him when he felt a stirring in his loins
“Athlete, why are you
looking at me like that?
Are you trying to get
me pregnant?
You virtually ran a
long distance marathon on my body earlier today
And now you’re
already looking at me in that strange way again”
Afolabi laughed out
heartily
And she giggled as
well
“Bridget, you’re too
hot to be left alone
Moreover, I can’t
help myself
Well, I would leave
you alone
But only if you can
transform into a girl
Or if I find a male
sex organ between your legs this time”
This time, it was
Bridget that laughed out
Afolabi walked over
to where she sat
Beads of water still clinging to his wet body
He had only a towel
strewn across his waist
And when he sat next
to her
He turned to face her
Took her chin in his
hand
Tilted it up a little
and kissed her lips tenderly
The kissing continued
for about three minutes
And then he could
tell from her response that she was getting sexually aroused
When he stopped
kissing her and slowly got up
She followed without
uttering a single word
Despite what they had
shred a few hours ago
Afolabi was sensually
consumed by what he was looking at
Her breasts seemed as
if they were going to leap out of the dress
He looked at her
thighs and he felt his manhood nudge at the towel
She saw the towel
rise a little
And knew that he
boyfriend’s third leg was dying to be somewhere inside her
She smiled at this
and slowly turned her back to him
When she had her back
to him
He was the zip that
held the dress up and he slowly unzipped it
Beneath the yellow
dress was a yellow bra that struggled to hold her breasts
And he also caught a
glimpse of her yellow G-string when the dress began to go off
Afolabi enjoyed what
he saw
And his erection
nodded in acknowledgment
By the time the dress
came off
Afolabi could hardly
contain his excitement
If Bridget were a
goddess
He knew she would
have been a goddess of seduction
She turned around
And Afolabi let his
hands slide from her waist down to her backside
Her bum was soft
and as smooth as a baby’s bum
He applied a gentle
squeeze to her ass and she welcomed his touch
By now, his erection
was as hard as a plantain-sized carrot
She could feel it
press against her
And she slid her hand
under the towel and held his penis in her hands
Afolabi let out a
soft moan as she let her hand slide over his cock
They began to kiss
and the intensity of the kiss gradually increased
The kiss sent both of
them into a sexual frenzy
And while they
kissed, Afolabi unhooked her bra
And then gently slid
her pant down her thighs, her knees and then down her leg
By the time she
stepped out of her pant
She was already as
wet as a handkerchief in a bucket
And Afolabi could
already feel his manhood flex like a muscular athlete
He moved his hot
breathe and moist lips down to her breasts and nipples
He nibbled, he sucked
and gently ran his tongue all over her cherries
Her eyes were closed
and she felt the clouds open up before her closed eyes
As he sucked her, he
began to stoke a finger against her wet clitoris
This was pure ecstasy
for her
She wanted nothing
more than have him fill up every possible space in her vagina
“Ahh… Ahhh… Afolabi…
Come in… Come in…”
He gently laid her laid
her facedown on the bed, heaved her big ass up a little
He was moaning
already and then he gently guided his hard penis into her wetness
First the cock went
in and then the entire shaft glided into her
She moved her ass in
sync and then he began to thrust in and out of her
In and out he went
In and out
She moaned and
groaned against the size of his big penis as it went in and out
She urged him to go
faster and he picked up pace
The bed began to make
squeaky sounds as he rode her higher into the clouds
He thrust in and out
and she also thrust her ass at him
He held her hips with
both hands and he kept hammering away into her wet vagina
It was a bond of
bodies, emotions and so much more
After 20 minutes,
Afolabi still banged his big manhood into her
Back and forth they
went
After about ten more
minutes, her body went tense and her moaning got louder
She was climaxing and
Afolabi kept pounding into her
Just as her orgasm
was about to reach its peak
Afolabi also began to
feel his sexual boat approach a waterfall
As he ejaculated and climaxed
He shot loads of
semen into her
Still thrusting in
and out
Afolabi gasped for
breath as he continued to release his semen into her
After a while they
both moaned out loud and collapsed on the bed afterwards
Afolabi cuddled her
and she just lay there
And allowed her bare
skin rub against his
He kissed her neck
and she smiled a happy smile
“Bridget, you’re the
most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen
I know I’m married
but I feel single
Did I tell you that
my wife is carrying children that are not mine?”
Upon hearing this,
Bridget sat up in bed and exclaimed:
“What!
How do you know that?
Aren’t you her husband?”
“I am,” Afolabi answered or should I say I was
Until she started
sleeping with a neighbour
I caught them red
handed having sex over 10 occasions
I followed my
calculations and…
I’m not the father of
the pregnancy she’s presently carrying
I never cheated on
her but she shattered my trust in her”
A look of concern spread
over Bridget’s face
And she asked:
“Have you confronted
her?”
“No I haven’t,” he
replied
She then said: “Oh
baby, you don’t deserve any of this
You’re a good man and
you have a very good heart
That’s what amazes me
about you
Most men that I have
met who have your abilities are monsters
They are all dark,
vile and evil
But you
You’re different
So, what do you plan
to do?”
Afolabi looked at her
gorgeous face and said:
“I haven’t really
thought about it but now that you’ve asked, I’m not going back home
After I watched her
having sex with our neighbour
My feelings for her
have taken on a very different texture
I’ve got a lot of
money now Bridget
Is there any way I
can spend it right now?
Bridget answered in
the affirmative
And then Afolabi
began to explain to her how he wanted to spend the money
“I’m going to build
an orphanage
And then a home for
the old
I’ll also give out scholarships…”
He wanted to go on
but Bridget stopped him
“Afolabi
You’re still a part
of the competition
Your role as a
fighter in KNUCKLE has not come to an end
Have you forgotten
that you chose ‘In?’
A frown spread across
her face as she spoke:
“I begged you not to
fight against Kamar yet you chose to do so
Afolabi, the man has
never lost a fight before
He is a monster and I
know precisely what I’m saying
He fights as if there
are demons on his side…”
Afolabi simply
watched her as she spoke and looked very calm
“Aren’t you afraid of
anything?”
He remained quiet
then answered:
“Perhaps myself
That’s about the only
thing I fear – myself
I understand you
Bridget but I have to do this
I don’t want to wake
up grabbing your throat ever again
It’s bad enough that I’ve
already tried to kill you once Bridget
I’m never going to
let that happen again
What if I had not opened
my eyes?
You have to let me
finish this Bridget
There is no other way
Please Bridget – I’m
begging you”
“I’m not going to cry
myself to death Afolabi
What you’re asking me
to do is one that I cannot do
It’s like telling me
to allow you stab yourself in the throat
There is no
justification for risking your life like this
I understand that you
might not be afraid of dying
But there are those
around you who sincerely care about you
This is not just
about you Afolabi
I love you and you
know it”
“Bridget, I’m going
to ask you to trust me on this one
Have I let you down
so far?” he asked
She slowly shook her
head
“Then where is all
this fear coming from?”
Afolabi could see her
eyes go moist
He knew what would
follow and he hugged her
As he hugged her, she
leaned into his arms
And stayed there
It was almost time for Afolabi to step into the ring
And they were both
aware of this
She wished and prayed
that he would not leave her
And then he said
something to her
“Bridget! Life is
like a mirror
You can only see as
much as it reflects”
She did not say a
word
But she mentally
turned what he had just said over and over in her mind
“I believe you have
prayed for me,” he said
She nodded in
affirmation and he flashed a charming smile
She did not smile
back at him
And Afolabi knew why
She was worried to
death
And he wished he
could have given her what she craved
But simply could not
He stepped into the
bathroom for a cold shower
When he stepped back
into the room
He was surprised not to see Bridget there anymore
Afolabi knew she was
very upset
And that she had
chosen to be alone with her thoughts
Rather than endure
the pain of watching and listening to him
Afolabi could not
understand why she simply couldn’t trust him
He understood that
most men would be naturally terrified
But he just was not
He picked up his
wristwatch from the drawer
It was almost time
for his fight
His final fight
He was already rich
But Afolabi was
convinced that it was not about the money for him
He felt driven to see
this through to the very end
He had come this far
And was not ready to
throw in the towel now
When Afolabi stepped
out of the room
And began walking
towards the door that led to the ring
He missed Bridget’s
company while walking him to the ring
“Where could she be?”
he asked himself
He knew that despite
the fact that she would be too angry to want to watch
The love she had for
him would drive her to watch
When he close to the
door, he flashed his knuckle
And the familiar guards opened the door
When Afolabi’s eyes
fell upon the crowd
He could see the
hunger for violence in their eyes
It was a craving that
was very visible
Afolabi kept walking
and at a point, he could hear his name come alive within the crowd
They chanted his name
And his inner being
basked in the euphoria of the moment
When he finally got
to the entrance of the ring
He paused, glanced
his eyes across the sea of heads that caught his sight
So many of them
Turning his head
around, he made his way into the ring
And it looked totally
different from the way he had left it
There was no more
blood on the concrete floor
But Afolabi
remembered that the last time he was in the ring
It had been a
bloodbath
Afolabi stood in the
middle of the ring
And knew that this
was the final straw
Something he could
not understand told him that something dark was on the horizon
He just knew
This was more than
just a gut feeling
It almost felt like a
voice
A voice communication in a language he could not hear yet feel
Suddenly
Afolabi remembered
that dream
The dream where he had
seen his father
He began to remember
bit and pieces of the nightmare
It should have been a
nightmare
But something about
it felt metaphysically disturbing
It should have been a
dream
And then he felt a
warm yet crawling sensation on his right shoulder
He realized that was
the point where his tattoo was
Something was just
about to flash into focus when he heard the commentator
“Ladies and gentle
Tonight, it ends
Right here in this
very ring
We shall witness who
the true KNUCKLE champion is
As we already know,
there can be only one
Standing in the ring
is one man who has shocked the arena today
When this day began,
he was barely known
Now, his name
resonates within and outside the steel cage that he presently stands
A true athlete
Tonight, Afolabi will
face the ultimate test
He comes up against
the champion of KNUCKLE
The one whose very
name has become synonymous with death
We bring you Kamar
The Apostle of Death
The moment Kamar stepped into focus
Afolabi could see why
this man was feared
He looked calm from a
distance
But there was a certain
aura of darkness around him
If the Devil ever
decided to take a human form
Then Kamar would be
the perfect stereotype
He was very dark,
muscular and shaped like a one constructed to take lives
Afolabi saw the grace
with which this man moved
And he felt as if he
had been lured into a handicap death match
Afolabi had seen
bigger and more muscular men
Yet there was
something darkly sinister about the man who was approaching the ring
Kamar’s name swept
through the crown
With every step he
took, the crowd cheered louder
When he finally
stepped into the ring
Kamar came into
complete focus
And for the very first time in his life, Afolabi felt the hair on his skin stand on
end
He wondered if this
was what it felt like to be afraid
But he knew deep
inside that he wasn’t
He however remained
confused as to how to explain how he was feeling
It was only now that
he realized that he was clenching his fists so hard
That he could feel
his hands and arms tighten and grow painfully tense
He was breathing much
deeper than he usually would
His eyes were now in
a thin menacing slant
He could see Kamar
glaring at him in return
And Afolabi suddenly
snapped himself out of the feeling when the commentator spoke:
“Without wasting any more time
We will unleash these
two athletes and witness what happens
On this momentous day
We shall watch them
tear each other apart
Only one will stand
in this ring
Only one will walk
out of this ring alive
So, ladies and
gentlemen brace yourselves…”
Both men now stood on
different ends of the ring
They stood unmoving
And stared at each
other with violence constantly knocking on the horizon
Afolabi could hear
the commentator but his mind was in a dark haze
“Men, the prize money
involved here today is N100 billion
You know the rules
You’ve got five
minutes to take your opponent out
But guess what?
After what happened
in the last fight
The rules have been
bent
Now, you’ve got infinite time
And this fight will
only come to an end when one of you is silenced forever
As you might already
know, there will be surprises during the fight
At the sound of the
bell, the battle begins
Are you ready?”
When the bell went
off
Afolabi remained
standing, shoulders full squared and fists clenched
Strangely, the old man’s
words swam into his thoughts:
“My Dear son…
This day holds much
meaning
When it is 7pm today
You will remember me
When you do
End whatever it is
you are doing
And return home
May the gods be with you…”
Just when he began to
wonder if the old man had been right
And that perhaps, he
should have listened to Bridget
He saw Kamar move
Kamar did not move
like any of his previous opponents
His fighting stance
struck Afolabi as different
He was certainly not
a slugger
It was hard to place
if it was a boxing stance
It looked like a
boxing stance but his footwork was dazzling
Afolabi knew for a
fact that if Kamar’s attack was as good as his stance
This was going to be
a very long night
Kamar advanced but he
did not barge in
Afolabi put up his
guard and hoped the man would attack
He was looking forward
to a knocking counter attacks into this champ
And indeed Kamar
attacked but it wasn’t what Afolabi had hoped for
Kamar suddenly
stepped off course
Afolabi could have
sworn it was a punch
But just when he
attempted to weave it
He saw another
straight right punch coming at his face
He knew he would not
be fast enough to duck it so he raised his guard
When the punch struck
Afolabi’s arm
The pain Afolabi felt
was equivalent to being struck by a baseball bat
It was so bad that he
found himself taking three steps backwards after the impact
Afolabi had known
that this would be a very dangerous opponent
And the man’s power
and force reminded him that to get distracted would be to die
As the pain began to
fade, Afolabi decided to change his strategy
He was not going to
sit around and let this man break his bones
They were just about
the same height
And Afolabi switched gear
He switched into an
attack mode
Afolabi moved in and
when he was close enough
He threw a dangerous
six-punch combination
His hook connected
with Kamar’s jaw
So did the body punch
– the other were simply blocked
Afolabi was not sure
if he had shaken his opponent up or not
But he was keen on
denting this beast
Afolabi could see Kamar
stepping towards him
And just when he
sensed that the man was on the verge of attacking
Afolabi planted his
right foot hard into the concrete floor
Just as Kamar’s fist
began to move towards him
Afolabi struck out
with a devastating Duchegi
The deadly kick
struck Kamar right in the solar plexus
When Afolabi cast his
eyes on Kamar
The man was flying
towards the steel cage
The power of the kick
had sent him crashing against the metallic wall
Afolabi did not stop
there
By the time Kamar hit
the steel cage
Afolabi was already
running towards him
As his spine crashed against
the metal
Afolabi was in front
of him
And before Kamar
could fully raise his head to see what was coming
Afolabi had already
executed a destructive head level 360 spin kick
Afolabi struck
Kamar’s head with an explosive force
Afolabi did not
strike for a Knock Out
His intent was to
kill
And when he heard
Kamar’s neck snap off his spine
And watched the man fall
to the ground and go limp
He knew the deed had
been done
The champion had
fallen
The demon had been
silenced
Afolabi looked at the
man as he lay on the floor – partly against the steel cage
And he wondered who
the real demon was
Was it Kamar or was
he the real demon
He turned around and
began walking to the centre of the ring
When he was two steps
away from the centre of the ring
That familiar
sensation of being watched struck him like a feet striking a ball
This time
The feeling felt much
worse he felt a biting sensation on his right arm
Right where his tattoo was
Afolabi knew there
was nothing to be afraid of
He had killed his
opponent
Yet
He could have sworn
that he heard certain inhuman voices calling onto him
The call seemed more
like an intense warning
Afolabo tried to
shake off the feeling
But it prevailed
“What is this?” he
whispered to himself
The voices in his
head suddenly seemed so many
Like demonic dialects
in a vocal clash
The languages were
immense
But Afolabi could tell
that they all said one thing
“T-u-r-n A-r-o-u-n-d”
Afolabi stood still
How could this be
happening?
There were only two
beings he could see in the ring
He was one
And the other lay on
the floor dead
When Afolabi felt
hands on his shoulders
He was no longer sure
if this was a dream or happening for real
But when he felt hot
breath against his ears
And a cold voice that
said:
“You should have listened to the old man…”
It was too late
He could not believe
it but he knew he had made a mistake
Afolabi tried to turn
around and side step away from the voice
But again, he knew it
was too late
He was grabbed in a
bear hug that felt like a human vice grip
At the same time, he
felt a huge weight slam against his rib cage
And he screamed out
in pain
As he felt more than
four ribs shatter from the impact
Whatever it was
lifted him up the floor and Afolabi felt himself being thrown
He felt like a Barbie
doll being flung
He found himself
flying at a great speed towards the steel cage
Afolabi knew this was
a problem
He was not flying on
his own accord
He had been thrown by
whatever had grabbed him and shattered his ribs
The pain coursed
through him
Afolabi realized that
he was heading head first towards the steel cage
With the speed at
which he had been thrown
Afolabi knew that he
was heading for an instant death if he hit the steel head first
With the last
strength he could muster
He swiftly raised his
left arm to protect his head and skull
When Afolabi made
impact with the steel cage
His arms struck the
steel wall first
He heard his arm
fracture but he prayed against the worse
The force broke the
arm - the bone before and after his elbow shattering upon impact
The side of his face
also struck the steel
Then his body also
crashed against the metal wall
And then he came crashing down unto the concrete floor
He landed with the
broken arm and when he landed on his side
He felt his broken
ribs stab his internals
For the second time
Afolabi screamed out
in pain
Afolabi was in enormous
pain
The pain was
unbearable
But he knew that he
could not just lie there and do nothing
By the time Afolabi
got up and looked at the direction of where he had been thrown from
What he saw almost
drove him through the walls of insanity
Standing across the
ring and looking down at him was the same man had just killed
This was impossible
He had detached this man’s neck off his spine
The man should be
dead
But Afolabi could not
understand
Kamar just stood there
looking down at him
He looked as menacing
as he had looked when the fight had begun
“Was I destined to
die after all?”
Afolabi asked himself
But even as he asked
the question, an instant answer came to him
As hard as he tried
to wish it away, the pain reminded him that it was real
For some strange
reason, Afolabi was not afraid
But he was very
disturbed
He did not understand
how this man could still be alive
After what he had
done to him
He mustered all his
strength to think less of what he had done
And concentrated more
on what Kamar was about to do
The man began walking
towards him
And when Afolabi
looked into his eyes
He saw only one thing
– death
As Kamar advanced,
Afolabi struggled to move into a crouching position
He was still
contemplating what he was going to do when the lights suddenly went off
Afolabi did not know
if this was a good thing or a bad thing
But he summoned all
the stealth he could and dashed to the left
He was glad he did
because just a few seconds afterwards
He heard Kamar’s foot;
or was it his fist crashing down against the steel cage
Right where he had
been a moment ago
Afolabi did not know how he
was going to attack Kamar with one arm
But he knew that to
wait was to expect nothing but death
Was this where it
would all end for him?
He remembered the old
man’s warning he had heard earlier in the day
The old man had
followed him a great distance to warn him
Yet when the time
came to make a decision, he had followed his instinct instead
Afolabi knew that to
stay at one point in the ring would prove suicidal
If he was going to go
down, he would do so fighting
He silently moved
around the ring
Trusting his instinct
to guide him here and there
He could hear Kamar’s
movement around the ring as the man searched for him
This went on for a
few minutes
And Afolabi knew for
a fact that the moment Kamar found him, it was over
Suddenly
Afolabi sensed
something in the air around him
He quietly ducked to
the right and realized that he was standing against the steel cage
The pain from his ribs and broken arm sending wave after wave of pain
into him
The sound of metal
objects striking the floor of the ring caught his attention
And Afolabi knew what
he had to do
He knew but he also
knew that he hoped for fortune and precision
When one of the metal
objects struck the floor next to him
Afolabi quietly moved
in that direction
When he found the
object
He slowly ran his
right hand over it and discovered that it was a machete
He grabbed the weapon
with his right hand and just waited
From time to time, he
silently altered his position
Especially when he
knew that Kamar was still moving around the ring searching for him
After two minutes,
Afolabi stopped moving
And just faced the
direction where he just heard a sound
He held the machete
tightly
Afolabi knew he was
about to take a final gamble with his life
And just before he
dashed in that direction
The lights came on
Afolabi was just
three steps away from Kamar
But Kamar had his
back turned to where Afolabi was coming from
Afolabi virtually
leapt into the air
And before Kamar
could turn around to see Afolabi
His head was already
off his body
With a single blow
from the sharp edge of the machete
Kamar’s head was in
the air
His headless body spurting blood all over the concrete floor
The head struck the floor
with a loud thud
And Afolabi watched
it as it rolled
Afolabi expected the
headless body to fall to the floor
Instead, the body
fell into a kneeling position
And just as it was
about to hit the floor
Afolabi witnessed
something that made shocked him into temporary paralysis
The arms of Kamar’s
headless body shot forward
And stopped the body
from hitting the floor
“Oh my God!” Afolabi exclaimed
Afolabi just found
himself staggering backwards
When his back hit the
steel cage, Afolabi legs went numb and he fell to a sitting position
Afolabi watched in
paralyzed consternation
As Kamar’s headless
body suddenly stood up erect
The headless body
turned and faced him
After a few seconds, the body dashed to where Kamar’s head lay
on the floor
When the hands picked
up the head
Afolabi found himself
going into a state of shock
Clearly, this was
what the old man had seen
Demons in human form
The headless body
picked up the head
And repeatedly placed
it where it had been before Afolabi had cut it off
The hands of the
headless body kept moving the head back and forth
And then Afolabi saw
a red glow around the neck and in the eyes of Kamar’s head
Suddenly, a lot of
blood began to gush out from the neck of the headless body
And then Afolabi
watched as Kamar’s eyes began to glow in red
Kamar jaws dropped
open
And Afolabi saw that
the dentition did not resemble that of an omnivore
Rather, the canine
began to stretch and extend
When Kamar’s mouth
was full open
What Afolabi saw in
it was a full canine dentition
What he saw was a man
with the dentition of a wolf
Kamar howled like a
demented canine
And Afolabi began to
see the change
The man’s skin began
to change
Afolabi saw fur begin
to rise out of the man’s skin
His nails were replaced by claws and his back began to arch
Afolabi closed his
eyes
And for the very
first time in his entire life
Afolabi was afraid
He knew he was going
to die
And then he
remembered the dream where he had seen his father
And then he
remembered
It had seemed a dream
But in truth, it was
a flashback
Everything that had
happened in that dream had been real
For some strange
reason, his father had done something to him
Something that had to
do with powerful black magic and occult powers
Afolabi could feel
Kamar fully transformed into a giant wolf right in front of him
Afolabi knew he had a
broken arm and shattered ribs
But then he
remembered what his father had mentioned at the end of that initiation
“You have slaughtered
fear tonight
When you find
yourself against evil, occult powers and dark forces
Do not die my son
Open your heart to
fear
And witness the birth
of your darkest side
Your evil side will
be born my son
Always remember – to open up to fear is to destroy whatever confronts you…”
Afolabi was already
afraid
And he began to see
his father’s words manifest
By this time
Kamar was more of a
beast than a man
He stood on all fours
– growling like a beast that it was
He saw Afolabi in the
corner with a broken arm and broken ribs
It was time to end
this once and for all
When he saw a certain
blue glow in Afolabi’s eyes
He ignored it and
leapt forward to rip the man apart
Afolabi just sat
there with his eyes closed
When he opened his
eyes again, he saw an exposed jaw and sharp rows of teeth
As if on reflex, he
struck the elbow of his right hand against the beast’s neck
The beast felt pain
yet it renewed its attack
Like a power
generating set
Afolabi’s broken arm
came alive and he felt he broken bones go back in place
When the beast was
about to bite again
Afolabi saw the
tattoo on his right arm glow up like an automobile’s headlight
He threw the arm
forward and it caught the beast’s throat and stayed there
The beast growled,
snapped it exposed rows of sharp teeth at Afolabi
But it just couldn’t
get a bite in
Afolabi felt his
broken ribs getting restructured and realigned
His eyes shone with a
luminous blue
And then the blue
dimmed
The menacing beast broke free from Afolabi’s hold on its throat and charged
again
Afolabi was now on
his feet
The red-eyed dragon
tattoo on his arm now shone so bright
It could be seen from
over 100 feet away
The beast was huge
And it was devilishly
driven to destroy Afolabi
And indeed, it attacked
Again and again, it
attacked
When it leapt into
the air and slashed its sharp claws against Afolabi’s chest
A deep gash opened up
but a blue glow slowly healed the wound
The beast tried again
but this time, it came with its teeth
Afolabi took a step
backwards and slammed a hard right fist into the beast’s jaw
The punch sent the
beast flying and crashing against the steel cage
The beast was visibly
wounded but it still charged at Afolabi
Afolabi sent powerful
fists into the beast’s head countless time
And suddenly, the
beast began to bleed from the jaw and mouth
Afolabi’s tattoo
glowed brighter and brighter and soon
The beast could
barely look straight at Afolabi
The man looked like a
bright blue ray of light
When a blue dragon with blood red eyes suddenly emerged from Afolabi’s tattoo
The beast sensed the
presence of a more sinister breed of darkness
It attacked Afolabi
again
But was shocked when
the dragon
Lashed out with its
claws, and huge jaws
The dragon bit deep
in the beast’s body mass and bit off a huge chunk of flesh
With its claws, it
stabbed deeply into the beast
Blood spurted out of
the beast and littered the concrete floor
The best was badly
wounded
And as it turned
around to dive onto the steel cage to escape
Afolabi rushed after
the animal
In a flash, Afolabi
took hold of its jaws
With one hand each on
the jaws, Afolabi ripped the beast’s jaws apart
Still in mid air,
Afolabi smashed the beast into the concrete floor
He struck his right
hand into the beast, ripped it open
And tore out its
heart
The beast slumped and
Afolabi threw the beast’s heart into the air
The dragon rose high
into the air and swallowed the heart in a single breath
The tattoo on his right arm began to glow and the dragon raced back in
Just as mysteriously
as it had emerged…
Composed by
Samod Biobaku
Dedication
This story is dedicated to all my unborn children – my
beautiful sons and daughters. I haven’t met any one of you yet as you have not
been born. When you’re old enough to read, I want you to know that daddy
specifically dedicated this story to you all. Never be afraid to express
yourself. I love you all.
This poem was composed by Samod Biobaku – Author
of Out of Time, KNUCKLE, Her ROOM, CLOSE, KNUCKLE II, Faceless FOE, Her ROOM II and Morgan.
This is the third and final sequel of
the KNUCKLE series. Other stories on
simplysamad.blogspot.com.
Simply Samad (group) Facebook
Simply Samad (page) Facebook
@Simplysamad Twitter
Samod Olawale Biobaku Facebook
Don't forget to drop a comment
Visit:
www.simplysamad.blogspot.com
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