The Torch Chapter 11-Daniel and Tanaka.

"Can you hear me? Kid can you hear me?" was what Tanaka could hear. Everything had gone blurry and misty as he tried to figure out the environment he was in. The last thing Tanaka remembered was the gruelling effort he had made to crawl towards the crashed vehicle, seeking the voice of the crying man. From there on everything went blank for him. All he could hear was the monotone voice of a man in his late 20s. The voice continued to say, "Kid wake up, can you hear me?" After a while, Tanaka eventually broke free from the binding grip of sleep and awoke to see the man behind the voice, surprised to see another survivor like himself. The man was 6feet tall with a craggy oblong face that had down turned eyes, large lips, a chiselled nose, noticeable cheek bones, and small ears. He had short hair that had a fade, the result of a haircut that most probably happened a day prior to the apocalypse. The man had a fit disposition: not being too muscular or athletic but having just enough flesh on his body to portray a grown man. His clothes were in tatters and heavily spoiled as a result of the new vile environment of death that stained the Avenues. The man was wearing a white shirt and a grey plaid blazer, which was both stained with red and greasy substances. His right hand had a wedding ring on the index finger and also held the torch with its long hairy fingers, darting it at Tanaka who was lying on a hospital bed. Tanaka had a tube that was connected to his right forearm, which was pumping in morphine. The drip was on a stand that was connected to the bed Tanaka was on, reflecting the light that came from the torch to the entire surrounding walls due to its silver like surface. Both Tanaka and the man had bandages on their bodies and had their wounds patched up. Tanaka had been bandaged on his left arm, temple, and lower lip. The man had a few bandages on his face and some underneath the veil of his clothes. Tanaka gazed at the man who at first appeared blurry in his field of vision, but later began to recognise the tangible imagery of the man. The man called out at him again saying, "Kid if you can hear me, just respond. We're safe for now, um Daniel." As if he had woken up from a coma, Tanaka uttered slowly, "Daniel?"

"Saved?" asked Tanaka who couldn't quite recall having saved the man.

"You hardly remember do you? Well you won't believe it, well even I wouldn't believe it, but you ripped off the door like it was nothing."

"Wait um in a clinic?" asked Tanaka who seemed a bit bothered, by what he had just said. Tanaka began to scrutinise his surroundings with a sceptical eye. He noticed the blue curtains and the peach coloured walls that his torch light permitted visibility. Tanaka soon realised that he was in a cubicle sized examination room, which seemed untouched. Tanaka who now fully realised his situation began to ponder over what had transpired prior to him passing out. The violent and fretful memory of the flood demon coming towards him startled him and reminded him of what he had just survived. It gave him relief but at the same time a sense of uncertainty. Though he felt as if he was supposed to be alarmed, the morphine that was flowing into his body managed to nullify his temperament. After reflecting over past events he asked, "Are you a doctor?" Daniel was surprised by the question and quickly responded, "You mean the drip? Hmm, well at some point in life I did medicine and then left it for business management."

"Um not sure, it's hard to tell without any light, but all I can say is that you kept me worried for a long time kid," he said, with a less jovial grin, "How did you manage to survive all this time?" Tanaka looked at the man whose naturally charismatic face suddenly became sullen and engraved with despair. The world of the infinite darkness had dawned on him and Tanaka could see that it had already sunk its crude teeth of fear in Daniel. Tanaka didn't know what he was supposed to say and paused for a whole minute, checking to see whether he still had his watch on. Unfortunately for him, his watch was no longer there, which probed him to think about the appropriate answer he was supposed to give the man. Daniel just stood there, stricken with vexation and with a desperate need for the boy's answer. His question had somehow triggered Tanaka into a moment of self-reflection, remembering the numerous occurrences he had almost died. Tanaka noticing that Daniel had his eyes drawn towards him quickly ended the silence by saying, "It's all because of that torch in your hand, that's why um alive."

"I thought I was going mad when I was hearing things until I saw something," he said, grimacing as he reflected on what he had seen, "but I guess there is nothing much we can do about it. I will be honest with you, um scared kid. A grown man like me is afraid." Tanaka noticed the man's despair and wondered how he could help console him, but such a discipline wasn't his forte. After Daniel's display of emotional distress, Tanaka decided to delve into another matter at hand.

"The wave?" asked Daniel.

"Flood, you mean that sound of water was a flood in Harare? Kid what the hell is going on? Um clearly confused and all this is hard to believe. What the hell is going on!" said the man who seemed to have been overcome with anxiety. Daniel gnashed his teeth and clenched his left hand as the vexation coiled his frustration.

"So you're saying that we're dead and this is what hell looks like?"

"Where I was? Um..." he said, pensively reminiscing over what had happened prior to the night mare, "I was on my way to a funeral with my wife. She was initially against it, the whole travelling at night business, but I really felt driven to get there, but then, suddenly something happened."

"No, not at first but I was coming from the Bulawayo road direction and as I was driving into town, I began to hear voices and screams."

"You must have been asleep when... " he said before being interjected.

"There is only one. So, I guess I wasn't going crazy after all when no other light was working. What did you notice? No. Actually I had asked you about what had happened to you before things went dark. Please tell me that first."

"What did you see?" asked Tanaka who looked deeply into Daniel.

"I heard screams after a couple of minutes and also heard explosions. But what I remember the most was my wife..." he said, pausing briefly to mourn as tears flowed down his cheeks, "my wife screamed, calling out for my help. I couldn't see anything at all. Everything was just dark and I couldn't help her. Something thing broke through the window and took her. It was all just fast and then her screaming stopped. All I heard was chewing and sick things. Before I could get out of my car to help her, I think an oncoming car hit my car and flipped it over. It all happened all too fast."

"I was wrong to have driven so late and now I don't even know what happened to her. It was hell in the dark kid. All I could here were things and screams. As I lay in my car with a severe cramp which lasted for a long time, I almost starved to death until I heard the rain water for the second time."

"The flood? What do you mean by that? How can there even be a flood in Harare. It's not possible kid so what are you saying?" he asked with great curiosity.

"No, I immediately picked you up and ran straight to this clinic, I didn't bother checking."

"You're right, by the way, I managed to salvage some food whilst you were asleep here, at the Montagu spar. If you're hungry I can go and get some food, it's in the next room." he said with a feigned cheerful expression.

"Yah, I first came here to Westend clinic and used the drugs from the pharmacy to treat you. I was starving but I had to take care of you first. After I realised that there isn't any food here in the clinic I decided to go the shops. I left you here in a safe place. Don't worry, I blocked the room with a board and a number of heavy boxes so that nothing would get in."

"Calm down kid, I said I blocked the entrance didn't I, you were safe..." he said before a bloodshot eyed Tanaka grabbed his collar and pushed him back until he was against the wall, tipping over a stool as he struggled.

"That doesn't matter dammit!" interjected Tanaka, "listen to me, never ever leave me in the dark and never leave that torch. It's not just a light, that thing is the reason why I am alive and why you're not dead!" Daniel was overcome by fright at what the boy was saying, conflicted by the mental dilemma of whether or not he was supposed to believe what Tanaka had just said. Having survived in the gruelling agony of being confined in his car and having also starved in there had already done its worst to him. The revelation of the creatures in the infinite darkness and what Tanaka was saying pierced through his layer of sanity.

"It's not that simple, the torch has powers. It can kill those things!" shouted Tanaka who seemed irked by Daniel's inability to take in what he was saying.

"Listen to me, the world as we know it has been invaded by monsters from some dark place I don't even know. All I know is that I have seen these things up close and I know why they are here. They want to kill us all, every single one of us! That torch kept me alive and scares those things." he said, emphatically as he rose up from the ground. The cord that was pumping in the morphine into his system had been yanked off by his advance before and was lying placid on the bed. Tanaka came towards Daniel and then asked, "You saw those things outside didn't you, those sick things in the dark? The reason why nothing happened to you was because of the light! They hate the light, they are the darkness and we are in the light that protects us from them. As long as you don't confuse the reasons then you will be safe!"

"My name is Tanaka, Tanaka Manyika." he said as he led the way to the toilet. The encompassing darkness still had not changed, but at least the journey was no longer of that of a one man army. It was now the survival of this man and boy, in the world of infinite darkness.

Chapter end