AncilChapter 39: Darkness
“I thought you were dead,” I said.
“Not only cats have nine lives,” Anansi said, removing the hood over his top hat exposing all eight of his eyes. Five of which were covered in eye patches and the other three looked barely opened, but he was fine. Anansi was alive.
“Anansi you can’t really think that this parasite will be helpful. When it turns midnight he will kill us all!!” Sergio shouted
“I very aware that this boy is dangerous but he is the only hope for mankind. He is the only person capable of killing the Midnight Robber.”
“We have innocent lives here. I have a responsibility to my people to protect them in the absence of Mama Glow. I can’t have this beast around.”
“Then I’ll take him,” Anansi said. “I’ll take him far away from here.”
“He will kill you,” Sergio said. “You really willing to risk your life for this boy.”
“Yes,” Anansi said. “Yes.”
After some hesitation, Sergio released me but ordered us to get as far away from his people as possible before midnight. We complied. It wasn’t a hard decision since we had no need to stay within the village anyway. Selena wanted to come with us to help find her mother, but Sergio held her back refusing to let her go. The last thing Sergio said to us before we left was “Don’t you ever return here. Ever!”
***
Anansi and I strolled through the forest in silence. Our progress was almost too pedestrian, as if we had absolutely nowhere to be in a hurry. I had the ability to dart forward at superhuman speed through the forest, yet as I casually strolled after Anansi I felt at ease for the first time in years. It was after twelve and by now I should have changed into the Midnight Robber but Anansi had given me a pill to suppress the creature hidden within, almost in the same way Sam was able to suppress the symbiote within her. However, the suppression was temporary and it only worked to stop the Midnight Robber from fully taking over the way it did the other night. The blood thirsty beast was still very much alive within me, as I continued to faintly hear whispers in my head that refused to relent or be suppressed.
“We were supposed to be trying to get as far away from the village as possible,” I eventually said.
“I was just giving you some time to catch your breath because once we start moving — we not stopping,” Anansi said.
“I could handle it.”
“You sure? Midnight Robber or not, you could still get tired.”
“I could handle it. Just lead the way.”
“Not yet,” Anansi said. “In the next ten minutes.”
“I think you’re the one who is trying to catch your breath.”
Anansi did not respond to my wit. He just maintained his pedestrian pace through the forest.
“By the way. That theory you have about the Midnight Robber using the jumbies as soldiers in war is wrong eh,” I said.
“Oh you feel is a theory?”
“The Midnight Robber using the jumbies as slaves to help build a better world.”
“You really buying into he lies. That’s the same lie he is feeding to the world leaders. He telling them that he have the ability to bring the dead back to life and use them as slaves. Who wouldn’t want that? It makes dead people active contributors to a country’s workforce. That’s what the other countries buying into. They think that is what Jeremy Duncan is selling but people from Mas Camp know better. The only way to get the Act Programme in the other nations is through peaceful trade agreements. If he try forceful entry he’ll just start a war that he can’t fight. But once there’s enough people infected, he can take over the world.”
“Promise peace but deliver war,” I concluded.
“Promise peace but deliver war,” Anansi repeated. “That’s the name of the game Jeremy Duncan and the Midnight Robber playing. Don’t be fooled by Jeremy Duncan, he just as cruel and maniacal as the Midnight Robber inside him. That’s what the Midnight Robber does do to you. He corrupts you over time and if you yourself don’t learn to control him then he will corrupt you too.”
