AKAME ASSASINATION (25)
The Massai people are naturally pastoralists, meaning they move from place to place in search of food and pasture for their animals. This meant they had temporary housing in the for of mud houses they could quickly make within a day.
They had no real way of disposing of people they deemed as wrong doers in the society, in the past they would've just been executed on the spot. However, they have had more time on their hands to continue building and raising their infrastructure due to limited movement on their part.
A small pit was dug about six feet, then a wooden pole is placed at the pit's centre where the criminal is tied and sometimes gagged. Wooden railings are placed at the mouth of the pit. This pit was dug outside the confines of the village… for obvious reasons
If you were to venture out of the village's confines you would find this pit or I suppose multiple pits for multiple prisoners. Here you will find Catherine and Akame tied to a wooden pole with their hands behind their backs.
Akame was still fast a sleep, and Catherine still struggled trying to set herself free.
"HEY!" She shouted, "LET US OUT!"
Her screams weren't getting anywhere and her throat was dry from all the screaming she was doing. She leaned back on the pole and sighed at her helplessness.
'Its not really different from back then, is it? I'm tied to a pole in one place and probably won't be able to leave forever, then I'll di… Wait actually I guess I can't really die'
The sun had risen a few hours ago and she was awake to witness it at that very moment. Sleep had eluded her that night and it did feel as though her body was giving in, she had no idea who she was screaming for anyway its not like anyone would've come to help her. From her understanding these things never go to well especially since she's involved.
'Maybe… I shouldn't have come back. Its not like a hate being alive, but its more like things haven't been going great for me. I mean I guess I got to see the village get good again and I got to see my friends live through it… but do they even think about me? Do they even remember me? Or am I just dead, a dead girl.
Have I been dead all this time? I thought I came back to life without a physical body, but isn't that what you call a ghost? Aren't I just a ghost? But I felt pain that time, when I got stabbed through my stomach, I saw my guts spilling out onto the grass below, I saw green painted red with my blood, I felt a strong urgency to live, I felt a want for life.
And then it happened, suddenly my guts weren't spread on the floor, the grass was still red but my wound had healed. Was it because of my desire to live? Do I have powers, just like Gil or is it just because I was never alive to begin with?'
She closed her eyes again, maybe hoping to catch a glimpse at some sleep.
"Waaaahh!"
Her eyes opened again suddenly as she heard wailing, she turned and looked back at Akame who was still asleep. She sighed, relief filled her body. She thought Akame was in pain and she had no method of actually helping him, that would've sent her into a panic but thank goodness it wasn't that.
She turned to face the wall of soil and mud in front of her, but instead was met with a grotesque bag of flesh with a saggy mouth and one open eye. It was soft, like jello and had no limbs just one or two hooks of flesh protruding out of its body that were suppose to represent tentacles, its lips were fat and had hairs underneath.
"Waaaah!" It cried as it crawled towards Catherine.
"Wait!" Catherine was taken aback by this creature, she had no idea what it was but it terrified her more than the creatures that came to attack her home, "Stay away from me!"
"Waaaah!" It cried again, itching ever closer towards the girl.
Her eyes were wide open, her heart rate increased and she was sweating profusely. The utter horror in her eyes, "Stop! Stay away!"
She kicked and the lower end of her shoes met its saggy flesh, the creature gave a childish cry as though in pain.
"Go! Go away!"
Suddenly above her she heard the shifting of grass above her, and before long there were four men above her looking down into the pit. She looked up and when she looked back down the creature had disappeared.
A hallucination?
"Hey! Get me out of here!"
One of the men above her was someone she recognized, "Its you, Oh I know you bastard, why did you kidnap me? If you want ransom money you're not gonna get any."
"What nonsense is she sprouting down there?" Zena wondered out loud.
"Maybe she's mad about being imprisoned." Orinx responded.
Zena looked at him with a disappointed face, "Please stop talking. Its your fault we're in this predicament."
"Me?"
"Yes you fool." The other man who was with them responded, "We had a plan, tell the chief his daughter is dead."
The man grabbed Orinx by the neck, "You piece of filth, you caved at the last second." He squeezed him further.
"Gyaa, I'm sorry. Sorry brother."
The man let go, "Now we must resort to other measures to ensure our place."
"How about the Pokot meeting, how's it going?" Zena inquired.
"Things are happening, but obviously there should be no push-back depending on how its handled."
All this time Catherine watched as their mouths moved and sounds came from them, but she couldn't understand a damn word. 'A language barrier, does that mean that they don't understand me or is it that I don't understand them and they understand me?'
"Hey!" She shouted again which caught the attention of the men who seemed to be discussing something important. "Do you understand me?"
"?"
"I said, Do-you-understand-me?"
It would appear like they didn't, although curiously enough, they opened the wooden pit and two of them jumped down. A slight smile appeared on her face.
"You understand?" She smiled, "Does that mean we can talk about this?"
The two of them went over to the post and began untying them.
"Maybe you guys aren't so bad."
The instance they felt her hands getting loose she thought she was free, however, as soon as that freedom came that freedom went as the two men tied her back to the post.
"Hey, what's the big deal?"
She turned and to her own horror, they had taken Akame and tossed him over their shoulder like some kind of sack.
"Stop!" She shouted, "C'mon take me instead."
She began kicking her legs as she began to scream.
"TAKE ME GOD DAMN IT!"
But as soon as she let out that loud scream she felt something heavy land on her left cheek. One of the men slapped her.
"Jeez make her quiet, we don't want anyone to hear this." Zena ordered.
The man delivered and Catherine found herself quiet. "All right get back up here."
Zena and Orinx stretched out their hands to help both men climb up with Akame in toe.
'What's wrong with me?' Catherine wondered, 'After he slapped me why didn't I fight back? Am I just as helpless as I was back then?'
She looked up as the men closed the pit again. 'Akame… you were so kind to me and I… I couldn't do a damn thing to help you.'
A stream of tears ran down her red cheeks. 'I'm worthless, why did I even come back!? I should've died back there.
WHY!
WHY!
WHY!
Why is it I can't protect a damn thing?'
She laid their cursing her own helplessness again and again with nothing more to show for it. It was as though the gods above were punishing her by refusing her from dying, yet giving her nothing else not even an ounce of strength to combat what she was facing. Truly what a helpless little girl she was.
TO BE CONTINUED!