Nduka joined the Boy' Scout Society in school. It was every boy's dream to be a scout. The price in it is that, any boy who qualifies to be a member of the society is a boy indeed, not some chicken-hearted fellow.
It began with a series of drills. Every morning when the drill session begins, the boys will take turns to walk on ropes and crawl under a net of thorns. They were screened out if they couldn't meet up with the drills.
As they qualify from each day's drilling session, the drills become tougher. The latest drill before they would embark on a two weeks boot camping was that each of the boys would fall like a dead log.
This particular drill was to be performed on land and in the flowing stream at the back of their school yard. As they fell, immovable, the boys were to remain breathless for some moment.
The scout master told them that they had to be breathless because they may need to be so when they eventually get into the forest for the camping period, which is usually accompanied by animal attacks.
At first, the boys laughed over it. But with intensity, they knew it was an important training session that they had to learn.
In all, forty boys would be going to the camp and Nduka was one of them.
Two weeks to the journey, their parents began to buy all the necessary things they would be going with. Mattress, duvet, boots, cardigans, whistle and many other items were obtained.
That very day, the bus that would convey them was parked at the school gate while Mr Robinson and Mr Parker were waiting for the boys to board. They all came with their parents and guardians coming to drop them with their luggage.
At exactly 7:30 am, the bus drove off. The boys would be camping at the Sambisa forest in the northern region of the country. And the trip will take six hours.
Two hours into the journey, it began to rain heavily but the boys were having the fun of their lives as they sang different scout songs to keep warm and alive. sing
The road was almost empty as only few vehicles ply that route. The rain made the bus accelerate at a slow pace. Before anyone knew it, Jackie began to throw-up. He hasn't travelled this far before. Other boys in the luxurious bus helped him normalize and cleaned up his mess.
Then suddenly, everywhere became dark. It seemed like there was going to be an eclipse of the sun. The luxurious bus had a faint headlamp and could not see far. This worsened the speed at which it could move.
Gbooooooo!!! That was the sound everyone heard. In the middle of the thick forest between Ore and Benin. The back tyre of the bus had punctured. The bus had to come to a halt. The driver, Old Anikulapo wanted to alight, in an attempt to replace the punctured tyre but was restrained by Mr Parker and Robinson.
They would have to remain at that spot till the cloud is clear and the rain subsides. The boys were beginning to get wary. They were so worried because they knew they were in danger. No other vehicle passed that route, not in the time they had to park at the spot.
It was already 6:00 pm, and they had not reached their destination. A bang at the rear of the bus made the boys leave their sitting positions. By this time, the clouds were already becoming bright.
Old Anikulapo, from the side mirror, saw a creature with only one eye in the forehead. He wanted to be sure, he zoomed the image nearer in the mirror to confirm it.
Since he did not want to raise an alarm, he called on Mr Robinson to see for himself what he had seen through the side mirror. Unknown to them, some of the boys had seen two of the creatures, lurking around the bus.
Robinson silently asked Old Anikulapo to move the bus away from there. All the boys were already sweating despite the cold from the rain. Fear could be seen on their faces.
The movement was as slow as that of a snail because of the punctured tyre. By now, the day has already brightened up.
When they got to a small village by the road side, the driver pulled over to fix the tyre before they could continue their journey.
All forty boys had started missing their homes. They had barely felt a regret of coming on this trip when a toothless old woman emerged from one of the huts and asked if she could render any help to the travelers.
She was looking frail with wrinkles on her skin indicating that she is very old but she has a set of white eyeballs when she arrived at the scene. As Nduka looked at her, her eyes turned blue and he screamed. Everyone was confused, they didn't know why he had to shout.
All the boys scrambled to lock the main entrance door to the bus, leaving Old Anikulapo and Mr Parker outside the bus with the old woman.
Now, she began to laugh hysterically, showing her dentitions like that of a black cobra, threatening to sting Robinson and old Anikulapo. But they ran as fast their legs could carry them away from the old woman.
By the time they came back, it was already 8:00 pm and they still had about two hours to meet with other Boys' scouts at Sambisa forest.
Quickly, Old Anikulapo tied the bolt of the tyre and sped off the village towards Sambisa.
When they arrived at the camping site, all other scouts had mounted their tents and taken positions.
Though they had a lovely time at the boot camp, they would not forget how they got to Sambisa forest in a jiffy.