Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 11

7 years ago

Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 11

It was a busy day for officers at the Lagos state
police headquarters, there had been some gory
killings last night in various parts of Lagos and the
police was trying to link these murders together
and apprehend the killer or killers as the case
may be. Detective Dosun’s office couldn’t be
described as being spacious in the context of the
word but it was big enough to accommodate the
lanky police officer. Some files were neatly
arranged on his desk which also had a landline, a
walkie-talkie, a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and his
cellular phone. On the other side of the desk
stood a not-too-tall man who had an S pen in his
hand.

‘’Okay officer,’’ Detective Dosun dropped what he
was doing and faced the man. ‘’Brief me on
everything you have on this case.’’

Officer Yusuf left the side of the desk where he
was standing and came to the side where
Detective Dosun was sitting so that he was just
beside the Detective. He leaned on the table and
drew the Note closer, using his S pen, he
highlighted a spot on the Note.

‘’This is Mushin. It is the only place outside Ikeja
where a killing in the mould of our interest
occurred. It is also the only part that seems not to
be connected with the other killings.’’

‘’ What do you mean?’’
Officer Yusuf clicked on an icon and a map of
Ikeja appeared on the screen.

‘’In Oregun, a family of 4 were found dead in the
pool of their blood in the early hours of today,
they had parts of their bodies missing. In Alausa,
a 30 year old house wife was found in the toilet
with her eyes plucked out of the socket.

A teenager with amputated private part was
discovered dead in Ogba late last night.’’

‘’so what connections have you been able to
make?’’ Detective Dosun asked.

‘’All the killings in Ikeja have one thing in
common; the heads of the affected families all
work in one place – the Apapa port.’’

‘’What about the one in Mushin?’’

‘’There is no such connection sir.’’ Yusuf briefed.

‘’ In fact, the father of the dead lady in Mushin is a retired army officer.’’

Detective Dosun stood up and picked his suit.

‘’Let’s start from Mushin’’ he said.

The thing about history is, it is too much to take
in, especially when that history entails medieval
torture which most likely, would rear its ugly head
in no distant future. Whether or not Aaron and
crew believed the story they had been told was
entirely lost on Falcon.

‘’I’m sorry if I doubt you but you see, I’m no big
fan of mythical gods and their priests neither am I
interested in what happened centuries ago. If you
really want me to buy this then you have to bring
something more substantial, something more
scientific and not something from the stables of
Scandinavian folklore.’’ Kingsley made known his
doubts.

‘’For years now, American scientists have been
studying this creature and they came up with
quite a few interesting theories.’’ Falcon cleared
the air. ‘’One of which was the fact that the
Loman disease was caused by a virus, lomanisae
viridae, A DNA virus.’’

‘’Interesting,’’ Stella who had been quiet all these
while chipped in. ‘’How does this virus affect the
human body?’’
‘’You won’t believe this.’’ Falcon admitted.

‘’The eyes are basically made up of two types of cells…’’

‘’The Rods and Cones.’’ Stella cut in.
‘’Impressive!’’

‘’common! It’s nothing an average Biology
student won’t know.’’

‘’Anyways, the cones are helpful in colour visions
but that’s not what we are interested in, we are
interested in dim-light or what is most vastly
known in scientific spheres as scotopic vision and
that’s where the Rods come into play. Basically,
the rods employ a sensitive photopigment called
rhodopsin for this. Rhodopsin consists of a protein
called opsin, this protein has a site for cofactors to
be covalently bound. lomanisae viridae produces
a cofactor that has never been known to man –
Cofactor L. This cofactor covalently binds to the
opsin molecule. When monochromatic light is
absorbed by the eye, the rod cells pick up these
waves, the light bleaches the opsin protein which
is bound to the viral cofactor, this causes the
opsin to undergo changes in its shape. Its new
shape fires a neurone connected to the optic
nerve which sends signal to the brain. The brain
in turn sends message to the thyroid gland for
the mass production of thyroxine which is the
basic growth hormone. Thyroxine triggers a
sequence of massive cell division which produces
billions of cells in a couple of seconds, this leads
to an exponential increase in size of the victim.

This whole process is reversed in daylight as the
cones are more actively used during this period.’’

‘’Can you speak English, please?’’ Kingsley
berated the doctor.

‘’I think what he is trying to say is that, a purely
normal biological process which is used to provide
us vision in dim light is now employed in a more
complex chain of events that gives rise to a
monster.’’ Aaron explained to the best of his
knowledge. He was a pharmacist after all, not a
medical doctor.

‘’Okay now let me pretend I understood all what
you just said,’’ Tobi said. ‘’let me pretend its
meaning wasn’t lost on me. Let me pretend I am
that biology guru you think I am. Let me
pretend…’’

‘’Will you stop with the pretence already? Get
real, man.’’ Kingsley chided him.

‘’Okay, all the biological jargons aside, what does
America really stand to gain by putting this whole
machinery in motion? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t to
prove a point to fellas like us who think biology is
a ladies course?’’
‘’The world is moving at a fast pace and countries
are trying to outsmart each other with
technological weapons, many of which are
frowned upon by the international community.

The whole world is planning for a 3rd world war
albeit secretly. Weapons of mass destruction are
been discovered on a daily bases. I’ll tell you what
this is, it is a weapon of mass destruction. When
the time comes, America would have this things
placed in every country of this world and the
world would be at their mercy. I’m sorry friend,
your country isn’t in the grand scheme of things,
your country is just a testing ground.’’

Detective Dosun wasn’t much of a high way #50
collecting kind of policeman, he thrived more on
the intelligence aspect of criminal investigation.

Over the years, he had learnt one important
technique in criminal investigation; crack the
hardest nut first and every other thing will fall in
place. The case in Mushin seemed like the hardest
nut, it was that part of the puzzle that just
wouldn’t fit. He perused through the case file one
more time, underlining names that pop up more
frequently, he was going to interrogate them.

One thing he loved about his job was the low
stress and low risk factor to it, he goes about in
air conditioned vehicles and choice clothing
instead of the never-fitting-evil-coloured-uniform.

The 12km distance from Ikeja to Mushin was
supposed to take 22minutes but it barely took
15minutes, thanks to the respect Nigerian road
users had for siren. He normally wouldn’t go with
an official car as a detective, but this time, he had
to instill the fear of God on the road users if he
wished to crack this case before the next killing.

Jeremy wasn’t sure what to think, for the second
time in two days he had woken up in a gutter…

with a bleak memory. Try as he might, he
couldn’t remember how he ended up in the
gutter. Could it be related to the dream he had?

The dream where he transformed into a beast
and killed Kelly? He blamed it once more – as he
had previously done – on his most trusted alibi –
alcohol. But he wasn’t one to drink heavily. He
had his limits anytime he decided to gulp his pain
reliever. He just wasn’t sure what to think and
that was what irked him even more. His stomach
rumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten
since yesterday and worst still, he had no idea
where his parents where.

He stood up from his bed where he had la!d since
coming back from his new found home – the
gutter. He went straight to the kitchen, switched
on the wall socket and plugged the water heater,
he poured a large quantity of water and made to
heat it. He was going to use part of the water to
bathe and the remaining to make tea. He was
checking the kitchen for anything edible when he
heard a loud knock on the door. Who could that
be? He wasn’t expecting any visitor so he ignored
it but it came again, louder than the first one.

He hurried to the door to give whoever it was a
tongue-lashing before dismissing him or her. He
flew the door open with anger only to meet a
lanky man with a warm smile.

‘’Yes?’’ Jeremy answered him coldly. ‘’Any
problem?’’
Detective Dotun was unperturbed by the far from
warm welcome he got, he just flashed his teeth as
if to tell Jeremy he was still too young to change
his demeanor.

‘’I’m looking for one Jeremy Bassey.’’

Jeremy’s eyes bulged, why would this stranger be
looking for him?

‘’Why are you looking for him?’’
‘’I take it you’re the one, can I come in?’’ the
Detector asked. Jeremy studied the stranger for a
few seconds before moving a little bit aside for
him. The space was too small but Detective
Dosun sq££zed through. He studied the room a
little bit, taking note of little details – like the mud
stained shirt on the couch, the backpack on one
corner which looked like it contained clothes.

The detective walked gallantly to a chair, sat and
crossed his legs. He flashed his ID card briskly
and put it back.

‘’I am a police officer, and I’m here to question
you about the happenings of last night.’’

Jeremy’s heart raised, he had a thousand and one
thoughts on his mind.

‘’Where were you last night?’’
‘’Last night?… I…I…was here…mostly…yeah.’’ He
stammered.

The detective looked deep into his eyes, he could
tell that was a lie. He dipped his hand inside his
b0s0m pocket and brought out a pack of
cigarette.

‘’Mind if I puff some kush?’’
Jeremy didn’t answer him, he was deep in
thoughts. On a normal day, Jeremy would have
lectured him about the difference between kush
and adulterated London cigarette but this was far
from a normal day. The detective lit the cigarette,
took a long drag and puffed out the smoke.

‘’of course you don’t mind.’’ He said. ‘’see, the
thing about kush is, it clears your mind, gives you
the wisdom to distinguish between truth and
lies.’’

Jeremy never smoked so the smell of the smoke
was choking him. That, together with the
realization that what he was thinking all along to
be a dream, was in fact, reality, destabilized him
even more.

‘’One of your neighbor was killed yesterday, do
you know anything about that?’’
Jeremy shook his head violently in the negative.

‘’See officer, I have something on fire so if you
don’t mind, you’ll have to excuse me.’’

Jeremy
stood up. Detective Dosun immediately stood up
also, blocking Jeremy’s path. He dipped his hand
into his pocket and brought out his
complementary card. ‘’in case you remember
anything, give me a call’’
‘’I sure will.’’ Jeremy smiled and watched the
detective as he made his way to the door.

He stopped abruptly and turned facing Jeremy.

‘’you were supposed to embark on a journey
abroad,’’ he said. ‘’why are you still here?’’
‘’I changed my mind.’’ Jeremy replied him.

‘’of course.’’ He said and walked out of the room,
closing the door behind him. He walked to the car
where two other police officers were waiting for
him.

‘’He is hiding something.’’ He said to them. ‘’keep
an eye on him.’’
The mood in the rehabilitation room was ice cold,
their faces spelt doom, like they’d just been
informed that Adolf Hitler had reincarnated to
complete what he started. The subject wasn’t
concerned with what everybody else seemed to
be concerned about, he had his own problems.

He was more concerned about Aaron and Stella.

Should he tell them?

‘’How come you are privy to this much
information?’’ Segun asked. He couldn’t imagine
how his boss would react after hearing this story.

‘’The legend of Ivar Vidfanme is very popular in
Scandinavian mythology. Fortunately I did that in
college. ‘’ he swallowed saliva. ‘’my best friend in
college – Cameron, was a descendant of Asger
Erling, the head of the SSS and the priest of
Loki.’’

‘’Good, then we have to contact him, his father
created this monsters, he should know something
about them.’’ Aaron suggested.

‘’He knows a lot about them, that’s why he is
leading the American research team that are
bringing them back from extinction.’’

‘’Extinction?’’ tobi asked. ‘’How did they go into
Extinction in the first place?’’
‘’I didn’t complete my story…’’

‘’…Lomans were an important tool in the hands of
the enlightened ones. Tools they used in fighting
their dictator king. At first, king vidfanme didn’t
care because the victims of Loman attacks were
ordinary citizens. It wasn’t until a Loman strike
claimed the life of his only son before he realized
he didn’t have the monopoly of violence.

Things started shaping up as the pendulum of power
began to sway more to the side of the
enlightened ones. They created a cure to the
loman disease and cured all the affected people
but threatened to resurrect it if the King tried
anything funny. But then came the great purge,
Christainity came with violence. Priests of some
Norse gods were branded pagans and were killed
brutally in the streets. Many of the enlightened
ones migrated to Europe and America.‘’
‘’What I don’t get is, why must it be Nigeria? I mean we have many African countries out there.’’

Falcon gave it a thought. ‘’Holy poo!’’ He
suddenly exclaimed as if seeing something the
others didn’t see.

‘’What is it?’’ Segun asked.

‘’I never thought this important until know.

Scholars believe that, Evelyn didn’t move with
her husband and family to the US, she instead
moved across the Niger to where is today known
as Nigeria.’’ He paused and scanned the faces of
his confused audience. ‘’What if Cameron is
trying to reconnect with his maternal side, using
the Lomans as bait?’’