....at the front end just before the end of the field a really huge number of afandes appeared headed our way and running really fast...we guessed probably these were the lot who were terrorising our sisters back in their barracks...the number may have been relatively difficult to estimate as it was very dark and the shafts of moon light was totally inadequate for any meaningful identification...however from the motion of the approaching dark shadows as briefly illuminated by the meagre moonlight, we estimated it at about 400...but wait!! That was not all, from the extreme left another group of afandes appeared shortly after, numbering the same...before we could swallow that another group appeared from the right...they were all charging towards us with very mean intentions...however, the two groups from the right and left were just walking slowly but confidently...but why was this and yet they were approaching the same and common enemy just like the fast approaching company? It was quite difficult to answer the question under the prevailing circumstances...
Half a minute and the front running reached our group who were already prepared...the reception committee was well armed with the batons that we had taken from the afandes who had already taken cover...and the battle began in the dead of the night...something very strange was happening at the battle front...our comrades at the forefront were attacking but then it is them who were going down and not the afandes!!!how was that possible yet we were armed similarly? Were we not supposed to see the afandes going down too? There was also something else...the afandes aim never missed the target and ones the target was down the afandes never bothered to follow with more blows or at least confirm that the fallen soldier was completely immobile...also it was disturbing to note that the fallen comrades did not even produce any groaning sounds....something was not adding up here....something big that we did not understand was happening...
we were still battling it out, but we were suffering three draw backs...starvation, cold and exhaustion...under the circumstances there is nothing we could do about any of them, but we only hoped that we could get the afandes out of the way to our freedom...but this was proving a toll order....then all of a sudden we heard a very weak voice trying to shout something which was not very clear...the voice could only reach the comrades who were at the front, because there was so much noise from the combatants....the voice did not shout anything again but alas a comrade had picked up some words... “Comrades.....pangas!!!” the shout came very frighteningly to everybody’s dismay...were these afandes using pangas to fight us!!! This was utter shock...but the length of batons that we were using were long enough to get the afande before his panga got us and yet we seemed to have been the ones that were on the receiving end....
as all this was happening, the other two groups had already reached the battle ground and were busy working...we were now surrounded....we could not continue towards the females barracks as we completely cut-off and the barrier was proving difficult to break through... and the only escape route was towards the direction of the drill ground where we had come from...there was one handle here though...a 2 metre wide storm water drainage ran along the road next to drill ground and therefore one had to have a very clear imagination of its geography given the situation then....as we struggled to save our skulls we noticed something rather strange with the way these afandes were handling the operation...these fellows were too organised unlike our original afandes that we had tackled 3 hours before...they knew where to strike and when...they were relatively calm unlike the afandes at the cells and parade grounds who were quite noisy...were these real afandes or impostors??? If they were not who on earth were they then?....
at this juncture, the comrades had been weakened significantly and had accrued quite a huge number of casualties with just minimal on the other side...but the opponent was very thorough...for any fallen opponent we did not get to see the fighting implement until just by mere luck...we managed to capture one of the enemy and the weapon...what originally we thought we knew about the weapon turned out not to be....it was a slasher!!! A sharpened slasher....with the knowledge of this, everything started to make sense....Jesus Christ!!!how many throats could these bastards have slit? How many ears could these vagabonds have detarched? How many mouths could they have enlarged?? It was all frightening to think about all this and the very best we could do at the time was....”Comrades run for your lives!!! These idiots are slashing us with slashers!!!” a voice shouted so loudly as if its next shout depended on the very first one....”it is each for himself and God for us all!!!” ...another one was heard literally screaming....
at this point in time we concentrated our efforts on the few afandes on our only escape route...we did manage but as we did this the slashers were put onto high gyration much easier...it was so painfully tormenting to see comrades falling under the curse of the slasher and you could do nothing much to help as you had your life to save... “help please” were very common weak voices on the ground that would give any sane human nightmares... as we ran across the field jumping over bodies which we knew for sure did not belong to slasher wielding fellows it dawned on us that death could come to us anywhere any time with no warning....just as we nearing the storm water drainage a loud voice was heard issuing a command....”fuata wao...shika ua!!!!”.....
...besides, the presence of a safe alone does not signify that there is money inside...