Despite being almost blinded by the bug, Ruitha did not dare slow down. Rubbing his eyes as he ran, he tried his best to keep up with his colleagues.
While he ran, his eyes were partly closed, so he did not notice the wall ahead of him. The path they were on branched left up ahead.
Ruitha had been too preoccupied fighting for his life to notice it earlier, not to mention the dark environment they were in. He could not be blamed for what happened next.
While everyone else turned left, Ruitha was still running straight ahead. It looked like he was going to slam into the wall, but something else happened. He went through the wall as though it was not there.
Ruitha opened his eyes and squinted. This whole time, they had been running in near darkness. Some people held torches to light the path, thus illuminating the way.
This time though, Ruitha found himself in a hallway that was so brilliantly lit, it seemed as though it was glowing.
Much to his delight, Ruitha noticed the bug wouldn't dare cross into the light, which meant that he was safe. However, the annoying thing still hovered at the intersection.
"Hey guys!" Ruitha shouted at the running horde, "I've found a safe zone!"
He was not sure if anyone could hear him, so he primed himself to get rid of the pesky bug that wouldn't go away.
With the experience of someone who's faced life and death far too many times, Ruitha timed his attack perfectly. The club came down on the bug at top speed, instantly squashing the poor thing to bits.
Having taken down his assailant, Ruitha got out of his hidden spot and started yelling like a mad man, hoping anyone would hear him.
He was the only one free of the bugs, and having found a safe haven, he didn't want to wander too far from it.
As he was contemplating going after Chege's group, he saw light approaching from a distance.
Boom!
The metallic man's movements were too fast, and had Njeru reacted a little slower, his skull would have been crushed.
After seeing the fist coming for him, Njeru had ducked left, barely dodging the fist that went on to collide with the wall behind him.
As the metal man retracted his fist, his kick was already in the air, primed to slice Njeru's head clean off his shoulders.
Njeru ducked down and the kick whizzed past him, but he did not anticipate the kick going round and coming back at him.
Almost caught unawares, Njeru could not dodge the kick, so he had to raise his hand to block it.
The force carried in the kick tossed him like a rag doll across the hallway. Before he could collect himself, the machine was on him.
Left punch, right punch, uppercut, roundkick. A barrage of attacks fell on Njeru. He did all he could to dodge, deflect or block the attacks, but he was being beaten black and blue.
Already, he had been wounded in several parts of his body. Blood was coming out of his nose and mouth. He could barely summon strength to keep going.
***
Come on, keep going, Njeru thought to himself as he strived to get out of the way of the coming kick, but as he did, he couldn't dodge the fist flying at him.
When looking at the fight, one would assume it was only a matter of time before Njeru succumbed to the fight. He was clearly at a terrible disadvantage, and if this kept up, he would lose his life.
However, one look at Njeru's face and you'd find no trace of fear or panic, just intense concentration.
With every attack that came his way, Njeru strived to find the pattern. The metallic man's attacks were complex and fast, not easy to track. For anyone else, trying to learn the pattern was foolhardy, but not to Njeru.
As the attacker came for another attack, Njeru felt everything fall in place. He felt as though he could read his opponent's mind.
Njeru received another punch, and just as the next was about to land, he suddenly jerked his head left.
What would come next was a sharp knee that would be followed by an elbow, Njeru thought as he prepared himself for his next attack.
Swing after swing of attacks came at him, but after that moment, none of them connected. While Njeru was standing in front of his attacker, he might as well have been a million miles away, for his enemy couldn't touch even the clothes he was wearing.
Suddenly, the metal man swung his left fist at Njeru, but instead of ducking down as he would have previously, Njeru lunged left, overshooting the fist coming at him.
He knew what was coming next was a knee to his abdomen, which he had left exposed in his lunge. Given his opponent's strength, he would be severely damaged if he received the attack.
Njeru was having none of it, as he flew left, he threw a fist below the left arm of the opponent, primed to hit his torso on a blind spot he had discovered.
Boom!
Njeru's fist connected with the attacker, which pushed him back a few steps, giving Njeru some much needed reprieve.
Looking at the metal man, Njeru wondered if it had been shocked by his attack, or if such a thing was even possible.
The moment did not last long, the machine came charging forward again, primed to avenge it's humiliation.
Njeru was ready for it. Quickly, they got back to rhythm, but when he tried the same maneuver, it was ready for him. Instead of continuing with the attack, it reached down to defend its abdomen.
Before this, Njeru had never been in a fight before. He had no experience in hand-to-hand combat, or any other kind of combat.
Now, as he battled his opponent, he was like a sponge, absorbing and learning his opponent's attacking and defensive moves and replicating them.
And so the fight went on for four hours. Neither one gave ground to the other. In those four hours, Njeru had gone from a noob to a veteran hand-to-hand fighter.
Suddenly, the metal man became still and rigid, no longer fighting. One look and you'd assume it was a statue not the monstrosity he had been fighting all this while.
This sudden change of behaviour was accompanied with a cold declaration.
"Level one fighter detected. Access granted."
After that, the room that Njeru was in lit up.