" I am really telling the tr... " Emmanuel tried to speak out, but was again interrupted with a heavy rain of beating. Though he had been constantly beaten, but his face and skin still look fresh. This was because Mito and his gang made sure to avoid the vital points on his body. They only targeted places that they knew won't leave overly visible marks and won't cause any serious or life threatening damages to his body.
After a short while, they stopped again and asked Emmanuel the same question. This time it was Jp who asked. " Look, just tell us the amount you have on you, and we would tell you how much you have to release. There's no need for going through all this pain as you would still have to divulge it at the end. Just save yourself the stress and the long period of torture. " JP spoke in an irritated tone. Why speaking, a glint flashed at the innermost part of his eyes.
Within this glint was an unexpected emotion, pity. He wasn't really enjoying what was taking place right before his eyes, but he still choose to not only watch but partake in it. This was the reality of his life, Survival. All he wanted to do was survive. His story was actually similar to Mito's, he had schooled till the final class of secondary school. But there existed a difference between his story and Mito's, this was that he didn't fail at all, but his parent were just enable to sponsor his schooling to the university and so he had no choice but to drop out. Why looking at Emmanuel, he saw a faint shadow of his former self, eager to go and learn. But then above his pity for Emmanuel was another emotion, more like a feeling, the thirst for survival in a dark tunnel filled with volcano and poisonous snakes.
Similar thought were actually going through the head of the other thugs, they all had a story to tell, and so based on their story they had different feelings and opinions towards Emmanuel.
' Do I really have to give them the money, then what would I be left with to use and purchase the items I need for school ' Emmanuel thought inwardly. Suddenly he opened his mouth and said " Okay, Okay, I would give you everything I have. I have twenty thousand ". He said still trying to maintain an appearance that seemed like he was telling the truth. He thought they would finally leave him and ask for the money, But to his greatest surprise " Bam, bam, bam ".
Kicks started raining down o him again. The kicks were even a little harsher than the previous ones. Emmanuel couldn't help but let out a few yells. ' This greedy bunch ' He thought upstairs as he immersed in the pain being passed into his body by their kicks.
" Fine, it's thirty thousands, thirty thousands. but could you people leave at least ten thousands for me, please " Emmanuel said again, this time increasing the amount by ten thousands. The thugs paused for a very short while and exchanged gazes. Just when Emmanuel thought that they were finally satisfied, " Bam, bam, bam ", The rain of kicks restarted.
This time Emmanuel didn't say anything else and just let them beat him. He already had an idea of the tactic they were using. If he was right, their art of beating him was just a form of testing the waters. He had also noticed that they had been careful with their kicks making sure to not let any vital point of Emmanuel to get hit by the kicks. With this he could establish the notion that they had considerations and so didn't want the situation to go to far.
After a while of kicks, the thugs then stopped. ' Looks like he truly has only thirty thousand ' Ade thought. This thought was also circulating in the heads of the other thugs.
Mito looked at Emmanuel face with annoyance and then said, " Only thirty thousand, Fine then, we would take twenty five thousand, and you would take the remaining five thousands ".
" Five thousand, Please, that would be to small. I have a lot I need to buy for school " Emmanuel spoke in a desperate tone. Emmanuel's acting at this point could very well be considered as top notched. African's biggest tv industry Nollywood would definitely be contented if they were to discover and acting genius like Emmanuel.
" Twenty five, no room for bargaining " Ade spoke ruthlessly. The other thugs nodded their heads in confirmation of what Ade and Mito had said. " Ple… " Emmanuel was about to speak again when suddenly Ade interjected " Twenty six thousand for us, four thousand for you ". On noticing Ade make a move to speak at first, Emmanuel felt joyful. He thought Ade might have taken pity on him. Of course that was until he heard the words that spilled out of his mouth. " Yo... " Emmanuel was about to talk again when Ade opened his mouth to speak " Twenty seven " As soon as Emmanuel heard the first part of his sentence, he immediately cut Ade short and then spoke, " Fine, twenty six it is ".
After the agreement, they finally not only stopped with the beating but kept quite the distance. " Be quick about it, you have wasted enough of our time ". Hearing him, Emmanuel wasted no more chance.
He reached out his hands to his pocket to take out the money. On touching it, he realised a fatal point which he had missed out earlier. The money in his pocket wasn't thirty thousands, but the fifty thousands itself. This was what he had missed.
He had yet to separate the money into parts, and so the entire fifty thousands naira were actually still together. The thug could immediately tell that something was wrong from Emmanuel behaviour. Mito who was the closest in position to Emmanuel suddenly plunged forward.
His hands stretched out to the pocket that Emmanuel had touched just now. He felt something there and immediately pulled it out. This happened in a matter seconds.