Oil on Water

Back in the narrative present, Rufus thinks about how surreal it is to be trapped on the island again, this time captured by the major and his soldiers. Zaq has been getting worse overnight, with his eyes becoming glassy and his mind confused. After finally falling asleep, Rufus wakes to find Naman and Zaq whispering together, both of them looking better than they had been. The soldiers come to take them all down to the water to bathe; while there, the major gives a speech about how the military knows that people sympathetic to the militants are present, and he says that they will be found and dealt with. He confines everyone to the island for one week with no hope of leaving.

Rufus again slips out in his robes to see what the situation is. He is shocked to learn that the soldiers have either sunk the boats or chopped them up for firewood. Zaq and Naman told him about a way to escape and go to Port Harcourt to see Beke Johnson and tell him what is going on at the island. Rufus is supposed to dive under the water in a certain place and let the current carry him to the pier, where he can have a fisherman take him to Tamuno’s village; from that point, the chief can help get him to Port Harcourt.