BOMB.

10.20 am

The earth shook. 

The vibration from the loud blast sent Emeka crashing on the floor. He had stepped outside the hospital main gate to receive his younger brother who just arrived from the East to visit him. He could see Chinedu's smiling face as he waved at him, his traveling bag slung loosely over his right shoulder. Emeka smiled in return, weariness etched deeply in his face. He had been on call the previous night and work was hectic. It was raining lightly and his brother was  getting soaked. As he bid his brother to cross to his side of the road, he fumbled his pockets for his car keys to get his umbrella.

In that instant, hell broke loose. 

Gbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmm!!!

10.35 am

Screams and shouts came from a distance. The wailing came closer. And the screaming louder. Emeka opened his eyes. They felt heavy. He could make Chinedu's face peering down at him. He was groggy. "Thank God you are alright," Chinedu said, helping him to his feet. Emeka looked around. The sight could have come from a horror movie. Bodies were lying on the road. From where he stood, he could see smoke emanating from the United Nation's Building. Part of the roof was collapsed. He could hear clearly the agony of the wounded. He turned to Chinedu. "What happened? " he asked, dazed. "They said a bomb just exploded," Chinedu answered, visibly shaken.

10.45 am

Ambulance sirens wailed nearby. Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) arrived the blast site. Doctors, nurses and members of the rescue team were carrying bodies into the hospital. Emeka and Chinedu joined the rescue effort. The first person they carried was an unconscious middle-aged woman whose left leg was badly torn and hanging loosely. Emeka applied pressure to stop the bleeding artery at the back of the knee as they hurried to the Accident and Emergency. "Avulsion injury to the left lower limb with bleeding popliteal artery and hypovolemic shock," Emeka reeled out to the attending Casualty Officer who directed them where to lay the patient. 

11.00 am

The Emergency Room was a mad house. Bomb victims were brought in numbers. Some doctors were at the entrance triaging the patients. Those confirmed dead on arrival were sent straight to the morgue. Some victims had missing body parts. Others had bleeding lacerations. Crying patients were basically ignored and attention directed to the unconscious, 'silent' ones. A voice boomed in the overhead speakers. "All staff of National Hospital are needed at the Emergency Room to help with the emergency." 

Emeka was in the Orthopaedic team, stabilizing fractured limbs, suturing lacerations and arresting bleeding blood vessels. 

11.30 am

A pretty young lady was brought in, delirious with pain. Practically all her bones were shattered but internally. "Shola was working with UNICEF at the UN building. They were in a meeting at the first floor when the bomb went off," her mother told Emeka, in tears. Emeka took another look at the girl and shook his head in despair. "She has multiple compound comminuted fractures with possible internal haemorrhage. We will do our best but she will benefit more if flown outside the country."

12.00 noon

By midday, facilites at National Hospital have been overwhelmed. Outside the Accident and Emergency, some patients lay on wrappers, their wounds being tended to by health workers. Other patients being brought were referred to nearby hospitals.

The operating theatres were filled to the brim. Patients laid on the hallway, groaning in pains, doctors and nurses with bloodied theatre gowns rushing in and out of the rooms. Emeka discarded his blood-stained ward coat and gloves and changed into a theatre gown. The surgeries were endless. Sixty surgeries in all with about three hundred blood transfusions.

6.00pm

Emeka came out of the theatre physically drained. The rumblings in his stomach reminded him that he had not eaten since morning. His phone rang. It was Chinedu. "Where are you?" they asked each other simultaneously. "I am at the morgue," Chinedu started. "So far,I have counted forty-one dead bodies. Forty-one! Six persons were totally dismembered. Only few body parts assembled." His voice was shaking. "Meet me in front of the Emergency,"Emeka said. At the entrance of the Emergency, he met Shola's mum entering an ambulance. "We are flying her to France. Thanks for your help." Emeka smiled reassuringly. "It is well. She will pull through." He could hear her loud 'Amen' as the ambulance drove away.

7.00pm

Emeka switched on his television. The bombing was in the news. An Islamist group called Boko Haram claimed responsibility. Twenty persons were said to have died while sixty-eight were injured. Emeka and Chinedu exchanged surprised glances as the figures were mentioned. Chinedu shrugged and left for the kitchen. 

The United Nations Secretary General's message condemning the act was displayed as well as that of the Nigerian President. "We will do all in our power to bring the perpetrators to justice," President Jonathan said.

Chinedu returned with two plates of food but Emeka could not muster any appetite to eat. He relaxed on the sofa and closed his eyes. The events of the day kept replaying in his head. The cries. The blood. What baffled him most was the senselessness of the attack. He let out a heavy sigh. The message could not have been any clearer: The end is here.

© Kelvin Alaneme, 2014. Follow on Twitter @dr_alams