Valli : Personal Journal of Valli Pillay, a Living Dead Pandemic Survivor

Entry 17

Dad came home shortly after Mom and Vani had left. It had started to rain pretty hard.

"Where's your Mom and Vani?" he asked.

"They went to Kovil Tookay. Didn't you get Mom's text?"

"No." He pulled out his phone. "I ran out of power and forgot to charge it in the truck. When did they leave? They shouldn't have gone."

"They left about 30 minutes ago. I told Mom not to go. She said it'd be fine. They're following Uncle Raj."

I watched as Dad took the landline and called Mom. "It's ringing, but she's not answering."

"Let's go meet her," I said.

"Hold on," he said and called another number. "Raj? Is Tanu with you? What? They're coming? Hundreds? What? Raj? Dammit get out of there!" There was a beeping sound. I guessed Uncle Raj, had hung up.

"What's going on, Daddy?"

"I don't know, baby." He grabbed my shoulders. "Listen, I'm going to go get them."

"What about me?"

"I want you to stay here."

"Don't leave me. Let me come with you." I pleaded with him. The tears were raining down my eyes. I was sobbing so hard, I shook.

"I'm not leaving you," he said. "I'm going to be right back with your mother and sister. It's unsafe out there. You will be safer here. Hold on."

He went into my room and came back with my school backpack.

"I want you to fill this up with stuff you will need a change of clothes, extra underwear and socks. Get your trainers, your anorak. Do the same for Vani."

"Where are we going?"

"Listen to me, Val, we don't have time. We need to move away from the major centres. When I get back we're going to Deux Bras. Okay?"

He gave me the keys to the farm.

"These are the keys to the locks on the gate and the hut. I've cleaned out the place and prepared it. There's plenty of food and water. We'll wait it out there."

"What if the sick people come here?" I asked.

"Lock all the doors when I leave and keep quiet. I'll be back with Mom and Vani before you know it."

"Should we leave Mauritius?"

"And go where sweetie? The whole world is in this shit. Don't tell your mother I said that."

"I won't."

"Come here." He held his arms out. "Don't you worry; we're going to be fine." He gave me a big hug. "I love you. Now close the door behind me."

I watched Dad leave, he closed the gate behind him and waved to me. I was on my own again.

I locked all the doors after Dad left. We had a single storey house, but there was a staircase leading to the roof which was flat. Mom and Dad wanted to eventually extend the house, but they never got around to it. I made sure the door to the roof was locked. To be sure, I closed all the windows. As it was evening it was also colder. I packed my stuff and Vani's into our school backpacks. I added some books and a monopoly game in case we got bored.

With nothing to do but wait, I went online; the internet was still up and running. The BBC News website had a huge banner saying due to unprecedented events it was suspending all reporting. Most of the major outlets had suspended their broadcasting, so a lot of individual citizens filled the gap.