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

Entry 18

I sat there, with the knife pointing towards Andy, but he didn't move. The sound of the phone snapped me out of it. It was the house line. I picked it up.

"Val, is that you? Are you there?"

"Daddy! Where are you? Where's Mom and Vani?"

The line was bad. It was crackling. I wasn't sure if he'd heard me.

"Baby...don't come back...leave...." The line went blank. "Deux Bras...there...safer...."

The line went dead.

"Daddy!" I yelled into the phone. No answer. "Please...." I started crying again. I cried for a long time. It came in ripples, a wave of hopelessness followed by fear. On and on it went. I slowly got a grip on myself. I realized that Dad may have been trying to tell me to get to Deux Bras if he didn't make it, or to leave immediately, I wasn't a hundred percent sure that's what he wanted. I didn't know where he was. I thought it best to try and make my way to Tookay, the temple where Mom and Vani were. That seemed to be the best course of action.

It was morning by then and the first thing I did was to drag Andy's body out of the kitchen, into the backyard with the wine opener stuck firmly in his head. I didn't pull it out. I couldn't bring myself to do it. The reason I dragged him out was because I had watched some police documentary about how the human body lets out an overpowering smell when it starts to decompose. Andy was already starting to smell bad. I didn't want him inside the house. He was heavy, dead weight. Somehow, I managed to drag him outside into the sugar cane field. I left him there. I thought about burying him, then I thought the police might want to see the body when I explained to them I killed him in an act of self-defence. I still believed the police were active.

Before I left, I climbed to the top of the house again. I had taken Dad's binoculars. It didn't make a difference. My view was blocked. So, I listened. Our street was quiet. There was no movement or noise from our neighbours' and after the nasty surprise with Andy I wasn't all that keen to go knocking on people's doors. I went inside locking the door to the roof behind me. I wasn't sure if the living dead had climbing abilities or not. Thankfully they don't. I made sure all the windows inside the house were properly locked. I grabbed my backpack, Vani's backpack, and the keys to our farm. I got Dad's bike. He had a nice mountain bike; better than the bikes Vani and I had. I was worried he might get upset at me, but I was sure he'd rather I be safe than dead. Besides I was planning on riding through the sugar cane fields on the dirt roads used by the big sugar trucks and Dad's bike was more reliable. I knew the back roads pretty well; I used to ride with Dad to Deux Bras. Also, Vani and I used to go for walks on Sunday afternoons after lunch with Tati and Tata. "A good walk is good for the digestion," Tata would say. The mort vivants certainly believe so, as they're always walking.

I took Dad's bike from the garage and shut the door behind me. I did not want anyone to have any nasty surprises. Andy's body had started to stink. It wasn't like when a dead animal rots, not that kind of smell. This was a strange, putrid smell, as if the whole world were rotting. Behind our house I followed a small footpath that went through the sugar cane to a wide dirt road used by the big sugar cane trucks, I took the dirt road and headed towards Tookay, not sure if it was the right direction. One thing I knew for sure, the highway and speeding cars lay between Tookay and myself, and that meant dodging speeding cars to get across. I was still under the impression that things were somewhat normal.

I pedalled slowly, staying in the middle of the road; I was worried there might be one of those things lurking in the cane which was tall at the time. Harvest was a few weeks away. Even before I got to the highway I heard the honking. As I got closer, I heard the screams, the screams of men, women, and children. Screams of absolute and utter horror and terror. The road I was on led straight onto the highway. The cane leaves were too thick towards the end of the road, blocking my view of the highway. Fortunately, the cane leaves didn't reach to the middle of the road; they can cause small paper like cuts that sting.

I doubled back. I needed a vantage point which I found in the form of a small hill. I hid the bike at the bottom and took the binoculars from my backpack. I climbed the hill, which was covered with shrubs and bushes. When I got to the top I did not need to use the binoculars. A huge traffic jam blocked both sides of the highway, but mostly on the side leading south to the airport. I guess people thought they could catch a flight out and people from the south were heading north to the towns in Plaines Wilhems, heading to family or safety. I'll never know. Swarms and swarms of the living dead were attacking people stuck in their cars. The people in the cars couldn't get out because they were surrounded and there was nowhere to run. I saw someone try to get out of a car. A few of the living dead grabbed him as he stepped out of the car. One of them bit him in the neck. Another bit him in the stomach and they all fell back in the car, which shook as they ate him.

One woman was trying to fight them off with a fire extinguisher. She was on top of her car spraying them as they tried to get her. It didn't stop them, they attacked her, and there was a spray of blood and foam. One driver tried to back into another and create space, but they couldn't move. I took the binoculars and watched as the driver, a young girl, backed her car into the one behind her at full speed. It burst into flames. Both cars burned quickly, I guess she must have hit a gas tank or something.

The highway was out of bounds.

Movement and rustling in the sugar cane fields below me got my attention. Not too far from the hill were six living dead heading towards me. I didn't waste time and scrambled down my side of the hill, grabbed the bike and pedalled away as fast as I could. I now realized Dad was saying I should head to Deux Bras. Tookay and that part of the island were off limits. I hoped he had managed to find Vani and Mom. I stayed within the sugar cane dirt roads and avoided the main roads. I came across a large group of living dead chasing an older couple on the road I had to cross. They had their backs to me as I crossed the road and they didn't see or hear me. I could have quietly slipped by, but the couple screamed for help. I had to do something, I stopped in the middle of the road, and called out, "Over here!" in English. I spoke the language all the time so that's what came to mind, in hindsight it must be from watching so many cartoons where the good guys try to distract the bad people or animals or whatever, so other people can get away. Maybe that's what happened. But it got their attention because they turned towards me. I took off into the sugar cane fields. I didn't stop to check if they came after me, I just pedalled furiously. Terrified.