Lia's files 2_Heading down south

by Kathrin Kilambya

  He paused again and looked at all of us in a very determined, earnest way. “We will not go down silently! We will not disappear into the night without a fight! We will not be exterminated by these Nemesis as if we were vermin of a kind! We will fight! For our lives! For our right to live! For now, we need to stay unobtrusively in the dark. We must gather force before we can think about fighting back! But rest assured, Goytom, brother, fight we will. With all our strength! So, brother, will you come with us?”

  Goytom didn’t answer immediately. He stared down on the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he lifted his gaze and looked at Rob. “Thank you, Robert, I really appreciate your support, all of yours.”

  He briefly looked at all of us, before addressing Rob again. “I, my family, you will help me bury them. Tomorrow. We will pray for them, even though there won’t be any priest to conduct the proper rituals.”

  He heaved a deep sigh and continued in a shaky voice. “Then we will go away from here. I will never come back here. Never! Here is nothing for me anymore. I should never have left my family. I might have saved them.”

  “No brother, don’t delude yourself here.” Rob gently interpolated. “You could not have saved them. Not from that Pathogen.”

  Goytom shot him a hurt, almost wild glance, and continued. “Maybe you are right; maybe not. We will never know. I couldn’t protect them from this. But I will revenge them. On their dead bodies I swear here and now that I will revenge them or die in the attempt.” Overcome by his grief and feeling of intense guilt, Goytom sank back and covered his face with his hands.

  I looked over at Winter and motioned to the door. She silently nodded. We both got up and I motioned for Alice to follow me. Mahlet and Yuki followed suit. We left the men to try to console Goytom.

  Paul entered the room as we left it and looked questioningly at us. Winter just whispered, “Goytom; he needs you men, not us.” Paul nodded that he understood and he strode over to Mahlet to embrace her. She seemed very self-conscious, but all the rest of us observed them with complete and utter pleasure. I, for one, was so happy to see Paul happy. In all this misery and death, he had found love, somebody to share the future with. How very wonderful! From the way Winter beamed at Paul, it was apparent that she shared my sentiments exactly.

  When Paul finally pulled free from kissing Mahlet and saw us standing there smiling at him as if he were our favorite performing monkey, he laughed, kissed Mahlet on her hair and pushed her our direction. “You three are incredible, you know! Here, take care of my heart’s delight. And sleep well, all of you. We will be a little longer.”

  We giggled at his theatrical but exuberant way and moved over to the larger room where we had laid out the sleeping-bags earlier. Alice was dead on her feet and fell asleep almost the instant that I covered her with her fleece blanket. I inquired of Yuki how she was feeling and doing, what with her pregnancy and all the day’s excitement. She assured me that she was very fine, just tired, oh so tired. I wished her and Mahlet and Winter, too, a good night and lay on my back, convinced that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, not until Josh would join me.

  I could hear the low murmur of the men’s voices from the other room. And through the open window the noises of the night. Hyenas cackled not far away. A sound like from home! From Blue-Hill-Farm! I thought I could discern at least two different individuals. It made me feel safe and secure, as if Blue-Hill-Farm were just around the corner and we would get there tomorrow and be safe with Uncle Phil, Mum, Nate and everyone! Stupid of me maybe, but so very comforting! Turning over with a sigh, I wrapped a protective arm around Alice and closed my eyes.

  I never even noticed when Josh came to lie beside me. However, when, during the small hours of the night, I woke because of dogs barking nearby, I found he had wrapped his arms around me and held me safe. I happily snuggled up to him and he murmured “Lia, my love!” before falling asleep again. It was utter bliss and I happily fell asleep again, too.

  Chapter 7 – driving south

  24th May 2072

  We were up at dawn next morning, all of us. Whether Goytom had found sleep, I didn’t know. He, Rob, Josh and Degu set about digging graves even before we’d started to prepare breakfast. Mahlet, Paul, Nin and Winter went to prepare the dead for burial. It had been decided, not that anyone had bothered to ask us, that Yuki, Alice and I were to stay behind, prepare breakfast and wait for the everyone else.

  At first, Yuki and I were quite indignant about this highhandedness of the others. I understood the reasoning behind it. What with Yuki being pregnant and Alice to look after, it was understandable that we were to be spared the sight and handling of the eight bodies. It was an entirely rational decision. Still, it rankled.

  To make up for it, we made an extra effort with breakfast and cooked a sauce of lentils with soft, fresh flat breads. We’d found a bag of lentils as well as some flour in a cupboard in the house we were staying. The flour having been packed in a tight plastic container, it hadn’t been spoiled or invested by insects, but was perfectly alright. We also prepared lots of strong, sweet tea and finally carried it all out to be ready for consumption once everything was done.

  By ten o’clock, the grave site was ready. They had dug a deep, longish pit and now the men carried the bodies that had been wrapped in blankets out of the house and laid them into their grave. Alice and I had been told to go and collect stones. Ones not too small, but also not too big, which were to cover the dead and prevent animals from disturbing their last resting place.

  When the bodies had been placed in the grave, we all stood in a half circle behind Goytom, who spoke his goodbyes to his loved ones. Mahlet and Degu spoke prayers with Goytom, while we watched on in respect and silence. I silently wished for the earth to be lightly on these unknown people. That they might find their peace, in whatever form.

  Alice stood very close to me and needed comfort; she held Malinda in one and Piglet in her other arm and looked utterly confused and lost. I knelt down beside her and made her sit on my lap. She hid her face in the hollow of my throat and murmured something I couldn’t understand.

  After a long while, Goytom turned from the grave and strode over to the pile of rocks we had prepared. The other men joined him and together they gently covered the dead first with soil, then with rocks and then again with soil. When the grave had been closed, Mahlet and Winter brought forth a makeshift wooden cross and Goytom stuck it in the mound over the grave. More prayers were said, then Goytom turned to thank us for our help and disappeared into his house.

  Everyone else trooped back to the house we were staying and took turns to wash and refresh themselves. At first, we were a bit at a loss, whether it would be okay to start breakfast, well, by now it was lunch really, or whether we should wait for Goytom. Mahlet informed us that according to tradition, Goytom would not eat today and that we were to partake of our food without him. We did so in solemn silence. I wished that we could travel on, this place seemed so forlorn and desolate. It held nothing but despair and, surely, Goytom would be much better off to come with us. But when would he be ready to leave?

  It was almost noon and we had long ago cleared up the remains of our meal, packed everything in the cars and sat in the shade waiting, when Goytom finally reappeared. He had packed a little bag and he carefully closed the door of his house and locked it. He walked over to the grave and remained some minutes in silence, before coming over to address Rob. “I am ready now. Thanks again to all of you for your help today, it will always stay in my mind. The way you helped me and stood y me. Now we can go. I have said my goodbyes and am ready.”

  Without another word, he walked to the car, he and Degu had shared yesterday and climbed in the passenger seat.

  Rob jumped up from the rock he had sat on, dusted his pants, pulled Winter up beside him and motioned for us all to move over to the cars. “Let’s get going then. There is still enough time to make it to your hometown this afternoon, Degu, r
ight?”

  Degu nodded eagerly and briskly walked over to their car. We all followed suit and within less than five minutes we had left that little village called Leku, where Goytom’ family had lived and died, and were heading back to the main road and then down south.

  Despite the gloomy moments of this morning, it was another glorious day. Bands of clouds rolling across the sky; an indication of the fast approaching rain season. A steady wind from easterly directions kept the clouds moving westward and the air was heavy with humidity and fragrant scents of the lush vegetation. It could have been such a peaceful setting. Such a nice place to live and prosper and yet so much devastation had been wreaked here, as everywhere in the world.

  “Do you think that there are people living here?” Alice suddenly inquired. She had been sitting quietly on the back seat of our car, Piglet and Malinda on either side of her.

  “We’ll never know, tiger.” Josh answered. “If there are any survivors here, I am sure that they are hiding from us. After all, would we openly approach any strangers that we’d encounter after such a disaster? I hope, I sincerely hope that there are survivors. Here and everywhere. It mustn’t be that the Nemesis succeeded in wiping mankind out.”

  He spoke with determination and a hard edge to his voice that was both reassuring to hear as well as frightening. ‘Organizing the fight’ sprang to my mind and I didn’t want to dwell upon this too much. Not yet. Time would come when I’d have to face that reality, but for now we were here, we were together and we were heading homeward. Let that be enough.

  We had hit the main road again and were steadily heading south. The sun straight ahead and its rays burning hot on our arms and legs. Alice in the back of the car was lucky to be shielded from the heat of the sun. She had settled in the middle of the seat, with Piglet and Malinda beside her and was eagerly looking out of the window.

  I wasn’t really surprised when she asked how far it still was and when we would finally be in Kenya. After all, this driving south really felt like approaching home. Sure, right now the vegetation was nothing like back home in Kenya. Too lush and green. And we were still hundreds of kilometres away from Blue-Hill-Farm. Yet, it felt like home, like it would take just a skip, a hop and a jump and we’d be there.

  “Tiger, we will not get to Kenya today.” Josh answered Alice’s questions. “We’ll make it to the town of Mega, where Degu’s is from. It is still more than five hundred kilometres to go and it will take us all afternoon to get there. From what I have seen on the maps this morning, it will then be roughly hundred-and-twenty kilometres to Moyale, the border town. So, if all goes well, we’ll be in Kenya tomorrow. Wow, who would have thought so?” He mused and shot me a radiant smile. “Home by tomorrow.”

  “Where does your family live, Josh?” Alice inquired.

  I knew, but the topic had never come up so far, so I had never told Alice. And she didn’t know that that topic was painful to Josh.

  The question had wiped the smile from his face and his eyebrows contracted for a moment. He looked over at me questioningly for a moment, but I just silently shook my head. He nodded and answered Alice. “You know, Alice, my family lived south of Nairobi, in a little town called Kibwezi. We’ll probably pass there on our way to Blue-Hill-Farm. Nobody of my family lives anymore, though. My parents together with my older brother and two younger sister were all killed in a car accident fifteen years ago. I grew up with an elderly great-aunt, and later Aunt Kamene saw to it that I received a proper education and could go to the states to continue my studies. I haven’t been to my hometown for years and years. After the death of my father, a neighbour and distant relative disputed my father’s ownership of the land he had possessed. He was successful and within a few months, I found myself landless and destitute. Had it not been for Aunt Kamene and Phil I don’t know what would have become of me. My father was an only child, so there are nor close relatives. And the place holds no good memories. That’s the way it was.”

  He turned to smile encouragingly at Alice.

  She looked at him sad and preoccupied. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss on his neck. “We are your family now. And we love you so very much.”

  Josh almost careened of the road, he was so surprised. When he had regained control, he sincerely thanked Alice for her kindness and told her that he was mightily proud to be considered part of her family.

  She seemed happy and content with this and sat back again.

  I held out my hand to Josh, he took it and pressed a kiss on my palm. I answered the gesture and we smiled at each other.

  We drove on in silence, I was busy studying the map and tracing our progress down South. Alice looked out of the window and Josh had put on his sunglasses and kept on driving. Every now and then, he glanced over at me or at Alice in the back to make sure we were all right.

  Our motorcade never stopped, we drove on as fast as was feasible. Besides, we all had something to drink and eat in the cars, so there was no need to stop for that. Every now and then, we passed houses and homesteads that were scattered along the road and several smaller and bigger villages. We had just passed through a rather large settlement without seeing any trace of live, when Alice asked for something to drink. While I was rummaging in the food-bag for some water, she suddenly exclaimed. “What is this lake over there. Look, it’s huge.”

  She pointed westward, and sure enough, there was a big surface of water glittering in the sun. A glance at our map told us that we had just passed through the town of Dila and that the lake over there was Lake Abaya. The last of chain of lakes that was situated in that part of the rift valley.

  “It looks terrific, doesn’t it?” Josh said.

  “Yes. It’s quite huge.” I replied. “Ah, I see on my map that there’s another smaller lake immediately south of it, Lake Chamo. It’s not one big, long lake, but two actually.”

  Like big blue-green emeralds the lakes lay there. Quiet and majestic. An awesome sight. But we never stopped or went clos. There was no time for this.

  Soon, the lakes disappeared from view when we drove through a dense forested area. But we caught glimpses of them every now between the trees and then for another hour as we proceeded south parallel to them. Before the Nemesis attacks, this must have been a very fertile and productive area, for we passed many signs of intensive agricultural activities as well as several prosperous towns with grand official buildings, displaying the wealth of the area. Now everything lay empty and the lush vegetation was quickly reclaiming roads, houses and even concrete buildings. It was both depressing and, strangely, encouraging. We never saw any trace or signs of humans or recent human activities. However, we saw scores of cattle, cows, goats and donkeys, roaming the landscape. In almost every village we came through, there was a pack of dogs roaming the streets and barking at us as we drove past. Back there in Sudan, where we had passed though arid landscapes, it had seemed less outrageous that no humans were present. But here, this landscape was so fertile and productive. To see no humans at all, seemed really strange.

  Maybe an hour after we’d seen the last glimpse of Lake Abaya and Lake Chamo, the landscape subtly changed. Trees grew further apart and where before we had passed through row after row of dense, tall forests, the landscape got more open, with more bushes than trees. Everything got more arid and another hour later, we’d definitely moved from fertile soils to the arid red soils so familiar to us from Kenya. It felt more and more like coming home, and we were all anxious to get going as fast as possible.

  At about four o’clock, we came into a wide river valley with flood plains and signs of dense settlements and agriculture. Soon afterwards, a major junction came into view and the motorcade, under the leadership of Degu and Goytom, took the southward road and kept going. A glance at the map told us that we had just passed the town of Yavello and that in about one hundred kilometres we’d reach Mega.

  “Good, if all goes well, we’ll make it there way before dark.” Josh murmured. “I
am tired.”

  I immediately volunteered to take over driving, but he dismissed this suggestion with a smile and a shake of his head.

  The terrain got hillier now, we were heading straight toward a mountain chain and according to our map, Mega lay up among those hills, a bit like an eagle’s nest. The area proofed to be an island of lush green vegetation. The closer we got to the hills, the greener it got.

  “These mountains probably catch whatever wet weather is heading their way and empty the clouds of their rain. That’s why it’s so green here. A good place to live. I hope, we’ll find survivors here …” Josh’s voice trailed off.

  I felt a flutter of nervousness rise inside. What would we encounter? Would somebody of Degu’s family still be alive?

  Please!! Please, let it be true! I whispered to myself. I don’t want to witness another burial.

  “What are you whispering over there?” Josh immediately inquired. Nothing I did, felt or said seemed to slip his attention. The concerned look he shot me, sent butterflies fluttering all over my stomach.

  “Nothing, just hoping that Degu’s family is alright. And that we’ll find them.”

  “Yes, so do I. I wonder, though, how Degu intends to find them. Surely they must have gone into hiding, if they survived.”

  “We’ll soon know. Look! It’s just a couple of kilometres and we’ll be there.”

  About another five minutes later, we fast approached a little town. The usual assembly of low buildings, many with corrugated-iron-sheet-roofs. And, on a little hill, the now familiar hexagonal structure of a church, it’s iron-sheet-roof painted bright turquois. But we didn’t really enter the city. We had hardly passed the first houses, when Degu’s car left the main road and turned right.