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

Entry 26

The men who attacked me had most likely done it before, using the chaos and anarchy to strike and prey on the unsuspecting. The Global Council's fight has not only been against the mort vivants, but also against the assholes like Som, Boum, and Nav, the feral people who continued the violence. There are plenty of them to go around. The orders from the top are clear. The feral people who refuse to comply with the central authority and are a menace to what we are trying to achieve are to be put into the ground. Pedro said he saw a couple of these Mad Max types once in southern Italy. They had been attacking settlements outside of Naples. The city itself had been cleaned of the infected, but the feral people were making it difficult for those who wanted to settle down and rebuild their lives. They were believed to be part of the mafia that once ruled the area. They had taken over following the outbreak. Now they refused to bend to the new rules. So, the jets were sent in. Pedro said they sent in these American Warthogs, planes that essentially destroyed everything they came across. I can't say I'm sorry. I was a victim of these people. These assholes, who thought raping a fourteen-year-old girl was normal, existed before the outbreak and will continue to exist. Even if the Global Council thinks it has them under control, it doesn't. We are humans and since the dawn of time we've been good at doing one thing—violence towards one another. I mean I feel safe now. I'm 22 years old and I can handle myself against rapists no matter how big or small.

Som's attempted rape changed the way Dad and I saw the world. We were nolonger as complacent as we were before; we were much more careful. As for Dad,he was not going to let me out of his sight unless he absolutely had to. Hetold me at least with the living dead you knew what you were getting. Withpeople, you just never knew.