Chapter 01 : Glimpses of Past part 01

" Hello Guys, I'm Ramya & that's my brother Raj " she indicates a young small boy searching something in a dark house. " I, Raj , my father & my mother lived in this house happily for a long period of time. Well actually not a very long period. About 5 or 6 years. Nevermind , that's not the point here. Everything changed before 3 years. In the very beginning of the year 2020 'COVID – 19' virus outbreak happened across the globe. Almost every nations around the globe faced drastic effects due to this outbreak.

My country Srilanka also affected by it. We sucessfully controlled the 1st wave of Virus around May. We thought we won. People went to work, children went to school , all the people were engaged in their daily activities without any panic. Everything changed when the Virus started to spread again from Minuwangoda Colony due to the visit of some foreigners. This time people were careless & our government thought they can control it like the first time. But virus outbreak gradually started to spread across the country.

This time our government struggled to impose cutfew immediately. They instructed people to maintain social distance & they also implement certain laws to control the disease . But the people were reckless. Infection started to increase gradually & deaths also rised. Then only we realised we all made a mistake. But it's too late. The infection affected all the districts of my country.

Government imposed country wise curfew again in April 2021. But it's too late. Numerous people were affected by the infection this time. Government took all the necessary steps to identify the infected people. Several law officers, doctors & medical assistants were also infected in this process. Within few months whole country turned into chaos. Deaths rised. People were forced to stay in their home. Those uninfected people thought they were safe. But actually they are not.

Within few months their household stocks were finished. Government distributed things via vehicle. They instructed the people to stay indoor. They tried their best. But economy started to fall. Then people started to move illegally outside to buys foods & other necessary things. Government arrested the people who broke the lockdown. But every thing corrupted when the 50% of people were infected by the virus due to their movement in streets. The people with low income couldn't be able to purchase goods secretly.

They were starved. Then their nature changed. They started to raid the shops. They started to break into the rich people's houses & stole. They started to kill each other for food. You wonder what government were doing in this chaos. Actually all the laws & government system failed when people started to die in their houses by infection & starvation.

Then people moved freely in streets & theft , killing started . Morover infection started to increase . People were started to die in streets. Killing increased . Some people formed small gangs & started to kill other people & store the goods in their hideouts. They raided the homes & kill the weak ones. They fought other gangs for domination.

Humanity long gone within a year. Only the strong ones can survive this world . In the other hand infection also spread across the society. The several gang members also infected during their raid. Different gang members tried to kill other gangs. Weak ones stayed in their home. They were killed when their houses raided or when they went outside to find food. 95% of our country population died by infection & violance.

Most of the gangs disappeared. Gang members started to kill each other within their own gang for survival. They started to live as solo or 3 or 4 people in their hideout. There's no government, no laws, no electricity, no money system & also no humanity in this new world. Only the pure darkness rules here. These incidents not only happened in our country but also in all the nations of our world. The whole world returned to dark age.

The nature of the virus also changed according to the different climatic conditions. The virus started to survive even in extreme conditions for few days. The whole environment became unsafe to travel. But this virus never affected other animals. So streets were filled with animals. Some domestic animals like cats & dogs changed in to wild. Survivors have no idea how they're going to survive in this apocalyptic world.

Luckily my house has a secret room . My father & mother filled it with food when the chaos started. They went outside once in a month to collect foods & things. We already had the foods enough for a year . But they were unsure how long this is gonna last. So they also went outside to collect things. I don't know what they did there. But they always said to me & my brother 'The world is changed . Here you prey or become as prey.'

One day they went outside & never returned. Me & my brother were left alone. We hid here for months. We were lucky. Because raiders never found this room. We never lit candles in night. Because they may find our place. We slept in dark. We carefully moved around house & to our well in order to get water during day time. We managed until now. But now our food finished. Now we have to go outside to find food.

I may return here or may not. I am recording this to remaind how our world turned into a horrible place. I definitely know one day every thing will change & our world wilI become as a better place. If anyone find this tape. Please keep it safe. Because in oder to build a better future, we have to study our past & learn from our mistakes. I am going . Bye bye. A report by Ramya from…. I think November or December of 2023. Sorry guys! I lost the count. Bye!" She turns off the recording & takes the tape form it. She lables it as " A report from 2023 " & put it in a table.

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