SURVIVAL HASTE

She looked out through the window of the dimly lit room, then sat back and looked at her two sleeping children. She felt weak and tired, but she knew that she had to be strong for them, they had been in that supermarket’s paint store for three days now, the loaves of bread they had looted in their haste when the violence broke out was almost depleted and the last two remainings were their last hope. They had been lucky enough to stay in that paint store undetected for four days now, but even then,  they knew that it was only a matter of time before the machetes landed on their necks if they didn’t get a way to get to the safety camp as the killers patrolled the area all the time. Hell had broken loose after the election results were announced and some of the leaders not contented with the outcome had gone an extra mile to hire a group of cold-blood killers that smashed down anybody that didn’t support their political interests. Mary, a teacher and just recently transferred into the county was just starting to cope with the new environment when it started and the fact that they were far from home and their tribemate was one of the dissatisfied candidates for the presidency position made them vulnerable. Actually to Mary, the post-election violence was personal to her as her husband had been killed in the same incident five years ago, he had been so unlucky to have met a group of violent demonstrators while from work who had mercilessly burnt down his car with him inside. In all that confusion, they didn’t care to check whether he was part of the opponents or not. When she heard the news, she didn’t get out of her room for three days, it was like her strength and reason to live had also gone altogether, she simply broke down,her sister couldn’t bear it anymore, and against her will,she was carried to the hospital, it was there that she was told that she was ten days pregnant and if hadn’t been brought to the hospital on time it would have interfered with the child’s development. The news came as a surprise to her because even though she had had some abnormal feelings,  she had been blinded by the sudden death of her husband and didn’t take them seriously. From then on she realized that even though her husband had left her for good,he left her two twin sons that constantly reminded her of him.  That evening immediately the results were announced everything happened so fast that within minutes the area was filled with people screaming ,houses burning  and people running around for safety , those affected had been advised to get to the nearest police station or police camp for safety and to remember to carry enough food as they were not certain of how long it would  take the government to curb the situation. Mary  picked her two children in a hurry and drove off, she wasn’t going to allow the violence to take  away anybody else from her again, she was  fairly far away when she realized they hadn’t carried any food ,money or  clothing and wanted to go back but when she saw the now blazing buildings, she couldn’t risk it.  She was on her way to the police camp when she saw people looting a supermarket and even though she had decided to distance herself from anything involving the violence, it was obvious that she had to go get some food or her children would starve. They had taken as much as the three of them could and were heading to their car when people rushed back into  the supermarkets building shouting that the killers were coming through the main gate, she didn’t know what to do, with the polythene bag full of loaves of bread tied to her wrist she picked up the twins and headed for the stairs , they looked for a hiding place and found the paint store door not locked . She would get up every morning and check whether they were gone all in vain as they would always come around to pick more food suppliers from the vandalized supermarket. And on the fourth day, even though too risky she knew she had to call for help and she made the huge decision to go look for a phone, but she was not leaving her sons behind, she woke them up. In their haste, Michael knocked down a glass table breaking it to pieces,” who is there come out!” a man shouted from within the building, they rushed to the next available door and found themselves in the control room of the mall, she was glad and quickly called the police. With each passing time the voice became louder and came nearer with each time issuing more severe threats. Mary sat down both her children firmly held to her chest, they were out of options. Suddenly gunshots were heard and then everything went silent. They sat there not knowing what to do when suddenly the door was kicked open and they both closed their eyes waiting for their death. “it’s ok, we’re the police, let’s gate you to the safety camp. They slowly opened their eyes in unison not believing and when they saw their uniformed heroes standing at the door their happiness knew no bounds, they were speechless. As the police escorted them to the safety camps, Mary looked at the wake of ruins left behind by the killers and she knew that with the county’s current state, peace was a long way coming and the country would take some time to heal and go back to normalcy, but she was sure together with her two sons, they would conquer any challenge life brings their way   no matter how hard.