Thetriffided Earth The first monthThirty days have passed. The Earth continues triffided.Triffided is a term that we, the survivors, named the current situation: theEarth had a lot of triffids. So, the Earth was triffided. The innocentstriffids, a comum plant in ours gardens, became a carnivorous plants aftersuffering a genetic mutation caused by debris from comet. And they still walk !They hunt us like a lion hunt a deer. They are fast to move and fast to learn to hunt, too. Not solve shoot with guns. Just we can killthem with a machete or with a axe. Wemust to cut their trunks. It is the only solution. As I write this diary, sixmen are guarding the surrounding. We areamong 27 people in this refuge. All men. The women and the blind people werehunted easily. They were slow and unprepared. An easy dish to triffids. Elevenmen have left in search of food two hours ago. Within fifteen minutes is myturn to watch.The second monthA huge german named Ernest is our new leader.He was elected after Niles,our former leader, commit suicide. We must be the only organized group in theworld. We lost radio contact with two other groups. One that spoke English,from Australia.And another that spoke Spanish. Maybe from South America.We are alone. We had many clothes. We had many hygiene supplies. But we had nofood. The looting in the markets of region didn t bring more the needed food.The rationing was necessary. Urgently. The water was abundant and of goodquality. Two men, Alfred and Hitchcock, were sick. Ernest had been a nursebefore become a teacher of mathematics and took care them. Between us there wascounters, engineers, mechanics, merchants, teachers. No woodsman ... ! The third monthA-Sha-Merrau, a arab tradesman of sundries ofdubious provenance, returned alone to our refuge. He had out with six men toseek food and returned alone ... what hadhappened ? He was wheezy. Sweating. Sparrow, a shoemaker for a poorneighborhood and our leader when Ernest was out, interrogated A-Sha-Merrau.With his terrible accent, A-Sha-Merrau said that he had returned to tell usthat there was many triffids deads in the way. Something was happening. Something was killing the triffids. I lookedaround. The men were with the eyes wide. A smile in theirs mouth. A smile ofhope. A smile of life. A huge rumble was heard. The men embraced each other.So, Sparrow called Muffy, a fat man, gardener in his spare time. He should gather a group and investigate atriffid dead. The Turkish would guide them. The men picked up their machetesand axes and left for the mission. Forty five minutes after, they returned.Muffy was jubilant: the insects were killingand eaten the triffids ! They were ainsects named igizay, from Japan.Lethal to plants. Harmless to mankind. Rapid reproduction. Muffy estimated thatin six weeks, the insects would eat all triffids ! The men was partying. So,A-Sha-Merrau, with the face pale, shouted: - Who is watching our refuge ? . We all stopped. Silence. In each window, in each door, there was two orthree triffids. We weresurrounded.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fact that changed my life I was watching