Ooooh, something happened all right.
As soon as I realized that the usual armed guards were nowhere to be seen, I grabbed both boys out of bed and manhandled them across the clearing and into Olivia's camper. Olivia had her own private arsenal under the bed platform and alongside the water reservoir. The three handguns were gone, but she had a pair of .22 rifles left behind. I stuffed my pockets full of bullets, and threw one of the rifles at Jason, "time to put that target practice to use. Don't shoot unless I tell you." I handed him a clip, and ignored the stunned look on his face.
"Daniel, grab your aunts' GO bag! Jason! Snap out of it, we need to move and we need to move fast!"
The GO bag, a rucksack full MREs, a small tent, compass, a firestarter kit, and other basic survival necessities. I grabbed the sleeping bag off Olivia's bed, and shoved the boys out the door in a hurry.
We ran. I didn't stop to think, I never looked back, just at the boys running ahead of me, and we ran straight into the bush, away from the camp, away from the road. For what felt like an hour, but I'm sure it was only fifteen minutes or so, before I let them stop, and dig the flashlights out of the GO bag. How we didn't break a leg, or get clotheslined by a tree is a damned miracle.
Digging through Olivia's bag, I found a compass, and a pair of hunting knives. I made a note to Olivia what she hell she used to do for a living before moving up north. Not your average city-slicker, that woman.
Jason kept trying to ask me things, but I shushed him. I couldn't give him answers. Hell I didn't even what I was doing or planned to do. Finally, I snapped at him, "a little less conversation, Jason!"
"A little more action, please?" I snapped my head up at his answer, and took a good look at him. He looked older, and he looked like he'd grown up in a hurry, which I suppose he had. "I deserve answers, Mom, I'm not stupid, I know there's more going on than anybody is willing to talk about."
"Right," I agreed, "you'll get your answers, as soon I have them. But right now, we need to just move, and get as far away as possible." From your father, was the part I didn't say.
I stuffed everything back in the bag and rolled up the sleeping bag so I could strap it to Daniel's back. Daniel, who'd been strangely quiet during the whole thing. I turned him to face me after loading him up, "Honey, are you okay?"
"I'm scared. Where are we going? Where's Dad, and where did Aunt Ollie go?"
Nine years seemed so young all of a sudden. I didn't have any answers for him, either, so I just reassured him as best as I could, and told him we were going to find Aunt Ollie.

"There's something happening here. And what it is, ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there ..."

Something is happening.
The entire woodcutting crew failed to return, Olivia included. It's nearly midnight, and Ed isn't back from wherever he goes, either. Ask me which one I'm more worried about.
In fact, there are a LOT of people that are not here right now ...

"You're on your own now."
That's what Olivia said to me this morning when I knocked on her door. She didn't let me in, she just handed me my notebook and told me to keep it close, not that it would matter soon. Could you get any more cryptic, Olivia?
So now I'm sitting at the fish station, waiting for my ship to come in. Oh sorry, I couldn't resist. we're all waiting for the boats to come in with the early morning catch. There's been less and less caught in the last few days, and this morning there aren't as many boats where I can see them on the lake. They must be looking for a new spot, in the deeper parts of the lake. This lake is pretty freaking huge, at least 12 kilometres long, it's a long way to chase the fish around.
Daniel is with me today. Even Ed's calm reasoning wouldn't budge me, and once Daniel started to whine that he really needed a break from "mudding" (the kids' term for catching reptiles), I could tell Ed had lost and we took off before he could come up another reasonable argument.
He's turned into such a frustrating man. Everything I say, he takes and makes it so that my fear sounds ridiculous. He has a rational excuse for everything. I feel like I'm arguing with a brick wall, and by the time he finishes with me, I am convinced that I'm imagining things, again. Taking Daniel today feels like the first solid step into regaining myself, and I couldn't even do that alone. It took a 10 year old's whiny voice to counteract the reasonable.
Daniel is attempting to throw knives into a chunk of wood. I guess I ought to stop him before somebody else does. Fillet knives make for terrible throwing, kiddo.

The raiding party never came back two days ago. The three people who went to look for them yesterday haven't returned either. You can taste the fear in the air now, and it's not all coming from us prisoners. When seven people in power just disappear, the rest of the powerful people start to get nervous, too.
Ed is edgy and told me not to come here tonight. I did anyway, and personally, I think that shocked him into speechlessness. I even managed to snag Daniel on my way out the door. I haven't been this alone, with my own son, in weeks. He's coming with me tomorrow, come hell or high water.

Olivia's trying to engage Daniel in a game of cards, but he's really not into it. He's quiet, not the same exuberant 10 year old he was before this started. He'll still carry on about the frogs and turtles (and snakes, ew), but it's lacking the enthusiasm he had at the beginning. It's obvious that the adults' moods are affecting everybody, even though a great effort has been made at keeping things as normal as possible under the circumstances. Children aren't stupid, they know when something is happening, and they know it's serious, even if they don't know the particulars.

Tonight, Olivia is ... scarey. I don't know how else to describe it. She seems very satisfied, almost smug, and even though she was out with the wood crew on Tuesday and yesterday, I can't help but feel she knows something about the disappearances.
Playing cards with Daniel, she looks like she always has - Aunt Ollie, Jess's wife, off-beat city gal. But when I first stepped into her camper, towing Daniel behind me, she looked like a stranger, and not a friendly one, either.

Olivia's in a bitchy mood this morning. For that matter, so am I. I didn't even bother with the usual good morning, how are you;I just barged in and sat down to write. Why does she let me do this? Oh look, by the look on her face, I bet she's wondering the same thing. Maybe because we are the only two people we can trust. If she trusts me. I'm still not sure. Some days it seems like she cares, else why would she even still be here? If anybody could just walk off into the bush and survive the winter, I believe Olivia is one.
Why ARE you still here, Liv?
I did what she said, and had a good, long look in the motorhome mirror last night. Not the greatest light to be giving myself a vanity check, but I suspect the lantern light was a lot kinder to me than the cold light of day.
Big shadows under my eyes, and I look like I've lost a few pounds. Dark brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail (I'm glad I can't see the gray hairs, I'm sure they've multiplied); long sleeve, button-up shirt over a black tank; typical black pants. I look like what I grew up to be: librarian, mother, housewife.
Who did I used to be? Somebody other than this, that's for sure. When was the last time I even talked about anything other than Ed, the boys, or whatever book I read?

He wouldn't let me take Daniel. He wouldn't let me take Jason. And in response to asking if I could go to the gun range? A puzzled look, and why would you want to go there, Anna? You can't shoot, and there's no reason for you to learn. You just hang tight, everything will be just fine. I'll take care of you. Now go and check on your friend.

Olivia is strung tighter than a drum tonight. She's not talking to me much, either. "Just write, Anna. I don't have the patience for your chatter tonight. Write what you need to, and get it off your chest before you explode."
And so I write.
I've been obsessing over Serena Harper's suicide all day. What finally pushed her over the edge? Why didn't she blow Will's head off at the same time? He was right there. How did she know how to use a handgun? Is it the same as a rifle?
I can shoot a rifle. I wonder if Ed's forgotten that fact. For that matter, I wonder if Ed ever even knew? I used to be a really good shot, too. Almost seven years in army cadets and maybe not top honours in marksmanship, but I could hold my own. I did my fair share of hunting as a teenager, too. It's been 15 years, though. Would it all come back to me if I needed it?
Could I shoot a living, breathing human being? Or would I use it on myself?

I mentioned this to Olivia, and she looked at me like I had two heads. "You? You. Used to be an army cadet. You have got to be kidding me. Have you looked in a mirror lately Anna? Like in the last eight years that I've known you? You're pathetic. All these years I tried to see why Jess stuck up for you, insisted you were worth my time to get to know, and honestly, I tried. But you've never been anything but a stereotypical housewife, completely dependant on her husband for everything, needy, and damn near incapable of farting without Ed's permission."

It's almost time to go, Ed will expect me soon.
And look at what I just wrote, right there. When did this happen to me? How long have I been like this?

There have been no new arrivals in days, and the camp is condensing. What used to be a small village taking up a large part of the south shore of the lake is now an even smaller cluster of  campers and motorhomes. Most of the tents have been dismantled and removed, as survivors lay claim to the better accomodations. Nobody even asks anymore, where the original owners went. They are just gone, and this camper is free. Would you like to move in? It'll be warmer than your tent when the cold hits.
Nobody talks about anything but the most superficial of things. Things that we miss, what our children are learning, food we are going to cook and eat when we get back to civilisation. Do you think there are any cows left? I almost laughed. There were no cows where we were, anyway! A wistful sigh instead, I miss beef, too.
I want to scream, what makes them think there will even BE civilisation to go home to? This is IT.
And yet, I'm just as guilty as they are. My conversation skills have dwindled down to what book I'm reading, how fast Daniel is getting at digging pit traps, and how great Jason is doing with his marksmanship. I don't even discuss Ed with the other women, I'm afraid of letting out some of what I really feel. Or worse, I'm afraid to discover that they have known all along.
I only have a few more minutes before Olivia leaves and takes this with her. Tonight I'm going to ask Ed if I can take Daniel to the fish station. It's time he learned how to deal with his own catch. Because god knows, I may not be around forever.