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.
