Twenty days. Twenty days is all it takes for a insanity to inflict a large group of people and strip them down to basic survival instincts: kill or be killed. And that isn't quite right. It only took twenty days for it to become evident, but I'm quite certain that the insanity must have been there before, festering, waiting for a chance to come forth.
Jess was a statistical analyst, and even though the world ended, she couldn't turn it off. She kept notes, like I did, but they weren't journal entries, they were population statistics. And the picture they paint is utterly appalling.
Disregarding all of the other factors, there should be a total of 467 people camped up and down these roads and around the lake and river.
62 people were executed (I refuse to call it purged).
198 people just up and vanished (presumed left).
23 known suicides.
Olivia said she doesn't know what happened to the families that tried to leave. The ones that were around our area when Emily and Vincent were executed just got up and quietly left in the middle of the night. But when others tried to follow, they were stopped at gunpoint, and forced to leave their supplies and gear behind. Word got around really fast that you could leave if you felt the need, but you were taking nothing with you. Somebody would (supposedly) drop you off close to your township of origin, and then you'd be on your own.
Or you could just walk off into the bush.
Everywhere I look, I can see the fear now. Naively, I thought it was due to the virus outbreak, but it's more and more apparent that it's due to having what you thought was a safe haven stripped from you. Now we are prisoners in armed camp, complete with guards and execution squads.
There are about 200 people here still. Surely they aren't all willing to put up with this?
"Of course not, but some of them are scared for their families, and not all of them are even capable of rebellion." And she looked pointedly at me, then.
"A third of those 200 people are kids under the age of 18, a good number of them are women, and let's face it, Anna, most of the stronger and stronger-willed men are the ones behind this anyway.
"Look at your husband as a prime example. Do you really think Ed will leave now? He was under-appreciated as an electrician, was just another fish in the pond, a well-liked and respected one, sure, but still just another fish. Now he's here, he's got a pretty little wife who's never questioned him to look after, boys he can train to become men, and now he's one of the bigger fish. This situation is practically tailor-made to stroke the egos of men who felt inadequate back in civilisation.
"It doesn't take a large number of people to subdue a small population. It only takes the firepower. And one of the first things they did was make sure all the weapons were in the 'right' hands."
