Once the guards had cleared their entry point, Ben and Jackson moved to the perimeter. There was a makeshift fence that surrounded the entire area, but it was easily maneuvered around. The barbed wire wasn’t applied correctly to the barrier they had constructed, and after a few moments of snipping wires, they had cleared a path for themselves.
As Ben and Jackson neared the first trailer, they remained crouched, making sure no one from inside could see them. But as Ben glanced up at the window, he realized the windows were blocked over with newspapers, which didn’t allow anyone to see inside.
But it also meant no one inside could see outside, either.
Ben nudged Jackson, pointing out what he found, and Jackson nodded. Ben never learned any of the military signs, but based on what Jackson was motioning with his hand, Ben determined that they would go inside this first trailer. Jackson would take the point, with Ben acting as backup.
Ben followed Jackson around the corner of the trailer as they approached the stairs to the door. Jackson leaned his ear against the door and listened inside. After a few seconds, he looked at Ben and nodded as he gripped the door handle. Ben stiffened, readying himself for whatever they encountered on the other side.
Between the moment Jackson opened the door and Ben stepping inside felt like an eternity. The world passed round in slow motion, and just when Ben thought he had missed something, Jackson shut the door behind them.
“It’s empty,” Jackson said.
Inside were five tables, each of them with parts and pieces of equipment that looked like it was a part of some type of engine. Ben had never been mechanically inclined, but he recognized a few pieces spread across the tables. He walked to the nearest one and picked up one of the dirtied metal pieces.
“Looks like an engine threw up in here,” Jackson said, quickly scanning each table before moving on, and headed for the door. “What we’re looking for isn’t here.”
But Ben remained by the table, continuing to study the parts.
“You remember the helicopter I told you about?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, the one you said your guy saw the day after the EMP,” Jackson answered. “You’re saying these are helicopter parts or something?”
“No,” Ben answered. “But remember what Abe told us? They’re rebuilding weapons, and transportation could be one of them. How valuable would a plane or a car be right now?”
Jackson nodded. “It makes sense. But I didn’t see any vehicles in the area.” He glanced around the inside of the trailer as if someone was listening. “We need to keep looking around. Until we find our big-ticket item, we don’t stop moving.”
The pair returned to the door. Jackson leaned against the wall as he cracked open the door and peered outside. Ben watched from the window, peeling back some of the newspaper so he could see as well.
Once they confirmed that the coast was clear, they hurried out of the trailer, ran around to the backside next to the woods, and started searching the rest of the area.
All the trailers and RVs they came across had their windows tinted, but it was clear which ones were filled with people and which ones were empty. The trailer and RV walls were very thin, and the conversations of the enemy could be heard outside.
The second trailer they examined was much like the first, empty save for some spare parts stored in it. But instead of engine parts, the second trailer consisted mostly of pieces of artillery weapons. Not just rifles and pistols, but the heavy-duty projectiles. Mortars that could crumble the wall of a concrete building and send it tumbling to the ground.
But what was more concerning was what they found in the third unoccupied trailer. It was a Class-C RV, and it reminded Ben of the same RV they had used three summers ago to take the family cross-country trip to California. It had been one of his favorite trips, but Ben didn’t know why that popped into his head.
Maybe it was because when he saw what was on the tables and hanging from the walls and ceiling terrified him, and it made him want to go and be with his family. Or maybe it was because he feared that the people he saw in the pictures were signs of his family’s future.
Jackson reached for one of the photographs taped to the wall. A young man was stripped down, naked, with duct tape around his ankles and his wrists, both tied together behind his back. He lay on a slab of concrete curled up in the fetal position, and there was a puddle of blood behind his head.
It was like walking into a house of horrors, except instead of everyone playing pretend, it was all real.
“Dear God,” Jackson said, looking at the other pictures. “They’re all like this.”
Every photograph had a different person in it, but they were all posed in the same posture. Ankles and wrists tied, stripped naked, and what looked like a bullet to the side of the head. They were all on the same concrete slab, which meant that they were all killed in the same location, most likely.
“What the hell are they doing?” Jackson asked.
Ben reached for another photograph and flipped it around to study the back. “There’s writing on the back of these. This one has a name. Daniel Watson.” He flipped the photograph around so Jackson could see it. “That name mean anything to you?”
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t think I have ever seen any of these people in my life. And I would have been fine not seeing them like this.”
Ben understood the sentiment, but he couldn’t wrap his head around why The New Order had targeted these people? Were they high-ranking officials of some kind? Traitors who were made an example of?
Before Ben could figure
