18
The entire ride back to Asheville, Ben couldn’t stop thinking about what they were carrying. They had managed to find a piece of a nuclear bomb that a domestic terrorist group was going to detonate in some major city. At least that’s what Ben believed they wanted to do.
As they returned to the burnt and decimated city of Asheville, Ben was reminded of the level of destruction the enemy was capable of achieving. If they could do all this with nothing but normal weaponry, he couldn’t imagine the type of destruction that would occur if they managed to detonate a nuclear bomb. Life as they knew it would be altered forever. Not that it hadn’t been altered significantly already.
Ben caught up to Jackson, who had maintained a hellish pace back to the city. The colonel was eager to meet up with the rest of his military comrades and deliver the item and the news of what they had found.
But as they entered the city limits, Asheville looking as desolate as it had before they left, Ben wondered if the military was going to show up at all.
“Where are they?” Ben asked.
Jackson didn’t sound worried when he answered, but Ben saw the hesitation on the colonel’s face. “I’m sure they are working on setting up a position inside the city.”
“You’re certain that the orders you received were the correct ones?” Ben asked.
Jackson glared at Ben. “Orders are orders. I don’t have the luxury to pick and choose my missions.”
Ben shook his head. “Last I recall, I didn’t have much choice in the matter of coming with you. And it would be nice if you dropped the holier than thou act. I don’t think we need to be comparing who is more willing to sacrifice their life for their country. Because I would sacrifice my life to save my family. They are everything to me. And I only agreed to this because you said the military would be here to back up my family.”
The colonel simply kicked his horse and spurred the animal forward, racing into the city. It seemed Jackson wasn’t as confident as he had led on.
Ben considered returning to the compound without going into the military camp. It was getting later, and he was hoping to return home before sundown, but he didn’t want to go home empty-handed. He knew how much they needed military support, especially if the enemy returned in full force, which Ben knew they would.
Ben wished his brother had never joined The New Order. It had made a bad situation worse, but Mark had always wanted to walk his own path. Ben just never believed that his brother would choose a path so violent and destructive.
Despite his desire to go home, Ben followed Jackson into the city. It had been a while since he had returned to the city since the fires.
Cars were blackened and charred. Signs in front of buildings were melted. Glass was shattered, the contents inside all the stores just as scorched as the rest of the city. It was like walking through a graveyard or some post-apocalyptic movie that should have always remained fiction. Except this was their reality.
A thin film of soot still layered the entire city. Ben thought it might be a stain that would never wash out, no matter how many times it rained. The city had been fundamentally changed, as had the country. It was one of those moments where there was a clear before and after. Even if they managed to return to any semblance of normalcy, the psyche of the nation would be altered forever.
Jackson slowed his pace once they were inside the city limits. Ben thought that maybe he believed the enemy had already come through, but from the intelligence they had been given, the enemy wasn’t due through here until tomorrow. The military had the entire day to ready themselves for the impending fight.
“They should have been here by now,” Jackson said, finally speaking aloud his worry.
“Maybe they’re on the other side of the city,” Ben said.
Jackson remained quiet, and they continued to trot through the streets, the clacking hooves from their horses the only noise in the eerily silent city.
Ben saw no human tracks in the soot on the road or anywhere along the sidewalk and knew that no one had walked through here, for at least today. It was odd not seeing any human footprint other than the decaying structures that surrounded them.
“Maybe you should go back to your base,” Ben said. “Maybe orders were changed?”
“They wouldn’t have changed orders this important,” Jackson answered. “This would be the first real strike back against the people who did this. That’s not something my commanders would have given up.”
Movement up ahead caused both Jackson and Ben to stop their horses. Jackson drew his sidearm, and Ben grabbed his rifle. He had practiced shooting on horseback before and was comfortable dropping the reins to use both hands to hold the rifle.
“Do you see anything?” Jackson asked.
Ben scanned the road through the scope but couldn’t find anything in his crosshairs. “It could have just been an animal.”
“Identify yourselves!” a voice yelled from up ahead.
“Colonel Jackson with the second division,” Jackson replied. “We are here with classified intelligence.”
“Both of you lower your weapons,” the voice yelled.
Ben ignored the command. “I can’t see anyone. We need to wait and make sure these people are actually in the military.”
“I’m afraid we’re both a little skittish,” Jackson said. “Hard to tell who is friendly and who is foe these days.”
The voice went quiet, and Ben still hadn’t been able to identify their location. The city walls and building were throwing the guy’s voice around, making it difficult for Ben to pin it down.
“We have a bead on
