Restitution: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival series (The Dark Road series Book 8)

as he struggled to push his face far enough to the side of the door slot so he could see the other containers. “Hey, you in the other containers. Can anyone hear me?”
“Quiet down or you’ll get us all in trouble.” This time, a gravelly voice from what sounded like the container farthest away answered.
Ben lowered his voice. “What do you mean?”
“Just shut up!” the same voice shot back.
Ben sighed. He wasn’t getting anywhere. He wanted information about their captors—like how many there were, for starters—but this was going nowhere fast. Ben glanced at Sandy and shook his head.
“They must be treating these people really bad to make them act like that. You can’t blame them,” Sandy said. She must have seen the frustration in his eyes. And she was right; he couldn’t fault them for keeping quiet, but it didn’t help his cause any. He needed to know what he was dealing with before he came up with a plan.
“When did you get here?” a different voice asked. It was softer, belonged to a woman, and was coming from the container right next to them.
Ben spun on his feet and headed right back to the front corner of the trailer. “Only been here a couple hours. How long have you been here?”
“Almost two weeks… I think.” The woman trailed off.
Ben was about to ask how many bad guys there were but stopped himself. Maybe if he showed a little compassion, he would be able to get more than just a few questions answered. But her voice was weak, and he wasn’t sure how long she would be willing to talk or how long they had until one of the guards came back.
“My name is Ben. I’m in here with my family. There are six of us.” He didn’t normally like giving away information unless he had to, but he needed to make a connection with this woman.
“You two are going to get us in trouble if you don’t knock it off,” the man in the far container barked. Ben sighed. If anyone was going to get them in trouble, it would be the guy telling them to shut up. He was making more noise than any of them.
“I’m Rita. My husband Carlos is with me, although his voice isn’t too good right now. I’m sorry…” Rita paused, and Ben could hear her drawing breath. “I’m sorry they got you.”
“How many of them are there?” Ben asked.
“Eight or nine men, maybe four or five women, and a couple younger kids, I think,” Rita answered in her lowest whisper yet.
“Where were you guys coming from before?” Ben lowered his voice to match hers and was careful to keep one eye on the trail that led from the camp to the containers. He wasn’t sure what would happen if they were caught talking, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way.
“They make us work their fields. Everybody works every day. They don’t care if you drop dead on the spot.” Rita paused again to catch her breath, and Ben waited anxiously for her to finish. “They’re horrible people. They’re killers. I’m so sorry,” she repeated through what sounded like crying.
“Did you see two dogs when you came through camp?” Ben wanted to change the subject and was genuinely concerned about the dogs after the yelps he’d heard, although now that he’d asked the question, he wasn’t sure if he wanted an answer.
“Yes, were those your dogs?”
“Yeah. Are they okay?” Ben had to know. He glanced back at the kids to make sure they were still sleeping. Sandy caught his gaze, and judging by her facial expression, Ben figured that she was as concerned as he was.
“They were still in the cages when we saw them, but…” Rita stopped. Ben listened, but there was no deep breath this time.
“But what?” he pushed.
“But they won’t be for long,” Rita answered.
“Why?” Ben tried to keep it to a whisper.
“We need to stop. They’re going to be back soon.”
“Rita, tell me!” The words came out louder than he meant, and he immediately crouched down by the slot in the door to see if anyone had heard him. He watched the trail for a few more moments before turning back to the other container, but before he could say anything, Sandy put her hand on his shoulder.
She shook her head, and as reality sank in, he knew she was right. It made no difference what they planned on doing with the dogs because they were going to get out of here before then. They had to.

Chapter Three
Rita was right about them not having much time before the guards came back. Not more than fifteen minutes had passed since she’d answered some of Ben’s questions about their captors. It looked like the same two who’d escorted the other prisoners to their containers earlier. Both were armed, but the second guard was pushing a wheelbarrow. As they approached, Ben could see bottles of water and a large metal pot inside.
“Everybody to the back of the container,” one of the guards yelled.
“Do it now,” the other guard added. He was quite a bit younger than his counterpart. Ben watched him push the wheelbarrow and recognized him as the one who’d struck Joel at the roadblock. His type was the worst kind: drunk on power. People like him looked for trouble and welcomed the chance to prove they were in charge. Ben had seen it plenty of times before, and he made a note to stay off this guy’s radar—for now, at least.
Ben and Sandy roused the kids, who were still sleeping, and corralled them quietly to the back of the container. Ben was thankful for the darkness and shadows, and he felt like he could hide the girls and the younger kids somewhat behind him and Joel. Of course, the guards knew they were there, but keeping the girls out of sight couldn’t hurt. The looks the younger guard had given Allie didn’t go