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

Sam were being left alone and forgotten about right now, much like they were. That was what he hoped, at least. He hadn’t heard any more from Rita or the guy by himself in the far container. Not that he expected to, but he was hoping Rita would think of something else valuable to share with them. Judging by the way they looked when they were first marched back to their cells, Ben guessed they were probably sleeping now.
We can’t end up like that. Ben glanced around the container, pausing briefly at each of his kids. When he came to Emma, she had her face pressed up against the wall in an awkward position. The sight alone made his back hurt. He surveyed the trail leading back to the camp once more before scooting over on the floor next to her.
“What are you looking at?” he asked quietly.
“Fireflies,” she whispered back.
Ben moved to one of the other holes nearby and peeked outside. “Oh, yeah. I hadn’t even noticed.” Why would he? They were fighting for their survival right now. The only thing on his mind since they were captured was how they were going to get out of this.
“There’s a lot of them, huh?” Emma added.
“Yeah.”
She sighed and then pulled away from the wall to look at her dad. “Are we going to be okay?”
Ben had anticipated the question. She might have been momentarily distracted by the fireflies, but it was impossible to forget about where they were.
“Yes. We’ll get out of this, I promise.” Ben made sure to make eye contact with his daughter. He was making a promise to her as much as he was making one to himself. And he meant every word of it. She nodded and returned her attention to the fireflies.
Ben wasn’t angry anymore, at least not in a way he struggled to control. What he felt now was something much more dangerous than anger: an overwhelming desire to exact revenge on the old man and his crew of thugs.
Revenge for putting his kids through this, for taking the dogs away, for confiscating their trucks along with all their gear, and for every other little transgression they had committed against Ben and the others. He wanted to put these people in their place so badly he could taste it, which made being trapped in this cage like an animal that much more frustrating.
Ben rubbed Emma’s back and kissed the top of her head before moving back into his position by the door. As he stared out the narrow opening and into the darkness, a strange sense of calm washed over him. In spite of their current situation, he was strangely optimistic that they really would be all right.
One of his biggest fears was that the kids would be scarred for life because of all they had been through, but seeing Emma like that made him realize they would come out of this okay. Changed in many ways, but overall okay. It was hard not to think of them as being younger than they were. Snapshots of camping trips and adventures with them when they were little flashed through his mind. Those were better days that Ben tried not to think of very often. Not because the memories weren’t pleasant, but because he was afraid of never seeing anything like it again in his lifetime.
At ten and twelve years of age, respectively, Bradley and Emma weren’t old by any means, but they were wise enough and perceptive enough to figure things out on their own. The kids knew there were bad people in this world, and they knew that long before this trip. A while back, Ben swore to himself that he would be up front and honest about things with Joel and Allie, and he felt like he owed the same to Bradley and Emma. Trying to hide some ugly truths wouldn’t help them any. In fact, anything less than full disclosure would be doing them a disservice and, in the long run, only delay the inevitable.
Ben checked his watch. He was beginning to wonder if they would get their chance to escape tonight or not. The whoops and hollers had grown less frequent, but the fire continued raging. He could still see the yellow-orange glow over the modified containers these people lived in. He also smelled the smoke, and at one point, he was pretty sure he smelled the venison cooking. For the first time, he’d hoped the coolers had failed and they all fell sick from eating tainted meat. But the truth was that the deer meat was still good, and Ben had no doubts that the small army running this place would consume every last bit of it tonight.
He hated the fact that the meat Jack had given them was going to these moonshiners, but even worse than that was the thought of the vehicles being torn apart and their gear being divided up. These were the types of things Ben tried to put out of his mind as he sat staring at nothing. There was too much time to think. He was ready for action, but when that would happen wasn’t up to him.
Sandy slid over and put her hand on his back. She didn’t say anything, only joined him in watching the trail. He wondered if his frustration was that obvious or if she was just showing support.
“Do you think they’ll come back tonight?” she whispered.
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I have to admit, I kind of don’t want them to. I mean, I know we need this to happen, but… I’m scared.” Sandy let out a deep breath.
Ben looked away from the opening to face Sandy. “It’s okay to be scared. And nervous. That’s normal. There’d be something wrong with you if you weren’t. Just try to focus on the end result. Keep picturing us all loaded into the trucks and headed home.” Ben studied her face for a few seconds longer before turning his attention back to the