EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival by Hunt, James (acx book reading .TXT) 📗

“They can always find someone else to do my work,” the scientist answered. “And if it’s weapons that you’re trying to prevent from being built, every engineer and scientist at this location is tasked with making weapons. Weapons used to kill the military and any civilians who resist them.”

It was a smart play by scientists because Ben saw the colonel consider changing his response.

“What kind of weapons?” Jackson asked.

“The main goal of every scientist in this camp is to get the heavy machinery operating again,” the scientist said. “Humvees, tanks, helicopters, rockets, anything that could do real damage to the military and the people’s needs.”

“There weren’t any of those things in this camp,” Ben said. “Where are they being stored?”

“In the town,” the scientist said. “They only bring the components fried by the EMP, so the entire vehicle doesn’t need to be kept here. They have vehicles stashed all around the country, just waiting for the parts to be finished in places like these.”

“They told you about the EMP?” Jackson asked.

“I’ve seen what happened,” the scientist answered. “They didn’t need to tell me what happened for me to have figured it out on my own.”

The voices appeared again as the guards made another lap around the trailer park. All it would take would be for one of them to knock on this door, and everything they were talking about would be moot.

“We’re running out of time either way,” Ben said, and then he glanced down to the scientist. “Are you going to cause trouble for us if we don’t rescue your friends?”

“Look at me,” the scientist answered. “Do I look like I’m in the condition to cause any trouble?”

The guard’s voices on patrol again faded, and Ben knew this was their window to escape. “What do you want to do?”

The longer Jackson took to deliberate, the more Ben was convinced that they would help the scientist’s friends.

“Do you have any details of what is specifically in each of these trailers?” Jackson asked.

The scientist nodded. “They keep all of us in the same trailer at night to sleep. We talk amongst ourselves before bed. The hours we keep are grueling, but we have managed to keep somewhat of a comradery.”

Jackson proceeded to pry information from the scientist to confirm what they could about the contents of each trailer. Most trailers had at least one guard stationed though the scientist was the exception because he was working on the biggest project: the nuke.

One guard was much more manageable than two and could potentially flip the odds in their favor. But they would still need to be careful about raising the alarm because, again, any wrong move could be their last.

“If we do this, it’s going to be faster if we don’t have you with us,” Jackson said. “We’ll get you into the woods and keep you there until we have everyone. That will also give us a rallying point to get to if things turn south.”

“Thank you,” the scientist said. “Thank you for doing this.”

Ben didn’t think he had ever seen somebody so exhausted. He watched as the scientist deflated in his chair, and for a moment, Ben thought the man was going to pass out. But he managed to actually stand on his own two feet.

“I can make it there on my own steam,” the scientist said.

Ben and Jackson didn’t object, but they kept the man between them as they hurried back toward the woods. They positioned the scientist as close to the horses as they could get without being gone for too long. Time was already against them.

With the scientist secure, Jackson returned to the perimeter of the trailer park. From what they could tell, no alarms were raised and the guards at the camp suspected nothing.

“It makes sense to start on the outside and work our way inward,” Jackson said.

Ben agreed. “We can start there.” He pointed to the nearest trailer that they were certain had people in it. “Ready?”

Jackson nodded. “Let’s go.”

The pair emerged from the woods. They moved swiftly toward the first trailer, and they kept the same formation as they had for the other entries. This time, when Jackson opened the door, he had to take on the person on the other side all by himself, but Ben moved in to help keep the man quiet.

But before the guard was dead, the scientist or engineer they had stashed away inside made a break for the door. Ben lunged forward, and he ended up tackling the man to the floor.

The prisoner’s instincts were to fight back immediately, and it took all of Ben’s strength to keep him from escaping.

“We’re here to help,” Ben said. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

The engineer looked from Ben over to Jackson just as the guard gurgled his last breath of life. It sounded like a painful death.

The engineer stopped squirming and finally settled down, allowing Ben to lift him up just as Jackson removed the blade from the dead man’s belly.

“Who are you?” the man asked, cowering as he stared at the blood dripping from Jackson’s knife.

“We’ll explain later,” Ben answered. “But we don’t have a lot of time.” He stepped toward the man to grab his arm, but the engineer retreated out of reach. “We need to leave.”

“They’ll kill us if we leave,” the engineer said. “They’ve already killed so many.” The man was horrified.

Ben remembered the trailer with all of the photographs on the wall and wondered if this man had known any of them. The guards here probably used the photographs as threats, visuals to keep the rest of their prisoners in line.

“We know,” Ben said. “But if we don’t leave now, they’re going to kill more people.”

The engineer considered this as Jackson waited by the door, listening for any movement outside. Finally, he nodded and then walked over to Jackson. But before Ben stepped outside, he caught a quick glance