Unthinkable (Berger Series) by Merinda Brayfield

the Humvee pointed his weapon at them. “Freeze!” He shouted. Evan shook himself free of Damien’s grip and waited. Damien stood next to him with a sigh. These were soldiers, thought Evan, so, nothing to fear, right? Evan remembered the cop, but pushed that thought away.
    A soldier jumped out of the Humvee, holding tight to his M-16. His started to lower it as he saw Evan. Evan raised his arms in a gesture of surrender. Damien cursed and put his arms up too. “Kneel and put your hands on your head!” the soldier shouted. Evan and Damien did as they were told.
    “All residents were ordered to report to camp Zed,” growled the soldier as he walked toward them. “There is martial law. No one allowed on the streets.” He stopped in front of Evan and glared down at him. “What are you doing here?”
    “We’ve been walking for days.” Evan looked at the soldier’s knees and thought. “I have family in Wyoming we’re trying to get to.” Well, it was only half a lie.
    “Well you aren’t going anywhere but processing.” The soldier turned and barked something at the soldiers in the Humvee. Evan felt the hard pavement below his knees. Damien was tense next to him. Whatever was going to happen, Evan knew that he’d have to be very careful. He mentally cursed his birth parents and then immediately took it back. Whoever they were , they had given him up to give him a chance and couldn’t just blame them for his looks being a problem right now. Another soldier walked up and yanked the pistol from Damien’s waistband. Then he patted them down for any other weapons.
    Evan’s arms quickly grew tired, but he didn’t dare move. He was all too aware of the soldiers around him with their rifles. A few minutes later a large truck drove up. A woman climbed out of the passenger seat and strode over to the lead soldier. She had a pistol on her side.
    “What’s going on here Sergeant?” The woman asked, looking down at Evan and Damien. “Looters are to be shot on sight.”
    A chill ran down Evan’s spine. “I thought you might want to talk to them, ma’am.” Sergeant reached over and pulled the hat off of Evan’s head.
    “I see,” she said. “Were they armed?”
    “This one was,” he pointed at Damien.
    “ID?”
    “I didn’t ask.” Sergeant nervously adjusted his rifle.
    “Do you have ID?” The woman asked.
    “Mine was stolen,” Evan kept his eyes forward.
    “Mine’s in my right back pocket,” Damien looked up at her.
    Another soldier stepped behind Damien, reached in his back pocket and pulled it out.
    “Yours was stolen.” she repeated back to Evan.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “I see.” She took Damien’s ID and looked at it. “This is expired,” she said to him.
    “I ain’t been back there in a long time.”
    The woman stepped back and studied the pair. “We’ll take ‘ em in.”
    Two soldiers stepped behind them and zip tied their wrists behind their backs. Evan fought back panic as they pulled him to his feet. This wouldn’t end with another beating, he had to believe that. They loaded them into the back of the woman’s truck with a soldier to guard. Damien stared at the guard until the guard raised his gun , then Damien smiled and looked away. Evan looked out the back as they sped down the road. The truck seemed to continue driving deep into the suburbs. They took a turn and sped past houses. There was nobody on the streets, as if everyone had vanished. After a while they squealed to a stop. Evan could hear voices outside, then the truck moved forward again slowly.
    Evan stared as he realized they had gone through some sort of military checkpoint. Wire stretched from the edges of the checkpoint to out of range of his sight. A terrible smell assaulted his senses. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people milled about as they passed rows of tents. More than a few looked at the truck as it passed. There was a murmur of humanity that could be heard over the roar of the truck. It seemed they went