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Somebody was out there.
For Benny it was one of those moments in which he knew for sure that the world as he knew it had changed. No matter what he did, even if he turned around and went back to Mountainside, the world was never going to be the same again. It could not be.
We can’t un-know this, he thought.
Nix stepped back and studied the plane. So far all they had seen was one side and the tail section. They would have to climb the mountain of impacted dirt to see the front and the other side. Above them, the dark mouth of the open hatch seemed to scream an invitation.
Or a warning, thought Benny.
Nix pointed to something on the side of the plane forward of the hatch.
“What’s that?” she asked. “Is that writing?”
Benny squinted at it, mouthing the letters as he tried to read them through a patina of dried mud. “‘C-130J Super Hercules.’”
“What’s that mean?”
“I . . . think it’s the kind of plane this is. I half remember reading something about a plane called a C-130. I just can’t remember what I read. Something about troop transports, maybe?”
“Troop transports?” Nix’s eyes went wide. “Benny! Do you think that means there’s an army someplace?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what it means. I can barely remember what it meant before First Night. Now . . . who knows?”
Nix’s eyes roved over the dead machine, then she pointed again. “Look, on the tail. More writing.”
They hurried closer to the big tail section, which also resembled a ship’s sail. It was badly smudged with soot and grime. The sun glare reflecting off the white metal was so bright that they had to cup their hands around their eyes.
“I think that’s a flag,” Benny said.
“Not the American flag,” corrected Nix. “Look, it only has a couple of stars. And there’s something written below it. I can’t make it out, though. American . . . something.”
It took Benny a few seconds to piece it together. “‘The . . . American . . . Nation.’”
Nix frowned. “Is that what they used to put on air force planes?”
“I’m not sure. I . . . don’t ever remember seeing it put that way. Besides, I was mostly looking for commercial jetliners. That’s what we saw.”
They stood there for a moment. Benny could feel indecision gnawing at him. He turned and looked back at the woods. “I haven’t heard anything for a while now.”
“No,” she agreed.
“I hope that’s good news.”
She nodded but said nothing; clearly she was more interested in the plane than in the welfare of Lilah and Chong. Benny found that profoundly disturbing.
“We need to look inside,” said Nix.
“Yeah,” Benny said, and headed to the front of the plane. The mound of dirt was so steep that he had to climb it on all fours. But as he reached the top, he saw that there was an easier path that emptied out from the woods. That wasn’t what made him freeze in place, however. “Oh my God!”
“What?” demanded Nix, who was just behind him.
“Don’t come up here,” Benny warned, but it was already too late. Nix reached the top and cried out exactly as he had.
“Who . . . ?” she began, but shook her head and didn’t finish.
The clearing in front of the plane was not at all clear.
There were several things placed just in front of the crumpled nose of the plane. They had been out of sight behind a row of twisted trees.
