Page 39 of Heart of the Sun

“Yeah,” she murmured.

“I know I said we’re not in a movie, but maybe we pretend we are. It might sound sorta silly, but if this is all just an acting job, it’ll make it easier to handle, you know?”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she said.

“You can. You have me here to play your hero, okay?”

She sighed. “Okay.”

Charlie nudged my shoulder and I turned to see him handing the kit back. I took it and put it away and then glanced back at them to see him holding Emily in his arms and stroking her hair. I turned quickly, facing the rain-streaked windshield, a feeling settling in my stomach that I refused to name. I was exhausted. I just needed a night of sleep in a dry car where we were relatively safe, and I’d be ready to problem-solve again in the morning. I closed my eyes, finally lulled by the rainfall into a fitful slumber.

chapternineteen

Emily

Day Four

I woke alone, sitting up gingerly and groaning as my sore muscles protested my odd sleeping position in the cramped back seat of someone else’s car. The sun hit my eyes and I squinted as I climbed out to see Charlie and Tuck walking toward me. “Where were you guys?”

“Searching the vehicles. A lot of them are unlocked. When the comet hit and the drivers—” Charlie gave me a pointed look “—dissolved, they obviously couldn’t lock their doors,” he said, delivering the line smoothly like the professional actor he was.

He continued to stare at me when I didn’t respond. Finally, I shook my head. “Yeah, no, I’m not going to be able to do that.” Playing make-believe in this situation was going to be more work than anything and I was too tired and uneasy for that.

Charlie sighed. “It was worth a try.”

I looked around at the cars. Obviously whatever electrical situation had occurred to cause this mass breakdown also meant they could only be locked manually or not at all.

He grinned, then handed me something from his pocket.

I looked down. “A granola bar?”

“Yup. I had one too.”

“I don’t have to pretend that you’re my hero,” I said with a smile before leaning up and kissing his cheek.

Tuck pulled open a car door to our left and rummaged through it for a moment before heading our way. I leaned against the car and stretched before peeling open the granola bar and taking a bite. It was stale and delicious and once I got back home, I was never going to take food for granted again.

“Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom.” Charlie pointed off the side of the highway where there were some bushes right before a steep incline. “Be right back.”

I nodded just as Tuck made it to where I was standing. “Good thinking about searching the cars,” I said, holding up the granola bar before taking another bite.

He looked back over his shoulder. “That dude Neil is gone, and he packed up the last of the cereal.”

“Oh. Well, I was sick of that anyway.”

Tuck gave me a wry smile before opening the car door, grabbing his duffel bag, and beginning to unload his pockets of the things he’d collected. I spotted beef jerky and protein bars, some candy and a few packs of gum that I really hoped wouldn’t become a necessary meal at some point. When he stood again, I wiped my hands on my pants and stuffed the now-empty wrapper in my coat pocket. “What’s the plan?”

He stood next to me, leaning against the car like I was. “We set off again. It’s all we can do. There will be a point where we’ll get some answers and know where exactly to go for help. We just have to keep pushing forward until then. I think it’s best, however, if we get off this highway and take more of a back road.” He looked around at all the stalled cars,his expression morphing into a worried frown.

My gaze followed his and I wondered if there was more wreckage up ahead…wondered if we’d smell that scent that had told me people had died. A tiny chill made me draw my shoulders up. But while highly upsetting, dead people were no threat to us. “What type of danger are you worried about?”

He met my eyes again. “I don’t know, none necessarily. But it’s still unclear what happened. I want to be able to see what’s in front of me, and what’s behind. There are too many parked cars here. I’m thinking it might be best to avoid the city where we already know the power’s out and look for a smaller suburb. Or anywhere we can tell has electricity.”

I nodded, squinting in the direction the signage told me was Springfield, wondering what was happening there, and if the people piled up in apartments were helping each other, or…panicking. I felt mildly numb at the thought of more walking, but I knew Tuck was right. Sitting here on this highway full of abandoned cars wasn’t going to help us. We had to search for people who were managing this obvious catastrophe, whoever those people were.

At least now I didn’t have to do it in tattered slippers. “Thanks for the shoes,” I said. I looked over at him and our eyes met, something passing between us that I wasn’t sure what to call. It was an understanding, but of what, I couldn’t exactly say because it wasn’t just one thing. It felt complex and tangled. Then again, how could it not? My emotions for this man had always been deep and convoluted.

“Better?” he asked, glancing down at my feet, and I swore I saw true concern in his eyes.

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