Page 64 of Heart of the Sun

Until I could find a map, being in a location with signs was important even if populated areas worried me and I’d have to be much more vigilant about being ambushed while we slept.

We traveled under the overpass, a few fires already lit beneath the massive structure with groups of people hunkered down around the flames. I moved behind Emily and Charlie, prepared to pull my weapon out should someone approach us, but no one did. I smelled the roasting scent of meat and saw a few of the people lift their heads and watch us as we moved past, likely ready to defend their food should they need to.

“What are they cooking?” Emily asked quietly, turning her head and barely moving her lips. “There are no woods around here.”

“Probably rats.” Maybe other more domesticated animals too, though I didn’t say that, and I refused to think too much about it. All I knew was that it’d been six days since the power went out in what I now knew was a multistate outage, if not the entirety of the United States, and desperation was setting in everywhere, some locations more than others. And for those who had been vagrant or homeless even before this started? Maybe they had a leg up, or maybe they had it worse than anyone.

Charlie made a gagging sound, and we stepped out from the dimness under the overpass out into the light of the setting sun.

We walked past a large warehouse, and then a few dark businesses, the roads that led into this city growing more congested with abandoned vehicles the farther we traveled. I saw a gas station several blocks up ahead and gestured to Charlie and Emily to follow me in that direction where I might find another map to replace the one Isaac had stolen.

The buildings were closer together here—we passed a printing company and a taco shop, an insurance agency, and a photography studio.

When we got to the gas station, we found it completely looted. We stepped among the wreckage of overturned shelves and broken glass, not so much as a pack of peanuts in sight. And if any maps had been here at some point, there weren’t any now.

“Great,” Charlie hissed. “Not a damn thing here. And I still have no fucking shoes!”

We stepped out of the store, the sky deep orange streaked with blue, and growing dimmer by the moment.

The sound of an engine caught me by surprise, and I looked up the street to see a vehicle just turning the corner and heading toward us. “Tuck!” Emily breathed. “A truck.”

“Come on,” I said, and ducked as I ran along the side of the gas station, going low along the fence and then stopping. I looked around the corner to see an old-fashioned truck that looked like it had once hauled produce or something trundling toward us, a fabric cover obscuring the bed and featuring an extra-wide back bumper. There were two broad-shouldered men in the front, staring ahead resolutely, and call it a gut instinct, but I didn’t think this truck would stop for a couple of hitchhikers. But it was heading in the direction we needed to go. I turned toward Emily and Charlie, who were behind me. “Follow me.”

The truck drove slowly past us and then I came from behind the fence, hunching low as I ran behind it. Reaching up, I easily grabbed onto a bar and pulled myself onto the bumper. I moved over as Emily and Charlie came up next to me and did the same thing I’d done.Thankfully the truck was heavy enough that our weight didn’t seem to rock it too much, and we simply hung on, squatted down as we watched the hollowed-out industrial section of town go by. Then we turned onto a long stretch of dark road, the truck avoiding stopped cars, its large tires easily carrying us through the weedy overgrowth on the side of the road.

What sounded like a window being cranked down met my ears, and then I smelled cigarette smoke. I thought I heard the crackly noise of static from the front as though the driver was changing the radio stations, perhaps searching for one that worked, but after a moment, the window was rolled up again and I could no longer hear the sound.

We traveled for about half an hour, moving between a squat and a kneel so as not to tire our legs, and I came to enjoy the lull of the engine, and the gentle rocking of the truck, taking the small break to try to remember the order of states we’d need to pass through to get home. We had the remainder of Kansas, and then we’d head to New Mexico, Arizona, and finally to California.

“Oh my God,” I heard Emily whisper and when I looked at her, I saw that she was peeking under the canvas flap. She turned toward me, eyes wide as she pulled the flap open so I could see inside.

I looked in, several pairs of sleepy eyes blinking back at me. “Kids,” I said, looking from one child to another. “It’s a truckload of kids.”

chaptertwenty-eight

Emily

We hopped off the truck just outside what looked like a military facility, with barbed wire stretched around at least several warehouses. There were milky lights positioned here and there that must be running off a generator, and so we followed Tuck through the shadows to the side of the entrance, crouching as we moved. “What is this place?” I whispered. “And why are they picking up kids?”

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “But it doesn’t look good.”

“Can we leave now?” Charlie asked. “I get that you’re trying to make amends for your past by pretending to be Batman or some shit, but—”

I elbowed Charlie in the side.

“Oof.”

He shot me a glare, and Tuck ignored him, moving farther along the fence to better see inside, past the spot where the truck had turned. He looked concerned, and I agreed that anyone who was scooping up kids right now should be considered highly suspect and likely dangerous.“What do you think they’re doing in there?” I whispered.

Tuck gave me a thin-lipped stare. “If I knew, would I have my face pressed against a fence? I’m trying to figure it out. Maybe you could help.”

“Okay, Snappy. I am helping,” I said, leaning forward and widening my eyes to glare at him more fully.

He leaned in too, our noses almost touching. “How is asking obvious questions supposed to—”

There was a cracking noise behind us, one I’d heard before. It was the sound of a gun cocking. “Don’t make a fucking move.” A breath lodged in my throat, my heart jumping as my muscles froze. Next to me, Charlie and Tuck had gone still as well. I only dared to move my eyeballs, right to Tuck, and then left to Charlie, and back to Tuck.

“Stand up nice and slow and show your hands.”

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