Page 27 of Heart of the Sun

“Yeah. Carry. I’m going to start walking.”

“Walking?” Emily balked. “Why would you start walking?”

“Because there’s probably some sort of civilization within a few miles,and it’s better than sitting here and freezing our asses off.”

“But…but air traffic control must know our plane went down,” Charlie said. “Help has to be on the way.”

“Didn’t you hear Russell?” I asked.

“Who’s Russell?”

“Thepilot.”

“Oh,” Charlie said, his gaze skittering toward the place where his body lay and then away.

“He was trying to contact air traffic and couldn’t get through. No one was answering. That was right before the engines failed. It’s very possible no one knows where we are, or even that we went down.” Plus, something weird had happened. Everything on the plane had very suddenly shut down. And I had wondered about an electric storm because of the lightning. But would that have caused fires on the ground too? I couldn’t see any now, but I’d seen them from the airplane window. It was like something specific had happened to both the sky and the earth. Whatever it was had knocked out all the plane’s systems. And if that was the case, no help would be coming. We were on our own.

“I don’t know,” Charlie said, “waiting here seems like the smarter option. Who knows what’s—” he waved his arm around the mostly empty field save for a few scattered trees “—that way, or that way. We might get lost.”

“We’re already lost,” I said, picking up my duffel bag. “But suit yourselves. Good luck.”

“Hey!” Emily said. “You have all the food and water.”

“I’m the one who got back on that plane and collected the food and water,” I said, my jaw tight. Still, I wasn’t going to leave them to die, even if Charlie had lied about me and Emily had willingly believed his lies. That stuff seemed insignificant at the moment. I opened my duffel bag and tossed them each a bottle of water and a handful of the individual-sized snack bags from the minibar on the plane.Then I rezipped my bag and headed away.

“Wait!” Emily said. I halted, turning again. She shot a glance at Charlie, hesitating, as though she was waiting for some form of permission from him.

“I’m losing daylight,” I gritted out, anger suddenly warming me like an internal fire. Good, I’d stay angry. My nose felt like a damn ice cube.

“It’s just…” She shifted from one foot to the other. I glanced down and noticed that she was wearing a pair of hot pink heels. “I think we should stay together,” she said in a rush of words punctuated by puffs of white vapor. “Strength in numbers. There could be predatory animals out here.” Her eyes darted around and then back to Charlie.

Charlie’s gaze shifted around too. “Maybe you’re right,” Charlie said. “There could be a town or something over that hill. It’s impossible to see from here.”

I’d honestly been looking forward to ditching them. But… God. What if she died out here? What would her parents say if they knew I’d just left her to fend for herself? I looked down to Emily’s heel-clad feet once more. “You can’t walk in those.”

She followed my gaze. “Oh…well, these are my most comfortable heels and all I brought.”

Christ.They were already holding me back and we hadn’t even started walking yet. I glanced at Charlie’s feet. They appeared about the size of my own. She wouldn’t fit in either of our shoes. “Do you have a pair of slippers?” I asked.

“Slippers?” Her brow dipped. “Um…yes. Hold on.” She bent to her suitcase and dug through it, retrieving a pair of pink fuzzy slippers.

I reached out and took one, turning it over. There was a thick layer of rubber on the bottom. “These’ll work,” I said. I took a pair of socks out of my duffel bag and tossed those and the slippers at her. She caught them against her chest, her mouth opening slightly.“Put these and the slippers on and let’s go.” She clutched the socks and slippers, her expression morphing into confusion. “Sixty seconds,” I said, “and then you can catch up.” I wrapped the duffel bag’s strap around my body, balancing the weight on my back. “Or not.”

I looked away, out to the horizon, planning my route and silently counting the seconds. When I’d reached sixty, I started walking. I heard lots of movement and huffing behind me, and then the sounds of their footsteps following, but I didn’t look back. If they couldn’t keep up, that was their problem. And yet, the way my ears perked up and my steps slowed the few times I didn’t hear them behind me made me suspect I was lying to myself about not giving a shit about leaving Emily alone in the wilderness. Either way, however, the minute we hit a farm, or some other form of civilization, remote or not, they were on their own. They could call theirpeopleto arrange a pickup, and I’d be on my way.

Where, Tuck? Where will you go now?

I had no answer to that question, and a hollowness opened up between my ribs, where the lump of terror and confusion from the plane crash had been. I wasn’t sure which one I preferred. I picked up my pace, stepping over rocks and brambles, my eyes focused on the faraway hill that I hoped would make it clear what direction I should travel.

chapterfifteen

Emily

My lungs burned and my thigh muscles ached as I practically jogged to keep up with Tuck. Next to me, Charlie looked winded too, although he was clearly struggling less as his legs were as long as Tuck’s.

Tuck hadn’t managed to retrieve all of our luggage from the plane, but he’d tossed out two of my pieces, and two of Charlie’s as well. We’d both condensed those into one small rolling suitcase each. However, the “rolling” part didn’t exactly work in our current terrain. So, while Charlie was strong enough to hold his piece of luggage in one hand—while switching it back and forth—I was carrying mine in two arms against my stomach, making sure to avoid the spot on my hip that still burned. When I’d put on my jacket and then removed my shorts, I’d noticed that blood had seeped through the material at my flank where the seat belt had cut into my skin. I’d used a pair of my undies as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. It would work for now and then I’d have it looked at when we got back to civilization.

Please let that be soon.An hour, hopefully less.I didn’t think I could take any more than that.

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