Page 96 of Heart of the Sun

I held my breath as the car went tearing by, two bloody bodies crumpled onto the rear hood of a gold convertible, the driver—thankfully—focused straight ahead.

I blew out the breath I’d been holding and took her trembling hand. “Lead the way,” I said.

It took us forty-five minutes to make the walk, despite having to hide from approaching vehicles twice, the sky lightening from platinum to pearl as we traveled. The block Emily had directed us to was as nondescript as she’d described, a number of ugly square buildings with weeds growing through the small,paved sections in front. They almost appeared like storage facilities that had gone unused for some time. She was right, those searching for necessities wouldn’t likely bother with these. At least not until absolutely everything else had been looted.

We tried the front door, but that was locked. “There’s a door in the back,” Emily said, taking my hand as we rounded the structure. “And if not, we can break a window. There’s no need to worry about alarms now,” she murmured.

The back door was locked as well, but as she wiggled the handle, I noticed the shade move slightly on the window close by. I took her hand and pulled her so that we were on the other side of the door. “Someone just looked out of that window,” I said. Before she could answer, the back door squeaked open, and I shoved Emily behind me as I faced the person emerging.

It was a woman. And she was unarmed.

“Layne?” I heard Emily say from behind me where she was obviously peeking out.

“I knew that was you,” the woman named Layne said. “Oh my God. Come here. Are you okay?”

Emily stepped around me and Layne took Emily in her arms, and they embraced. “I can’t believe you’re here,” Emily said after she’d stepped back.

“I’m assuming you came looking for food and water too? Who’s your friend?”

“I’m so sorry. Tuck, this is Layne Beckett. She’s an amazing singer. Layne, Tuck Mattice. We walked from Illinois where my plane went down.”

“Holy shit, are you kidding me? No, of course you’re not. Nova, the things that are happening in this city right now.” She gave her head a small shake. “God, speaking of which, I’ve lost my mind. Come inside. Hurry.”

We all entered the building and Layne closed and locked the door behind us, leading us through a dark room to a space beyond where light was emanating. “There are no windows in here,so it’s safe to have some lights on. There were some battery-operated string lights and other mood lighting,” she said, turning slightly and using air quotes. “Oh, and Leon Lee is here. He’s your manager, right?”

“Yes,” Emily breathed. “Oh my God.”

“He’s sleeping in one of the booths. We got here at three a.m., and he needed to get some sleep.”

We entered the larger space, and I looked around at the carpeted bench seating lining the perimeter of the room. The floor was black, as were the walls, but the twinkle lights and other battery-operated lanterns and globes gave the place a peaceful glow. There were three recording rooms in front of this one, all of them with large viewing windows. Only one was open, the other two covered from the inside by black curtains.

Layne glanced at the watch on her wrist. “I’m supposed to wake Leon in thirty minutes. Can I get either of you something to eat? Water?”

“Yes, water would be great,” Emily said.

Layne opened one of the benches and reached inside. “We’ve hidden all the supplies in these,” she said. “In case anyone breaks in or whatever. Things are wild. I spend most of the day trying to believe this is even real.”

She handed us each a bottle of water, and I drank several sips but then capped it again. We’d grown used to rationing at this point. Emily did the same and then we sat down.

“You can’t be planning to stay here indefinitely,” Emily said to Layne.

“No, no, we aren’t. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Leaving for where?”

“San Diego.” She looked back and forth between us. “You should both come. I’m sure Leon wouldn’t hesitate to take you with him.”

I frowned. “What’s going on in San Diego?”

“There’s a whole neighborhood in La Jolla that’s been turned into a safety zone.Leon’s been back and forth between there and here. He’s the reason I’m not hiding in my apartment with half a bag of Doritos and the water remaining in my toilet tank, knowing I would have to go out into the streets soon, or die alone.” She wrapped her arms around herself and drew her shoulders up. “It was terrifying, Nova. And I know your plane crashed, so you probably experienced worse than me.”

Emily reached across and took her hand and squeezed it. “Please, call me Emily. And yes, we all have stories,” she said.

Layne nodded, a jerky movement. “Leon helped Freddie and some others get there, which is how Leon knew about me. He’s been rescuing the people he can.”

“Wait, the San Diego thing,” Emily said, obviously as unclear as me about what was there. “What do you mean a ‘safety zone’?”

“It was actually organized years ago, luckily enough. There’s a community up in the hills above the ocean that has been running a co-op. A group of rich retirees who own these McMansions with huge yards got together and decided one would grow grapes, the other vegetables, another would keep chickens. They had a farmers market just among themselves every weekend and are self-sufficient if they want to be. I mean, these people are rich enough that they don’t even do any of the work themselves unless they want to. They have staff who live on-site now and take care of most of the labor. And there are pools in the majority of the backyards. They have water for years.”

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