BooksBarbecue
Back Heart of the Sun Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for the novels of Mia Sheridan
  3. About the Author
  4. NOTE TO READERS
  5. Dedication
  6. prologue
  7. chapter one
  8. chapter two
  9. chapter three
  10. chapter four
  11. chapter five
  12. chapter six
  13. chapter seven
  14. chapter eight
  15. chapter nine
  16. chapter ten
  17. chapter eleven
  18. chapter twelve
  19. chapter thirteen
  20. chapter fourteen
  21. chapter fifteen
  22. chapter sixteen
  23. chapter seventeen
  24. chapter eighteen
  25. chapter nineteen
  26. chapter twenty
  27. chapter twenty-one
  28. chapter twenty-two
  29. chapter twenty-three
  30. chapter twenty-four
  31. chapter twenty-five
  32. chapter twenty-six
  33. chapter twenty-seven
  34. chapter twenty-eight
  35. chapter twenty-nine
  36. chapter thirty
  37. chapter thirty-one
  38. chapter thirty-two
  39. chapter thirty-three
  40. chapter thirty-four
  41. chapter thirty-five
  42. chapter thirty-six
  43. chapter thirty-seven
  44. chapter thirty-eight
  45. chapter thirty-nine
  46. chapter forty
  47. chapter forty-one
  48. chapter forty-two
  49. chapter forty-three
  50. chapter forty-four
  51. chapter forty-five
  52. chapter forty-six
  53. chapter forty-seven
  54. chapter forty-eight
  55. epilogue
  56. acknowledgments

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.”

image

chapter twenty-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.”