Chapter 14
Layla spent the next week being shuffled around, learning what it meant to live with The Wanderers, adjusting to spending nearly all of her time underground in the compound where there was very little sense of day or night.
For the first few days, she and Ariel went through the intake process together, learning the rules and memorizing the maps. By the fourth day, Ariel started shadowing Brea at the clothing exchange.
Layla took a different route. She’d always been more interested in plants than her sister, learning everything she could from her parents. The council recognized that she could be an important asset and asked her to shadow the team of people whose job it was to make sure The Wanderers never ran out of food. The agriculture department.
It turned out a lot of their food was grown underground in an elaborate greenhouse system that included amazing pinpoint skylights, letting sun into their underground space without anyone noticing from above—most importantly helicopters.
On her third morning in the lab off the side of the greenhouse, she was going over the projections when a shadow fell over her. She lifted her gaze from where she sat at a table to find a woman staring down at her. She was about fifty and had wild gray hair that was pulled up in a messy, loose bun, strands of it having escaped and hanging around her face.
The woman’s eyes went wide, and she leaned forward to plant her palms on the table. “You look just like your dad,” she murmured.
Layla suddenly knew who this was. “Julie?”
The woman rounded the table as Layla stood, and before Layla could figure out her intentions, the woman pulled her into a tight hug. Julie rocked her back and forth for a moment before releasing her.
She still gripped her shoulders as she met her gaze. “I heard you were in the compound. Thought there was a chance I might find you in the lab. I’m so very sorry to hear about your parents.” Her eyes watered with tears, and she released Layla to wipe them away.
“Thank you,” Layla murmured in response. She too choked up at the mention of her parents. It had only been three weeks since they died, but sometimes it seemed like a lifetime.
“Your sister?” Julie asked.
“She’s with Brea Tillson, shadowing her at the clothing exchange.”
Julie gave a slow smile. “I still can’t get over how much you look like your dad. Same coloring and eyes and hair.”
Layla returned the smile. “Ariel looks exactly like our mom.”
Julie shuddered. “That will be a trip. I can’t wait to meet her.”
They stared at each other for a few moments.
Julie sighed. “I wish the circumstances were different, but I’m so glad you’re here. That you made it to safety. I understand you’re staying with Jay Douglass and his partners.”
Layla nodded. “My parents would be appalled.”
Julie shrugged. “I doubt it. They were always open-minded. They would understand.”
“Yeah.” She was right. Her parents were not judgmental, and they understood more than most people the need to be flexible and change with the times.
“They’re good men, Layla. You can’t go wrong. They have been together for many years waiting for the right addition to their family.”
Layla nodded again. She crossed her arms, slightly embarrassed. “I’m… We’re…taking our time.”
“Good. I always advise a balance these days. No need to make rash decisions, but also life is short. Grab onto happiness when it comes to you.”
Layla smiled, wanting to change the subject. Talking about the men made her nervous. She’d been with them a week and they had taken a step back as if they’d collectively decided to give her space. Though they still hovered. They took turns flanking her in the night in pairs. They all kissed her every chance they got. But they didn’t let their hands roam over her body like they had that first night. They didn’t make her burn for them.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She’d enjoyed how they’d made her feel, and she longed to feel that way again. But everything had happened so fast, and she had to hand it to them; it was beyond chivalrous of them to give her room to breathe.
She met Julie’s gaze again. “Where do you work?”
“I travel between the compounds. There are six now, and some are quite a distance apart.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? I was under the impression that most of the women remain underground for their own safety.”
“This is true. We try to keep women and girls out of sight whenever possible, but some are needed outside the compound. Like Maya, for example. She’s a scout. She’s brave and smart and works harder than anyone I know to find people like you and bring them into the fold. There are others like her. Women who would know the territory they work even if they were blindfolded. It has to be women who hunt for people looking for a safe haven. No one would ever trust a man to bring them to safety.”