DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete Second Book

PART 14, SECTION 10

Los Angeles City Hall was a towering white building downtown which I'd passed by more than a few times on my motorcycle. Before the electricity grids shut down, the building must have once been lit up every night by the giant floodlights positioned all around its base.

Ian parked, and I led him to one of the floodlights. It was much bigger than I'd realized, almost too large to fit into a pickup bed.

"You think you could power one of these with a generator?" I asked Ian.

"A really big generator, I guess."

Ian looked me over, concerned. Only an hour ago I'd been doubled over in intense pain and he'd worried I was on the verge of dying. Now, I was dragging him all over the city.

"How are you feeling, Ash?" He asked.

"I'm feeling fine," I answered. And it was true, the pain in my abdomen was totally gone.

"I mean, are you feeling dizzy or anything?" Ian asked. "Like, disoriented . . . ?" He looked up at City Hall. "I'm not sure what you're asking me to do. . . Why are we here?"

"Just trust me," I said.

It took us all afternoon to find a cutting torch, remove the floodlight from its footings, then track down a large enough pickup and a forklift, both of which we had to hotwire, and, finally, lift the floodlight into the pickup's bed. But when you can just take whatever you need, anything's possible—as long as you know where to find things, and Ian was great at tracking things down. It was dusk by the time Ian went to raid an industrial supply outlet for a high-powered generator and, meanwhile, I started driving the pickup back toward the hills.

By the time we met up at the cottage, I could tell that Ian understood my plan. He gave me a kiss, glanced in the direction of my belly, and smiled. Without a word, he started connecting the huge generator he'd found to the floodlight.

"No," I said. "Not here. Higher."

We drove as high into the Santa Monica mountains as we could. Atop one of the highest peaks stood a huge domed observatory. From its parking lot, you could see the entire city and beyond.

"This is it," I said. "Here."

I positioned the pickup so that the floodlight pointed toward the city below. The sun had just set.

Ian connected the cables and started up the generator.

Suddenly, a blinding light leapt from the floodlight, illuminating the hills all around.

"You're brilliant," Ian said. "If anyone's out there, anyone for miles and miles, they'll see this. Without a doubt."

We drove all the way back to the ocean.

Ian parked and turned off the car's headlights. We stepped out of the car. Waves crashed softly in the dark. Without any city lights, the stars above shone brilliantly. But our floodlight on the hill outshone them all. Even from miles away, the light beamed out, signaling our steadfast presence to anyone who saw it.

I slipped my arm around Ian's waist and rested my head on his shoulder.

"If anyone sees that light, they'll find us. They'll come to us. We won't have to search for survivors randomly anymore. All we have to do now is wait, and hope."

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