“Sure we are,” Leo quickly replied. “We hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.”
“Yep.” James nodded eagerly. “Can’t wait to see our new home.”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you should wait inside.”
James charged for the door, ducking between the two women as they closed in. He slipped by and kicked the door open. He stumbled across the doorway, skidding onto his knees and yelping. One of the women reached for James’s shirt and yanked on it. Leo followed after James. He pushed the woman away and grabbed James by the arms, pulling him up. Sigrid was right behind them.
“I don’t like shoving people!” Leo hissed as they ran around the lodge and grabbed their bikes.
“You had to!” Sigrid said back.
James limped along with them. Leo could see his jeans had ripped and his knees were a little bloody, but he was keeping up with them just fine.
Sigrid looked for her dog. “Sandy!”
She darted toward them, zipping past the people in the yard. Leo and James got onto their bikes as Sigrid helped Sandy into the bike trailer.
Mary Ellen and another woman caught up with them as Sigrid zipped up the trailer.
“So you’re going to run away from salvation!” Mary Ellen shouted.
“I think we’ll be okay,” said Sigrid, jumping back on her bike. The three of them rode hard without looking back.
Eventually they realized no one was chasing after them, so they stopped to catch their breath. Sandy had whined back in her trailer for the first few minutes they rode, but after a while she had fallen into a deep sleep.
“You okay?” Leo asked James, who was panting.
James nodded. “Just skinned my knees. Not too bad.”
Leo climbed off his bike, suddenly thankful for the emergency kit on his bike. “I’ve got some ointment and bandages. Here,” he said. He handed them over to James, who sat on the ground and cleaned his scrapes as best he could. They were bleeding a bit, but he seemed fine.
After James was finished, they each took a long drink of water.
“How much longer do you think?” Sigrid asked Leo. It looked to be late afternoon. The sun would be setting in a few hours.
He pulled out the map from his backpack. Sigrid and James came over to peer over his shoulders.
Leo pointed to the campsite on the map. “We’re just past there.” He moved his finger to the location of the Air Force base. “That’s where we’re heading. If we make good time, we’ll probably be able to get there before the end of the day.”
“If we don’t have any more setbacks,” James said. “There sure have been enough so far.”
Back on the road, they were able to make good time. Leo and James each took turns on Sigrid’s bike to tow the dog so she could get a break.
“Hey, look!” James yelled. He took a hand off the handlebar to point. Leo was trailing by a few yards but saw as he passed.
cabot creek: 2 miles united states air force base: 11 miles
“Oh, thank goodness,” Sigrid sighed. Leo grinned. They would be there in another hour.
A few minutes later they road past a sign for the town of Cabot Creek. The town was small, split up by the highway running directly through the middle. Branching out from the highway were a convenience store, bait shop, and run-down hotel. Everything was deserted. They got off the bikes.
“Nobody here either,” James said. “I wonder if they went to the base too.”
Sigrid gestured to the convenience store. “We should take a look—see if there’s any food or water left.”
James looked uncertain about that. “Seriously? So now we’re just as bad as those looters back home?”
“Well, it’s not like anyone is around here waiting to buy the stuff,” Sigrid said. “Besides, we’ve been saying this whole time that nobody knows how long the power is going to be out. Who knows the next time we’ll get something to eat.”
James looked over to Leo, who shrugged. “We are almost out of food.”
“Fine,” James said. “But I’m not breaking anything.”
“Agreed,” Sigrid said.
James took off pedaling, calling over his shoulder, “And I call dibs on any candy bars!”
Sigrid and Leo laughed as they followed after him. Finally, things seemed to be picking up for them. Leo was so excited to get something else to eat that he almost didn’t notice the figure in the bait shop.
He skidded his bike to a stop. The store was dark on the inside, so all Leo could see was the outline of someone—or something—coming for them.