The Race

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

My GPS alarm woke me up at four o’clock the next morning.  When I picked it up to look at the screen, it said that I had thirty minutes to get dressed and have everything ready.  Groaning, I pushed myself up from the bed and headed to go take a quick shower.

When I was finished, I quickly dried off, got dressed, and ran a towel through my hair just to get some of the dampness out.  The bike ride would dry it for me. 

I headed downstairs once I had everything packed in my backpack or strapped onto me in their sheaths.  When I got to the kitchen, there was a paper bag with my name on it and a note from Corinna telling me ‘good luck’.  Grabbing a pen, I quickly wrote back a ‘thank you’.

I ate as I walked outside in the pitch black.  It wasn’t even four thirty in the morning yet and it didn’t look like anyone else was up in the houses around.  Digging out my glasses from my pants’ pocket, I got on my bike and started it up. 

Right when it hit four thirty my glasses connected with my GPS and my course started to glow green on the road leading out of the little town.  Switching into first, I sped down the road.

The next few days weren’t as eventful as the first two.  The worst thing that I came across was traffic in one of the cities I’d passed through.  It was kind of hard maneuvering around the cars and trucks when they were practically on top of each other.

I think I would have gone crazy if it weren’t for the nights.  After I talked with my dad, I would always get to talk to Kier.  

“It’s been quiet with me, too,” he said on the eighth night after the Race started.  “Ever since the complete first day, nothing has happened.”

“Well, it’s only been a little over week.  There's bound to be another one for us both in a day or two,” I said, resting my head on my arms.  

I had stopped in the middle of the mountains and had found a group of rocks not far off the dirt road that I was on.  Together they made a little cave-like area that was just the right size for me to stretch out.  I was lucky I found it because it had started to rain just as my GPS was about to cut off and make me stop.  

That had been an hour ago.  I had talked with my dad for just a few minutes.  Since there apparently hadn't been anything going on with anyone, we didn’t have much to talk about.

But I’d been talking with Kier for an hour now.  

“So where are you now?” I asked him. 

He laughed.  “Do you want me to give up my location to you?” he asked.

“No, I...”

“I’m just kidding,” he said, laughing again.  “I’m by some lake now.  I don’t know which state I’m in.  I’m just following my course.  What about you?”

“I’m in the mountains somewhere,” I said.  “And just like you, I don’t know which state.”

We went into the comfortable silence that we seemed to get into when we were both thinking about something.  

I was thinking about him.

“So,” Kier said a minute later.  “When do you think we’ll team up?”

My heart swelled at the thought of being with him again. 

“I don’t know,” I said, biting my lip to keep from smiling.  I didn’t know why I was doing it since he couldn’t see anything. 

“You’re biting your lip to keep yourself from smiling, aren’t you?” he said with a chuckle.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, finally letting my smile win.  “I don’t know how you knew that when you’ve only known me for a little over two weeks,” I said.  “And out of that time, I’ve been with you for four days.”