RU in? - 1st novel in the Ruinsaga series

Chapter 37 .

Lily

Streaks of yellow beams from the sun hit the snow through leafless branches of the trees. The snow sparkled in an array of different colors. I had hoped that the sun would melt the snow, but the biting cold air countered that. The smell of pine trees refreshed my weary body. There were plenty of leafless trees around us, but there were more pine and fir trees.

Our bikes left little tracks in the crunchy snow. It wasn't easy riding in the snow. When the zombies first appeared, I had thought I was building muscle by the constant running and hacking at them with my ax, but now my legs ached even more. The sky started to dim as the sun began to set.

"I'm hungry," Marcos said. The little boy had done pretty well on his bike with training wheels, but he could only pedal for so long before his legs got tired. We ended up tying a rope connecting his bike with Hunter's. Marcos could still be on his bike while Hunter pulled him along. Hunter slowed and came to a stop. The rest of us followed his lead. None of us got off our bikes yet.

"How far do you think the diner is?" Hunter asked me.

"I don't think it's far now," I said, "but I'm not sure."

"Maybe we should stop for the night," Darren's mom said. "It won't make much of a difference if we get there tonight versus the morning."

"Except," Hunter said, "it might be safer inside the diner overnight than out here in the woods."

Monica placed a hand over the hole in her coat and shuddered. We needed to fix that somehow. If we ran into zombies again, she wouldn't be so lucky if a zombie bit her in that spot that was now unprotected.

"We don't know that the diner is going to be a safe place," Darren's mom pointed out.

"But my sister and her brother will be there," Hunter said and waved in my direction.

"And my parents are supposed to meet us there," Richard said.

I had forgotten about that. He didn't bring them up much.

Darren's mom softened as she said gently, "Have you seen their car on the freeway on our travels? I doubt they made it all the way to the diner before the cars, phones and everything else stopped working."

"I haven't seen their car," Richard said, "but most of the time we haven't been in view of the freeway."

"That's true," Darren's mom said.

The temperature was dropping rapidly as the sun drifted further down in the sky.

"Let's keep going," Hunter said. "The diner is going to be on the other side of the freeway. We can cross now." He shifted his bike so it was now pointing in the direction of the hidden freeway beyond the trees.

"The group of men were also on the other side of the freeway," Darren pointed out.

"Yes," Hunter said, "but we have to cross to get to the freeway. They didn't know we were going to the diner. And we're on bikes now. Hopefully we lost them."

"I'm hungry," Marcos whined again.

"I am too," Juan said quietly. He stared at the bar handle of his bike as he turned his bike with the rest of us.

"We'll eat soon," Mackenzie said to the boys. "It's not that much further now."

When we got to the treeline, Hunter and Darren got off their bikes to peek around the trees.

"It looks clear," Hunter said.

"Can you see the diner?" Mackenzie asked hopefully.

"No," Hunter said. "I can't tell how far we are from it, but let's keep going."