Free Land by Theresa Shaver Page A

morning and we should try to be out of here by six thirty. Hopefully the drunks won’t cause any trouble and will be sleeping it off when we get away from here. I say we bike for an hour and then stop and cook a good breakfast. We are aiming for somewhere between the two small towns, Yermo and Baker for the end of the day. That’s only the best guess we can make. It will depend on how the road is and what we run into on the way. It’s going uphill a lot so that will slow us down. We also have to be careful about our water and keep an eye out to fill it up whenever we can. We’re really lucky it’s only April so it’s hot during the day but not scorching. That’s about it. We should get to sleep as soon as we can, tomorrow is going to be even harder than today was.” he finished.
    Alex and Dara made up two more mugs of hot chocolate for Josh and Quinn and Alex put a little more water on the camp stove for Cooper to have his on watch. When Quinn and Josh finished their drinks they laid down on the double bed closest to the door. Alex and Dara climbed on the other bed and settled down to sleep.
    Alex was so tired that she thought she would be asleep in a second. The belly full of warm chocolate and soft bed should have done the trick but she couldn’t stop thinking. Her thoughts were full of her parents and brother. “What was happening at home? Were they all ok or hurt? What if they were driving at the time and had a crash?” After a hundred what ifs Alex couldn’t bear it anymore and switched her thoughts to Emily. “Where was her best friend right now? Did they make it to a boat? Would she be ok with the jerks she was traveling with?” Alex couldn’t stop thinking and didn’t think she would be able to sleep. After tossing and turning she gave up and just stared up at the ceiling.
    She could hear Josh snoring and Quinn’s breathing and Cooper shifting on his chair by the window. Just as she thought she might as well get up and do something like fill the water bottles in the bathroom, she felt her hand being held. Dara gave Alex’s hand a squeeze of comfort and then just held it in the dark. Alex realized that her parents and best friend might be far away but she had a friend right beside her, one that she didn’t even know she had been missing so much. With that thought, Alex fell asleep still holding her friend’s hand.
     

Chapter 7
     
     
    Everything must have been quiet during the night because when Alex woke up, there was a soft light coming in around the curtains and everyone was still asleep except for Josh by the window. Tilting her watch she saw that it was ten minutes to six and decided to get up. She tried to quietly slide off the bed but as soon as she stood up a groan came out at the pain in her legs and butt. Alex staggered to the bathroom trying not to whimper and it was made harder by Josh’s muffled laughter. He obviously knew just how sore she was because sitting on the bathroom counter was a container of Advil and a bottle of water. Alex imagined that they all would be starting their day with the painkiller. While waiting for the drugs to kick in Alex put the lid down and sat on the toilet seat beside the tub. She started filling up the gallon jugs from the tub and topping up the bike water bottles. Once that was done she limped back out to the main room and grabbed some dried fruit and half a power bar to eat. Having thrown up her supper last night she was starving. The food took the edge off but she was definitely looking forward to a big camping breakfast down the road. They had enough food for all of them to eat for five days and after that they would have to start looking elsewhere. It would be a good idea to stop in a small town today and see if they could still buy some food. Alex still had almost two thousand dollars in her pocket and they might get lucky in a small town.
    The others were all up by then and Quinn was passing out foldable camping toothbrushes that the girls had