Land by Theresa Shaver Page A

“How about I drag you off that bike and just take it you little shit!” the man spit.
    Cooper leaned back on his bike seat and with a calm face swung open his jacket and rested his hand on the gun holstered at his waist.
    “Mister I’m sorry to tell you this but your money doesn’t mean anything and whoever you were yesterday you aren’t anybody today. It’s a new world and it’s not pretty so go back to your worthless pop can car and let us pass before you get yourself shot. After we are gone, I would suggest you start walking but I wouldn’t worry, I’m pretty sure your meeting is cancelled.” Cooper told him.
    The man blustered some more and cursed them all but moved back to his car. Cooper waved the rest of the group forward but stayed facing the man until they were all past and down the road. Only then did he give the angry man a nod and continue after his friends. They had made another hour of riding before their way was blocked again. An eighteen wheeler had jack knifed across the road and there was no way through.
    After backtracking for ten minutes they found an open space to get off the freeway. Quinn made good use of the wire cutters that Cooper had stolen and cut away the chain link fence. They had to walk the bikes through and carefully down the embankment to the pathway, with one person holding back the fence so they could fit through. They stayed on the pathway paralleling the freeway for half an hour before it started to angle away so they found a way back onto the road and kept going. It surprised Alex how few people they saw. Most were walking and a few were sitting beside cars obviously hurt but most of the freeway was deserted. They did see two different groups that looked like family units on bikes. They were loaded down and had small trailers being pulled behind. Alex guessed that they had the same idea and were getting out of the city as well.
    At one point they were in a tight area of the freeway and couldn’t get off when they were forced to bike through a heavy cloud of smoke. On the other side they all had to stop and clear their smoke saturated lungs and stinging eyes. When their eyes cleared they looked over to the west of the freeway and saw a huge mega mall. It was on fire and burning out of control. It looked like a plane had crashed into it as the plane’s tail was sticking out of the side of a Bloomingdales. All that jet fuel had ignited and the mall was a tower of flames and smoke.
    No one else had tried to stop the group and even having to weave around wrecks they made good time. Every time they came to an area that was undeveloped Alex thought they had finally made it to the outskirts of the city, only to pedal into another suburb with row after row of housing and strip malls. Being from an area that was less populated it was hard for Alex to wrap her head around so many houses and people living so close together.
    They were in an undeveloped area when Alex took a quick look at her watch and saw it was just after five o’clock. Even without her aching body and bladder Alex knew they needed to stop and discuss a plan for the coming night. She yelled ahead to the others and they all pulled up into an empty area on the side of the road.
    “Sorry guys but I really have to go to the bathroom and anyway, we need to talk about the plan for tonight.”
    With groans of relief and aching muscles everybody got off their bikes for a pit stop. Grabbing a roll of toilet paper and some hand sanitizer from her pack, Alex headed over to some bushes to do her business. Everyone else took advantage of the break to do the same. When Alex got back to her bike she did some stretches and rubbed some ointment into her shoulders.
    “That doesn’t look good. I’ll make some padding for your straps so it doesn’t get any worse.” Cooper commented as he came up to her.
    Alex smiled her thanks at him and couldn’t help thinking that he didn’t seem like such a bad boy to her. The way he handled