The Lola Chronicles (Book 2): A Day Without Dawn by Jillian Eaton Page A

hesitate like I had with Mrs. Wallace.
    I found an empty water bottle stuck behind one of the bleachers, refilled it, took a swig, and headed out. It was almost twenty minutes past noon, which gave me little under seven hours until sunset. Not that sunset really mattered much anymore.
    All of the four wheelers were gone – no big surprise there – but I found a bike leaning against the side of the school. The handlebars were rusted and weeds were growing up into the chain, but the tires were still relatively full of air. After yanking it out of the bushes I hopped on and began a slow, unsteady pedal. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ridden a bike and I almost fell off twice by the time I reached the road but after a couple of minutes I had the hang of it again. Now I just needed to decide which direction to go.
    There was no reason Hunter would have headed left – there was nothing out that way except for old dairy farms – and if they’d gone right I definitely would have heard them so after a moment’s hesitation I went straight. A light breeze whipped through my hair and caught the back of my borrowed t-shirt, billowing it out in a puff of bright yellow as I rose up on my toes and pedaled faster.
    Making turns at random, I cut a zig-zagging path through the center of town. Without any traffic there was no need to stay on the sidewalks so I went straight down the middle of the street, weaving around abandoned cars and ignoring the dark red stains on the asphalt.
    “Come on,” I muttered in frustration fifteen minutes later when my search had turned up nothing but a skittish orange and white tabby cat. I’d hoped to have at least heard the dim roar of the four wheelers, but aside from some chirping birds and the wind rustling through the leaves the town was silent.
    Peeling hair off my sweaty forehead I stopped the bike in front of the post office and leaned all my weight onto one leg. Sunlight reflected off a row of apartment windows, causing me to squint and look down as I chugged half of my water bottle. I really needed to find a good pair of sunglasses. Black ones to make me look extra bad ass. The kind that bounced a person’s reflection right back at them.
    Wiping my chin, I tucked the bottle back into its holder and pushed off. My lungs were starting to ache and my thighs were burning, but I couldn’t stop. At least not until I found Hunter and redeemed myself.
    As I set off down a different street I wondered how pissed he was on a scale from one to ten. Eight or a nine, if I had to guess. Hunter didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to get angry very easily, but I had definitely pushed his buttons. When would I learn to just bite my tongue and shut up? It was as if there was a part of me that wanted to sabotage my relationships. Starting with Dad and ending with Maximus (because nothing says ‘we’re over’ quite like a bullet to the heart), I had gone into self-destruct mode at one point or another with every single important person in my life. The only one I had never been able to push away was Travis. The kid had stuck to me like glue even when I did my best to break us apart.
    Stubborn little shit , I thought affectionately as I blew past a stop sign and made a sharp right onto Maple Street. The road sloped down towards a row of shops. Coasting between the yellow lines I stood up on the pedals and arched my back. The wind caught my hair, pulling out the rest of my braid. I closed my eyes and for an instant I felt like I was flying.
    Too bad everything that goes up has to come down.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Has to Come Down
     
     
     
    I opened my eyes just in time to see a dark shape hurtling towards me. A shape that was more monster than human with tangled hair and snapping teeth and raw, blistered skin. A shriek burst past my lips as I yanked the handlebars to the left, but I was going too fast for such a sharp turn.
    The bike flipped onto its side and I went down with it, hurtling over the