It was a lovely day for a bike ride: sunny, and cool but pleasant. So Maigrey, Innocent, Aeaea, Tori and Amyrlin borrowed some bikes (you know, from people that were already dead and couldn’t object to it) and headed out on the road to town, where they planned to have a coffee once there.
“It sure is nice out,” commented Maigrey. “I love autumn.”
“Me too. It’ll be nice to take our coffee on the patio,” Aeaea said.
“I do so love their biscotti,” Tori added.
“Maybe I could find something nice to treat myself with for graduating,” said Amyrlin.
“I’ll buy you and Aeaea both a latte, that’ll be my graduation gift to you,” said Innocent.
They navigated the winding road with ease, but found that it was getting a bit darker than they had expected. Perhaps it was just the thick cover from the trees, or maybe some clouds rolling in. Or maybe not. When they came out of a particularly tough turn, they found they didn’t quite recognize where they were.
“Did we take a wrong turn?” Innocent wondered.
“I don’t think so. But something’s funny,” said Amyrlin.
“I don’t remember the road being this steep, do you?” Aeaea stopped and looked behind her.
They all stopped to look. Indeed, they were partway down a very large hill.
“This can’t be right,” said Maigrey. “The campus is in the middle of a practically flatland area. What’s going on?” Then they noticed a large white stripe running across the ground where they had stopped, and fences on the sides of the road stretching before them. A gun shot went off somewhere, and they jumped at the sound, and then felt a rumbling from the earth. They looked behind to see giant boulders rolling toward them.
“Pedal, girls!” Tori hollered, and they all took off. They rode fast and furiously, afraid to glance back, feeling and hearing the tremble and sound of rock on road. Tori swerved to the side, hoping that if a boulder caught up with her, it might go past her in the middle of the road. However, she did not see the thick, low-hanging branch ahead, and she ran into it with great force. Her face was literally smashed in, bits of bark embedded in her skin, and she went by the wayside.
The others pressed on. Aeaea, in her haste, got going so fast that she lost control of her bike and skidded. The bike slammed into the fence but did not stop her momentum. She soared directly into a tree, and having turned a half flip on the way, hit it flat and upside-down. Her back broke and she fell limply to the forest floor.
Innocent could take it no more. She abandoned her bike and hopped over the fence, making a mad dash through the woods. But as she vaulted over a log, she glimpsed the jaws of a giant bear trap on the other side among the leaves and knew it would be the last thing she ever saw. She landed on it, and the metal sprang and snapped shut. Being strong enough to detain a bear, it was strong enough to crush a girl, which it did.
Maigrey heard the clang of the metal, and turned her head only for a split second, but it was at that second her front tire hit a small stone. She flew over the handlebars, tumbling end over end in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Then she landed head-first onto the pavement and cracked her head open.
Amyrlin was in a panic and she was getting tired. Even the adrenaline was not enough to keep her ahead of the boulders. They finally caught up to her, and one squished her under its gargantuan mass. It rolled placidly on with a bright track of blood round its middle.