Cincinnati Ride

Me and my brother cycled to Cincinnati, and he made a remark of how crazy it would be if something came on the bike path and attacked us; my imagination started to run wild.

The Sun started its ascension into the sky as Torey and I woke up. We are both cycling enthusiasts, and one day we decided to bike to Cincinnati.

 

            “Time to wake up,” he said opening up the door.

 

            “Alright,” I said groggily, “What time is it?”

 

            “5:30,” he said walking back to his room. Luckily for me I packed the night before, so I decided to check the bikes. After the inspection, I enjoyed a bowl of Frosted Flakes and a banana. Once Torey and I were done with breakfast, we checked the bikes again.

 

            “Well the bikes are good, you ready to go?” He said

 

            “Sure am,” I said lowering the gears on my bicycle, “let’s ride.” We went up our street and onto the bike path towards Xenia.

 

            “It’s too friggin cold,” I said, the Sun still mostly under the horizon. I was only donning a pair of shorts, a dark blue T-shirt, and an old ball cap.

 

            “Yeah, you’re right, the Sun needs to rise already,” he said. He was sporting a light brown Hollister shirt with Adidas soccer pants (an odd combination, I know.). As we approached Xenia station, I checked my phone to see which bike trail we would be taking from there.

 

            “It’s looking like we will be taking the ‘Ohio to Erie Trail’ once we get to Xenia.”

 

            “Cool.” It took us less than an hour to get to Xenia Station, and when we got there I tried to use the restroom, but the station, of course, was closed. Torey was examining a map of Miami Valley’s bike trails, mapping out the ride in his head.

 

            “You ready to bounce?” I asked

 

            “Yep, let’s hit it.” As we rode, the path got more rural; trees and farms were all that we saw, every now and then we would see a small town. We stopped in Loveland to use the restroom and take a break. As Torey surveyed the selection of food items in the gas station we stopped at, I went to use the restroom. While washing my hands, a man came up to the next sink. He was donning cycling gear, a blue and white short sleeve cycling shirt, and a pair of black cycling shorts, and cycling shoes (you know, the ones that click into the pedals.) He was lean, probably about 6’1”, and he was rather pale. 

 

            “What a chilly morning,” he said looking into the mirror.

 

            “Yeah, tell me about it. Me and my brother started riding at 5 am, and it was horrible, where are you headed?”

 

            “Well I biked to Milford and now I’m heading back to Mason.” He splashed some water on his face, and when he did I thought I saw a flicker of something.

 

            “I know a guy from Mason, that’s, what, twenty miles?”

 

He nodded.

 

            “Where are you headed?”

 

            “Me and my brother are cycling to Cincinnati, we’re riding from the Dayton area.”

 

            “Very nice, that’s going to be a daunting ride.”

 

            “Yeah, but it will be fun. It was good talking to you,” I said walking out. When I walked out, I’m pretty sure I heard him say, “I’ve found them,” making me stop.  “Excuse me?” I said, walking back in, “did you say something?” He looked up and just then did I realize that he was following us. He passed us several times on the path and I didn’t even think about it until just now of course. When he looked up I saw his eyes change colors from amber to a bright red.

 

Oh no.

 

“Torey we gotta go,” I yelled, slamming the door. He had just finished purchasing cheddar sandwich crackers when I burst through the door.

 

“We’re taking a break, what’s the rush?”

 

“We are being followed, get on your bike and pedal, I’ll explain later.”

 

            “What, being followed,” he asked, “by who?”

 

            “By that,” I yelled, pointing at the man coming out of the bathroom. His eyes were still red, but there were no longer any whites, just silver. His skin and clothes morphed into a new silver skin. The cashier screamed and got out a shotgun, but before he could aim it, the thing moved like a blur and bludgeoned him.

 

            “What is that thing,” Torey yelled.

 

            “Come on, get on your bike!” We ran out to our bikes and hopped on, slamming down on the pedals. I took a brief look behind me and saw the thing burst through the door. Once we got on the bike path I looked behind me to see that it wasn’t behind us, but I still pedaled fast. 

 

            “What the hell was that thing,” Torey said under heavy breathing. As we rode we hit another rural area. Trees, a miniature forest, surrounded us, but I could see farms through the foliage. As we rode over a bridge, I checked around us to see if anything was in the trees when the thing busted through the bridge, sending splinters of wood everywhere.

 

            “Go, go, go,” I screamed. I heightened the gears on the bike and pressed down on the pedals. I looked behind to me to see that the thing was skating. It had a row of wheels going down the middle of both its feet. I never wanted people to see this, but I had no choice. I yanked the bow and arrow pendant off the chain around my neck.

 

            “What are you doing!”

           

            I put all focus on the pendant, “I need you now,” I said, “come alive!” The silver pendant glowed a light blue color and started to shake. The bow on the pendant grew bigger, sprouting green lines that wrapped around it, along with the arrow.

 

            “What on Earth is that!”

 

            “Why it’s my weapon of choice,” I said with a smirk. I turned as far back as I could, but the thing was gone again, “damnit, I’m really getting tired of this thing hiding.”

 

            “WHAT IS IT,” Torey screamed.

 

            “It’s a robot silly.” Torey had a bewildered look on his face, but before he could respond, the robot broke through the thicket, lunging for me. I aimed the bow at the robot’s forehead and let an arrow fly, sinking itself in its intended target. The robot’s head jerked back and its limp body crashed against the pavement, then tumbled down the hill into the Little Miami River.

 

            “Please tell me there’s no more.”

 

            “I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any more, look behind you” There was a swarm of them, at least nine, some skating, and some riding bikes, the same silvery color of the first, “where’s my damn quiver?” The bracelet on my right wrist, a silver and light green quiver cuff bracelet, jumped up off my wrist and elongated to a regular size quiver with arrows, “that’s what I’m talking about!”  The skating robots jumped into the woods on both our flanks, while the cycling ones stayed behind.

 

            “Watch out Aaron! On your side!”  I pulled another arrow out of the quiver, readied the bow and shot at the robot, hitting it square in the chest.

 

            “Torey, take this,” I yelled pulling a charm out of my pocket and throwing it at him. The charm morphed into a bronze hilt, then sprouted a shimmering silver blade, “9 o’clock,” I yelled. Another robot on his flank jumped through the foliage and lunged at Torey, who sank the sword deep into the chest of the robot. The robot was still reaching for him with the last of its life, but my arrow sank into its eye socket, sending it off the sword, hitting one of its cyclist companions, “get crafty with it,” I said, gesturing at the sword. A cyclist robot tried to ram me into the Little Miami, but Torey decapitated it with his blade.

 

            “There’s still so many behind us,”

 

            “There has to be at least a dozen,” I said. They were gaining on us, and I needed a vantage point. Still surrounded by forest, I couldn’t see a thing that could help us, but then I noticed a hill approaching, “oh yeah,” I said with a grin. I cranked the gears up and sped up, as did Torey.

 

            “Watch my six,” I yelled at Torey.

 

            “What are you doing?”

Once I approached the top of the hill I slammed down on the back brakes and made a hard turn to the left with my handlebars, starting my descent down the hill backwards.  Arrow after arrow, the robots went down like dominoes, crashing into one another. One was tumbling towards Torey who hit it like he was golfing, sending the robot into the river.

 

            “That was awesome,” Torey yelled.

 

            “Don’t celebrate yet,” I said, there were another three on skates coming fast dead ahead of us. They lined up horizontally and the one in the middle jumped high into the air, “oh they’re trying to be sly!” I let another arrow fly at the one coming to me, and readied my bow to shoot the one in the sky, but Torey’s blade ripped through it, sending pieces of metal everywhere. The blade came back down into Torey’s outstretched hand.

 

            “Come on,” Torey shouted, bringing the blade to his side. Is he about to joust? Morphing its arm into a blade, the robot raced to Torey, who jumped off of his bike, swinging the blade at the robot’s neck, decapitating it. Once he landed back on his bike, I clapped. No more showed up, we’re safe for now

 

            “I’m running low on arrows,” I said, there was only three left in my quiver.

 

            “Do you have anything else?”

 

            “Yeah, but I like bows and arrows, I need to invest in a bigger quiver.” Finally the forest ended, into a rural area surrounded by farms, farm animals, and the occasional house. As we rode, we kept a vigilant eye on our surroundings, but we saw nothing, so we continued our ride. We approached another small town, Madisonville, when we saw more of them.

 

            “Pedal to the metal,” Torey said, gripping the hilt of the sword. Once again we rode into another forest like area, followed by seven more robots. Some stayed behind us, some went to the thicket on both flanks, and some actually took fight. I let another arrow fly into the chest of an airborne one, making it plummet down into two of its companions. I shot an arrow at a robot on my right flank that impaled into the abdomen, sticking the robot to a tree. Still four on our tail, and only two arrows remaining, I need to be crafty myself. Slamming on the brakes, my tires screeched and I yanked an arrow out of my quiver, stabbing a robot through its cheekbone, making it go limp and fall off its bike tumbling on the pavement.

 

            “Aaron we have an issue!” I looked over and saw him bring down an impaled robot that was airborne, slamming it on the ground. Following his gaze to the sky, I saw what looked like a short helicopter coming towards us. I reached for another arrow but felt nothing, “bring out the other weapon, what was the other weapon?” I twisted the aerobars on my bike, watched the .50 caliber turrets emerge, and fired. A volley of bullets sailed towards the helicopter as Torey took out the last of the robots. Plumes of smoke arose from the engine of the helicopter, then flames, sending the helicopter spiraling down into the forest, crashing down on a tree, sending up flames, “that was awesome,” Torey yelled. Once the forest ended, we saw it.

 

Cincinnati.