Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort - Chad Stewart (best ereader for students TXT) 📗

He pumped his legs down on the pedals as fast as he could. He got so much speed that he started getting some decent air off the peaks of each rise. Dust flew out behind him. The path wound, dipped, and turned. He went into a slight dip and then came up fast to the top of a peak. His bike caught at least five feet of air. In mid jump, movement caught his eye to the right. He looked over to see another one of those beasts leaping for him from a hill. By instinct Dillon shot his foot out and clipped the creature in the side. It went down and Dillon sped on. He knew somehow that he wasn’t going to be able to outrun these things so he decided that it was going to come down to outmaneuvering them. It was at this point that he got really appreciative of his parents for insisting that he be signed up for BMX racing. He knew that of all the bike races he had been in this was now his most important. He was racing for his life!

The creature he hit out of the air didn’t stay down long as it bounced off the ground, rolled up on its feet, and continued the chase. Dillon drifted around a dusty corner and another coyote leaped at him from an adjacent hill. He barely managed to duck out of the way. He could hear a slight sizzling sound and knew that the creature had dripped some of its acidic saliva onto his helmet.

He went over the next rise and, by sheer luck, he clipped a third coyote in the face with his front tire. As it hit the tire it spun around a couple of times before it crashed into the ground. That last blow almost threw Dillon from his bike. It took all his skill to land after that hit. Thankfully there didn’t appear to be any damage that he could note as he hit the ground and sped on.

Dillon swooped into a low valley that twisted and turned. He sucked in his breath as he went around every corner, expecting to see another creature lunging at him. The sound of the howls of the beasts made Dillon’s heart pump faster. It was a gross sound. Not like the smooth long howl you would hear from a wolf, but more of a yelping and yipping howl, almost akin to that of a hyena or even screaming children. It was terrifying! The worst part was that, because of the extremely uneven lay of the land, the yelps sometimes seemed far away while at other times they sounded as though they were right on top of him.

Dillon tried to shrug the unpleasant sounds away and just focus on speeding through these badlands as fast as he could. He hit a fairly long straight stretch in the low area he was ripping through and glanced back. He could see two of the coyotes come over opposite rises and into the valley in full pursuit. They didn’t seem to be tiring and they were coming on fast. The most disturbing thing was that Dillon had no idea where the third one was. He turned his attention back in front of himself again and pumped his legs down on the pedals as fast as he could, but he knew he couldn’t keep it up for much longer. The straight stretch finally veered to the right and climbed back up. He used all his dexterity to barely miss a massive boulder that just seemed to appear in the middle of the trail as he went around the corner. He knew that if he made one mistake and wiped out that the chase would be over. He heard what sounded like gunshots in the distance but didn’t dare stop and take a look. He did manage to glance back and noticed that the two coyotes who were in pursuit stopped for a moment and seemed to be looking at something in the distance. He counted himself lucky as the distraction was enough for him to get a bit ahead before they turned and started the chase once more.

As he got to the top of the rise he could finally see the lush green oasis lingering before him. It was still a ways off, but just the sight of it gave the young boy hope that he might make it. The question in Dillon’s mind, however, was if he had enough speed and endurance to make it to the threshold before the coyotes got him? And, if he did make it, could he survive long enough to make it to someone for help?

Dillon also felt indignant to the boy who had helped him in the shop with the bike as he said this trail was well traveled, and yet he hadn’t seen a single soul! He shook all those unpleasant thoughts from his mind and sped as fast as his legs would drive down on the pedals.

The coyotes behind him were relentless! And they were gaining on him again.

Focus Dillon, he said to himself. You can do this. He was almost there! A few more rises, a short straight stretch, and he would be there. He was already formulating a plan to be able to lose the creatures in the forest. He knew that once he got out of the open areas he should be able to out manoeuvre them amongst the trees.

By this time the two that were right behind him were nipping at his heels. Dillon came down from the last rise and onto the short straight stretch. He just crossed the line into the oasis when he saw something emerge from the corner of his eye. He turned his head slightly to the right and saw it. The third coyote! It was in mid leap and he didn’t have time to react. It slammed into him hard, launching him from his bike. The bike rolled and tumbled onto the grass. Dillon hit the ground hard and rolled a number of times before coming to a stop. He shook the dizziness away and quickly turned around to see the coyote a couple of feet from him, baring its fangs and stalking forward.

He looked for something he could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. It was almost to him when it suddenly stopped. It stopped growling and looked confused. It backed away, appearing to be in pain. It started issuing whimpers as smoke began coming from its paws. It turned to flee but couldn’t as its legs burst into flames, then the rest of the creature went up in a fiery inferno like an incredibly dry tree that had a match thrown on it. The screams it made were horrific! Dillon scrambled away from the dying beast and cupped his ears to block out the sound. In a matter of seconds it was over and all that was left of the beast was a pile of smouldering ash.

Dillon looked from the pile of ash to the other two coyotes that were at the edge of the Oasis. They paced back and forth, frothing acidic saliva, but not daring to enter the lush grounds. After a moment they both turned and ran off into the desert.

Dillon was dumbfounded, not knowing what to think about the events he had just been a part of. He stood up and walked over to the pile of ash and kicked it around with his foot. As he did he noticed a glint come from within the pile. Not wanting to touch the ash with his hands he searched around for a small branch then used it to unearth what he saw. It appeared to be a small metal chip of some sort. He knew that it was no coincidence that this creature had, what appeared to be, an implant imbedded in it. He scooped it up and placed it into the side pocket of his backpack. He then collected his bike and started for the resort. He knew he needed to tell someone about what had just happened but he didn’t know who.

Who was going to believe this crazy story! he thought to himself. And what of Tom Tom? He knew he had to go back. He knew he had to go back right away.