TAINTED REMNANTS: VOLUME 1

CHAPTER 5: SEEING YELLOW

3:06 PM

01/08/2020

It felt like Oscar and his friends were the Power Rangers from the way they got to their bikes. That's how he felt at least. He always liked to think they were cooler than they actually were, even if it's something as mundane as grabbing their bikes. The three of them got on their bikes and started riding down one of the trails leading away from the school. When they were sure they wouldn't have any issues with traffic, they changed course and went towards the road.

They rode along the side of it for a while. As they rode, the cold air stung their faces. It was slightly windy out, so that totally helped with the winter weather. Oscar used to get sick all the time as a kid because of cold weather, not that he was surprised. A weak immune system to him was just another thing that made him unlucky. To top it off, it barely ever snowed in Hurricane. It only happened twice in his lifetime, and that was when he was practically a toddler, so he was catching colds just from the cold air. To make matters even worse than they already were, his mother doted on him nonstop during the winter because of his sensitivity to the weather. She'd dress him up in thick coats and big gloves and gave him a ski mask. Thank the lord above that stopped after intermediate school. He was getting really tired of going to school looking like the bubble boy.

"Guys, the trail's up ahead! It's just around this turn!" Raj said.

Oscar looked ahead of him and saw the turn. They turned to the right and sure enough, there was a large wooden sign on the side of the road that read: "Etenia Trail." Below it, they could see that the trail was four miles long. Oscar was surprised by the length of the trail, but at the same time, excited to see what it had to offer.

"You guys ready?" Raj asked.

"Ready as I can be." Isaac answered.

"Spare me the suspense!" Oscar shouted with a smile. "Let's get riding already!" He got a six second head start on both of them.

"Oh, no you don't! I'm not going to be third place!" Isaac shouted defiantly.

Raj laughed while racing past Isaac. "Sorry, Isaac. Guess you'll have to eat my dust!"

Isaac grunted. "Not if you eat mine first!" He started pedaling faster and to Raj's surprise, managed to catch up to him.

"About time you started using your legs to ride your bike!" Raj joked before getting ahead of Isaac again.

"Hey!" Oscar called out. "Why don't you focus on the guy ahead of you?"

Raj rolled his eyes when he saw how far ahead of him Oscar was before catching up. The three boys rode further down the trail across a large field where the trail led them directly to the forest ahead. Oscar looked around at the wide open field and smiled as he took in the scenery. This was another reason why he liked biking. There were no buildings or streets in the way. Just wide open space. It looked peaceful in a way that Oscar liked and could feel comfortable in. They didn't even get to the woods yet and already, he was gawking at the scenery. There wasn't even anything to see; it was just a field, but it gave Oscar something else to look at besides the town.

It didn't take them long to reach the tree line. Oscar squinted his eyes from the sunlight peeking through the trees while he kept riding down the trail. The trail was bumpy and they had to ride around a couple large sticks, but for the most part, the trail was nice. The trees towered over them with the setting sun peeking through and the cold air blew in their faces as they rode.

It had been a while since they had gone bike riding in the woods. The last time they did, it wasn't exactly their choice. Though, Oscar was pretty sure the woods they were riding through were different from the forest Plushtrap chased them down in. He doubted train tracks would be near a forest trail near a camp. He couldn't imagine trying to sleep in a tent and a train horn suddenly blowed in the middle of the night. That wasn't his problem, though, since he never went camping and wasn't particularly interested in it.