-----Chapter 8-----

Robert slowly walked into the room, the cloud in his thoughts lifting. Looking at the boy he could see the confusion on Keung’s face. Robert’s smile broadened as he stepped up to the boy’s bedside. To give the nurse warning that he was behind her, he set his hand on her shoulder as he walked up.

The officer reached down and fluffed Keung’s pillow. He was savoring the boy’s look of confusion about his current predicament. The fact that he finally had him, that he would finally get some answers, was all that ran through his mind. “Comfortable?” Robert asked Keung.

Keung gulped a breath and concentrated. He pulled himself into the calm void of his mind and focused.

Robert could feel his conviction shift. He no longer felt anger or pleasure at the boy’s state. Rather those feelings had shifted to sorrow and then happiness that Keung was okay.

“I am comfortable.” Keung replied with an eerie calm. “Thank you.” He said as he grinned in return at Robert.

“Excuse me, miss. How long have I been here?” Keung asked the nurse, beside her Robert was now robotically blinking in silence, the smile having left his face moments ago.

“I am sorry, the doctor will be in momentarily and he will discuss that with you.” She said as she fussed with Keung’s many connections.

“Oh, very good. Thank you. Could you please get me a drink of water?” Keung asked politely.

The nurse nodded and then walked from the room. Keung switched focus to Robert quickly, holding the man’s mind required a lot of concentration that Keung was hard pressed to muster.

“Robert. I get you are annoyed with me. I suppose you have a bit of right to be, I mean sure why not. That aside, you have no idea what me being in the hospital means. I need to get out of here now. It is just long odds that nothing bad has happened yet. However, those odds I mentioned are getting worse every moment we are here. So, Robert, I need you to help me get out of here, right now.” Keung said in a half panicked voice blended with an heir of unquestionable authority.

Robert could feel the panic within Keung, he could sense the panic hitting him in waves, hard at first and then gradually slowing to something controllable but highly alert. He looked around and picked up his coat, throwing it to Keung.

“We can’t get your clothes, I am sure they are in evidence or destroyed at this point. Put on my coat and I’ll find you a wheelchair.” Robert said calculating purely on instinct.

The younger man struggled to sit up, pulling off all the sensors on his body, and put on the larger man’s coat. He felt so weak. How long had he been in this hospital? He focused his telepathic powers on Robert as he was getting further from the room. There was a hope that the mental suggestions that Keung is using on Robert would hold, but there was a possibility that he could shrug it off, so Keung needed to hold focus. His powers were at a weakened state. Most of what he was pouring into Robert was empathic rather than commanding. It was a natural defense if he were left helpless. His mind would project an aura of empathic energy that would shift a creature’s sympathy to his favor.

Robert walked from the room and met the doctor a few yards from the door.

“Oh, hey, doc!” He said in a quick improvisation. He smiled wide and moved a hand to his eyes to give them a quick rub while he thought.

“Yeah, doc, I’m glad I caught you. Look. I hit the little button to call you to the room earlier on accident when I was looking over the kid. No need to get you off duty rounds.” Robert lied.

“Oh. Well, thank you officer for saying something.” The doctor replied and began back toward the room.

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Robert watched as the doctor’s path continued unchanging and his heart leaped.

“Oh, hey, doc!” Robert shouted.

“Doc, hey can I get a word with you about that kid!” Robert shouted as he moved to the doctors side.

“Yes officer?” the doctor said in an annoyed tone, his face was tight and his mouth was tense with annoyance.

“Look, doc. That kid…” Robert began keeping the doctor’s back to the room as he looked over the doctor’s shoulder at Keung now straightening up the bed and laying back down.

“...that kid in there. He’s a serious pain in the ass. I mean, he’s like a gremlin fiddling with your car whenever you’re away from the mechanic. Like, one of those World War II gremlins that the Germans were using on the Russian tanks, you know what I mean?” Robert continued as Keung got into position.

The doctor gave Robert a look that clearly said. “You, sir, are batshit crazy!” and then turned around and walked into the room. He checked a few machines, the notes on the patient file and then started looking Keung over.

The nurse returned to the room and Robert took the glass from her hands as she attempted to deliver it to the boy, then he waved her off with a smile, he softly muttered that he would give the glass to Keung when the doctor was done.

The doctor completed his check of Keung and turned around. Upon seeing Robert, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began fiddling with the apps, nodding to Robert as he walked by and into the hall.

Robert darted across the room and handed the cup to Keung. “Here’s your drink, let’s go!”

An hour later, Keung and Robert were walking across the street from Robert’s condo with a bundle of clothes purchased from the local thrift store. They crossed at a gap in traffic and went directly to Robert’s door.

As they walked in, Robert cleared his throat and pointed to the left where the bathroom was in the house. “You know where the bathroom is. Go clean up and get ready while I pack. We need to get out of the area for a little bit while I figure out what is going on.”

Keung waved and nodded in agreement as he headed off toward the master bathroom in Robert’s room.

When Robert heard the shower start, he went into the bedroom to pack up clothing and other supplies he might need during their cool down trip. Robert then headed into the kitchen and began preparing and packaging food and drinks for the road. His anxiety was growing in waves as he gathered everything. He breathed deep and attempted to keep himself calm while he collected everything.

Keung mechanically moved through a shower, scrubbing his aching body while maintaining the connection with Robert’s mind. He could not allow the man to stop feeling empathy in his favor for a moment or he might just turn on him. There is already a lot to worry about, his father being at the top of the list for now of course. Technically, he is a minor that had run away or was kidnapped from his home. Rightly, his father would like to drag him back to his home and in his weakened state. There wouldn’t be a lot that Keung could do to stop him.

Robert moved throughout his condo gathering odds and ends, which included things that surprised him. His laptop wasn’t on the top of his list of things to gather in normal priority, nor are the seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Battlestar Galactica. His head felt strange, like he was high on weed or something, just a little hazy. He couldn’t shake it off.

He moved to the fridge and grabbed out all packaged foods in there. Including the microwave burgers from the bigbox warehouse store. He had been on a bad junk food kick since he found Keung in the hospital. The diet change might have been a little before that. Wait, was it the night he saw the kid? Robert shook his head trying to clear the fog in his mind.

Keung toweled off mechanically and dressed from the bags in the same manner. He laughed when the t-shirt featuring the round smiling yellow face with the words “Shit Happens” came into his line of sight. The laugh was echoed through Robert in the living room packing.

Robert suddenly chuckled as he picked up an apple. Why that was funny was beyond him. He continued to pack up every canned or packaged food he owned into a box and focused harder on the supplies as he heard Keung walking up behind him.

Keung walked up behind Robert scanning the room for anything he forgot, his face hollow and without emotion. All his focus is on Robert’s mind. His cold eyes found nothing else useful within the house, nothing that can’t be picked up later if necessary. He picked up a few things himself while he held the focus on Robert trailing behind him. He heard Robert lock up the house as he crossed and watched Robert jog across the street as he got to the Jeep. Keung turned to help Robert with the supplies as the other man stepped to the vehicle.

With the Jeep loaded, Keung locked in on their destination and pushed that location into Robert’s mind. Robert got in and kicked over the engine without a thought to ask where they should go. He already knew it was a place where they could lay low. He used to drive to Eureka with his uncle in the summers, though the place has really gone to shit in recent years.