Nearly fifty miles north of Santa Barbara, there is a little Diner called Bob's Well Bread Bakery. As the Jeep rumbled to a stop at the gas station across the road, Robert suddenly felt an intense craving for warm bread. Fresh bread and maybe some cheese along with some wine. Robert shook his head as the pump clicked. He tapped the nozzle of the hose to the lip of the tank clearing any remaining fuel from the line.

He walked to the drivers side door and saw that Keung was awake again. The boy had drifted off to sleep before they left Ventura. Robert had felt like he should have taken him back to the hospital but every time he tried to focus on getting there his thoughts were pulled away and locked back to the trip north. It was a welcome sight to see Keung was doing well.

He pulled away from the station and down the street to the diner. Before he could focus on why he did so, Keung was up and out of the vehicle. The craving reawakened as he smelled the fresh bread within the building. Walking in, Robert could see Keung already ordering an egg over a slice of toast from one of the most recent loaves pulled from the oven. Robert overheard him asking about cheese and wine.

The fog started to overtake his thoughts again.

The next thing that Robert realized he was driving along the road once more. Were those Redwoods, how long had he been driving? His mind felt like it was packed in cotton. He couldn’t keep a thought long enough to understand the whole of what he was taking in.

Robert looked into the passenger seat and saw Keung sipping from a glass of wine, “He has a tray of cheese… a tray of cheese? He’s sipping wine in my car. I’m a cop.” Robert told himself.

A worried look crossed Keung’s face. “I am a cop and this is a kid drinking wine, in my car, while I’m driving. Where am I driving?” Robert tried to puzzle out in his head.

Keung’s eyes focused hard on Robert, his brows furrowed deeply as he concentrated to maintain a grip on Robert’s mind. The brakes squealed as Robert punched his foot into the floor and wildly swung his arm across the seat sending it crashing into Keung’s head.

The younger man fell limply in the seat unconscious.

Robert shook his head and slapped his face several times. He pulled the Jeep to the side of the road and got out. His stomach was empty and it was screaming for food. He needed to piss so bad that he could feel a warm stream seeping into his jeans. He walked off the road and relieved himself with a sensation of both agony and ecstasy. He shouted loud into the air as the stream continued for several minutes.

When he was done, he realized he also needed to defecate, but he will be damned if he is going to squat in the bushes. He stormed up to the Jeep and got inside. He could see snack wrappers and bottles of drinks, some with a yellow liquid now in place of the original. He looked Keung over again to make sure he was okay. He pulled back his arm like he wanted to strike the boy again but just screamed in frustration and slammed the door instead.

A mile up the road Robert pulled into a gas station and used the facilities. He used them after a short argument with the clerk about whether or not it was open to the public, to which Robert presented his badge and informed the clerk it most certainly was open to public use in this case.

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After relieving himself and a brisk sink wash, he changed into a set of clothes from the car. He wolfed down two Snickers bars before returning to the road. It was only a short drive to the nearest motel where Robert then got a room. Exhausted wasn’t the word for how he felt. How had he stayed up that long and where the hell were they? He took Keung into the room wrapped in a blanket and returned to his Jeep for some rope. He needed answers and this kid was going to give them to him.

Keung awoke a short time later sitting in a chair. The bonds securing him to the seat were tight. His mind was hazy but he could feel Robert was nearby. He blinked his vision clear and saw he was in a room with blankets over the windows and the television currently on notable events, weather, and sports. There was something weighing down the front of his shirt. He reached out to Robert’s mind and suddenly he was filled with pain!

He bucked about in the chair, his body struggling to pull free of his restraints. The pain ceased as fast as it started. Keung could hear a slight chuckle as his senses cleared.

“Well shit, that’ll work.” Robert’s voice broke above the volume of the news.

“A taser?” Keung asked in a cough.

“Hey. I needed to level the playing field here, little buddy. You made me piss my pants driving out of California and halfway through Oregon nonstop. I don’t know what you did to my head, but that stops right now.” Robert stated making it clear he will repeat the lesson if Keung attempts to contact his mind again.

Keung nodded and chuckled. “Fair enough. That being said, was there a better way to prove to you there is something more going on than just an annoying kid making your life difficult? Come on man. It’s not like you didn’t finally break out of it, a lot longer than I expected, to be honest. I haven’t even influenced a human that well before.”

Robert stood up and walked up to face Keung. He looked at the kid with complete disbelief plainly written upon his face.

“Kid, you should have opened up with something a little more believable. Maybe something like, you bunked with Andy and Vicky McGee in a secret program funded by the government.” Robert said.

“Firestarter? You think I am a lab grown mutation?” Keung said through a chuckle.

“Aren’t you a little young for that reference?”

Keung went limp and just shook his head. “That’s not even one of my favorite movies of eighty-four and frankly I enjoyed it in theaters far more than I did on VHS tape. I think I got a copy of it on DVD now somewhere.” He responded.

Robert sat down on the bed across from Keung.

“What’s with the movie thing kid? You aren’t more than sixteen and you love eighties movies and shows from the nineties? I thought you kids were all too busy on your social media and eating tide pods to actually get into any kind of story at length.”

“The truth?” Keung asked.

“Yes. Seriously. Give it to me. Give me the truth. I have been dealing with you and your taunts, games, and harassment for over a month. You’re here and I’m here. Let me know.”

“You and me. We are aliens. We did not naturally evolve on this planet and you are about to have a hell of a day.” Keung answered.