Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

14. Trust As Far As You Can Throw

When the woods around me began to thin out, I spotted the SUV in the same spot we had left it. I situated myself inside the vehicle, making sure to keep the door behind me locked.

As I was left to my own thoughts, I began to let my eyes drift to the back of the car.

The SUV was still decently spacious, even when the boxes took up a good amount of space in the back, there was still enough room to spare for Surge to sleep in. I tried to keep my eyes forward in an effort to not be nosy.

However...

A little peek won't hurt, will it? If he was willing to let me sleep in the same van as him, then I should be allowed to give into my peeping ways to pass the boredom.

Crawling into the backseat to see the boxes, I opened the package quickly and spotted trinkets in between the small stacks of papers, Polaroid photographs, and tabloid magazines.

I picked them up and started looked through the Polaroids. There were pictures of Surge with a small Asian girl around his age as they hugged in this particular one. The next was a kiss between the two of them. After that was a blurred mess with no real shape to it. Another picture was of Rotem, Surge and the same girl standing together at some carnival. There was a photo of Surge tinkering at a desk with heavy concentration on something metallic as he did intricate work on it. And then the deck of pictures started over again.

Placing it back into the box, I noticed sharp angular glass sculptures that looked smooth like horns with gentle curves to it. As I lifted up the glass to look at it better, I noticed a photograph that stuck underneath it.

I felt the color drain from my skin as I went cold all over from chills. I looked at it again just to make sure it was right. It was.

TAP TAP TAP!

I turned around to see what was tapping away as I saw Surge standing there. He tried to open the door but then stood back with his hands waving in the air in annoyance.

"The heck, man!" Surge shouted as he continued tapping at the window in an uproar. "Why are you going through my stuff?"

"I have the keys," I threatened before slamming the photo against the window. "Who is this guy and just what kind of game are you playing?"

Surge came close and leaned in to see it before rubbing his eyes as he pleaded, "What does it matter?"

"Don't," I said through gritted teeth, "Don't you dare try to make it sound like it's not as a big deal as it is! You were trying to hide the photos, who knows what else you're trying to hide!"

"I'm not trying to hide anything!" Surge said as he began to tug at the door's handle again, "Why are you getting all crazy on me?!"

"Answer the question!" I demanded.

"Dio! Alright? It's Dio, Rotem and me in the photo, are you happy?" Surge responded after looking away again, as if he couldn't bear to look at the photo himself. "What's gotten into you?"

"This is the man who had us kidnapped," I said as I rapped my knuckles on the back of the photo. "Why are you next to him?"

"What?" He asked stunned. When I repeated myself, Surge cut me off, "That's Rotem's brother, why does it matter if I have a picture with him? And how can you be so sure it was this guy who put us behind bars?"

"I saw the guy with my own two eyes, I spoke to him from my cell," I peeled the photo away from the glass and looked at it again. I scoffed in distaste before tossing it back into the box.

"You're blowing things out of proportion," Surge began to say, "You can't be mad at the things you don't know the full story for!"

"How do I know you're not working with him?" I asked firmly.

"Why would I help you escape from a jail if he's my boss?" Surge tried to reason, "Don't be an idiot, just open the door. We can't afford to go solo now, it's not like you know how to drive a stick, you've said it yourself. Please, Nolan, the last thing I want to do set you up right now. You're all that I've got left so far."

He's telling the truth.

I don't know how or why I feel this way, but I knew that he was being completely sincere. With that, I oddly reached for the handle and unlocked the car door. Surge walked forward a few steps and opened the door for me.

"Come on, I'm not carrying you out. Get to the front seat and we'll talk while we drive, we still have enough sun and gas until we call it a day," Surge walked over to the driver side.

I got out and sat in the front seat. Surge turned the car on and continued to drive in stiff silence.

"Sorry about that, I just got..." I trailed off and looked out the window. "I just got a bit emotional, I feel like everyone is playing a giant joke on me and I can't seem to find the humor in it."

"Trust me, I'm just as confused as you. No matter what happens, we need to make it to the next town so we can actually get Rotem involved," Surge replied lowly as he trailed off into a sigh. "Have a little faith in me, like I have faith in you."

Nothing strange did happen and luckily we were able to hit the road quickly, the sound of our usual chatter shifted back to being quiet and distant. Despite the silence, we powered through and continued on our way further still towards the new city.