Empath

Chapter 2 - Diner

The car stopped and I began to wake from my nap. Peeking out from under my hoodie I watched as Lucas unbuckled and got out of the car. Taking in my surroundings, we were at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. This was not the New York I knew.

'Where are we?' I sent to Lucas as he filled the gas tank.

'Some shitty little town near Binghamton.' He responded telepathically.

I got out of the car to stretch my legs. Being curled up for 3 hours had my neck in a twist and my knees aching. I reached up over my head and yawned. Lucas peered at me from the opposite side of the car.

"How did you sleep?" Lucas probed looking concerned.

"Ok. Feeling much better now." I shrugged. "Thanks for your help with that. Is that something you do often?"

"It's one of my gifts I guess. Only helps when someone needs to sleep though," he stated begrudgingly.

"Or when you need to make someone pass out." I replied hinting of how valuable that gift would be to us under attack.

"Unfortunately, I'm not that strong. Just works when I touch someone and that person is receptive to it," he challenged back.

"We can work on that," I stated bluntly. I liked to teach my shields new tricks. Maybe I'd learn a thing or two about shielding from this guy. "Don't you need to rest?" I asked changing the subject. "I can drive."

"I'll be fine" He replied shifting his feet. "Let's grab a bite to eat and find a place to stay for the night or until Jeremy calls."

"Sounds good" I replied. I was starving. Fighting Feelers made me hungry. "I'll Yelp it and see what I find." I said opening the passenger door and jumping into the seat again. I turned on my phone and checked for some sort of sign from Jeremy. No calls or texts. He was the only one with this number and he probably already forgot it. I was tempted to text him but that would give away my location to anyone monitoring him. I'll wait until he contacts me. That was the plan. Jeremy always had a plan with intricate steps to follow. It was the only way I knew who to trust when things went haywire. This time was odd but everything was mapping out so far. I was still nervous with Lucas, not knowing much about him or where he was from. I resolved to fully interrogate him at dinner.

I opened Yelp on my phone and searched for restaurants in the area. A country diner open until 11pm was available. Just as I was mapping out the location, Lucas got back in the car.

"Find anything decent?" He asked.

"A diner up the road. Looks ok. Lots of college students in this area so it's open till 11." I responded.

I directed him to the diner and he pulled out of the gas station down the quiet country road. Jeremy always left money in the car somewhere and we'd need a few bucks to get dinner so I started looking around. First opening the glove box, I pulled at the false back and revealed the hidden compartment. A bundle of cash, probably upwards of $10,000 was in there. Obviously Jeremy was preparing for something. This was odd. I grabbed a couple hundred dollars and put it in my wallet. I shifted a few things around the compartment, there were passports, licenses, a few credit cards in other names and a gun, a Baretta nano, 9MM. Small enough to conceal but powerful enough to help out in an emergency. Jeremy never disappoints. I pulled it out and checked for bullets, it was loaded and there was a box of shells behind it.

"Convenient" Lucas remarked looking surprised.

"Jeremy is always prepared." I replied. "My bag in the trunk?" I asked.

"I haven't checked." He replied sheepishly. "I didn't have much time to think before I had to run to get you. He didn't tell me about the money and the gun but I'm packing my own Glock."