Interstate Blues

Chapter Thirty-Three: Psychic Fair

February 12th, 2020
Austin, Texas

Power flooded through Jack's veins, and it was nothing he'd ever experienced before. He'd felt power, but not to that scale. It was like he'd taken the best drug he'd ever been given and it completely engulfed him, wrapping him up in a sinister embrace.

He heard Ash calling his name, but the sound was distant and muffled. Somewhere in the very back of his mind, he knew he should try to respond, but the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"Jacky!"

Jack's mouth opened and he spoke without being fully in control of what he said. "This is only the beginning." Even to his own ears, it sounded like more than one voice was speaking.

He blinked and his surroundings changed so rapidly, his brain had a hard time grasping the extreme difference. As his eyes fluttered completely open, he found himself laying all alone in an empty unfamiliar field, with his head pounding and feeling like he'd been asleep for days. Sitting up, he rubbed at a knot of hair and blood on the back of his head, and winced as soon as his fingers brushed an old wound. He had no idea where he was or even what day it was.

The last thing he remembered was standing in Christine's living room, and catching a reflection of himself with black eyes. After that, it was all one giant blank slate. It seemed like only a couple hours had gone by, but that couldn't be right. Luckily, he was still dressed in the jeans, t-shirt, and hiking boots that he last remembered wearing, except that he thought he'd had his coat on too.

When he tried to get up, his muscles were all stiff, and his ribs felt like someone had kicked the shit out of him, like he was back in school, roughhousing with his friends. He also had cuts and bruises running up and down his arms, which appeared to have already started healing. It made no sense to him, he'd just been with Ash. And Sophia. Fuck, she was gonna kill him. Or maybe never talk to him again, which actually sounded worse.

Not sure if Keala was anywhere near, he whistled loudly, sighing in relief when she came running out of the brush with her teeth barred, and a low growl reverberating through her chest as she inched closer and closer.

"Shit, girl. It's just me... What the hell happened?" He reached out and stroked her fur gently. She whimpered softly, snuggling up to him after a few more moments of eyeing him suspiciously.

Slowly, Jack dragged himself to his feet, and with Keala loping loyally just ahead, they set out to find a road or anything really that would lead him to some answers. He walked for five and a half hours, which he had no way of knowing without his phone or watch, until finally a truck speeding passed stopped to pick him up. Jack hadn't even really been actively hitchhiking, but he wasn't about to turn down a free ride.

"Where to?" the burly trucker asked him offhandedly as he started coaxing his semi back down the long, empty stretch of road.

"I... uhm... where are we?" Jack tried to ignore the bewildered look he received from the middle-aged man with the beer gut and the beard down to his belly button.

"Middle of Nebraska. You okay, kid?" He squinted his eyes in genuine concern, before turning his attention back to the road.

Jack balked. "Nebraska...?" he repeated under his breath, trying to figure out how the hell he'd gotten from Austin, Texas to somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, in what felt like no time at all. "Uhm... sir, do you know what day it is?"

"You sure you're okay, son? Want me to drop you at a hospital or somethin'?" The trucker eyed Jack out of the corner of his gaze incredulously.

"No. I'm okay. Just a little disoriented. It's been a hell of a couple of weeks," he lied hoping the guy would believe him and not really question it after that. "My name's Jack, and this is Keala. Thanks for the ride."