LINE 27 / Part 2

Victor was already behind the steering wheel, studying something on the dashboard monitor with great interest. A random person passing by could have never guessed that less than a minute ago he was in the truck stop downing the last bites of a meal. He looked so relaxed, so completely at one with his surroundings that for a fleeting moment even Julia doubted the reality of her experience in the restaurant-from-hell. Then her tongue touched the roof of her mouth. The gooey feeling of cold grease made her burp and pushed her doubt away. She opened the door of the cab and climbed inside.

"So, where exactly do you need to go?" asked Victor tapping his index finger here and there on the screen. "Maybe it is along my route."

The electric current of shock running through Julia's system put her brain on hold. When it came online again, the flood of images foretelling a possible need to find different transportation, outweighed her need for privacy. Victor wasn't so bad. For one, he hadn't killed her yet or tried anything weird and two, she really liked his smile.

"They live in Ridgewood, that's in New Jersey," she said, only then noticing the similarity in name of the place she was running from and the place she was running to. "I hope that's not a bad omen!" Gosh, I positively gotta lose that superstition mode again! That ghost-thing really whacked me out.

Half expecting Victor to comment on her remark, she was relieved when he said, "That is en-route indeed!" Without wasting any time he put the car in gear. "My destination is New York City and we should reach there in a few hours!"

And because so far Julia had never driven cross-country and because so far geography beyond the layout of a mall had never interested her, it didn't strike her as odd that they should complete a journey of close to 3000 miles in less than a day.