Ted was his father’s name.Ted Thomas, the struggling farmer. Ted Thomas the local fool. Ted Thomas, the man with an illegitimate child from a woman who wasn’t his wife. Without another word from the woman in position to be his mother, but who had never actually claimed the title, Luke strode outside to meet his father. The man stood in front of his biological son and pointed to his old rusted truck, signalling him to get inside. He started the car and with a few seconds of noise the car sputtered to life and they were on their way to the station.

“...”

“...”

“Got those tickets Ben brought?”

“Yes.”

“...”

“...”

“I’d reckon you want to leave this place behind.”

“Yes.”

“The sooner we can forget about each other the better off you’ll b-”

“Yes.”

His father stared at him for another second, deciding whether he was shocked at the quick response or angry at being cut off, but came to the conclusion that there was no use getting angry any more. With any luck his life with children was over and he could finally be socially accepted again.

Arriving at the train station, Luke got out and reached for his bag, which was being held by Ted.

“Boy.”

“Yes?”

“Good luck.”

Luke blinked, it wasn’t something he expected from the man that treated him like he didn’t exist for nearly the past two decades. It seemed that Ted saw Luke’s confusion and decided to clarify.

“The better you do in the city the less chance you’ll come crawling back here and annoy the shit out of me, right? So yeah. Good luck.”

Accelerating, the car door shut, and the last he saw of his father was a hand out the driver’s seat window, clenched in a victory fist. Luke was glad to be free.

Suddenly, Luke opened his eyes. Had he fallen asleep?! So that was a dream? It made sense but wasting time wasn’t something he was keen on at the moment. Peeking out the closet door, Luke noticed that Cain and the woman were asleep on the bed, completely passed out. As such, Luke finally felt free to move, and looked through the pockets of the robe for the disgusting man’s coin. Unable to find it, Luke slithered out to the bedside.

“Shh!”

Terrified, Luke looked up to see the woman, wide awake, looking him in the eyes. She put a finger to her lips and pointed to the dresser’s second drawer. Quietly opening it, he gave a sigh of relief. The coin was on top, covering a small booklet. Taking it out, he crept into the next room. Opening the map, Luke saw the location of the warehouse, thankfully, and was so giddy he almost yelped with joy. However, that was something he could do at a later date. As Luke was about to go back into the bedroom and put the coin back, he thought of Dan’s words.

“We’d better get some rest even though we’ll be down here for the next week and a half until the raid.”