As Arthur bolted upright in bed the first things he noticed were his lack of clothes under a scratchy wool blanket and the pain running through his back.

He sat up and immediately regretted his decision feeling a jolt of agony.

He looked around and noticed a sleeping Tom propped against the wall along with some sealed bags placed at the foot of his bed.

Arthur picked up one of the bags and shook it hoping to discern its contents.

He opened the bag and found a shirt that looked like it belonged in his grandfather’s closet.

He opened the rest of the bags and put on the ensemble, finding some slippers placed at the side of his bed.

Standing up, Arthur felt as though he was being watched by something dangerous.

Looking around he noticed the man from Walmart sitting at a table nearby watching him.

Arthur fell on his butt which startled Tom causing him to awake.

At that point, the man stood up and said, "Hello, my name is Vincent."

Arthur looked flustered as he stared at the man before asking, "what do you want with us?"

The man stared back before responding, "I only want to invite you to somewhere that can help you learn to control your abilities along with earn a high school or possibly even college education."

Hearing this Arthur had a confused look on his face.

Tom spoke up saying, "You mean you were following us so you give us the sales pitch for some school? What happened to filling people's inboxes with emails and annoying letters?"

Ignoring Tom, Arthur asked, "why were you following us?"

Vincent responded, "My goal was to inform you about the invitation. When you began to flee me by air, I followed you in hopes that you would land allowing me to once again approach.”

“I am not allowed to physically contact or injure either of you in any way but I was forced to take drastic measures when you fell from the sky and your life was at risk. Once I had saved you, I decided the best course of action was to take you to this location and allow you to recuperate."

Tom asked, "Why drag us all the way out here when you could have just taken us back to the town."

Vincent responded, "There were too many condemning factors in the town. All three of us would have been without clothes. Although I ran out of camera view, It is likely someone found my clothes and alerted the police or simply took my wallet.”

“Lastly, do you know how difficult it would be for a grown man without clothes or money to find somewhere to stay with two minors, one of whom was unconscious?"

Tom realized Vincent was correct before Arthur asked, "Wait, how did you know where this place was?"

The man smiled before responding, "these locations were set up sometime in the fifties or sixties. They were meant as a safe house for those in need. They constantly project a signal I can pick up on thanks to special training."

"And this is the same training we will receive if we go with you?" Arthur asked.

Vincent nodded before Arthur continued saying, "And this is going to be a free experience?"

Vincent responded in a calm tone, "Usually no but I believe an exception can be made. One of our sayings is that a loose end can fray even the strongest rope and we do not want you both to become loose ends that fray our system."

Arthur looked at Tom who nodded before both walked over to a corner and lowered their voices to a whisper. "Tom this is our best chance at getting a quality education for dirt cheap."

Tom laughed saying, "How do you know this is a quality education?"

Arthur sighed and said, "Community colleges don't send people to hunt down possible students and besides these guys are like us. We can probably learn something from this place. More than that this sounds like a place we won’t have to worry about moving around. Maybe we can stay somewhere for years instead of weeks."

Tom responded, "How do you know this guy is not the type of person we've been trying to avoid. You freaked out when you first saw him."

Arthur shook his head and said, "I get what you're saying but I overreacted when I saw him. He does give me this weird predator-prey vibe but after listening, I think he’s telling the truth.”

“Besides I only know what my mom told me years ago. Maybe things have changed and we don't have to worry now. It’s also possible we can learn to protect ourselves and not have to worry about moving at all."

Tom sighed, "You're way too trusting dude but fine I'll take the chance with you.”

After a few more moments of debate both nodded before returned to where they had stood before.

Arthur spoke up saying, "We thank you for this opportunity and graciously accept."

Vincent grinned saying, "I'm glad to hear that. Now, the next step is reaching the school. It is a few hundred miles north of here and the fastest way to get there is by flight. I only worry about your ability to make the trip Arthur. Will you be alright?"

Arthur responded, "I think I just pushed myself too far. I should be fine from here onward."

Vincent continued saying, "Just to be safe, We should stay here for another twenty-four hours. I'm surprised you are even awake after five hours of sleep considering you used all your energy, Arthur. I want to make sure both of you are at peak condition for this trip."

Both Arthur and Tom sighed at the idea of staying in the dusty old bunker for another day but grinned as they realized the room still had cabinets that were not explored.

Vincent sat down at the table while Arthur and Tom looked around the room in hopes of finding something entertaining.

After a few minutes of searching, Arthur yelled out, "Hey this one is full of classic books. These are all originals!"

"Only you would be excited about books” Tom sighed before opening a box and exclaiming, "sweet! A pistol."

Vincent immediately said, "Please do not play with the firearms."

Tom put the box back before Arthur exclaimed, "Hey this one has cards and a chess set."

Tom responded, "I’m fine with cards."

Arthur looked over to Vincent and asked, "Want to play?"

Vincent shrugged his shoulders and responded, "Why not."

All three sat down at the table before Tom asked, "So what are we playing: Blackjack, Egyptian Rat Screw, Speed, War, Spoons, Old maid, Rummy, Moi or BS?"

Vincent spoke up saying, "The only games I recognized from that list were War and Old maid."

Both Arthur and Tom stared at him blankly before Tom suggested, "Let's just teach him BS. It's easy enough."

Arthur agreed and Tom continued saying, "Okay so the point of the game is to get rid of all of your cards. You do this by placing down a card every time it is your turn.”

“For example, I could play a three then Arthur could play a four and then you would play a five. You can put down as many cards as you want.”

“The game is tricky because you need to lie at times. If it was my turn and I need to place a three but don't have a three, then I would play a different card and say, 'one three'.”

“As we play, the pile of cards will get progressively larger. After someone has played a card, you are able to call them out and see if they played the card they said they placed.”

“And all you have to do to call them out is yell..." Arthur cut Tom off saying, "All you have to do is say BS.” Tom glared at Arthur before passing out the cards and starting the game.