She focused her eyes on Ian’s truck… he wasn’t driving. A human may have panicked or been irrational, but she wasn’t human, not really, not anymore. She calmly got in the car, started it and drove. Something had gone wrong, Ian was probably dead. She didn’t let her mind dwell on that, as much as she loved Ian it was all about the job, the kid. She checked her speed, eighty should keep a good distance between her and the other vehicles. And if it was Ian back there, he’d understand why she left, he’d have known ahead of time that anything out of the ordinary would cause her to flee.
 She glanced at the rearview mirror, Ian’s truck was back there, but not close enough to make her worry. She heard a weak moan from the back seat, she looked, the kid had rolled over. His Scooby-Doo tee-shirt was soaked with sweat. She kicked on the air conditioner then thought to kick herself for not remembering the heat. It didn’t bother her at all neither did the cold. Even though this kid was different than your average six year old, heat, cold, all the stuff still affected him. There was a backpack on the passenger seat which held water, juice, fruit, and some granola bar. For the kid, she didn’t eat that stuff, not anymore, not ever again.

 She drove, they followed, it was dark now, much cooler, and soon the kid would be waking. A car coming form the opposite direction flashed it’s headlights at her, right headlights. She turned hers on. With them on, to her, it was like broad daylight. Ian’s truck already had it’s headlights on, but that didn’t tell her much. Ian was good about headlights and air conditioners. Then again it could just be a human. She decided not to over analyze the headlight thing. She rolled her window down, her nose picked out so many different scents. To her the night air was filled with different animal scent, nocturnal plants, insects, water, so many different things. A human would notice none of these. She almost felt pity for them, almost. The kid stirred, sniffed then she saw the little blonde head in the rearview.

 “Hello Cody, did you have a nice nap?” she said sweetly.

 “Where’s my mommy?” Always the mommy question.

 “She’s at home I suppose, are you thirsty?” he sniffed again then scooted to the window and peered out. His voice, now trembling and taking on the high pitch child’s falsetto, again echoed a familiar saying.

 “I want my mommy.” He hugged his teddy bear. She hated this part, it always made her feel like shit. Big tears were already rolling down his cheeks.

 “Cody, you need to be a big boy now, mommy’s not here.” He cried. She waited patiently for him to stop.

 “W-Who are you?” he said after his sobs had mellowed.

 “I’m you’re new friend Kaela, and I’m taking you to your new home.” This brought on a fresh round of sobs and ‘I want my mommy’s’. She waited still patiently checking the mirror, Ian, or whoever was behind her was content to keep the same distance.

 “Can I sit upfront?” Cody asked shyly. Kaela lifted the backpack out of the passenger seat and held it while Cody climbed over. Then she set the bag in his lap.

 “You can have anything you want in there.” Cody looked at her with wide eyes.

 “I can’t” he declared as he wiped snot on his sleeve.

 “Why not?”

 “Cuz mommy said to not to take nuffin from strangers.” Kaela laughed.

 “Ok, well we aren’t stopping for two hours, you know how long that is?” he nodded at her clutching the backpack in his little hands. “Well that’s how long before we stop somewhere that you can get something to eat or drink.” He nodded again and opened the bag. He pulled out a juice box. Kids always go for the juice box. He held it out to Kaela.  “What?” she asked.

 “The straw I can’t never get it in right.” She smiled and took the juice box and deftly punched the straw through the little foil covered hole then handed it back to the boy. He said ‘thank you’ with the straw already in his mouth.  Kaela simply nodded and continued driving.

 “When can I see my mommy?” Cody asked about twenty minutes, two juice boxes, and a granola bar later.

 “That depends on how good you are.” She lied, she knew that he would probably never see his birth parents again. Once they reached their destination he would be given to a new parent, who was like him and would teach him, and raise him in their ways.

 “I’m a good boy.” He said as if that cleared everything up.

 “We’ll see.” Kaela said softly. She noted that the lights in the rearview were different. She wasn’t too worried they were still at a comfortable distance, but she knew that Ian wasn’t alive and if he was, he wasn’t driving. She sighed. Ian had talked about the possibility of something happening to him. She had laughed. It didn’t seem so funny now. She shook her head, she had to think about the kid, he was all that mattered right now.

 “I gotta go potty.” Kaela groaned. The look on his face and his hands pressed against the crotch of his pants told her that it wasn’t something that could wait. She glanced in the rearview… still far enough.

 “Can you make it fast, I mean super fast?”

 “Uh-huh.” He said with a grimace. She swerved off the road then got out and hurried to his side and let him out. “I gotta pee here?” he asked, dancing.

 “Here or in your pants partner.” He frowned.

 “Turn round K?” Kaela obeyed. She watched the progress of the headlights while Cody relieved himself. They didn’t appear to be speeding up, for which she was thankful. “That fast ‘nuff?”

 “Yeah.” She said then helped him back in. Once in herself she pulled onto the road and checked again. Closer. But providing they didn’t make anymore stops between now and the Diner, everything should be Ok. When she stopped there would be others there, safety measure. Whoever was behind her wouldn’t dare do anything. She glanced over at Cody he was looking up at her. He had the eyes of a child, but her experience saw what else was hidden there. He held her gaze almost defiantly. She smiled. He didn’t.

 “Who are you?” he asked again.

 “I told you my name is Kaela.” The boy flopped back in his seat.

 “You smell funny.” Kaela twitched but tried not to let her surprise show.

 “What do you mean?” she asked feigning innocence.

 “You smell funny, not like my mommy.” She turned her head so he couldn’t see her grin.

 “Oh? Then what do I smell like?” She said and was surprised to see his bottom lip quiver.

 “Like me.” Big tears rolled down his cheeks again, she reached over and tousled his hair, he gave her an uncertain look then focused out the window. “Are they following us?”

 “Yes.” She said not at all surprised by the boys intelligence.

 “Why?” he asked.

 “You’re a very smart little boy Cody.” He nodded.

 “It’s cuz of me huh.” This time Kaela nodded.

 “Did mommy send them?” she looked at him gravely.

 “No huh.” She nodded again.

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