Time to move. I pull out my IV drip, strip the little electrode sticky pads off, and remove my finger clamp. As I hurry to the standing closet in the corner, I strip off the hospital gown. I stumble to a halt with my hand outreached for the closet and my eyes peering downward. What the hell? Aren't I supposed to have a monstrous transmigration hog? I mean, it's fine. Pretty good, but like, come on.
On the subject of size in general, my body is larger than it was yesterday. Not a crazy amount, but I'm clearly taller and in better shape. I can work with this. All the more reason to avoid family members though. I grab my clothes from the closet and dress fast. Wallet, check. Watch, check. ID cards, check. Cash, uh oh. I have $12. It's the 80s, but even still, that is not much money. Time for operation Rob An Old Man!
Walking over, I pull the curtain aside and clamp my hand over the old guy's mouth before he can make a peep. I push his head down hard and make eye contact. "I am leaving of my own will. Regardless of what I said earlier, I believe I am of sound mind, body, and soul. I am an adult. There is no reason, legally speaking, to look for me. Except for punching you. Which I am about to do for various reasons. I apologize. My family, my real family, I love them. I need time to myself to figure things out. Please give me space." Having left a message for my body's family, I pull my hand back and clock the old guy on the tip of the chin. He goes out like a light. I feel just a little something as I look down at his unconscious face. Not guilt. God no, but something like a small alteration in my existence. "System." The 1 in my Level: 1 looks just a tiny bit brighter. I just got exp for punching out someone. His heart is still beating, so good news I don't have to kill things to level up. That would have made things significantly more difficult.
I open his closet and find his belongings (loot). I take his wallet and throw on the old brown bomber jacket hanging inside as well. It's pocket jingles provocatively as I do so. Reaching inside I find a ring of keys with what appears to be a Lincoln Continental key hanging proudly from it. "Oh baby, please be a Continental." Am I worried about the police coming after me for theft? Not really. It's the 80s! You move to the next town over; the local police might as well be looking for you on Mars. Plus, this old guy is smelling seriously close to death. It's possible nobody even notices when all is said and done. I peek into the hallway and seeing no one, I take a quick right. I walk casually. Hit the stairwell and I'm in the parking lot it 2 minutes. Searching, praying, hoping, I look for a likely Lincoln. I spot her two rows over. 1979 Mark V in Wedgewood Blue. Pristine. A gentleman's car, nay, a land yacht. The key slides in like it was fate. As the car rumbles awake beneath me, I spot a pair of slick aviator sunglasses in the console.
I put them on and pull out of the parking lot in style. The hospital looks small. Maybe a regional one in a smaller town. I take it nice and slow and look around the town. Jesus, what a shithole. Looks more like the 50's than the 80's. Presumably, I'm still in Oklahoma. Time takes a while to catch up in the flyover states. I pull into a small gas station at the edge of town and start the pump filling it up. Walk in and look for what I need. Folded paper map of Oklahoma, Road Atlas, cold Dr. Pepper and a handful of Clark bars. You couldn't get any of this shit in the 2040s. I unfold the old man's wallet (Warren Cooper) and peep the cash situation. Four $20s and two blank checks folded in the back. Bingo!
I glance at the newspaper next to the check-out counter as I pay for my purchase. Ada Oklahoma. Never heard of it, and never going to come back. Back in the car, I have some decisions to make. Do I go East, or do I go West? Who am I kidding? Warm California sun, Sunset Strip, Hollywood. Route 66 all the way baby! I'm about to Grapes of Wrath this bitch! First, I need to head to Oklahoma City. It's a big city, relatively speaking, and I need road supplies and to make a few intelligence gathering stops. Grabbing the map I do a little basic orienteering, and pull my big, beautiful road boat to the North. I'll admit, I give plenty of glances behind me for the first hour. No flashing lights to be seen. Lovely.
The drive is truly beautiful. Hardly anyone on the road, and cool air flowing through the windows. My watch says I left Ada at 3pm. The newspaper at the gas station said it was October 2nd, 1981. At a stately 55mph, I should hit Oklahoma City around 5pm. The smells are out of this world. I smell fresh cut hay, deer musk, burning wood, raw oil, and a thousand other interesting things. Some of it is rough. A roadkill skunk almost made me swerve off across the center line. A brutal smell to be sure. I'm working on filtering the things I sense as I drive. I can hear unfamiliar TV programs in the houses as I pass. Little houses full of little people, fighting or fucking or opening cold beers. It starts to feel too intimate. I don't want to know all those strangers.
Time to crank some tunes. The 80s had some killer music, but as I tune the radio it is as I feared. All country stations. I am not a fan. I'm not saying there are no country singers I won't listen to (Dolly Parton is a goddamn angel), but 99 percent of the time it's a hard pass for me. It's as I get closer to OKC and finally find a rock station that shit begins to get strange. I don't recognize any of the songs. They aren't bad, and the style of music is similar to what I was expecting, but I don't even recognize the bands. Something is wrong here. Everything that has happened to me in the last day is crazy. It is all super crazy, but I have felt basically in control because I have an instinctual feeling that my choices led to where I am. I was mostly joking about goblins and whatnot, but hearing the strange music, for the first time I felt a chill creep up my back. I don't think I'm in the same world, and I need to get to a library ASAP.