DISCLAIMER

Well slap my ass and call me Kim, I uploaded another chapter! I understand if this is not of the best quality, but you would not believe the amount of rewrites this had to go through. There was going to be this whole thing with beef jerky, but then I thought to myself… there's really no fucking point to this. Cue the rewrite! Anyways, enjoy whatever I give you. Cherish it like it's a last meal before execution. Until next time.

CHAPTER 2: ARRIVAL

It didn't take long for the two to get to the Gun Hill Road Station. Gustavo kept track of the time all the way there while Lorenzo was preoccupied with his radio and headphones. It took twelve minutes. Gustavo thought. We missed the train… good. I can wait for the next one. His thoughts kept getting interrupted by Lorenzo's drumming on the suitcase. Eh, let him be in his own little world for a while. It'll be a few hours before we get to Albany anyway. May as well let him relax for now. I'll talk to him about it along the way.

Ohh, well, I'm the type of guy who will never settle down

Where pretty girls are, well, you know that I'm around

I kiss 'em, and I love 'em, 'cause to me they're all the same

I hug 'em, and I squeeze 'em; they don't even know my name

They call me "The Wanderer"

Yeah, the Wanderer

I roam around, around, around, around

Easily one of Lorenzo's favorite songs of all time, and it just happened to pop up when he needed it most. Don't think about it. Lorenzo thought. We missed the train… that's a good thing. This whole thing is eating him up, I know it. Just don't bring it up on the way. Who knows how long it'll be until we get to Albany? Don't bring it up. Hell, don't even think about it. Just… keep going with the beat.

I'll tear open my shirt, and I show her Rosie on my chest

'Cause I'm a wanderer

Yeah, a wanderer

I roam around, around, around, around

"What're you listening to there, bud?" Gustavo asked, poking his son's shoulder lightly.

"Sorry," Lorenzo said, pulling the headphones off his ears. "What'd you say?"

"I asked what were you listening to."

"Oh, uh, I'm listening to 'The Wanderer.'"

"'The Wanderer?' Has music changed at all over the years? I was listening to that when I was a kid."

"I mean, I know it's old, but it's still a good song."

"I didn't deny that. I used to love that song, but I never got the chance to listen to it."

"Why not?"

"Eh, life got in the way of it." Gustavo said, patting Lorenzo's head, messing his hair up into a ratty mess.

"I take it I'm life?" Lorenzo asked, jokingly.

"You know, if you're this smart and perceptive, how come you got an F in science?"

"Ah, that is a question for another day, Dad." Lorenzo said, waving his finger as he placed his headphones over his ears.

"Yeah… another day, bud." Gustavo said, softly.

Fucking reality… Gustavo thought. You just had to come and fuck everything up, didn't you? Couldn't let me be happy for more than two minutes?!

It hadn't been long before another train was starting to roll into the station. The duo had jumped out of their seats and pushed on towards a line leading to a row of turnstiles. People were moving too slow, and while Gustavo didn't want to lose Lorenzo faster than necessary, he also didn't want to wait another silence-filled ten minutes for another train to roll in.

"Okay bud," Gustavo said, crouching down and whispering into Lorenzo's ear. "We can't wait for all these people to pass. The train will be gone by then. So, I'm gonna need you to give me your suitcase."

"Why?" Lorenzo asked, whispering at the same volume. "What're you gonna do?"

"It's not what I'm gonna do. It's what we're gonna do." A smile that would embarrass the Cheshire Cat grew on Gustavo's face, while Lorenzo just continued to raise his right eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean? What're we doing?"

"Look to the side of the thing." Gustavo said, motioning his head to the right. There, Lorenzo saw nothing but a ticket machine and a locked door with a gap at the top. "That hole looks like it can fit us, and then we book it to the train."

"But what about the cop over there?" Lorenzo said, pointing at the officer on the other side of the turnstiles.

"He's a pudgy bastard. No way in Hell is he gonna catch us if we book it. Now, I'm gonna put you over and I'll throw you your suitcase through the gap. Then, I want you to run as fast as you can to the train. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it. What about you?"

"I have hands and legs and I know how to climb a relatively by fence."

"Right… Stupid question."

"Nah, not stupid. You just care, that's all."

Bing-bong! "The next train to arrive at the station will be the 8:50 to Pelham Parkway. " Shit, Gustavo thought. Time to go. "For your safety, please back away from the edge of the platform until the train has come to a complete stop. Thank you."

"You ready to go?" Gustavo asked, placing his hands on Lorenzo's shoulders.

"Yeah," Lorenzo said in calm, but nervous tone. "Let's do this."

"Alright, give me your bag." Lorenzo gave Gustavo his suitcase as the two walked out of line and off to the side.

The gate towered at a height of at least eight feet, almost two feet above Gustavo's head. It wasn't enough for him to reach on his own, but enough to hoist Lorenzo over. He looked down at Lorenzo, who gave his father a nervous grin.

"Nervous?" Gustavo asked, smiling.

"A little bit." Lorenzo replied. "What if we get caught?"

"Well, that's one more day with you then. Now climb on up."

Gustavo crouched down to allow Lorenzo to climb up on his shoulders. Lorenzo did as his father told him, and quickly hopped up on his father's shoulders.

"Grab my hands," Gustavo said, raising his hands to his son's shins. Again, Lorenzo did as he was told and grabbed his father's hands as Gustavo shot straight up, the force propelling Lorenzo into the gap between the top of the gate and the ceiling of the station. His shirt caught on the top of the gate, dangling half his body over one side and his legs on the other. The officer on the other side quickly took notice to this and began walking towards Lorenzo.

"Hey kid!" The cop shouted. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?!" Gustavo's immediate response was to push Lorenzo's legs over the gate, dropping Lorenzo to the ground while simultaneously tearing a small portion of his shirt off, exposing the lower half of his sides to the cop.

"You know what to do!" Gustavo shouted through the gate. Lorenzo proceeded to stand up from the floor and started sprinting away from the cop towards the platform and through the dozens of people in front of him.

"Hey!" The cop shouted, turning his direction and running towards Lorenzo, but not before Gustavo tossed the suitcase through the gap, slamming against the cop's head with a thud! and knocking him down to the concrete.

The suitcase was quickly followed by Gustavo, who leaped up, grabbing at the top of the gate, and pulled himself over through the gap. Landing on his knees and elbows as the cop was still struggling to recover from the blow, he quickly crawled to Lorenzo's suitcase. Bear-hugging the case at its sides, Gustavo bolted in the same direction as his son, plowing through people in the way and knocking them on to the floor.

The cop began to recover, slowly getting up off the ground and, using his hands, launched himself forward like an Olympic runner at the sound of the starting shot. His relatively large body squeezed through the crowd of disgruntled and grounded people as he gave chase to the father-son duo.

"Lorenzo!" Gustavo shouted through the crowd, still hugging the suitcase. "Lorenzo!"

"Dad?!" Dammit boy, Gustavo thought. Where are you? "Dad! Where are you?"

"I'm coming! Where're you at?"

As Gustavo was looking up above the people in front of him, he smashed right into a kid below him, slamming them both to the ground with a huge thud! Lorenzo's suitcase cushioned Gustavo's chest, but at the same time, knocked the air out of him, leaving him gasping sparsely while looking to see who he had just hit… and instinctively apologize to.

"Oh my god!" Gustavo said, albeit in a voice rather hoarse. "I am so sorry! I didn't see—" Gustavo immediately shut up, realizing he had just smashed into the son he was searching for.

"Dad! It's okay, I'm fine." Lorenzo said, rubbing the back of his head that had smashed to the ground.

"Are you hurt?" Gustavo asked, reaching forward to hug his son and look over his head.

"No, I feel fine. The back of my head just feels a little sore is all." Gustavo continued to look him over, despite Lorenzo stating he was fine.

"You feel dizzy at all? Any bumps or bleeding?"

"Dad…" Lorenzo said, taking his father's hands off of his face. "I'm fine. Okay? I'm okay." Lorenzo then proceeded to stand up at the same time as his father, with Gustavo grabbing the suitcase off of the floor. As he did that, Lorenzo pushed his dad forward in a panicked movement.

"What the hell are you—?!" Gustavo asked, surprised, only to realize the cop from before was still chasing after them. The sound of a train beginning to screech on the tracks garnered their attention quick enough to notice it had arrived and was ready to take them to the next stop.

Bing-bong! "The 8:50 to Pelham Parkway has arrived at the station. Please wait until the doors are open before moving forward. Thank you." Halle-fucking-lujah! Gustavo thought as he and Lorenzo booked it through the crowds of people as the door opened. Forcing their way through everyone, the father-son duo managed to bum rush into the subway car first, but at the same time as the people moving out of the car. Some gave them looks of frustration, and others of relief at the fact they didn't have to deal with those two. Nonetheless, the two walked down the corridor, eventually finding a set of two seats to finally rest upon as others gazed upon them with confusion. Lorenzo took the interior seat, next to the window, while Gustavo took the seat closest to the corridor, moving Lorenzo's suitcase out of the way of oncoming passengers trying to get through, and pushing it more towards the feet of his son.

"That was awesome!" Lorenzo exclaimed to his father in a sort of whisper-yell.

"I know!" Gustavo said quietly, attempting to match Lorenzo's excitement towards the events of the last minute. "Hopefully, it'll be the last time you ever have to run from the cops."

"What about you?"

"Eh, I might do it one or two more times in the future." Gustavo managed to squeeze out a long chuckle from his son, smiling as Lorenzo's contagious laughter eventually spread to him. The constant barrage of his son's laughter was enough to bring any man down to their knees and giggle.

Bing-bong! "Now departing to Pelham Parkway."

It was 8:51 a.m.