Nearly out of gas, they pulled into the only gas station between here and Granville.

"Grab something to eat," Clark said. "We could be on the road for hours. I'll be in to pay after I fill her up."

Going to the counter, the boys were waiting with Twinkies, pork rinds, and Mountain Dew energy drinks. He quirked an eyebrow at their choices as a healthy supper it didn't make, but he didn't really have the heart to chide them with all they were going through.

Turning his attention to the middle-aged woman behind the register, he asked, "Any chance you've seen an RV come through here with a bald, black man with a military air and maybe a white lady with long, straight dark hair.

"Yeah, about thirty minutes ago actually. She was asleep in the front seat, and he was in an all-fire hurry. Not a bit friendly either."

One thing about it, it wasn't hard to track an RV. People generally remembered seeing it. "Which way did they go?"

"North towards 35. City folks, I figure. Probably headed to Topeka. What'd they do try to run you off the road?"

"Something like that," he said, throwing down a fifty that would more than cover everything. "Thanks."

The boys gathered up the snacks, and they were on the road again.

sss

Still recovering from the tranquilizer, Lois fell asleep again. When she woke up, he'd brought her a hamburger for supper exactly the way she liked it. He even knew she preferred sweet potato fries over regular. It was disconcerting how he knew her so well.

In fact, it was probably the most considerate kidnapping she'd ever had, but it was still a kidnapping. She refused to fall asleep again though she pretended to, so he would go to sleep, and he did.

She riffled through the supplies: canned goods, bottled water, first aid kit. He was really planning on being here for awhile. Unfortunately, there seemed to be nothing that would help her break the lock or pry the door open.

She looked at him. He probably had a gun on him. Anybody that would turn his RV into a weapon and load it with enough weapons for a small army had to be armed. She was sure of it.

She started to reach for his pocket, and he moaned. Then he twisted and thrashed in his chair and shouted, "No, Lois!" She jumped back, thinking he was waking up and had caught her red-handed, but he didn't wake up. He was dreaming. Tears started falling from his eyes as he shouted once more. He was reliving watching his wife die.

He was suffering from PTSD. She'd seen it often enough around the base growing up. Soldiers who'd been through the hell of war and relived the trauma waking or sleeping. She didn't want to feel sympathy for her captor, but she did. So much so, that she decided to wake him up. "Luthor, Captain Luthor," she called.

His eyes snapped open. "Lois? Is everything okay?" He looked to the door as if he expected Clark to rip the door off its hinges and come bursting in. If only.

"Yeah, you looked like you having a nightmare. I thought it'd be merciful to wake you."

"Yeah, I guess I was." He sat up straighter.

Maybe he'd return the act of kindness. "Please, let me go. My family must be worried sick."

"I wish I could, but you don't know Kryptonians. He will turn on you, and when you try to stop him..."

"You sound like a broken record. I don't believe it. Kryptonians are not evil. Edge just chose the consciousnesses of the worst of them. Clark has a family. Me and our boys, it's a connection to Earth that your Kal-El sadly didn't have. It won't end the same way."

"You don't believe it because you haven't seen it and because of your personal connection. You think it's over, but Morgan Edge will bring your hu-Clark," he couldn't even say husband, "to his way of thinking. What has happened so far are only the contractions of a bigger event."

He pulled the video up on his phone. "If you won't believe me maybe you'll believe you and seeing it with your own eyes.

She pushed play very reluctantly. It was so weird to see herself but know it wasn't her, to see her image say and do something she'd never done. It interested her immensely though it terrified her too because she knew what was coming. She shuddered to hear herself say the Kryptonians had no humanity. Was this other version of herself as prejudice and bias as Luthor? The us vs. them mentality didn't sound like her at all.

There he was in nearly the same costume except black. Other her looked at him then she looked at the camera as she said, "I love you both." She was presumably talking to Luthor and their daughter.

Evil Superman used his heat vision, and she heard her scream, but her death happened offscreen. Then the superhero-turned-villain flew away. He didn't show the slightest hint of remorse or thought, and he didn't speak a word.

Jimmy, her cameraman, hadn't lost his shot of Superman or tried to run in fear that he'd be coming after him next. He was a dedicated photographer/cameraman, but he didn't even shake as he filmed. That didn't seem like Jimmy. No one was acting much like themselves though she supposed it was unfair to expect them to in another reality.

"Well?" Captain Luthor asked.

Something wasn't adding up about that clip though she couldn't yet say why. Aloud, she said, "Maybe you're right."