Yes

Alex felt there wasn’t much choice: they were somewhere in Colorado, they had no direction, and what they had left in terms of provisions was not that much. Granted Gamora could hunt pretty well, like when she ran down that racoon and caught it (but let it go when it didn’t talk back to her… I mean why would it, it’s a racoon…) or when she hunted down the rabbit and cooked that for dinner, but Alex wanted real food, or even fast food at this point. McDonald’s would go find in her stomach. OK maybe not but when you’re out in the forest for a week living off the land you stop caring how gross McDonald’s is.

“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine,” Alex said.

“Think you’ve gotten the hang of your new found powers?” Gamora asked as they walked to the truck.

Alex just shook her head. It was a little disconcerting. She would try to concentrate and focus to accomplish a particular act, such as when she tried to lift a rock or to listen to Gamora’s other sexual fantasies, but she had yet to succeed. It was still spotty: she found herself in the minds of birds and animals, but almost at random.

The guy behind the wheel was actually quit cute, like rougher Patrick Dempsy. He had leaned over to roll down the passenger window. As Alex got close a dirty white Wheaton Shepard jumped up into Alex’s face.

“Daisy, down,” the driver said. He was maybe a bit younger than Alex... 19 to 21 or about there. He had a few scares on his face and hadn’t shaved in about as long as Gamora and Alex hadn’t showered. “Need a lift?” he said to the women.

“We’re headed to New York,” Gamora said to the driver. “That’s where Stark is right?”

Alex nodded. Teaching Gamora Earth Geography was a challenge without a map, but she felt accomplished that at least Gamora now knew the name of the city they were headed in.

“We’re headed to… we’re going in that direction.”

“That’s great,” Alex said, “we really just need to get to the next town. You can take us there and drop us off if you don’t want to take us all the way.

Alex tried really hard to focus on the driver. There was something hidden about his destination, like he almost didn’t know where he was going. Her and Gamora, now sitting in the back of the pickup as he mosied down the highway. He wasn’t going in a particularly fast speed. The two women sat next to each other.

“So why do we need Stark?” Alex asked.

“He has a comm that I can use to talk to my friends on the other side of the galaxy. He traveled with us for a time so... I trust him enough. From there we can get that gem to a safe spot.”

“My forehead is not a safe spot?”

Gamora knew it was a joke. “That gem is one of the infinity gems, which when combined can unleash limitless power. If it falls into the wrong hands --”

“I get it.”

They rode for a while longer. Alex tried looking into the driver's mind again: she found a loneliness. That was about it. Then she had a thought: is it right for me to try to pry into his head? Or is that some sort of weird violation of his privacy? Should I just leave him alone? But what if his intentions are ill against us and it could help us…?

Gamora then leaned over and rested her head on Alex’s shoulder. At first Alex didn’t know what to do, then she realized there wasn’t much she could do: this women does have the capability to take her head off if she so chooses so Alex will just have to go with it. Gamora’s eyes were closed and slowly her body went limp.

As she debated trying to understand him a bit more the truck started to drive by some buildings. They were back in civilization… sort of. The buildings they came across were a gas station, a motel, and a strip club. It was a trucker stop, somewhere off the beaten road and a place for them to rest. Semi trucks littered the parking lots.

The driver pulled up to the motel.

“I’m going to stay here the night: if you’re here tomorrow morning I can give you a life elsewhere.” He got out of the truck and headed in.

Just one problem: they had no money…