Joy held the phone to her ear as she waited for the prison to put her father on. Her PIN had cleared her, so she knew her call was logged, but she didn't care. A black duffel bag lay at her feet and a beat up, yet reliable car sat parked next to her.

[B]"Hey, sweetie. Everything okay?"[/B] her father's voice came across the line. She knew the call was being monitored, it was dumb to assume it wouldn't be.

[B]"I'm okay. Just a spot of flu and needed some comforting."[/B] Joy coughed once, throatily.

[B]"Well that's no good, honey. Any idea what it is?"[/B]

[B]"Probably just a common cold"[/B] She let loose, coughing again chestily, four times. [B]"Which wouldn't really surprise me. [i]*cough, cough*[/i] I read a report saying that something was going around."[/B] Joy stopped a moment.
[B]"So how are you since I last saw you?"[/B]

[B]"I'm fine, sweetie, don't worry about me, worry about yourself. Anyone else at work got what you got?"[/B] her father asked, genuine care and concern in his voice.

[B]"No."[/B] Joy replied. [B]"So far I'm the only one. Here's hoping I'm not too contagious."[/B]

[B]"Well, you can never be too careful sweetie. Perhaps you should call you mother too and then curl up at home and get some rest. If you need comforting, just close your eyes and picture us there taking care of you, ok?"[/B]

[B]"Okay, I will, daddy. It was good talking to you."[/B] Joy paused a moment. [B]"I love you."[/B]

[B]"I love you too, sweetie. Get well soon."[/B]

Joy hung up. Looking down at her bug-out bag, Joy pulled out some more quarters before dialing the women's prison, keying in another PIN and asking for her mother. At least she'd been able to get the message through to her father. After watching her 'hair-suit' recede into her body and leaving her looking normal once more, Joy had been quick to come to her first and most obvious conclusion. She had powers of some sort.
Were they because of genetic mutation? Viral? She didn't know, but she needed to get out of here. The chances of her being the [i]only[/i] person, or even the first, to develop powers was highly unlikely, never mind the fact that they seemed to spontaneously appear. Which meant there had to be others. And if there were others, there were people who knew about them, which almost certainly meant that there were people who would want to exploit and weaponise them. As such, Joy planned to become hard to find.

The call to her father had been code. "A spot of flu" started the code, then every first consonant in every sentence spelled part of the word with every cough representing a vowel. She'd told her father what scenario was in play. 'Powers.' By telling him that she was the only one who had 'the flu', she was telling him that she was the one empowered with no evidence of others with powers having appeared yet. Finally, her father had told her to go 'home' and picture him there. That meant she was going to Texas and he'd be orchestrating an escape soon to meet her there.

[B]"Are you okay, honey?"[/B] the voice of her mother appeared on the other end of the line.

[B]"Just a spot of the flu, mom. Dad suggested I call you."[/B] She coughed six times. [B]"Part of what everyone recently seems [i]*cough*[/i] to have come down with. Just picturing you and dad being at home with me and comforting me."[/B]

[B]"Oh, honey, that's no good, but I hope picturing us there helps…"[/B]

Joy and her mother made small talk for several minutes before hanging up. The content didn't matter, like home remedies and lullabies, the message had been given. Joy could hardly repeat the same code to her mother, it would give it away. As such, the six coughs, one more than the number of vowels in the English alphabet, told her mother they would be using a backup, with each letter in her initial sentence once again spelling 'powers', before stopping the code with a solitary cough.
Now that her mother knew that Joy was picturing her and her father being with her at 'home', she had been able to confirm that she would be orchestrating an escape as well.
Her parents already had that plan covered. They would break out tonight, midnight exactly, so as not to bring unwarranted attention to each other due to the other's breakout and meet her in Texas.

Picking up her duffel bag, Joy got in to her car and started to drive north. It would be a long trip. Her family had cars hidden at several gas stations so that, even if traffic cameras recorded her heading north, she would constantly switch cars and directions to throw them off. The Midway Partisan and several of her guns and boxes of ammunition were concealed in a hidden panel in her the trunk of the car and her bag held ID, passports and roughly $25,000 dollars in cash.
As Joy started to drive, she made sure to keep an eye on her rear view mirror, watching for any hint of a tail. This was not good. She was empowered somehow with no answers, but she had prepared for this, her parents had made sure of it.

[B]"Time to get the hell out of Dodge…"[/B] She muttered to herself as she drove.