The highway swerved gently through the wooded hilltops, weaving through a valley out of the city. A lone car made its way along the curved path, bright beams sharply cutting into empty darkness. Occasionally, an odd bit of refuse littered the side of the road, but there were no obstructions upon the road itself. One car rested along the shoulder of the freeway; abandoned for no reason that could be intuited quickly.
A slight misting had begun to build upon the windshield, but the traces of growing heat seemed to be keeping it from getting much worse. As Lucas allowed himself to ease up on the accelerator his sense of nervous tension melted away. As scenery changed, the extremes of the evergreen dotted hills gradually gave way to gentler slopes. This freeway led westward out of the city and away from the northward bound river.
The survivors listened in silence as buzzing static came through the speakers. When comprehensible words finally emitted from the radio within the static, a collective welcome sigh of relief passed through each one. Evidence that the civilized world was still out there.
"I got something!" Exclaimed Ryan as he adjusted the dials. The occupants listened with hopeful fascination as a thin voice became audible. The signal was interspersed with static, even while the voice came through in decipherable bursts.
"...curfew enforced for those within fi..."
"...limited to the boundary region..."
"...not approach or use firearms against the..."
"...activity within the quarantined zone..."
"They mentioned a quarantine! That's going to be a safe place, isn't it?" Ryan exclaimed.
"We're inside it. We just need to get out of it." Zack replied.
Something rankled as the words rattled in Lucas's mind. He grit his teeth, dismissing the sensation as the lingering guilt of a betrayer. Nothing could avert the course laid out. The entirety of his being needed to concentrate on the final resolution of their nightmare. It must end.
Shapes ahead prompted Lucas to first ease his pace, then halt. There were a number of cars obstructing the route. Each one rested perfectly within the guiding lines of the freeway in both directions. Side by side they sat in a pristine row, suggesting deliberate placement. Beyond, another row sat. And another. The path leading up to this point had been mostly devoid of vehicles. From what the headlights revealed the area ahead was also clear. Although he could observe no dents or scuffs, something had apparently been punctured inside. Large pools of oil stretched over the pavement.
Lucas examined it all studiously, as if a critical answer were hidden within the spectacle. Yet there was something subtle underneath it all which forced a blink. An attempt came to wipe his glasses free of smudges. Then another view without glasses. A whine and a scraping of the windshield. Nothing worked. The bewildering impulse could not leave, yet the compulsion to examine only intensified.
Something is very wrong with those cars, blew a chill like a whisper. A gnawing terror grew, consuming his heart as it enraptured him. His mind strained in agony, reaching for something concrete to resolve his senses into. Struggling to create something comprehensible, a label for the strangeness, just so he could blink again.
The oily blackness ahead was a nothingness leaking into the world. The voids within each car sang harmoniously. The mundane road beyond became a grotesque painting. The emptiness surrounding them glistened with malice. Only the cars existed. All of it was true for an instant, then it all fell apart.
A label finally arrived. "Go back!" Jennifer.
"No!" Came a scream. Or was it a thought? Maybe within the proximity of those cars, there could be no sound. It was impossible to know.
A sudden jolt of activity pulsed as air surged back into the universe. Gasping, Lucas hammered the accelerator and veered off road, careful to avoid seeing the anomalous discovery. Shaking, riotous movement slammed into him as wheels jounced on wildly inappropriate terrain. Thunderous screeching. Screaming could exist again.
"What the fuck was that!?"
"We have to warn Evan!"
"Bad... Really bad trip..."
"We're past it now! He'll get past it too!"
Their vehicle swerved from side to side as bodies throttled into restraints. Somehow, the wheels found a strait path and tore down the freeway. The cacophony of screams continued, growing louder as bewilderment became terror. Whatever strange affixion that place held over Lucas, it had apparently impacted all of them. Ignoring the others, he steeled his mind upon his task.
Ryan's voice cut through the maelstrom. "It's not following us!" Nobody questioned the usefulness of the statement.
Recovering from the encounter, it was difficult to tell how long it had been or how far they had traveled since that blasphemous thing. At some point, Lucas became aware of the radio, producing flurries of speech between intervals of static. He begrudgingly allowed the car to slow to a more manageable speed.
Lucas realized with a start that he was still upon the familiar highway. But even better, somewhere ahead was a tiny smattering of dots. Lights. He couldn't tell how far away they were, only that they would soon be there. Checking the fuel gauge, he felt a confidence they would make it.
Then the high-intensity beams illuminated something large standing in the road. Something moving.
