A booming honk. I jump out of my skin. Through the rearview mirror I see a purple 18-wheeler, it’s windows blacked out.
The T-junction comes up suddenly. Left or right? I glimpse at the maps app on my tablet – it’s not updating. The voice in my head mocks “I told you, there’s no cell phone signal in the middle of nowhere.”
I pump the brakes, down-gear, execute a perfect handbrake turn to the right. The back of the car fishtails as I accelerate. More cornfields on both sides of the road. All that food, for nothing, what a shame.
The 18-wheeler also turns right and thunders behind me, too close for safety, its trailer swinging wildly behind it!
I pat my pocket to assure myself that the flash disk is still there. How archaic to still put things on flash disks. The boffins at The Hide will decipher it and end this nightmare.
Or must the nightmare end so that I can reach The Hide?
Reality swims in and out of my consciousness. I smell sweet almond tart. In the rearview mirror the purple 18-wheeler disappears in sticky vapour.
As I descend into un-consciousness a disembodied voice comes from the radio, “Beware all units. 30 year old white female, armed and dangerous, driving a purple 18-wheeler has been spotted on highway 99. Do not approach. I repeat. Do. Not. Approach!”
Author's note: Story inspired by one of my favourite authors of all time - Phillip K. Dick!
