Missed Exit- Day 1

Of all losses, time is the most unrecoverable for it can never be redeemed.

Chapter One: The Weapon of Speed

Shooting down the highway like a marble, the vehicle was at the mercy of its own inertia. It hugged the curve like a desperate man in love with a treacherous woman. The passengers inside were unaware of the dangers that were so directly confronting them. The faster the car sped down the pavement, the less aware the travelers were of the rate at which they moved. Each molecule, inside and out, seemed to stand still, apart, and heavy.

What was this weapon known as speed?

Although unaware of the impending doom that could await each traveler, all were resolute in their determination to stay alive. The highway was alive as well. The cement was beautiful, black like an empress or a hole in outer space. Though it had a beauty absurd and complete, it also had many problems. Due to the impeccable sheen of its surface, it cut through tires deep and strong like shark. Also shark-like, was its unforgiving laughter toward the passengers traveling its spine. The heat from the sun would combine with the sheen and create a razor-like force that hit the rubber with such power that it was almost impossible to remain on the road for more than an hour without suffering some sort of calamity. Speed was the biggest demon faced while driving along the highway- it was additive, elusive, sexual, and free. There were many people who suggested they could control this weapon, but none had been able to so far.

The vulnerability of the technology fused with the human form was more than apparent in the statistics of the highway. With graves lining the edge of the pavement, where the highway ended and the real land began, those that travelled on the cement were constantly being brained with the realization that metal was more powerful than human flesh. The molecular composition of the metals that made up the boxes carrying the pilgrims was tight and strong. The covalent bonds made it so if there was an altercation between skin, blood, organ and windshield, door frame, engine; the latter would always come out victorious.

The highway had been worked on for nearly thirty years before being completed. Though paling in comparison, it was the first structure since the Panama Canal of the 20th century to take as many lives, as much effort, and most importantly as much money as the canal had cost. Everyone involved was sick of the whole ordeal, though no one made any mention of the fact.