Abandoned Highway

[tomash3]

Daisy was sure they’d gotten trapped on the road. This was supposed to be a six-hour drive — the description said so — but, even though they’d left before dawn, the sun was setting.

They’d pulled over at one of the rest stops. They were pretty sure they’d passed it once already. It was empty. The lights in the parking lot were dim or flickering or both. Usually both. It radiated creepy.

Did I accidentally get on a murder highway? they wondered.

There was an emergency phone pole in the parking lot. I wonder if that works, Daisy thought.

They pressed the button, expecting nothing.

The speaker crackled. “System Emergency Response Group, what’s your emergency?”

That hadn’t been what they’d expected. They didn’t even know there was a System Emergency Response Group.

“I think I’m trapped on this highway. It was supposed to be six hours and I’ve been going all day,” Daisy said.

“You can step out to a different sim,” the operator suggested. “Or if you want to keep driving, you can stick around while we have someone take a look.”

They’d considered giving up on this entire plan around dinner, but had decided against it. “I still want to drive to my aunt’s, and there might be other people stuck here.”

Daisy could make out faint keyboard noises through the speaker.

“Do you want someone out right away, or do you want to a realistic wait for your sim?”

Daisy considered this. “Uh …let’s do realism.”

“Should have someone there in a hundredth or two. Call back if you need anything.”

“Thanks!”

The connection closed with a beep.

Daisy took some time to explore the rest stop. There wasn’t much, and what was there had seen better days. Even the vending machine was half-empty. It had eaten a bunch of coins, too, but they’d gotten candy out of it.

So, with nothing else to do, Daisy stood around watching the sunset as they waited for help (would it actually be help? maybe asking to wait was a bad idea?) to arrive.

As the last hint of orange was leaving the sky, Daisy saw a van pulling into the rest stop. The letters on the side said “Lagrange County Public Works” — they weren’t sure if that made it more or less sketchy. Maybe this is "a murder highway after all.*

Once the truck had parked, its driver stepped out. Daisy wasn’t sure who they’d expected, but a dog furry in a “PERISYSTEM TECHNICIAN - DO NOT PET” vest wasn’t it.

“Hello? Daisy?” he called, looking around. A non-anthropomorphic dog that looked suspiciously similar to the technician hopped out of the van and went to sniff around the yellowed grass nearby.

“Right here!”

“I’m Tomash. Nice to meet you!” The systech walked over to stand by Daisy. “Hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

“I’ve had worse,” Daisy replied. “Could be raining.”

“So, trapped on the highway, yeah? Do you happen to remember your exit number?”

“342. For New Omaha. I’m … pretty sure I didn’t drive past it.”

“Exit 342. Alright, let me take a look …” He mumbled something and frowned.

“Well, there it is. Some joker hooked the highway up to itself again.” he declared.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, the folks who made this sim added in interchange support but forgot to ban self-loops. Someone adds one now and again.”

“So what do I do?”

Tomash smiled. “I’ve just fixed it, so … you’ve got about fifty miles to go, straight ahead.”

He turned to get back into his van. “Thanks for calling this in,” he said. “Abandoned rural highway sims are a pain.”

“Thanks for coming, and for making this a fun story. Two dogs showing up to un-loop the road — only on the System, y’know?”

“No problem, it’s what I do. Happy to help,” Tomash said. He climbed back into his van. “Scout!” he called. “Back in the car!”

The dog-shaped dog — Scout, evidently — paused to contemplate if he felt like doing that, then scampered back through the driver’s side door. A moment later, Daisy noticed his head hanging out the passenger window.

The van bounced and rattled along as Tomash drove off into the distance, then vanished as it neared the horizon.

Daisy got back in their car and drove off into the twilight.

They made it to their aunt’s without further incident.