Lunar's Untamed Odyssey

The wind was howling. Raindrops were pelting the car with such ferocity that it sounded like a drum, a bass drum being beaten by giant hands to the rhythm of the storm. The car was only moving steadily forward as far as I could tell. Every now and then, my eyes would dart from the road to the mirror, looking for headlights. I was on an empty stretch of highway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, on my way back home after an emergency meeting with one of our clients in Johannesburg. They needed us to speed up some design work so they could get it printed before their launch event next week.

The car's interior lights flashed as my phone signaled a message. I had forgotten to silence it when I left for the meeting this morning. It was probably Ms. Lotter again, calling me to cancel our lunch date tomorrow afternoon due to another emergency meeting she had forgotten about until this morning. I flipped open the screen, which lit up for a second or two before going dark again. My heart jumped into my throat as I tried again and again - nothing but dead pixels on the screen now. It was still raining so hard that I couldn't see through the windshield anymore.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath, "I don't have time for this."

I glanced at my watch: 7:56pm. Twelve minutes ago, I had passed through Beaufort West on my way north towards Port Elizabeth, which meant there was no point in stopping here and waiting for this weather to clear up - there wasn't enough time left if I wanted to make it back home tonight before midnight. Another lightning bolt shot down from the sky right above me, striking something that caused blue flames to erupt into the air just behind where I had been driving just a moment before.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!"

I slammed my foot onto the accelerator pedal and swerved around a small cliff that jutted out from the hillside above me into what appeared to be a cave entrance of sorts - whatever it was, it looked like it went somewhere deep into the mountain. The car rattled and skidded along a dirt path barely wider than its tires before coming around a sharp bend where it lost control and began sliding across wet grass along what appeared to be a straightaway towards... trees? Were there trees down here? When did this mountain turn into a forest? How long had this car been driving for? Wasn't we supposed to be surrounded by sandstone cliffs? Where did these trees- oh wait, those aren't trees! They're people! People are standing in front of us! ARRGGHHH!

The car plowed head-on into them, sending them flying off in all directions like dolls made out of meat and bone instead of plastic and fabric. My body jerked forward and slammed back against my seatbelt; luckily I had fastened it properly when leaving home because otherwise I would have gone through the windshield too once I stopped accelerating at all. The engine died down with an electronic whine; I turned off the ignition switch and sat there quietly for several moments with my head bowed low against my chest trying not to vomit out everything that was inside of me on top of all these poor people who were sprawled all over the ground covered in blood, organs, skin slivers and other unidentifiable pieces of fleshy stuff that looked like they used to belong to somebody or something alive until just now when they didn't anymore because I ran over them with my stupid car because nobody told me about these people standing here in the middle of nowhere or else I wouldn't have driven past them because nobody told me anymore or else maybe yes maybe somehow maybe someone did tell me but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listened but nobody listens but no - NO NO NO NO NO!!!

The first thing that came back into focus was my eyes staring at a white ceiling somewhere far above me - no, not somewhere far away - above ME! Above ME! This wasn't right! What happened? Where am I?? What happened?? It felt like... hours since last night? Hours since last night?? Last night?? Last night?? That's right! Last night!! Last night!! The rain!! In South Africa!! Driving through South Africa!! And then... then... WHAT?!? WHAT?!? What happened?!? Snapping myself out of confusion from a dream is never pleasant; doing so after waking up from unconsciousness is worse than any nightmare you could imagine even if you've never had any nightmares at all in your entire life before now because THIS IS REAL LIFE AND THIS IS WAY WORSE THAN ANY NIGHTMARE YOU COULD IMAGINE EVEN IF YOU'VE NEVER HAD ANY NIGHTMARES AT ALL IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE BECAUSE THIS IS REAL LIFE AND IT'S WAY WORSE THAN ANY NIGHTMARE YOU COULD IMAGINE EVEN IF YOU'VE NEVER HAD ANY NIGHTMARES AT ALL IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE BECAUSE THIS IS REAL LIFEEEEE AND IT'S WAY WORSE THAN ANY NIGHTMARE YOU COULD IMAGINE EVEN IF YOU'VE NEVER HAD ANY NIGHTMARES AT ALL IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE BECAEND THIS IS REAL LIFEEE AND IT'S WAY WORSE THAN ANY NIGHTMARE YOU COULD IMAGINE EEEEEEVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN...

*Groaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssss*

My ears popped several times as if getting unscrewed from something stuck inside them after being underwater for too long; eventually they cleared out completely - wait a minute! Did you hear that too!? Did you hear that groaning sound?! Is that... is that ME making that sound!? Who is making that sound?! ME!? Who am I?! WHO AM I?! Who am... WAIT A MINUTE DID YOU JUST SAY WHO AM "ME"? Am "I"? Am "Me"? Am "I"? Am... Me??? Meeeeeee??? Meeeeeee?? Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?? Meeeeeeeeeeeeee??? Who are you asking about who Me is in order to answer your own question about who Me is if Me is Me???? Why are you asking about who Me is if Me isn't actually you talking directly to yourself without realizing it because maybe you've been talking aloud without realizing it because maybe you were actually asleep dreaming all this time without realizing it but who cares anyway because EVERYTHING IS FINE AGAIN NOW THAT WE ARE BACK IN THE PRESENT TIME WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTURE WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PAST OR THE FUTUURRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!