1 Sixty Six Miles Per Hour

The cars raced down the freeway. The night was getting long. A terrible darkness shrouded the world with mysticism and wonder. A heavy rain was pouring to where the lights from the cars were a beacon of terrifying speed. A car raced forward in the northern direction, within the car there was a couple fighting about some nonsense about who hurt one another the worst.

"Kate, can't you listen to me? I'm trying my best to stay calm, but all it seems to me is every time I express my side you want to make sure I know that I hurt you. I know I hurt you! But you hurt me too. Can't you see that?"

"Mark, you hurt me, why can't you see that?"

"No no , I see that, you just seem to not care for me." 

"Oh well for God sakes then Mark, why don't you look at the past? I paid for our meals, while you were off trying to play Mr. Smart guy or something. Give me one reason why you would believe that."

"Maybe the fact that every time I bring up my feelings you make it about yourself."

"Oh here we go, me miss narcissist. You seem to have no other arguments than that. You know what, take this exit I'll catch a taxi and you don't ever have to see me again." Their car sped towards the exit and it began to lose control and knocked out another car before hitting the ditch.

Another car came speeding across the lonesome highway. Windshield wipers on fast trying to keep up with the downpour of rain that shot at the windshield. 

"Yes, yes I know, yes I'll get you those reports as soon as I can. Yes, I understand. It's seven on a Friday though, and I just finished work fifteen minutes ago. Would you be willing to give me the weekend in order to pull this off? Yes? You Will? Thanks Mr. Anderson. Right, ok yes I will remember that as well" a large bang came from the north. "Hang on Mr. Anderson I'll have to call you back. I just saw two people collide with each other on I-65. I'll call you back. Uh huh, goodbye." The stranger pulled his vehicle over to where the victims of the accident were. 

The highway wasn't by any particular means a large one. It had two lanes on either side and because of its rural location, mostly only commuters traveled on it. The asphalt from the road scarred the plains and carried the artificial clunks of transportation for hundreds of miles in either direction south or north. The main characteristic of the highway was its obscured self at night. The lane lines had become incredibly difficult to see because of the wear that they had and the state not wanting to spend money on a road so few travel. The nights with storms in particular were usually the worst, and most of the time, there was an expectancy of at least a couple accidents. Usually nothing major. Sometimes someone would get seriously injured, but for the most part, there wasn't an incredibly high risk of death.

"Hello? 911? Hello? Ah yes, can I please get emergency services to mile marker sixty three? I have witnessed an accident and all of the victims in both vehicles appear to be unconscious. Yes, take your time! No reason to hurry here. Yes, aren't the roads so difficult with this downpour? Yes, ok sounds good, you will be here as soon as you can. Thank you." 

For the next couple of minutes, there seemed to be peace about the highway. It seemed to have calmed down from its wicked ways and turned into a mellow strip of wet asphalt, yet it was hard to tell, for it was incredibly dark. No cars were racing past the scene for a few moments, and everyone there could catch their breath. Then, the emergency vehicles broke the silence with their sirens and their blaring lights. Most of the ambulances were traveling the speed limit in order to keep the road safe from any danger. 

"Ah, just in time. The couple there seemed to be in worse shape. They've bled pretty bad and need to get to the hospital as soon as possible." 

"Ok sounds good. Let me check to see how far the hospital is from here on my gps. Okay, it's approximately a half an hour. We'll see if they make it. May I catch your name for the records?"

"Oh, my name is Gabe. Make sure when you drive them there that you stay within the traffic laws." 

"Right-O I will do. Wouldn't want anyone else to get injured. Well, if they end up dying, it's their loss. They were the ones that were being unsafe." The once fighting couple was loaded onto the ambulance and was safely driven to the hospital. They were then later put into intensive care. The other car on the other hand, Despite Gabe saying that the couple was in worse shape, all of the passengers in the other car had lost too much blood and were all pronounced dead at the hospital later on. 

Mark was waking up in the hospital bed clueless of the last forty-five minutes of his life. "Where am I? What happened?"

"It's all going to be okay." One of the nurses said. "Just rest, we'll take care of you." 

"Where's Kate? I need to speak with her." 

The nurses eyed each other in a guilted manner and then resumed tending to Mark without giving a clear answer. "Everything is going to be ok. I just need you to take a deep breath and relax."

Mark did as they asked and the morphine trickled through his veins and numbed him from his painful injuries.

Kate, on the other hand, was being resuscitated. Her heart had stopped a couple of times on the trip down to the hospital. The doctors and nurses were doing everything in their power to keep her from dying, but death was holding her soul and counting the calculations to make sure this was the right moment to take Kate's life. 

Mark was being brought in for surgery to remove the glass which was gouged deep. The blood was having a hard time clotting because of the amount that was pouring out of his open wounds, and the doctors were doing everything in their power to keep him stable. Eventually, they finished all of the necessary medical procedures, and he was able to rest.

After an intense battle against death, the doctors and nurses were finally able to resuscitate Kate, but her consciousness, however, was still locked deep within her mind being tormented by dreams and thoughts that played tricks on her.

Mark was waking up from surgery asking if he could see Kate.

"I just have some things I want to tell her."

"The state that you are in yourself, is not a state where I can allow you to leave this room."

"Please, I worry that something bad has happened to her."

The nurses and doctors in the room looked at each other with guilt and remorse, but stayed in character when they talked to Mark.

"Everything is going to be okay, I promise."

"But is she ok?"

"I'm sure she will be fine."

"Will be? But is she now?"

"Just relax-

"I want an answer!" he screamed.

"You have nothing to worry about, we are doing everything we can to keep her stable."

Mark was defeated. He gave up trying to find an answer and slumped over in his bed and rested.

The next morning Mark was awoken by a doctor who was trying to explain the situation that he was in.

"Hello Mark, my name is Doctor Steven. I was told that you were in an accident. Would that be right?"

"I believe so. I lost consciousness I think and the next thing I knew was that I was here."

"Okay, well I have some things I have to tell you. First off, you seem to be the one at fault from your P.S.S. Surveillance system, so I want you to understand the seriousness of this."

"Okay, what even happened?"

"You ended up merging into another car going around sixty-six miles an hour in a sixty-five. All of the passengers in the other car were killed. You are being charged with manslaughter and breaking traffic laws. Do you understand the severity of this?"

"Surely me going sixty-six has nothing to do with the accident. It might have just been the fact that I was not paying attention." 

"No no, you broke a law, therefore that's where you messed up. That's what would have done it. If you had obeyed the speed limit none of this would have happened. Stupid reckless imbecile."

The state was doing their absolute best to keep the citizens alive because the fertility rates had dropped so significantly. Between all of the nuclear weapons and tools that had been used in the past fifty years, radiation around the earth had poisoned most of the individuals inhabiting it. No one was able to conceive children anymore, except for a very small percentage of the population which were mostly the richest members of society who had underground bunkers and non radio frequency communication devices or N.R.F.C.D. Most everywhere, other than pure wildernesses, had incredibly strict regulations in order to keep the citizens safe. Things such as guard rails on sidewalks which protected people from jaywalking and getting hit by a car, to other things like non pointless pencils in order to avoid people getting poked and then dying of an infection. The humans now have nothing to worry about, no future danger other than the population collapsing on itself.