The Middle of the Road

Jasper has to walk after his car breaks down. Is there a reason why this happened?

     As Jasper Higgs drives through a rock formation that looks like an archway, with the rock formation that extends about five feet high and ten feet in length, with an archway a couple of feet in length, an almost clear wall of shimmering light passes through his car.

     Just after Jasper passes through this archway rock formation, his car stops running. Jasper is forced to pull his car off the road. Normally, he would try to find out what is wrong with it, but he doesn’t have the time to do that. He’s going to be late on the first day of a new job, and this is the kind of a job he can’t be late for.

     Of course, Jasper tries to use his cell phone to call for help. At first, his cell phone is working, but when he tries to contact his new employers, he can’t get them. He isn’t too surprised about that, considering who he’s working for, but he should have gotten some response. Jasper has got nothing but static.

     Jasper can think of only one thing that he can do. He’s going to have to walk to work. Hopefully, someone will be driving in or out of this hidden jobsite before too long who can help him. After getting out of his car, Jasper checks his cell phone. It reads that he has about five miles to get to this destination.

     It looks more like fifteen to twenty miles to him. Just as he starts walking, he loses his signal to his cell phone. He also has no internet. He’s not surprised about this either, considering where he’s heading. No matter how he looks at it, it’s going to be a long walk unless someone shows up to help him.

The Middle of the Road

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     After getting out of his car, Jasper looks in both directions several times, but he still doesn’t see anything. He starts walking across the road, but he stops halfway through the road to start walking down it. Jasper stops every so often and looks behind him.

     Jasper only looks behind him when he thinks he hears something, but there is nothing to look at. After slowly looking all around him, which is difficult to do through the archway rock formation, he starts walking down the road again. He doesn’t walk too far before he stops walking.

     Not only is Jasper walking down this road, but he is also talking to himself. He does that a lot, especially when he’s bored. “Why is this happening to me of all days? This is my first day at work. I can’t be late, but it looks like I will be.”

     “I left my house three hours early so that I could drive there. Despite my fear of heights, maybe I should have taken the helicopter to work like everyone else.”

     Jasper stops walking again to look behind him. He stops looking when he gets to the archway. “I will bet almost anything that when that scan passed through me and my car, it did something to my car.”

     “That’s why I have to walk to work.” Jasper looks at his ID badge clipped to his left lapel. “That scan passed through my ID badge. My employers know that I’m here. So, maybe I’m wrong about the scan causing my car problems.”

     “If the scan isn’t what happened to my car, then why did it break down?” Jasper stopped walking again, but he didn’t look behind him this time.

     Jasper is looking at the mountain in front of him. Now he’s looking at the archway behind him. “I wonder if there are guards at this entrance or if the scans go directly to the mountain complex.”

     “I also wonder if the guards on the mountain can see me. If they can see me, why haven’t they sent someone to pick me up?”

     “Maybe I’m also wrong about them seeing me.” Jasper starts walking again. When he gets to the end of the top part of the road, he stops.

     Jasper bends over at the waist slightly to see over the top of this part of the road. “It’s not as steep as I thought it would be, but I still need to be care walking down it.”

     Suddenly, Jasper starts smiling. “Maybe I don’t need to walk down this road. At least not this part of it.” Jasper starts looking for something to help him, but there isn’t anything to help him.

     Looking at his coat, he starts smiling again. Jasper takes off his coat and places it flat on the right side of the road. He sits in the middle of it and grabs the sides of it next to his zipper. Using his feet, Jasper kicks himself off the top of this road backwards.

     Jasper turns himself to face forward as he starts sliding down this road. His coat is slowly falling apart because of the friction against the road and himself. As his coat starts falling apart, Jasper’s speed increases. He is also losing control of his slide.

     “I may not have any coat left, but I should get to the bend in the road at the bottom of this hill.” Jasper slows down to almost a stop by the time he gets to the bottom of this hill.

     After he stops, he gets up off what little remains of the coat. Jasper doesn’t continue down this road. Instead, he starts climbing among the rocks that lead up to this mountain. When he gets to this mountain, he stops. “My name is Jasper Higgs, and I’m supposed to start work today here.”

     A few seconds later, part of this mountain disappears to reveal a large opening. Jasper can see four armed guards walking toward him with their guns out and pointing at him. He starts walking toward these guards with his hands in the air. “I’m Jasper Higgs, and I’m here to start work today.”

     Jasper looks back at the cave opening as the mountain reappears over this entrance. “I’ve heard rumors about this place. It looks like what I have heard is true.”

     “I have also heard this place is a weapons creation factory, a secret plane creation factory. I’ve also heard one or both of these creation factories is above a crash-landed alien spaceship.”

     “After what I have just seen, I’m starting to think it’s an alien spaceship theory. We don’t have this kind of technology in the early twenty-first century.”

     Jasper turns just as the four-armed guards get to him and stop. “I’m Jasper Higgs, and I’m here to start work.”

     “We know who you are,” says one of the armed guards. “You are here a few hours before you are supposed to start work today.”

     “I have a fear of heights. So, I drove here, and I left a few hours early so that I would get here on time. Speaking of my car, it broke down just after I went through the entrance archway to this place. That’s why I was walking here today.”

     The four guards put away their guns. “We know why you have been walking here, but it doesn’t matter. Just like it doesn’t matter that you are here early,” says the same guard again. “Follow us to our Orientation Room.”

     A few minutes later, Jasper and the four guards, who are escorting him, are walking down a tunnel. Jasper has the speaking guard standing next to Jasper. Another guard is on the other side of him. The other two guards are walking behind him. When they get to the end of this tunnel, they stop. Jasper can’t believe what he’s looking at.

     While walking through this massive underground complex, Jasper keeps asking questions about the rooms they pass. The speaking guard keeps telling him the same thing. “All your questions will be answered during Orientation and the tour of this complex.”

     “I’m the first new employee here,” says Jasper after he enters their Orientation Room. “I know I drove here instead of taking a helicopter here, is that the reason why I’m the first one here?”

     “That question I can answer,” says the speaking guard. “You are right. That’s why you are the first one here. The other seven new employees are on their way. They should be here soon.”

     About four hours later, Jasper and the other seven new employees are getting their tour of this complex. They all have questions about each room they enter. Jasper has been asking most of them. Only this time, their tour guide is answering these questions.

     Jasper isn’t only asking these questions, he is getting close to the other employees there, and what they are doing. He is also falling down a lot. Not because he is clumsy or that he is slipping on something, but because he is placing small, oblong metal tubes that are so small no one can see them unless they are looking for them.

     Almost every time Jasper pretends to fall, the tour guide, an employee, or a new employee asks him if he’s okay. Usually, it’s two or three of them asking him. He keeps telling them the same things. “I’m okay. It’s probably because my legs are a little bit shaky from walking here. I have been on my feet a lot today.”

     After this tour is over, the eight new employees end up back at the Orientation Room to do some paperwork that takes about two hours to complete. Not all of them finish this part of their Orientation at the same time. When they are done, they are taken to wherever they will be working.

     Jasper is the last one to finish his Orientation. As he is leaving, he places a hand in his pocket and pushes a red button on a small metal square he can barely see within this pocket. Explosions start happening all over this complex in the order Jasper has placed them.

     Chaos and panic start happening all over this complex. A lot of employees are either dying from these explosions or they are getting hurt by them. Some of the other employees are trying to help them, but most are trying to get out of there before they are also hurt or killed. Jasper is one of these employees.

     It doesn’t take the authorities long before they figure out who is behind these explosions. Each explosion has happened where Jasper has fallen, and in the order of his falls. They figure this out when they start looking at the video footage of these explosions.

     Finding Jasper isn’t so easy. The authorities know he hasn’t left this complex, but they don’t know where he’s hiding. They also don’t know why he’s hiding. Jasper hasn’t been hiding because of the authorities. He knows they will find him sooner or later. He’s hiding to find, see, and video the reason why he has done this.

     Jasper is about to find and see what he knows this complex has been hiding: an alien spaceship. Now all he needs to do is video what he has found. He knows he can’t bring in a camera, but he knows where the authorities have taken their cell phones until these cell phones can be checked. Jasper has taken his cell phone back.

     Of course, Jasper has started videoing what this complex has been hiding, but it may do him no good. The guards have found him. Do they know what he has been doing? Jasper doesn’t think they do. After all, the speaking guard keeps asking him, “Why have you done this?”

Word Count = 1,931