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Suddenly a blob of brown and white leapt in front of the windshield. Matrix stomped on the brake pedal and jerked the wheel hard to the right but his atrophied reaction time wasn't fast enough to miss from smashing the object head on. All one hundred and fifty pounds of a full grown white tailed deer slammed into drivers side windshield before popping up and over the Nissan's roof. Panicking, Matrix tried to correct the trajectory of the car but in his excitement overcompensated and inadvertently sent the car spinning in circles at sixty miles an hour. Amid a flurry of smoke and tire chirps the Leaf bounded over the soft gravel shoulder and plunked ass backwards into a hilly thicket of grass.

Surprisingly short of a couple of scrapes and bruises everyone in the car escaped the accident unscathed, the car and the deer however did not fare as well. About 400 feet behind the Nissan's final resting place the body of the formerly bounding deer exhaled its final breath. The car while not a total write off, suffered significant damage to the body, but most critically one of the rear wheels had been slapped horizontal and impacted inward.  Even if a member of the team had the tools or the talent to replace a tire, there was no way they could fix the damaged rotor and rear suspension.  

Zigoat stumbled out of the car and limped into the middle of the road. He surveyed the skid marks, blood spots and splintered fender pieces strewn across the concrete. He tuned his gaze further down the highway as far as he could see before turning around and doing the same thing in the other direction. After standing in the street for about five minutes he shouted out loud enough for the others to hear: "What the fuck are the chances of that happening?" "What are the chances of what happening" Betelgeuse responded. Stammering slightly Zigoat approached the group before continuing. "I bet that three cars at the most, AT THE MOST" pass through here every couple of days, and the moment one does, it's the exact same time and place that A FUCKING DEER IS CROSSING THE STREET?" "Oh yeah" Betelgeuse replied, "I guess that is pretty random." "I have a better question" Matrix chimed in. "What the fuck are we going to do now?" 

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Chapter 3

At daybreak on a typical not hot, not cold but a little windy central coast morning team CURE piled into the Nissan. Even though it was early they were greeted by a shuffling of curtains and staring eyes peering through tiny slits in several windows of Zigoat's apartment complex. The group turned toward the onlookers and gave them a "Don't worry nothing suspicious is going on here" smile and little wave before silently lurching down the road.

Matrix's uncle had been kind enough to lend him the car for the journey and even though the road was wide open the trip started with a few hiccups. When composing the paranoid list the night before no one considered the fact that neither of them had driven more than 3 miles at a time in the past 5 years, moreover,  none of that driving had been done at highway speeds. The result of this with Matrix at the wheel was several jumped curbs and accidental emergency stops before they reached highway 101. Eventually he got the hang of the controls and the group quickly started knocking off miles between them and the compound.

It didn't take long for everyone to slip into a throwback road trip mode giggling and playing nonsense games. Looking out the window with a 1000 yard stare Katt remarked at how the landscaped had changed. Beach towns that were once overrun with families cluttering the piers and local shops had  been abandoned leaving the sea air and the elements to consume the faded remains of recreation. Long stretches of cracked road were overgrown with wild grass and moss creating a jungle like atmosphere just steps from the pavement. The 250 year old mark made by America conquering and harnessing the power of the land was quickly eroding. Betelgeuse thought that the trip would be part business and part nostalgia but as they traveled it became apparent that what they were driving through was a completely different country from a completely different era.