Five North

He would be lucky to get home by six now. Francis began to wish that he had taken the lower level of the interstate after all. Even though it was dark, and there was nothing to do but stare at the bumper of the car in front of him, it was at least fifteen minutes faster than the upper level. And when it takes you nearly four hours to drive ten miles home from school, Francis thought, fifteen minutes can be pretty important.

Francis decided to start on his thinking assignment for physics class. He turned down the radio volume. The assignment was to devise a new transportation system, assuming that friction did not exist. Hell, Francis thought, giving little actual thought to the idea, if friction didn’t exist, then I’d be home by now.

Caught up in his mental grumbling, Francis did not notice the brake lights of the car in front of him until his own car’s proximity indicator beeped sharply, sending his thoughts flying out the windows to be burned up on the hot slab of concrete. Francis swore and jammed on the brakes. The car behind him did the same, and a chain of angry honks sounded, growing more distant as succeeding drivers were forced to slam down their own brake pedals. The proximity indicator shut off automatically when his car came to a complete halt.

Francis looked in his rearview mirror. The man in the car behind him was wearing a dark business suit and sunglasses. From his obscene hand gestures and the way his mouth was moving, Francis guessed that he was not happy. He contemplated gesturing back to the man, but then thought better. It was his fault for not paying attention, anyway.

Francis resolved to put the thinking assignment out of his head for a while. Why did they give thinking assignments, anyway? The obvious but unspoken assumption was that it was to be done while driving home, given the traffic problem, as no one had time to complete written assignments for all their classes. The subject was of course taboo for the school administration, and despite the number of parental complaints and dented cars, all of the teachers continued to give thinking assignments. About a month ago, Francis’s best friend, Mike, had rear-ended a car near Sorrento Valley Road while pondering the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet. Fortunately, the pace of the traffic had minimized the damage to both cars. Nevertheless, Mike had to pay for dent removal and a new paint job on the front of his luxury sedan, and had taken a fresh aversion to Shakespeare, referring to "Rosencraps and Guildensturd" outside of English class.

An interruption from the music on the satellite radio jolted Francis’s attention back to reality. He quickly reached for the volume control and turned it up just in time to hear a calm but concerned female voice:

"…on Interstate 5 northbound just before Del Mar Heights Road. The driver apparently stuck his head out of the sunroof and opened fire with a handgun, hitting several drivers in surrounding cars before shooting himself. The identities and conditions of the shooter and the victims are unknown at this time, however, it has been reported that at least 5 cars, including the shooter’s car, were unmanned and out of control after the shooting. Several other drivers have apparently managed to contain the cars, although there is no way at the moment to clear the freeway. Police and medical helicopters are already on their way, but it should take substantial time before anyone is able to pass.