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With the rocking of the vehicle, there seemed to be a distinct understanding of the terrain. The autonomous car rolled over rocks and traveled down gullies and sprayed water with its magnificent grip. Dodson Robbins, 34 and his wife, Lux , 32, with their two children Val, 12 and Garrett 13, all looked down at their mobile devices. 

“It says we should be there in about a half an hour,” Robbins announced.

“In about a half an hour you will be at your destination,” the computer with the soft feminine voice chimed.

“See? Toldya!”

The other occupants rolled their eyes and returned their gaze to their tablets and phones.

“Rerouting,” the voice sounded again.

“What? We shouldn’t be rerouting,” Robbins declared.

“It’s nothing. It happens all of the time with these self-driving cars,” Lux reassured. 

“Rerouting.”

“Rerouting the past route? No, something’s definitely wrong.”

In a mocking, ironic tone, Garrett asked, “Are we there yet?”

He snickered a little under his breath.

“Tss,” voiced his sister. She shook her head and looked at her phone. 

“Your father is working on something. Don’t get smart, Garr’”, Lux admonished.

Val exchanged glances with her brother. A devilish grin colored her visage.

“Rerouting,” the voice announced again.

“C’mon!” Robbins exclaimed.”They need to have a wheel in this thing in case something like this happens. Manual control would get us out of this situation. Now we’re lost in this thicket. Goddamn it….”

“Rerouting.”

“Can you shut her up? I don’t feel like hearing her say, ‘Rerouting!’ ‘Rerouting’ every five feet.” Lux turned down the volume to the computer system in the car. Her stern look and Robbins exasperation showed clearly. The children in the backseat just looked at their screens.

“Rerouting.” This time the voice remained low and almost like a caveat. 

“I’m calling the navigation team,” Robbins spoke aloud.

“Hi, we hope you are traveling safely and responsibly. Para español di dos.”

“Live agent,” Robbins called low and slightly miffed.

“To get you to the right person, please….”

“Live agent,” his voice raised an octave. 

“We understand that you would like to speak with someone….”

“Live agent!”

“In a few words, please tell me about your iss––”

“LIVE AGENT!”

“Hold on one moment while we connect your call.”

“Jesus, you’d think we were trying to enlist help from the CIA,” Robbins shook his head.

“This is Shaquisha speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“Yes, Shaquisha. We’re on a trip to the Black and Field Camping Lodge in Sussex County, Delaware. We have experienced significant rerouting sessions throughout our trip. Would you set the coordinates for this vehicle to get to the lodging center, please?”

“Right away, Mr. Robbins.”

As Shaquisha loaded the new map headed to the center, Robbins relaxed.

Lux smirked. 

“I’ve sent new directions to your location. You should be set with these new routes. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, you’ve been very helpful.”

“Alright, well, have a safe trip and take care,” Shaquisha canceled the call.

Then the doors locked. 

“Why did the––are you seeing this on your tablet?”

“I’m seeing all four passenger doors and the hatch inaccessible….” Lux replied. The car then eased to a stop. The grayness of the morning amidst the black trees and read leaves made it seem like some soupy forest daymare. The family looked up from their screens and noticed bears ambling towards the vehicle. There seemed to be shivers running up and down spines, but who could tell which had been tingled?

Anyway, the bears sniffed around the car and rocked it like a cradle. Their huffs and snorts only drove the family further and further into distress. Soon, the mammals disappeared and the vehicle resumed its way forward. 

“Is everyone alright?” Robbins asked.

“We’re fine,” Val answered.

“Yeah, bears are the least of our problems,” Garrett mentioned.

“Why do you say that?” Lux asked.

“We’re outta fuel cells,” Val chimed.

“There should be some in the back. I’m going to check.”

Lux looked at her husband with a furrowed brow. “The bears?”

“They’re away for now.” The doors unlocked and Robbins exited the vehicle.

He opened the rear hatch and replaced the old electronics with the ones in the portable charger. With this new found energy, he got back in the car with quickness.

“I can’t believe it’s this cold in October,” Lux pulled her parka closer to her and instructed the car to offer a bit more heat. “Are you kids warm enough back there?”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

As the trek continued, they looked at the time on the clock. It read ten in the morning. 

“We might make it there around lunch time at the pace we’re going,” Robbins grumbled. When the car had gone not a full mile the infamous note returned: “Rerouting.”

“What the hell, now?!” Robbins shouted.

“It looks like we have a flat tire.”

“That’s okay. These tires self-inflate and are good to go for fifty miles. We can make it to the lodge and then someone there will patch it up. No problem,” Lux reassured. The tone of her voice sounded like confidence and she held her chin level with the deck. She looked outside as some snowflakes mixed with ice began to fall from the sky like so many ashes from a fire.

“You two should bundle up,” she instructed her children.

The coats they had peeled off from the heat of the car now found their way onto the bodies of the tween and teenager. With every twist and turn, the four wheels carried them with expert precision, despite the many too many cases of rerouting. But that spell never seemed to lift.

“Rerouting.”

“If I could, I would just pick this thing up and throw it,” Robbins offered to his family in regard to the computer system, the car itself, anything. His deep-seated opposition to the whole excursion did not deter him, however, from being present with wanting to seek the outdoors and bond with his loved ones. The vehicle kept moving as other cars passed it. Some even rolled down their windows and shouted, “You’re going the wrong way!”

Other vehicles passed by with horns blaring as the Robbins car kept going in the opposite direction.

“Rerouting.”

“You’re goddamn right, you’re rerouting!”

“The satellite must be getting confused or something,” Garrett stated.

“Something like that,” Val responded.

The vehicle once again found the correct path for them to continue on in this place. In what should have taken at least an hour, hour and a half tops, now spiralled into what seemed like millenia. The car, still, kept rolling down the determined course. With the sound of the low hum of the electric motor, there appeared to be an uncomfortable silence among the four of them. They brought the snacks for the rest of the way. Apples and granola and water nourished their bodies and fed their souls. They each had their own space for eating their meals. When it came time to suspend their eating ritual, there seemed to be enough time to show the digital maps on their devices.

“We should be there before dark, I hope,” Robbins sniggered. Lux just grinned. Val and Garrett looked out of the window for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Once they had returned to their phones, they stayed attuned to their surroundings. They felt like shouting. In them churned a fiery desire to go back home, yet still make the best of the promised accommodations at the lodge. 

A flickering flame of irritation burned in their souls. Lux and Robbins, on the other hand, just wanted the rest of the trip to go smoothly. Instead of this reverie coming true, they looked back and saw signs that read they were not on the designated trail. 

“You call these people and then they put you on a totally different pathway,” Robbins reflected. “All you get is ‘rerouting’ ‘rerouting.’ I don’t know how these people stay in business. And this electric car is too sophisticated for it to be having malfunctions like this.” Robbins loosened his belt and Lux did, too, as they polished off more of the meals they had prepared for the journey. The car once again found the proper route.

Val and Garrett kept on their safety belts. A buck walked right into the path of the car. The computer made the brakes slam. Food went flying. Little granules of granola and pieces of swiss cheese and turkey bits littered the floor. Val and Garrett didn’t have their food out like their parents. 

“Whoa!” Robbins shouted. Lux looked shaken. In her glance she just saw the majestic animal slowly cross the path. Her eyes glistened in the sunniness that poked through the grayness. Once the animal had passed, they continued on the tour to wherever, now. The quietness led Robbins to ask for a music station. Classic rock. This, of course, became a point of contention as Val wanted to listen to Swedish rap, and Garrett wished to hear Moldovan death metal. Lux just wanted to relax with the sounds of white or brown noise.  

Everyone put on their headsets. No noise stirred in the vehicle. A quick shuffling of the paper the food came in turned out to be the only sounds that echoed from the restless travelers. Robbins and Lux fell asleep. With their parents out for the time, Val and Garrett peered at their screens. The doors unlocked again. A flashing light in the distance warned that the road had been slippery from the wintry mix and to take caution. The car already knew about the conditions and proceeded with care. Val and Garrett continued to type on their devices. A flurry of code worked on their minds like sprockets and gears turning in their heads. 

Each of their actions produced something different. Something new. It felt ominous in the car as the car pushed itself along the wooded road. The snow did not stick but sort of just dusted and vanished upon the pavement. The off-road, on-road factors seemed to give off a sense of unease. But they charged forth with their machinations, nevertheless. Robbins and Lux roused from their slumber and looked back at their two children, busy with their screens. Lux smiled. She cleaned up the mess and pulled a shawl over her body while the seat massaged her.

The computer voice spoke again: “You are off the course. Instead of rerouting, I’m going to send you into a tree.” No one but Val and Garrett heard this of course as their two parents remained occupied with relaxation at the moment. Val giggled. Garrett focused. Their scheme would come into focus, finally. They ensured their seatbelts had been fastened correctly. And the message that the computer announced flashed on the screen in the center console. The car picked up speed at a fast clip. This aroused Lux from her slumber and Robbins felt defenseless as he had no brake emergency or otherwise to use. 

WIth more and more speed the vehicle got up to ninety miles an hour and then slowed to about sixty miles per hour and slammed into a tree, ejecting both Robbins and Lux. Garrett and Val made half-hearted attempts to revive their parents as emergency vehicles came to the location of the collision. 

The first responders treated the children with their cuts and bruises. A deputy sheriff came over to the young people and informed them about the abysmal state of their parents. Neither survived. Val Garrett put on glum looks. Their demeanor seemed to shift from shock and surprise to graven understanding.

The other police officers at the scene searched the vehicle and found the children's’ two phones. The screens showcased signs of being jailbroken.

“Lieutenant,” Corporal Jameson Bondi called, bits of snow collecting and then evaporating on her cover. The two minors looked at each other and continued to field questions from the other authorities.

“What is it?”

“This was no accident. They wanted this to happen.”

“You don’t say….” Lieutenant Chapel Hilson replied.

As Bondi walked over to the two children, she placed the cold steel bracelets of justice around their wrists. Before being lowered in the patrol car, both of them looked once more at their parents but never shed a tear.