roads, trails, bent blades of grass - they all mean the same thing

Joe was cruising.

The highway unrolled in front of him, sped under his wheels, and was relegated to the rearview mirror and memory.

With the experience of long practice he maneuvered his car around a minivan that lumbered up a hill in the roadway. Cresting the top, the road undulated further and higher up ahead. Beyond the high barrier walls on either side of the highway stood the tops of the city buildings, but above the furthest rise ahead of him there was only sky.

Joe accelerated up the hills and coasted all the way down, notching his speed up every time. As he got closer, he noticed there were no cars coming in the opposite direction any more.

Strange. Maybe an accident - if that was it, it was a bad one.

Nearer to the furthest hill, he saw a huge traffic snarl that began halfway up its slope, and continued for who knew how far past the top. Applying the brake gently and with increasing force, he coasted into a spot at the back, only to notice something even more peculiar. People were getting out of their cars and standing at the top of the hill.

This was beyond odd. Something must have played hell with the traffic on the other side of the hill. Joe yanked the parking brake, shut off his engine, and got out of the car. The heat and humidity blasted him immediately after opening the door. Shading his eyes from the afternoon sun, he walked up to the group of people at the top. They ignored him, their attention focused ahead, and as he looked he saw why.

Not even fifty meters in front of him, the highway simply ended. For fifty meters there was a tangle of stopped cars. After that, there was just a tangle of branches, a line of trees forming the front rank of a forest that stretched across the highway and as far as he could see in either direction.

He didn't stop, but just kept walking down the hill. He passed by the legion of stopped cars, then came to the line that divided ashphalt from earth. Pausing only a moment, he stepped into the forest, dropping his keys to the ground.