Recalculating

Recalculating

As Adam stepped into the store, he was warmly greeted by an employee. He was dressed smart with a bow tie and seemed entirely too eager to help. A broad smile that bordered on unhinged and slightly scary.

“Goooood morning sir, how can we help you on this fine day?” he said rather enthusiastically.

Adam frowned, no one is that happy at work.

“I’m looking for a GPS. Something that doesn’t get lost… maybe suggests places too, you have something like that?” He asked slightly leaning his head back as if the employee was getting to familiar.

“We sure do, right this way.” The employee walked towards the back of the store, he then suddenly turned and smiled again like he wanted to murder someone.

Adam took a step a little further away, he was odd.

“We have basic ones that will suggest places based on where you’ve been, oooor if you upgrade to a premium,” He pointed to a slightly larger item, “They will suggest a place based on your interests, some people like quiet spots, some others like more busier times, but this one can suggest a place you’ve never been before, think of it as an adventure.” He said with wide eyes like he couldn’t open them any more than he was trying too.

Adam gave a tight lipped smile, “What do you mean an adventure, does it just tell me where to go if I type it in?” he said crossing his arms.

“Oh yes sir it does. But,” the employee leaned a little too close as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear, “If you want a mystery tour, this one does that, I’ll show you.”

The employee turned the GPS on and showed Adam how the basics work and the different options he could have, he then showed the mystery option. The employee looked around again and told the GPS he wanted a mystery tour...

“Recalculating...”

Adam watched as the GPS zoomed out then looked as if it was trying to find something, then zoomed in very quickly, it landed on a house, the house looked relatively normal, in a normal street. The employee was watching Adam without him realizing and had a slightly sinister smile. Adam pushed the satellite view icon and his eyes narrowed.

“Uh, that's my house... how did you know that?”

“Oh I didn’t. The GPS works based on the personality of the owner, in this case you. The employee pushed a few options and began the directions.

“Recalculating... Adjustment complete.”

Adam looked, and the directions began from his house, he was a little confused and slightly petrified but there was something that also piqued his curiosity about where it would lead.

“Huh, that's very odd.” He said to the employee, and he just smiled and nodded his head.

“Curious though aren’t you, hmmm?” He widened his smile. “Shall I take you to the register?”

Adam looked at the employee for slightly longer than he should have but there was just something that he couldn’t put his finger on. Adam had always been the curious type, always looking in places he didn’t belong, taking things apart to see how they work, there was nothing that had stopped Adam from being a nosey so and so.

“Sure, why not. I’m curious. Can I bring it back if I decide it’s not for me?”

As the employee took him to the register, he smiled at Adam, “That won’t be necessary. We guarantee all our customers are happy and we’ve had no returns. No one has returned... Their items.” He gave the same big smile.

Adam paid and headed out to the car. He tucked the GPS in the passenger seat and went to get a few groceries before returning home. When Adam shut and locked the car and began to walk into the store, there was a noise coming from his passenger seat.

“Tracking...

...Tracking complete.”

Adam had woken up late that morning. He’d booked time off, but had no idea where he was going. That was the whole point. Somewhere along the line, he decided a GPS might help. Just drive and see where it took him. Something unplanned. Something different.

The GPS was laid out, he had planned to go through it and start his adventure the next day. He wanted to take some time looking at the options and trying to figure out why it was blinking red in the corner. Adam was too curious for his own good, that’s what his mother always told him.

The GPS sat on the table, a small red light blinking in the corner. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the manual. The directions the employee set were still there... waiting for him. Adam frowned. Did he want to do this, for all he knows it could be a trap. Adam was too curious.

The next day, he set off early. GPS was hooked up to the car, he had a bag for a few nights packed and he would stay where ever he ended up that day. GPS had location on so it knew where Adam was. Adam hit “Start Directions”.

“Location tracking...”

“Re-routing...”

“Re-Route Complete”

Adam almost jumped when it began to speak. He didn’t remember it doing that in the store.

“Proceed for 5 miles... at the stop sign, turn left”

Adam smiled, here we go, he thought. “This better not be a ditch”

At the stop sign Adam turned right. “Shit,” he shouted to himself. “Sorry, I got distracted.”

Almost as if the GPS heard him, it sounded like it sighed.

“Recalculating...”

“Adjusting route...”

“Yeah, adjusting to what. A ditch as payback?” Adam replied as he pulled over to see what it said next.

“Adjusting complete... turn left now, at the stop sign turn left again. Then go straight for 10 miles.”

Adam turned back into the road and followed the GPS, he turned left twice then headed straight. He adjusted himself in the seat and sat happily wondering where the next ten miles would take him.

Ten miles had passed and there was silence, Adam was currently sitting at a 4 way stop sign.

“Well, which way. I can’t sit here all day?”

“Turn left, then proceed for 57 miles.”

A couple of hours later, after a restroom break and a bite to eat, Adam was driving along a country road, it was beginning to get a little cloudy and it wasn’t helping. Adam felt a little confused.

The road itself was gravel and Adam had pulled over to look around properly. He got out of the car and slammed the door shut. He turned full circle and didn’t see much. As he opened the car door to get back in he heard a beep.

“Recalculating...”

“Adjusting...”

“Adjustment Complete”

Adam frowned, “Stupid thing, got me damn lost.” He stood out of the car again and this time he noticed an old house a little further down and across the road, a small cemetery. “Great.”

Adam got back in the car and drove a short distance to the house. There were no lights on the house itself, but there was a gate with two lights that led to the cemetery. He looked at his GPS and noticed there was a new icon on the map. A person.

“Huh.” Adam looked toward the cemetery. He didn’t see anything.

The car beeped again.

“Recalculating...”

“Route adjusted”

Adam sat back in the car, “Adjusted?” he sighed, “What did you adjust this time, my patience.”

Adam shrugged and kept driving. He’d stay wherever the road took him. No cabin booking to worry about, no schedule. Freedom, or something close to it.

He glanced at the screen. The blue line had veered sharply left, away from the interstate. A thin gray thread now snaked through what looked like unmarked forest on the map. The main highway faded behind him. Trees crowded in on both sides, their branches scraping the roof like skeletal fingers. The sun was already low, painting everything in bruised oranges and deepening shadows. His phone had lost signal ten minutes ago.

“Recalculating...”

Adam snorted. “There is literally no one here…” The road narrowed. Gravel replaced pavement with a crunch under the tires.

“Recalculating… recalculating… yeah, no kidding,” he muttered, mimicking the voice in a mocking tone.

He’d bought the unit in hopes of an adventure and boy was he getting one. He was trying to remember the employee’s name who sold it to him. Harlan. The over enthusiastic creepy guy who seemed to make Adam feel uncomfortable, but Adam had chuckled, because now he was curious where it would lead.

The car jolted as the gravel gave way to deeper ruts.

“Continue for 2.1 miles.”

Adam leaned forward, squinting through the windshield. This definitely wasn’t the scenic route he’d vaguely imagined, but he didn’t mind. Single life meant he could follow a whim. If it dumped him in the middle of nowhere, he’d sleep in the car or find a spot to camp. No big deal.

“Turn right in 100 meters.”

There was no obvious right turn. Just more gravel and thickening forest. Then he saw it, a faint gap between two massive pines, barely wide enough for the car. Tire tracks, old and faint, disappeared into the undergrowth.

He eased the wheel over without hesitation. Branches scraped the sides with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. The suspension groaned as the car dipped into ruts. Headlights cut weak tunnels through the gloom.

“Recalculating...”

“Route adjusted.”

“I swear if you say recalculating one more time...” Adam huffed.

The voice didn’t answer. It never did when he talked back. Only when it wanted to.

Minutes stretched. The odometer ticked upward, but the map showed him deeper and deeper into blank green space. No roads, no towns. His fuel gauge had dropped faster than it should have. Or maybe he was imagining it. He tried the radio. Static. Every station was dead air or faint, distorted voices that sounded like they were speaking underwater. He switched it off.

“Destination in 8 miles”

Eight miles to whatever. Maybe it would be interesting. A hidden lake, an old ranger station, something off the grid. He’d roll with it. The road began to descend. The car’s headlights reflected off something wet ahead. Water? A river, black and slow-moving under the twilight.

“Cross the bridge in 200 meters”

He saw the old wooden crossing. Rotting supports, missing planks, gaps wide enough to swallow a tire. Most people would have turned back. Adam slowed but kept going. Why not? The road was taking him somewhere, and he had nowhere else to be.

“Recalculating...”

The voice cut in as he approached the edge. He rolled onto the first planks. Wood creaked and splintered beneath the tires. Halfway across, a plank gave way with a sharp crack. The rear end dropped. For one terrifying second he thought the whole thing would collapse into the river.

Then the front tires bit into solid ground on the far side. The car heaved itself up the muddy bank.

Adam exhaled shakily. “Okay. We made it. Keep going.”

“Destination in 6 miles”

The forest changed. The trees here were taller, straighter, almost unnaturally uniform. No birdsong. No wind. Just the low hum of the engine and the occasional beep from the GPS.

“Turn left in 50 meters”

There was a left. A narrow path between two identical pines. Adam took it, curious now. The undergrowth thinned until the ground was bare dirt. Old stumps dotted the landscape like gravestones. In the distance, through the trunks, he thought he saw lights. Flickering. Not headlights, something smaller, like lanterns or fires.

“Approaching destination”

The car emerged into a small clearing. In the center stood a low, windowless building made of concrete blocks. No doors visible from this angle. Just blank walls and a flat roof. Around it, the ground was churned up, as if heavy machinery had been at work recently. Tire tracks crisscrossed everything. Other vehicles were half-hidden under tarps and branches. Three, maybe four. Older models, dusty, abandoned.

Adam parked and killed the engine. “Well, this is different.”

He stepped out, boots sinking slightly into the soft earth. The air was colder here. It smelled metallic, like blood or rust.

“Hello?” His voice sounded small. No answer.

He walked toward the building, circling it. On the far side he found a heavy metal door, slightly ajar. A faint red light glowed from inside. Curiosity pulled him forward. He pushed the door open.

The interior was a single large room, lit by emergency strips along the ceiling. In the center was a metal table with restraints. Along the walls, shelves held tools. Saws, blades, things with hooks and wires. The floor had drains.

Adam froze. This wasn’t a cabin or a campsite. This was something wrong.

He backed out quickly, heart pounding. As he turned toward his car, he noticed the GPS screen still glowing blue inside.

He ran back and yanked the door open. “Cancel route. Take me somewhere else.”

The voice answered immediately.

“Recalculating...”

“Route adjusted”

The screen zoomed out. The blue line now showed a new path, it was leading away from the concrete building, but not back the way he’d come. It looped around the clearing and headed toward a darker patch of forest on the opposite side.

Adam started the engine. He didn’t care about the mud. He floored it, aiming for the original gravel track. The tires spun. The car didn’t move. He looked out the window and down. Thick cables had been wrapped around the axles while he was inside the building. They disappeared into the ground.

He hadn’t seen anyone. Hadn’t heard anything.

Panic clawed up his throat.

“Recalculating...”

“Adjusting...”

The voice sounded almost pleased now.

Headlights appeared at the edge of the clearing. Two vehicles, black SUVs with tinted windows, rolling slowly toward him.

Adam threw the car into reverse. The cables held. The engine screamed, but the car only rocked in place.

The SUVs stopped. Doors opened. Figures stepped out. Three men in dark clothes, faces obscured by hoods or masks. One carried a long pole with a loop at the end, like animal control.

Adam locked the doors. His hands shook so badly he could barely grip the wheel.

“Help!” he shouted through the glass. “I’m lost! My GPS...”

One of the men tilted his head, listening. Then he raised a hand and made a small gesture. The GPS spoke again.

“Recalculating...”

“Adjusting...”

The voice was the same calm, synthetic tone. But this time, Adam heard something beneath it. A second layer, faint, almost like another voice layered on top. A human voice. Low. Amused.

“Final destination.”

The men approached. One tapped on the window with the pole. Adam scrambled into the back seat, kicking at the door on the opposite side. It wouldn’t open. He was trapped.

The man with the pole smiled behind his mask. “Harlan sends his regards.”

This wasn’t a glitch.

It was a trap.

Programmed.

The perfect bait for a single guy with no ties, no one who would notice him missing right away.

The door locks clicked open from the outside. Hands reached in.

Adam fought, but there were too many. They dragged him out into the cold air. The last thing he saw before the bag went over his head was the GPS screen, still glowing.

“Recalculating...”

“Arrival at final destination”

Then darkness.

They took Adam to the concrete building.

Hours later, one of the men wiped his hands and walked back to Adam’s car. He reached in, unplugged the GPS unit, and slipped it into a black bag.

The man chuckled. “Next customer’s waiting.”

He carried the unit to one of the SUVs.

Ready to recalculate.

Ready to adjust.

Ready to deliver another lonely driver.

Back in the store, the employee stood behind the counter, the GPS resting in his hands.

The screen flickered faintly, Adam’s route still visible for a moment. The roads twisting before abruptly stopping. He tilted his head, smile widening just slightly.

With a few deliberate taps, the route began to dissolve, the path correcting itself, wiping clean as if it had never been there.

“Recalculating…”

“Adjustment complete.”

The screen returned to its default map, empty, waiting.

The employee glanced up as the door chimed, his expression shifting instantly back to that same eager smile.

“Goooood morning sir... how can we help you today?”