Arrival of the Hero (Truck)

In the middle of an open grassy field, a woman lays unconscious. Her soft, mature frame like that of a mother's is cradled by overgrown plants. Her pure white hair fans out from her head, and she is wearing nothing more than dirty rags.

Slowly she opens her eyes as she regains consciousness. The bright, midday sun beams down on her, and a gentle breeze caresses her skin. She sits up, and looks around. Trees, a river, far off mountains. Her surroundings begin to register to her, and panic starts to set in. 

"WHERE AM I?!" She screamed.

She frantically turns her head in hopes of seeing something familiar. The city, the roads, the lights, they were all gone. She can still remember the green traffic light right in front of her as she was driving, but now suddenly she is somewhere completely different. In her panic, she trips over her own leg and falls to the ground. 

The woman looks down at her lower body, and is horrified at what she sees. "Legs? HUMAN LEGS?!" She shouts in disbelief.

She scans up her entire body, stopping to stare at her shaking hands. "W-where are my tires? Where are my doors? Where's my engine?!" She frantically feels at her own body, hoping to find the familiar mechanical parts. But all she feels is weak, pliable flesh. She scrambles to the nearby river, and looks down at her reflection in the water.

Staring back at her is a woman. A human woman. One with a horrified look on her face. She turns her head side to side, hoping to find any semblance of her old self. She doesn't find any, so she screams in horror, her voice like the honking of a horn echoing across the fields. Eventually, her lungs run out of air, a feeling that was completely foreign to her, and she gets lightheaded. Falling back onto the grass, she steadies her breathing and tries to think clearly. Closing her eyes, she thinks back to the last thing she remembers. 

It was the middle of the night, the tight road felt bumpy and uneven against her tires, and her dim headlights did little to break through the dark. Suddenly, a pedestrian appeared out of nowhere, crossing the street while the light was still green. She remembers swerving, a hard impact, and a concrete wall getting rapidly closer. Right before impact, it all went black.

She doesn't know how, but she is now somewhere completely different and is no longer a truck. Contemplating this fact silently, she stares at the blue sky above her. The memories are blurry and spotty at best. Her past life as a truck feels so far away, almost as if she'll forget completely if she isn't careful.

She holds her hands up and stares at them once more. What was once tough, well pressurized rubber tires are now the same things drivers used to turn steering wheels. Then she brings them down and starts poking at her body. Soft, squishy, warm. It's a far cry from the strong and durable metal that she used to be made out of.

Tears begin to well in her eyes, blurring her vision, as the absurdity of her situation set in. If she still had her windshield wipers, they would be running at full speed to clear her eyes. She is at a loss, and has no idea what to do. Her entire life, someone else made the decisions for her. All she had to do was run her engine and transport cargo. Things were simple. And in exchange for her hard work, she was well maintained and fed plenty of fuel.

"FUEL!" She shoots up, getting back onto her feet. "Do...do I still need fuel?" She scans over her body once more, hoping a meter or an indicator light would appear so she could evaluate her current condition. 

Her expression sharpens with a sense of urgency. "I need to find a mechanic. I'm sure they'll be able to help." In her mind, she believes getting a routine inspection will give her all the answers, just like it always had before. 

After wandering around the area, the woman manages to find a simple dirt road. "Okay, if I follow this, I'll find a town eventually." So she picks a direction and starts her trek along the open field, following the road to wherever it may take her.

The dirt beneath her bare feet was strangely comforting. Memories of driving down farm roads reappear in her mind. The long stretches of flat country fields with swaying crops on either side of her, not a single other vehicle for miles. On those roads, hours would pass without a single thing changing. Then after a while, it became hard to tell if she was actually still going anywhere at all.

'Those were always the most calming.' she thinks to herself with a smile. 'Sure there were potholes some times, but those moments were so peaceful and quiet. And every time, no matter what, I would eventually end up at my destination.' Her smile widened, as these memories made her current predicament a little more bearable.

With a newfound hope, she picks up her pace and enters a light jog. 'I'm sure that if I just keep going down this road, everything will work out fine.' She reassured herself. She can feel something beating in her midsection, something much different from her usual diesel engine. If her experience with truckers pounding their chests after eating fast fast food was anything to go off of, she assumes this thumping is a human heart. 

The beating is steady, her body feels light, and the movement feels natural to her. She goes from a jog to a full run. Her arms swing in time with her bounding steps, as she covers ground at a much faster pace. Her heart beats faster, keeping pace with her movements. She sees the road passing under her, and starts to feel like her old self again. 

Her worries about her sudden appearance in a field, and transforming into a human woman move to the back of her thoughts, as she gets lost in the feeling of driving down an empty road. Then with a sharp inhale, she goes all out into a full sprint. She moves faster and faster, and soon her legs became a blur as she exceeds 60 miles per hour.

Her heartbeat becomes so rapid, it sounds like an engine. This heavy whirring in her chest gives her sense of ease, as if she has her old internal mechanisms again. 

Despite moving so unnaturally fast for a human, she doesn't feel tired at all. In fact, she feels like she could keep up this pace for hours. So she maintains her sprint, the familiar wall of air pushing against her as the scenery around her passes by. Looking to her side, she sees the tall grass right next to her shoot by instantly, while the far off trees make their way behind her at a steady pace, and the mountains on the horizon move imperceptivity slow. 

After sprinting like this for almost half an hour, she sees a horse and wagon down the road. It is stopped on the side, right before the road goes into a thick forest. "Must be a farmer with a broken wheel or something. Maybe they can help me." She stops her sprinting completely, and slams her feet against the ground, slowly braking to a stop. Dust clouds explode behind her as she slides forward.

She recalls how her old braking system wasn't the best, how even if her brake pedal was fully pressed down, she would still lurch forward for a few seconds. It seems this was still the case as a human. 

She manages to come to a complete halt a good dozen yards away from the wagon, preferring to play it safe with stopped traffic on the road. She realizes that this is going to be the first interaction someone as a human. Not sure on how to approach the situation, she tries to remember her time as a truck, attempting to recall how drivers would interact at gas stations and rest stops.

Then out of her foggy memories, she remembers someone important. Danial. Her driver. The man who travelled with her for almost a decade. And while she can remember his name, his face was still a blur. But she does recall stopping at gas stations for refills. Daniel taking her to the brightly lit stations in the middle of the night, and having casual conversations with the others there.

After recalling this, she feels a sense of security. If she just asks the way Daniel did, things should work out fine. So she walks up to the wagon, and sees someone busy on the other side.