I drive non-stop the entire way, pausing only to refill my gas tank near the California border. I drive with loud rock music blaring on my stereo, keeping me awake and ready for action. By the time I arrive in LA, my eyes are puffy and bloodshot, my hands are a little shaky, but I'm alert.

Following my Mapquest directions, I find myself drifting into the outskirts of the city. Soon I have left the bright lights behind, and I am driving down a narrow road through empty flatlands. Am I still in Los Angeles? I have never heard of there being a wasteland just twenty minutes outside town, but here it is, and here I am, in it. The strange thing is, this narrow road apparently leading to nowhere is absolutely jammed with traffic. I can see cars bumper to bumper all the way to the horizon.

The cars coming toward me in the other lane are all packed with grocery bags.

In the distance I can see something disrupting the flat horizon. A pointed shape, like a pyramid.