The Road Out of Axotle
By Terry Southern, first published in Esquire
A man and his friends discover a map of Mexico that shows a series of ghost towns. However, these ghost towns aren't empty, nor are they typical.
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Plot Summary
A man and his two friends, Pablo and Emmanuel, drive to different parts of Mexico. One day, they inspect a map and discover a hidden section that shows a series of ghost towns. They decide to investigate the towns. The first one, Corpus Christi, they believed would be empty. Instead, the city is full of people. They arrive at two in the morning and are shocked to see that children are up playing in the arcade. They also notice that the people move very slowly and the walls appear to move. Upon further inspection, they realize that bugs cover the walls and all of the people as well. Nervous about this strange phenomenon, the trio set off to the next town. However, when the three men arrive, there is a barbed electric fence. Pablo and Emmanuel are wary, but the man needs to see what's over the wall. In his attempt to find an opening, he falls into a hole, and stray dogs attack him. His friends save him and force him to return to the outskirts of Mexico City. When the man is healed, his friends try to convince him to go to Guadalajara. However, the man refuses. He still has the map and wants to know what's beyond the fence.