The black beast roared along the highway. Its headlights cast yellow beams across the dark pavement, piercing the night’s think blackness. Air whipping across the car’s hood could not drown out the engine’s ferocious roar. It was an old model, modified for more power and speed. The car was loud, dark, and it was hunting something.

Miles down the road, in a small, lonely roadside cafe, a man sat alone in a booth. He hugged a steaming mug of coffee between both hands while staring straight ahead. The cafe’s lone waitress stood behind the counter, absent-mindedly wiping down the countertop. She wondered about the man’s polite but eccentric behavior. A cook draped in a greasy apron paced the kitchen behind her while looking out into the dining area. He too wondered about the man who arrived at the cafe on foot and now stared into space while his hands had to be burning raw holding the steaming coffee mug. These types of weirdos were common, but he never got comfortable with them lurking around.

He could not calm his thoughts. The events of the past 24 hours were a cyclone of activity. It had all started so well before going sideways. On top of that, he had no idea where he was or how long he had been walking. He meandered into the cafe and ordered without any conscious thought. Today started as such a good day. Now…

The sound of screeching tires made the waitress and cook look up while the man became rigid but continued to look at nothing. Headlights swept across the cafe’s windows as the car pulled into the parking lot. Its tires slowly crunched over the uneven gravel while the engine pulsed a throaty rumble. Nobody in the cafe looking out at the car could see anything in its interior. The vehicle’s tinted windows were obfuscated by the headlights’ glare. The car pulled to within ten feet of the cafe and stopped, lights still blazing and engine still rumbling.

“Now what and the hell is this jack-ass doing?” the cook drawled with annoyance. He moved to exit the kitchen and join the waitress behind the counter.

Just then, the sky opened and an intense rain blanketed the cafe. The raindrops falling in front of the car’s headlights glistened for the briefest of moments to create a shimmering effect, but it did nothing to ease the mood of the cafe’s inhabitants. Instead, the car was further darkened by Mother Nature’s wash. It sat there vibrating under the downpour, at a standoff with those inside.

The cook had assumed a position behind the counter, one hand slowly reaching for something just out of sight while the waitress inched back toward the kitchen. They didn’t notice the patron finally relax his posture and turn to look out the window at the car. He still held the coffee mug with both hands and seemed to take care not to spill it as he slid easily out of the booth to a standing position. The man turned slowly toward the cook and waitress to address them for the first time since mumbling out an order for coffee.

“I’ve had a helluva day, and I’m sorry for bringing it here. You’ll probably be wanting to go out the back.”

The cook’s mouth opened slightly from its usual grimace, and the muscles in his forearm tensed as he grasped whatever he’d been reaching for beneath the counter. Conversely, the waitress didn’t need additional urging. She bolted into the kitchen, and seconds later the sound of the rear exit could be heard slamming shut.

At the same time, the sound of a heavy car door closing resonated through the front of the cafe. The unexpected activity jolted the cook into action as he raised a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. His first shot boomed through the cafe’s front door, sawing it in half. Before the second barrel could discharge its payload, the cook was slammed back from the counter and crashed into the wall separating the dining area from the kitchen. He crumpled to the floor.

The wreckage of the front door fell away as a leather boot kicked through and conveyed a tall man into the cafe. Tall and trim with a rugged five o’clock shadow complexion, the man was clad in a leather biker jacket and dark jeans. He looked around the cafe, first shaking his head at the cook’s heaping mass and then turning his attention to the patron who appeared to be unfazed by the commotion.

“You really know how to waste a day, don’t you? Making me chase you around the boondocks and hillbilly heaven from dawn to dusk. I hope you had your fun, because you’re in deep shit. Called in this storm just to mark your location in case I needed backup. You know know know you can’t just run off and mess with their world. It upsets the balance, and when the balance is upset, the folks upstairs get pissed. Plus, I’ve had my wings crammed into this tight jacket for nearly 24 hours. They’ve fallen asleep on me at least five times today, nothing but pins and needles. Well, aren’t you gonna say something for yourself?”

The patron now wore a mischievous smirk on his face as he replied, “Oh, you know I didn’t do anything that can’t be easily fixed, and don’t act like you haven’t enjoyed this even more than me! Where did you get that car? Nobody forced you to dress up like a greaser and come after me in a flippin’ hot rod! And did you really need to knock out our burger-scented friend over there?”

“I’m already going to be pulling pellets out for the rest of the night. I didn’t need to catch the full load of another shot. That’d mess up my entire week. He’ll be fine anyway aside, maybe, from a slight headache. Now, can you put the coffee down and come on? We’ve got a lot of stuff to fix before tomorrow, and I don’t want to see what happens if we can’t get rid of that lake in Phoenix before sunrise.”

“That would certainly give folks there a surprise. No more need for swimming pools!”

“Something tells me they won’t like its location in the city center.”

“Yeah, I may have had too much to drink. Didn’t think it through. All the more reason to hold onto this coffee, clear me up a little bit.”

The greaser shook his head and scratched at his back, “Alright, just don’t spill. This ride’s cherry.”

“We’re taking the car?”

“I figure we’ve got a long night of repairs ahead, so we may as well have a little more fun with it while we can.”

The car doors slammed shut just before the car roared into reverse, shooting loose gravel against the cafe’s side. A quick whip of the wheel and a leaden foot had the car shooting back onto the highway toward Phoenix.

The rain had stopped as suddenly as it started, which was a relief for the waitress as she ran and stumbled alongside the road, regretting not driving herself to work. Behind her, she could hear a growing rumble and the sound of a vehicle racing down the road. She turned and extended out her arm and thumb, hoping a good samaritan would take her the rest of the way. As the vehicle approached, however, she recognized the yellow headlights and the engine’s roar. The waitress immediately withdrew her arm and began running down the road in a panic. She heard the car bearing down and braced for her fate. The world went black and silent.

Eventually, the waitress’s eyes fluttered open and took in the sunlight streaming through her bedroom windows. She was in her nightgown, laying in her own bed without a scratch or bruise. In fact, she felt as good as she had in years. The waitress rolled over and heard a rustling crunch beneath her. She reached for the origin of the sound and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper containing a short scribbled message:

Thanks for the coffee.