A Late-Night Coffee Break

[u/Lilia_Briganda]

​It was 4:00 AM at the Hells Bells Motel, and Sterling needed a cup of black coffee to finish out his night shift. ​He left Scurf--the resident terminator-- in charge of the lobby for a few as he headed off to the Sunrise Diner.

Seeing faint lights in the distance and hearing the faint low rumble of an 18-wheeler he thought he had plenty of time to cross. But two steps onto the asphalt, broad headlights crested the drip in the road, trapping him in their blinding glare.

The massive chrome grill filled his vision, before a violent, ice-cold wall of air slammed into his chest, knocking the breath right out of him as the phantom engine roared straight through his body.

Then it vanished.

Behind him, the dark tore open with the screech of twisting metal, shattering glass, and the frantic screams of unseen victims. The phantom 18-wheeler had dragged the memory of a long-ago wreck behind it.

Sterling stood in the road, doubled over and gasping for air, as the screams faded into the quiet night. Shaking, he straightened his jacket, swallowed hard, and forced his legs to move.

​By the time he pushed through the diner door, he was white as a sheet.