The road was an endless strip of blackness. A silver haze suspended just above its surface reflected the translucent glow of the waxing moon that hung like a pale specter drifting across the sky. A nervous cottontail chewed on a moist shoot of grass, while standing, ready to flee, on a small embankment just north of the road. Thus is the life of this section of Imperial Highway. It was a stretch of openness between Yorba Linda and the Anaheim city limits. Every night was the same. Even the temperature rarely varied, but what else can be expected in the Southern California climate.
In a blur the cottontail darted for its nearby hollow in the earth, as a black Toyota Camry careened dangerously close to the shoulder at 110mph. Again in control of the Camry, Harvey glanced in his rear view mirror only to see that the red BMW was still gaining on him. Who the driver was, he did not know, but he could guess. The BMW accelerated rapidly, pounding the Camry and crumpling the rear bumper.
“SHIT!” Harvey yelled to himself.
The BMW began to pull up on the driver’s side of the Camry. Harvey risked a glance back at his unknown assailant. Just as he did, the BMW slammed into the rear driver’s side door.
“YOU SUNNAVUH…!!!” Harvey exclaimed. Of all the cars that he had owned, this was his favorite, and he would be damned if he were going to let this bastard get the better of him. Harvey swiftly grabbed the Smith and Wesson 40-caliber handgun from its resting-place on the front passenger seat. Gun in-hand, he pressed the automatic power window switch. Harvey managed a glance at the digital display clock on the dash as the window lowered with a whir from its electric motor. 5:45AM. The chilled morning air rushed into the cockpit of the vehicle and stabbed at Harvey’s face and neck like a thousand tiny needles. He pulled the pistol to his chest, and began to remove, ever so slightly, his foot from the gas pedal. Slowly, very slowly, the BMW began to approach the front driver’s side window of the Camry. Harvey squinted through the piercing wind in an attempt to target his assailant. Just as he was about to give up, and start blasting, his eyes adjusted to the eerie twilight of dawn, although later he wished that they had not.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, with both hands on the steering wheel, was a grotesque creature with one eye in the middle of his forehead. Its long ears protruded from his head, and flapped with the momentum of the car, like an elephant. Its hair was shoulder length and disgustingly nappy and matted. But the worst part was its mouth. It was open in a maniacal grin that seemed to spread from ear to ear. It appeared to have row after row of short pointed teeth.
Harvey rocked back into the seat in shock. He glanced at the road before him. He was approaching the city of Yorba Linda. A green street light could be seen ahead. He looked back at the monstrosity. It’s still smiling! Why won’t it stop smiling at me! He screamed in his head.
The creature faltered for a moment as he averted his gaze to the street ahead of his car. When it turned back, it found itself staring at the loaded barrel of Harvey’s pistol. With a pop that shattered the cold silence of the morning, a bullet pierced the passenger side window of the BMW, and tore into the creature’s face. Harvey accelerated as the BMW swerved and came to an explosive crash into the ditch along the side of the road. The car burst into a display of reds and yellows as flames leaped from within. Harvey pulled over, a mile and a half down the road and hopped out of his car. He shivered as he looked back at the dull yellow glow of the burning BMW on the horizon. As he stood there he began to think of the events that had lead to this strange turn in his life.
In the distance he could hear the faint cry of sirens. Someone must have witnessed the crash, and called 911. Risking one last look at the vehicle, engulfed in flames and spewing black acrid smoke into the air, Harvey turned to the open door of his Camry, tossed the pistol to the passenger’s seat and sat down. He let out a sigh of relief, started the car, and proceeded down Imperial Highway.
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