The Ballad of a Buried Beast

Chapter 17.

My body jolted awake as a slammed door shook the parked truck.

"Huh-?"

My eyes fluttered open as I tried to sit up, but a soft, black mass nestled atop my chest and body stopped me. I wrinkled my nose as I groggily blinked the blur away, the lithe smell of ozone and wet grass tickling my nostrils.

"Haha-! Holy fuck guys, look-!"

I peered over to the voice and yawned, small tears welling the corner of my eyes as the world cleared. Gabriel was looking at me over the bender, a toothy grin stained across his face as Sam and Jason joined him.

"Y'all really fell asleep?" Jason asked, tilting his head at me.

"I thought Gabriel was kidding about the demon-fucker stuff..." Sam mumbled.

"Told ya so; you both owe me $10."

Y'all? Demon-fucker...? I lifted an eyebrow at the group. What were-

The mass shifted, and the shoulder nestled against my neck lifted off of me as Mal's skulled face came into view from behind my head. Realization struck my mind like a searing brick, and I found myself unable to speak as her dazed eyes fluttered open.

"Oh," Malo's half-pressed body shook against me as her mouth opened in a dawning yawn, her tongue stretching out in a rolled-up coil, "Malo... Went forward in time-?"

"You slept," Sam interjected, Malo's sleepy eyes turning to him with a raised brow. "You and your little boyfriend there. Wake 'em up and get out'a my truck, c'mon. Got stuff to do."

He tapped the fender and undid the bed latch, moving back towards the driver's-side door as Malo's gaze dropped towards where I laid beneath her.

"Oh-, hello, Jack!" she chirped, her hands either side of my head as I met her eyes with an awkward smile. "Did Jack hear? Malo slept!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah-uh," I nodded as she didn't move off me, "I heard and-uh... I was also there. Under you. The entire time... Please get off now."

"Oh-?" she looked underneath her puffy chest and found my lower-half disappeared beneath her abdomen and legs. Her eyes widened, and in a few short moments she was engulfed in a stammer, "Oh-oh, let Malo--let Malo remove herself from... From Jack, she-"

"Just get off."

"Ye-Yes."

"Mal, just move your-"

"Malo understands!"

Her hand pushed against the side of my face as she hastily lifted herself off me, the cold night air hitting my body in a flash of chills as she stared wide-eyed at the opened tailgate beside me.

"Did, did Malo and Jack-... Did--are we-?"

"No, and we're not going to talk about this," I flatly told her, staring at the opened woodlands in front of us as my friends fell into repressed laughter on the side. "Got it, Mal? We are not going to talk about this--this. Never. Happened."

"-Yes, never happened," she quickly nodded.

"Never happened." I stood atop the bed and made my way off, the truck bobbing up as Malo did the same. "Now, c'mon. I think we're... Shit, actually," I got Gabriel and Jason's attention with a wave, "Hey, where are we? Where'd we end up-?"

"My uncle's!" Sam interrupted, slapping the fender beside us as he joined the other two with a nod. "When y'all were finished having your lover's quarrel," he tossed the phone into my hands as I stepped into the dewy grass, the truck bobbing up as Malo did the same, "We decided that the best place to be was... Well, far away."

I gave Sam a look as I slid the phone into my pocket. "Far away at your uncle's? Won't he-?" I cut myself off as I turned around, my eyes falling onto the vine-infested concrete shack hidden between the trees ahead. "Oh."

"Yeah, he won't, because he doesn't live here," Sam explained, moving past me and Malo as he closed the tailgate with a heavy slam. "This is his home-away-from-home, kinda. Miles west'a town, off road, and no street cams on the way... Called him up when y'all finally stopped talking and asked if I could crash--Jason, go get the door and set things up with Gabe; third pot on the right has a key under it."

"Yeah, got it," Jason nodded, tapping Gabriel on the shoulder next to him as the two hustled over.

"Yeah, so anyways..." Sam slid his hand across the paint-chipped hull as he opened the driver's side and reached for something inside, "Long story short: he gave me the go-ahead, and I didn't tell him the rest... -There ya are." he pulled a black laptop from underneath his seat and closed the door behind him, "Jack, bring it over here."

"Bring what over-?"

"The fuckin'-uhhh, I don't know, the wendigo? Your wife? Mellow? Just bring it over here, I gotta-"

"Malo is she," Malo corrected, her voice chiming in from my pocket.

"Oh, right--yeah, she," I added. "-It's a whole thing, just... Yeah, call her her and stuff."

Sam looked at Malo and then at me, his brow raised as he lowered his laptop to his side and nodded.

"Alright, well, Jack," he walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder, his grip tight as Malo stared attentively, "She is a literal fucking demon-slash-alien-slash-supernatural creature."

"Yeah, I kinda already-"

"No-no-no-no-," he took his hand and waved it around before placing it back on my shoulder, "No, I don't think ya do, Jack. Black vans, automatic firing, matching uniform--I was close enough to see the drivers wearing earpieces, Jack."

"And, so-?"

"So, that's government!" He raised his hand with his proclamation and spoke sternly, "The government is after you, and that means by proxy the government is now after us. That means they weren't dumb enough to not scan my plate, and that means they probably--more than likely--have access to things like street cameras, facial recognition, and satellite!"

He took in a heavy breath and pinched the ridge of his nose, calming himself down as he tapped his foot and turned to the side. "Listen," he looked up at Malo, "Malo you said, yeah?"

Malo glanced over at me and then nodded.

"Yeah okay, Malo," he continued, "You saved us. -I-I don't know what you are or how you did it, but you did something to their comms and the traffic lights, right? That's how you tricked them into crashing into each other, right-? You've got a..." he waved his hands around a little, "Connection with electronics, yeah? -What is it, 'dark nothing' or something you said?"

"How'd you-?"

"-Jack, her voice was literally connected to the speakers," Sam interrupted. "Why does that surprise you?"

"Oh, yeah... Fuck. Did they-?" I glanced over at Gabriel and Jason as they waved their arms at us, having finally opened the door to the uncle's shed, "Did they hear it all, too?"

"Yeah, they heard it all too and Jason and I lost ten bucks because of it--anyways!" he turned back to Malo, "You. You dragged us into this by hopping into my truck, so now I need your help with something to make it even."

Malo glanced over at me, and with a nod I took out my phone. Her voice hissed quietly above the static.  

"What does... Sa-em need Malo's hhelp with...?" she asked, tilted her head as the man in front of her began to shine a toothy grin.

"Glad you asked."