Disclaimer: Hetalia still belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya, and Alice Isn't Dead still belongs to Joseph Fink. I do not own either of the works, because I unfortunately lack the creativity and originality and skill required to create either.
"Alfred," Feliciano whined, "At least tell me what state we're in!"
Alfred grinned. "Well, we're not not in Kansas anymore."
Feliciano sighed and Alfred laughed. "I swear," Feliciano mumbled, "After so long of dealing with you, you'd think I'd be used to your miserable excuses for jokes at this point."
"Excuse you!" Alfred stuck his nose in the air. "My jokes are wonderful!"
Laughing, Feliciano rolled his eyes. "No they aren't! You tell what you Americans call 'Dad Jokes'!"
Alfred gasped in mock offense. "How dare you insult me like th-"
He cut himself off and his eyes widened.
Feliciano stopped laughing as well and watched him intently. "What's wrong?"
When Alfred didn't respond, Feliciano tried again. "Alfred? What's wro-"
"Hush!" Alfred glanced backwards into the trailer with frantic eyes. "What- Did you hear that? What the hell was that?"
Feliciano knit his eyebrows in worry. "I didn't hear anything."
"I swear to God something just moved in the trailer. I can hear it from here, it has to be something big." Alfred muttered to himself frantically as he pulled the truck over to the side of the road. "Something just shifted in the trailer… What the hell was…"
Feliciano watched with wide eyes as Alfred unfastened his seat belt and opened the door. "Can you pass me the flashlight?"
"Uh- Yeah!" Feliciano scrambled to grab the small flashlight off the ground and handed it to Alfred. "Here!"
Alfred grimaced. "Thanks but… Mind grabbing the heavier one for me? I want to have something to use as a weapon in case… In case it's him."
Feliciano paled dramatically and nodded. He dug around the small drawer-like space in the front of the truck for a while before procuring the larger flashlight, heavy as a club. As he hands the flashlight to Alfred, his hands shook in fear.
Alfred took the flashlight and was about to move away, when Feliciano grabbed him by the wrist. "No, wait, Alfred, listen," his voice was shaky, and Alfred felt his heart squeeze slightly at the sight of Feliciano's panicked expression. "Alfred, listen, you have to come back, alright? Or, no, if coming back means you'll die, don't. Run if you have to, avoid fighting if it is him, and please just stay alive."
Alfred took Feliciano's trembling hands gently into his own and nodded grimly. "I promise."
And then the car door closed, and he was gone.
Alfred walked around and opened up the back. Boxes of, what he thought was probably paper napkins, or rolls of paper towels greeted him. Shadows between the boxes, lots of places to hide. But there's no one else to take over when Alfred got scared, so he grabbed the heavy flashlight, heavy like a club, and went right in. Pulled himself up and went through every inch of the trailer. Just boxes of paper whatevers, nothing else.
He figured he was just imagining the noise. Or perhaps, he had hit something on the road and it bounced off the bottom. Who knows?
Alfred closed it back up and got back into the front.
He gave Feliciano a reassuring smile, but kept a hold on the flashlight. And they talked.
Kansas looked exactly like Feliciano and Alfred had thought it would. There was something satisfying about that for them. Grass forever, occasionally a metal windmill right out the Wizard of Oz ("There were metal windmills in that, right?" Alfred had asked. "Scusa, but it's been years since I've last seen it, so I have no idea") strip malls, of course, but that's everywhere… nothing to see, no matter where they looked. There was a relief in that.
Alfred swore loudly. "I swear I heard it again! How can I hear it so loudly and clearly?"
Feliciano looked more alarmed this time. "Alfred, are you sure you're not just tired? We can pull into a parking lot and rest for tonight if you need some sleep."
"No, I swear there's someone pacing in my damn trailer," Alfred pushed his hair back and exhaled heavily. "I know there isn't, but I also know there is. I can hear the footsteps so clearly, like someone walking in the hallway of my house when no one else was supposed to be home. I swear to God I know I hear it."
Feliciano nodded warily. "Alright then…. Just… Take the flashlight with you, alright?"
"Wasn't planning on going without it anyways."
After a few moments, Alfred returned, more infuriated than ever. "Nothing again! Boxes and darkness and empty corners, but I know I'm not imagining anything. I heard those noises loud as life! Damn it!"
Feliciano sighed and pat Alfred on the shoulder gently. "Even if I can't hear the noises, Alfred, I believe you. Given what we've gone through so far, in such a short amount of time…" Feliciano's eyes were exhausted and world weary. "I don't think anything is impossible anymore."
Alfred smiled bitterly. "Thanks."
Feliciano smiled right back. "No problem. Let's hurry up and find a parking lot in some town or something where we can sleep for tonight though."
Taking a deep breath, Alfred sat back up straight. "Yeah. Let's."
And so he started up the engine again and began to drive. They passed through town after town.
Some of the towns were so small. A few houses, a bingo hall, a church, and a huge adult store. They were very open about their adult stores out there. Big billboards, huge barn-like structures, packed parking lots in the middle of the day… And across the way, the churches. Two gathering places to services all your needs, and the bingo hall for recreation. It wasn't a bad setup, Feliciano supposed. Every axis of life, and beyond that, grass on and on, until not.
Dio mio, am I being condescending? He thought to himself. I am, aren't I? Merda.
Next to him, Alfred got more and more agitated.
Another sound. There was someone in his trailer, and he knew it. He could hear them moving. Shifting boxes around. Heavy boots on the floor-
Who was back there? And why weren't they back there when he actually stopped to look?
"I'm not gonna stop this time," Alfred hissed to himself quietly. "I'm gonna keep on driving. There's no way from there to here anyways. Even if someone was in there, no way for them to get out of there and into my cab. I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm fine."
I'm fine.
It was getting dark. And when it got dark, over the grass, it really got dark. Like being on an ocean. The distant lights of towns out there, like ships. There was only a last lingering orange on the horizon, and it was just them on the road.
The movement and footsteps continued. It was like they were trying to provoke Alfred, get him to stop and look again, but he wouldn't fall for it. He' keep driving until… He didn't know. He'd have to stop driving eventually, and he got the feeling that the next time he checked, he wouldn't see nothing. He thought that the chances were, he would finally see.
Alfred was scared. He was scared, and he said so out loud, admitted it to Feliciano.
"Don't tell our friend in the back though," he joked weakly.
The only response Feliciano gave was a sympathetic and worried smile, along with a hesitant pat and squeeze on the shoulder.
Heavy boots on the trailer floor.
I don't hear it, Alfred thought furiously to himself. I don't hear it!
I do.
He took a deep breath and looked around. Alfred pulled off into the parking lot of a Target. He would distract himself instead.
Feliciano looked over at Alfred. "Are we stopping for tonight?"
Alfred smiled as sweetly as he possibly could. "Yeah. But let's go inside first. I did promise you that notebook and sketch pencils, remember?"
Feliciano grinned and laughed in delight. "I thought you were joking, to be honest!"
"Well, I wasn't, and we're here, so let's go!" Both Alfred and Feliciano unbuckled their seat belts and exited the truck. After making sure everything was locked properly, Alfred walked away from the truck, and towards the Target store.
"Oh, wait!" Feliciano smiled apologetically at Alfred. "I left something important on the truck. Mind if I borrow the keys really quickly?"
Alfred nodded and tossed him the keys, before heading back towards the Target. "Go for it, but catch up with me, alright? I need to take a piss."
"Alright!" Feliciano called. He watched as Alfred disappeared into the store.
Feliciano turned and faced the truck. With a press of a button, he unlocked the door, and took out from under Alfred's seat, the flashlight, heavy as a club. Feliciano figured that if nothing else, he'd have the protection of crowds, of the public, here in the Target parking lot. If nothing else, the lights. They would keep him calm.
Turning to the back of the trailer, he took a deep breath and unlocked the door and opened it, and there was no need to look around, no searching, because there he was, the source of the noise.
The Tribulus man, from the gas station a couple months ago. Yellowed baseball hat, yellowed fingernails, skin that didn't fit right, that stretched in grotesque ways over a skeleton that didn't seem human, sharp teeth - not sharp enough to be fangs, but not not fangs - eyes that were yellow and pink right to the dark center of them. Polo shirt, dirty, filthy, just the word "Tribulus" on the right breast.
"You miss me?" he asked. He sounded like he was having fun.
The boxes in the back had been torn into shreds, like they'd been attacked by a huge cat. Giant claw marks. He hopped down onto the asphalt and Feliciano backed up, breath already beginning to come in short gasps. Suddenly, crowds didn't feel like much protection.
He smelled like decay. Not bad, but like fruit decomposing into soil, like mulch.
"Where do you think you're going?" he said. "I mean, where would you even go that I couldn't follow? Don't you know who I work for?" He indicated the "Tribulus" on his pit-stained shirt. He was sweating a thick pungent mildew.
"Th-There are people all over this parking lot! Hundreds of th-them," Feliciano stammered. The same high-strung and much more heavily accented voice from that night months ago came back out. He was exaggerating, and he was terrified. It was a Target parking lot, yes, but it was also very late and in the middle of nowhere. There were cars, yes, and people, yes, they were there, but not in great numbers. Certainly not hundreds. Still enough, Feliciano hoped. Enough.
He laughed.
"People?" he asked. "People won't help you. There's not a person in this world who can help you."
Feliciano's entire body trembled. "I-I have Alfr-fred!"
He laughed again. "I said 'can', not 'would.'"
Is he right? Feliciano wondered. Is there not a person in this world who can help me?
God, he hoped not.
He took Feliciano's arm. He didn't know how he got that close, but the Tribulus man was there. And he did not grab, he took, like a dance partner. Gentle but insistent. And then he pushed Feliciano up against the truck. The smell was overpowering. Up close, his skin writhed like there were insects crawling back and forth just under it. His teeth were rotten. His tongue was swollen and covered in a white film.
He had Feliciano. That was all there was to it. His arm was against Feliciano's throat and he was pushing just enough to let him know that he could do it, but not enough to cut off air. Feliciano drew and released frightened breaths against the weight of him. He kicked for the crotch, of course, but it was like the Tribulus man felt nothing. And then Feliciano just flailed at him. He still had the flashlight in his hand, heavy as a club, and though his swing was restricted, he gave the Tribulus man a few good ones. His body dented with the blows, but he didn't stop smiling. Didn't even grunt. Pushed just a little harder on Feliciano's throat.
The flashlight, heavy as a club, dropped out of Feliciano's hand and rolled uselessly away, and now his breath was truly shallow because of the pressure.
He said, "I could take a big bite out of you right now and it would be over. I could devour you. And then, what would become of your precious little Alfred?"
Feliciano went limp against the truck. He gave up then. He shouldn't have, but he was out of energy. He had tried so hard, had made a friend in the United States of America, and now this monster!
And then… And then Feliciano didn't give up. He gathered himself. Fuck the Tribulus man! Feliciano kicked and screamed and used every bit of energy and movement he had. He wouldn't go down quiet. He could see people all over the parking lot turning and looking. Even if Feliciano couldn't fight him, he could get the people to look, get them to see.
A family - a father and two kids - and the kids were pointing, and the father was on his phone, and he was talking urgently and gesturing towards Feliciano.
And Alfred, oh God, Alfred, came charging out of the store and running up to Feliciano and tried to drag the Tribulus man off of him, and Feliciano fought, and so did Alfred, and the Tribulus man just stood there, smiling, but still they fought, right up until the siren, right up until…
The police car pulled up. The policeman got out. No partner; he was alone. Big man. Not big as in muscular or big as in fat, just… big. Towering.
The Tribulus man let Feliciano go. He stumbled a few paces away and fell into Alfred's chest, sobbing and gasping for breath. The policeman walked over, but he didn't seem in a hurry, didn't seem worried about the Tribulus man, or that he had just been attacking Feliciano.
"What seems to be the problem here?" he said, sounding bored.
Alfred exploded. "What seems to be the problem?!" In quick raging sentences and furious gestures, he told the policeman about the noises, the stopping, and how the Tribulus man was obviously attacking Feliciano. Feliciano continued to sob into Alfred's chest, and Alfred smoothed circles on his back reassuringly.
The policeman frowned. Didn't meet Alfred's or Feliciano's eyes.
"Is that true?" he said to the Tribulus man, who hadn't moved, hadn't interrupted, had leaned with crossed arms on the truck.
The Tribulus man just laughed.
"Doesn't sound like it's true," said the policeman.
Feliciano didn't know what to do. On either side of him, the policeman and the Tribulus man. Not a person in the world who would help him. Right by his side and comforting him while struggling not to rage at the policeman and unable to defeat the Tribulus man, Alfred. Not a person in the world who could help him.
The policeman said, "If he has to come talk to you, then you've been asking the wrong questions." He lumbered back over to his squad car, opened the door. "My advice," he said, "is stop asking the wrong questions."
He tipped his hat at the Tribulus man. "You have a nice night, now."
The Tribulus man did a lazy wave in return. "I will, officer," he said. "You know I will."
And the police car drove away.
The Tribulus man made no move to attack again. The message had been delivered to Feliciano, who was sure to relay it to Alfred.
"You see now?" he said, speaking not only to Feliciano, but also to Alfred. "So go home. Listen," he seemed suddenly concerned, worried for Feliciano, even. "You can still go home. Go back and forget any of this ever happened."
Feliciano felt Alfred's arms tense up and fists ball up. Immediately, he placed a hand on his chest. "Alfred, no," he hissed through his hiccups.
Then the wolf grin returned, any trace of human emotion gone from him. And he turned and walked away into the night. To the lit edges of the Target parking lot, and into the thin landscaped border, and the vacant grassland beyond.
And Feliciano and Alfred, they're alive. They were back on the road, and they were alive.
Feliciano told Alfred everything the Tribulus man had told him, and Alfred was livid. The Tribulus man was wrong, he decided. Alfred couldn't go home. Home wasn't a place, home was a person, and that person was gone.
A police car had been following them for the last ten miles. No siren, no light, but staying close on their tail. They attracted their attention.
"The Tribulus man is working with them," Alfred muttered.
"Yeah," Feliciano agreed quietly.
Alfred laughed drily. "Listen to us. We sound crazy. Or the world does. The world sounds crazy."
Feliciano smiled bitterly. "We made enemies today. Things are going to be even more difficult from now on, aren't they."
Alfred nodded. "Yeah. Yeah."
There was noise again in the trailer. Roaring and shifting, like an enormous angry animal. Both Alfred and Feliciano heard it, but neither reacted.
Feliciano decided he wasn't going to give up. Alfred decided he couldn't go home. They both decided that could only go on. And on, and on, and on, until not.
The noises stopped after thirty minutes. The police car turned off the highway. They were let off with a warning.
And it was a warning that they were going to ignore.