赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“How is that even possible?!” Ashleigh shouted angrily. “I don’t mean to be a jerk… but how, how could you defeat Fiona on your first try when I can’t on my twentieth!”

“I can’t tell you,” Clara sighed. “But I will say one thing… there is more than one way to win the challenge. Just listen to the rules carefully.”

After her conversation with Clara, there was no way Ashleigh could just lay back in bed. The game she had failed at over and over was a simple test? One that all Summer wolves took and passed, even the ones that had no real military or combat training.

But, Ashleigh, a top Winter berserker, a devoted warrior and trusted to lead her own men in battle, failed. Repeatedly.

This was unacceptable.

Ashleigh got out of bed, showered, and got herself ready for the next round of the game.

There were now more than twenty wolves on Fiona’s side. When Ashleigh arrived at the simulator, Fiona and the other wolves had already arrived. They stood around stretching and chatting.

Ashleigh wondered how many of these wolves had been laughing at her. Her repeated failure at what was apparently a simple game for the rest of them.

She clenched her jaw and leaned back against the wall. There were five minutes left before Fiona would stand up and state the rules before entering the simulator.

‘This can’t be the same test Clara went through… Fiona must have gone easy on her,’ Ashleigh thought to herself.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Huh?” Ashleigh said, surprised by the sudden question.

She looked up to see Fiona staring down at her with a gentle smile.

“I slept alright,” Ashleigh said._.

Fiona sat down beside Ashleigh.

“Did you go back out to the treehouse?” Fiona asked.

“How did you… never mind. No, I stayed in my room last night,” Ashleigh answered.

“The suppressants make us all feel a little off for a while,” Fiona said quietly.

Ashleigh looked back at her.

“Cain used himself as a test subject when he first created them, did you know that?” Fiona asked.

Ashleigh shook her head.

“I felt like my heart stopped,” Fiona said. “I was so scared that something had happened to him. When I found him in his lab, and he told me about this new thing he had created, I was livid. I didn’t

talk to him for three days.”

Ashleigh laughed.

“Between the meetings with the Alphas and all the ‘special missions’ he went on, I got used to it. The last year he was still with us, I think we only spent about a month of the entire year without them.”

“That sounds terrible,” Ashleigh replied honestly.

“It wasn’t great,” Fiona smiled sadly. “And, of course, if I had known it was our last year together… well, I would have changed a lot of things.”

Ashleigh looked away from Fiona. She couldn’t imagine that loss, and she didn’t want to.

“It might sound strange,” Fiona said. “But the day I regret the most that he took those pills was the day he died.”

“It’s not strange,” Ashleigh said with a slight shake of her head.

Ashleigh remembered the night of the Fae attack. She had barely survived the treant that had caught her by the leg. She was lucky that it was injured already. Even though it was able to pierce her abdomen and wound her, she managed to kill it before it could strike her again.

Ashleigh had wanted to lay down in the snow and rest. But the treant had dragged her too far from the battle. She needed to know how her men were doing.

She struggled to walk, weak from the blood loss. But when she felt Caleb through their bond, she stood up straight and took a deep breath.

There was only a brief moment to feel the joy of his presence before the anxiety settled in. He was hurt. He was getting weak. Ashleigh had shifted and was running through the trees before she could even finish the thought.

As she got closer, she felt something else. She felt Granger. Her stomach twisted.

When she finally saw them, Caleb wasn’t moving. She could feel him dying, feel the wolfsbane taking root.

Granger growled and pulled back his hand, revealing to her the weapon. Ashleigh’s fury blazed through her body. She launched herself from the higher ground she stood on and flew at him with a force

and speed she couldn’t control.

Ashleigh felt his flesh between her jaws. She tore at it; the metallic taste of his blood filled her mouth.

Instinct told her to do it again, to rip his throat out and watch the light leave his eyes.

But Caleb was growing weaker, and their bond was falling away.

“Ashleigh?” Fiona called.

Ashleigh blinked and shook her head, clearing away the memory.

“Sorry…” she said. “I got… distracted.”

“It’s alright,” Fiona said. “I was just saying that I wish I could have felt Cain before the end just so I would know he wasn’t alone.”

‘He wasn’t,’ Ashleigh whispered in her mind. Swallowing down the guilt, she felt at not being able to give Fiona that reassurance.

“It’s time I share the rules of the game,” Fiona smiled.

Ashleigh nodded and stood up to join the other wolves.

“Welcome all. As you know, this is Ashleigh’s Challenge game,” Fiona smiled, nodding towards Ashleigh. The other wolves turned and nodded to her as well.

Ashleigh nodded back, holding back her sigh of frustration.

“The rules of this challenge are simple,” Fiona continued.

‘Listen to the rules carefully.’

That was what Clara had said. But Ashleigh had heard the rules again and again. So there was nothing helpful in that.

“Ashleigh has a goal, to reach the safe zone. I have a goal, to keep her from that safe zone. Physical attacks are allowed but remember not to go too far. Medics, as always, will immediately provide aid, but even they cannot bring back the dead.”

There was a chuckle in the crowd.

“Remember that only the competitors and those that choose them are allowed to be in human form. The rest of you should remain wolves until you have chosen. When you have chosen, remember to adjust your armor badge.”

Ashleigh looked down at the armor badge she wore. It was blue. The one Fiona wore was red. She looked out into the crowd; all the wolves gathered had grey badges.

But that wasn’t right… Ashleigh remembered the previous games, she had fought others in human form and wolf form, and several of them had worn red badges.

“You have all been given your roles and territories. Do not deviate from these assignments unless you have adjusted your badge. If you choose to follow, you are bound by your allegiance.”

Ashleigh didn’t remember hearing this before. But if she was honest with herself, the first few times she ran the game, she was too nervous to listen, and since then, why did it matter? She knew how it worked.

“No matter what you choose,” Fiona continued. “Your role still applies, and you must carry out your objective.”

‘Wait,’ Ashleigh thought to herself. ‘The other wolves have their own tasks to complete. Why?’

“We should just set our markers now,” someone whispered from behind Ashleigh.

“That’s against the rules. We have to follow our role and see what they do.”

“We already know what she’s going to do. She’s done it every time.”

Ashleigh glanced back. It was two women. They looked alike, both short with brown hair and an average frame. Ashleigh wondered if they were siblings.

“She’s looking at us,” one whispered. “She didn’t hear us, did she?”

Both women turned to look up at Fiona.

“Let the game begin!” Fiona shouted.

The wolves howled together before they entered the simulator.

***

Ashleigh had decided to lay low at the start of the game. She was curious about the roles and assignments that the other wolves had been given.

She had climbed up into the trees, creeping along so no one could spot her.

They were twenty minutes into the game. She had seen wolves paired off and doing nothing more than resting while others were hunting the animals in the forest. A few stalked through the trees snarling and growling. There were at least four different fights she witnessed.

She had tried to go higher to cover more ground, but she spotted a man on the treetops. Even from a distance, she saw his badge was red.

Fiona had said that the wolves couldn’t be in human form before they had ‘chosen’. So this man had apparently already chosen. Whatever that meant.

A whimper drew her attention back to the ground.

There was a small wolf, a pup, really. Its ears hung low, and it backed away slowly toward a small stream. Then, with another whimper, he lifted his paw off the ground. He was injured.

A growl came from in front of him. Ashleigh adjusted her position in the tree to see what it was. Three large wolves walked toward the pup, their teeth bared and snarling.

The wolf that seemed to lead them dove at the pup.

Ashleigh’s movements were fast. She made it just in time. The heel of her foot slammed down against the wolf’s head, pushing it with a painful crunch to the dirt below. The wolf let out a howl of pain and did not get up.

She placed herself between the pup and the two remaining wolves that continued to snarl and growl. Then, she crouched down into a defensive position and readied herself for their attack.