赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“Ashleigh?” Penelope whispered.

“Hey…” Ashleigh replied, feeling unsure of how to react to Granger’s younger sister. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together, but she always liked her.

Penelope swallowed down her own confusing and conflicting emotions, none of that mattered right now.

“Has anyone else returned?” she asked quickly stepping into the house.

Clara gasped at the sight of her.

Penelope was covered in dirt and leaves. Her gear was torn and she had makeshift bandages on both an arm and a leg. There was bruising around her eye and cheekbone, and there was dried blood on her face, her clothes, and her hands.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ashleigh asked stepping forward to look her over more closely.

Penelope licked her lips and swallowed.

“We were on our way back from assignment, no more than a day’s hike from Winter on the main road. But then we were attacked.”

“By who?” Ashleigh asked. “Where is everyone else?”

“I don’t know,” Penelope said, looking down. “We couldn’t see the attackers. They started by raining arrows down on us, Devon went down in the first wave. In the second….”

Penelope paused and took a breath.

“Mateas… he uhm… he saved me,” her voice cracked a little, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “He pushed me out of the way and told me to run, so I did.”

“What about the others?!” Ashleigh shouted. Her chest heaved as she thought about her father and Saul. “Where are they?!”

“I don’t know!” Penelope cried out, the tears she was holding back, escaping her control. “It was standard protocol…. They left before me, I thought they’d be here already.”

Ashleigh took deep breaths as she stared at Penelope, her mind racing with concern.

“What is standard protocol?” Clara asked.

Penelope took a breath and wiped her eyes.

“When a scouting team is under intense fire and there is little chance for the whole team to survive, we use standard protocol.

“It means that one person draws fire, and the rest scatter. We each have certain routes we know to come back home. None of them lead directly to Winter, in case we are followed. It takes longer to get home, but there’s a higher chance of survival.”

“When?” Ashleigh asked. “When did this happen?”

“I had to stop,” Penelope said, her voice weak and filled with sorrow. “My leg, I got hit by one of the arrows, and I took a fall. I couldn’t for a while. It slowed me down.”

Ashleigh took deep breaths through her nose, trying to remain calm, but the fear and concern were growing harder to manage.

“Penny? Is it? When was the attack, how long ago? You said it was a day’s hike? And you traveled further?” Clara asked gently, stepping forward between Ashleigh and Penelope.

“It was late in the day… I ran and fell, I woke the next morning. It took me almost two days to get here.”

“So… two and a half days ago?” Clara asked.

Penelope nodded.

“That doesn’t make sense…” Ashleigh shook her head. “They left before you. My dad and Saul wouldn’t get lost, they wouldn’t stop. This doesn’t make any sense!”

“Ash… calm down… it’s not her fault,” Clara whispered.

‘She should have helped them!’

‘Traitor, just like her brother.’

‘She left them behind!’

Ashleigh growled and her eyes began to glow.

Clara looked up at her friend and Luna. Her eyes widened.

“Nope!” she called out. “Nope, nope, no!”

Clara turned and faced Penelope.

“Go, go to the hospital, get treated, just go, go, go!”

“Where are they!” Ashleigh howled, slamming her fists down on the coffee table, cracking the wood.

“Oh no! Goddess help me, no!” Clara cried out as she pushed Penelope out the door, closing it behind her.

Ashleigh continued to growl and snarl, but it seemed as though she were struggling to keep hold of herself.

Clara looked around, and finally, she saw something she recognized.

“Yes!” she squealed and ran toward the item.

Picking it up and moving toward Ashleigh she quietly whispered to herself.

“Please work, please work, please work!”

Clara stretched her hand toward Ashleigh, holding out the item.

“Here Ashleigh… do you want this? Isn’t it so much better than destroying furniture or killing your good friend Clara?”

Ashleigh turned, her eyes still glowing bright, she bared her teeth at Clara as she stepped closer and closer.

“Oh, Nessa is gonna be so mad if I die here,” she whispered. “She told me to stay, to just wait…. Why didn’t I listen?”

Clara closed her eyes and braced for an attack as Ashleigh stopped directly in front of her.

The item in her hand was quickly removed and the sound of Ashleigh sniffing hit her ears. Clara opened her eyes. Ashleigh was rubbing her face into the jacket, inhaling the scent and her eyes slowly returned to normal.

Ashleigh looked up at Clara, a look of guilt passed over her.

“I’m so sorry, Clara.”

“Oh, my Goddess! You are so freaking scary!” Clara shouted with relief. She took a deep breath and blew it out.

“I’m sorry,” Ashleigh repeated.

“It’s fine,” Clara shook her head. “All good.”

Clara took another deep breath and then shook out her body.

“I feel a little tingly,” she said quietly. “Is that normal?”

***

Corrine and Axel had reviewed the documents Galen and Caleb had provided about the defense system. Now that it was almost up and running, they were double-checking that they understood all the ins and outs of the system.

“What is this electrified fencing?” Corrine asked. “Is that just like a normal electric fence?”

“No,” Axel shook his head, pointing to a place on the page. “Look here, it’s part of the sentry system. A special setting. So someone trying to cross that sentry post over the fence would find themselves being wh–”

“Mom! Axel!” Ashleigh shouted as she pushed open the door.

“Ashleigh are you ok?” Axel asked.

Ashleigh was out of breath. She didn’t know where exactly they were, she had running back and forth between several buildings.

Axel hurried to her and put his arm around her, guiding her to a chair.

“Penelope….is back…” she managed to say between breaths. “Alone.”

“Alone?” Axel asked, suddenly feeling concerned. “What do you mean alone?”

“Ambushed… they were ambushed.” Ashleigh gasped.

Axel’s eyes widened and his heart pumped wildly.

“Mom, we need to– Mom?”

Corrine hadn’t moved, she stood perfectly still, except for the subtle trembling of her body. Her eyes were wide and filled with panic.

She brought her hands up scratching at her chest with a gasp as though she had the wind knocked out of her.

Axel took a step toward her.

“Mom?” he called to her with concern.

Corrine dropped to one knee, her face contorting into a look of anguish, and her mouth fell into a silent scream.

Until it wasn’t silent anymore.

***

Caleb stretched his back as the sun began to rise over Winter, painting the sky in pink and purple hues. Finally, he reached his arms up to the sky and smiled at having completed his task.

It had taken all night, but it was done. The defense system of Winter was operational.

The other members of his team were already packing up and preparing to go to the rooms they had been given in a small border village and sleep. But Caleb wanted to get back to Ashleigh, to hold her in his arms and take a nap before they returned home together.

He grabbed his phone; he was surprised by the number of calls. Ashleigh had been calling all through the night.

“Hey Alpha,” came from the radio at his hip.

Caleb pulled it up to his mouth.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I’m up here at the monitoring station, and there is someone at the gate.”

“What?” Caleb asked with surprise. “This early?”

“Yea, whoever they are, they are avoiding the camera.”

“Alright, I’ll go check it out.”

“I’ll send some backup just in case.”

“Good plan, Caleb out.”

Caleb glanced at his phone. Clearly, something was going on with Ashleigh. But he could call her once he could tell her that he was on his way to her.

He made his way to the gate, watching for movement. As he got closer, he furrowed his brow, realizing they weren’t avoiding the camera. It was too tall for them.

“There! Someone’s coming!” the little boy shouted. Then, beside him, the girl turned and looked at Caleb.

“Mister! Please, we need help!” she shouted.