赤裸裸的滑稽故事

‘I'm headed west,' Ashleigh whispered in her mind to Caleb. ‘Bell was seen being taken by a scout toward the mountain. I'm going after them.'

Using their connection for communication didn't always work. Even after all these months, they still didn't quite understand how their link worked. It seemed that part of it had to do with missing each other, needing to feel one another even at a distance.

All she could do was hope that he could hear her, even if he couldn't respond.

She made her way into the trees, looking for any sign of which direction Bell and the scout had gone.

***

“A scout?” Caleb whispered aloud.

He heard Ashleigh whisper, but he wasn't able to respond.

He was making his way up the eastern border to the north. Having found tracks and a few dead patrolmen, there was no denying that an attack was happening. Then, in the distance, he saw large columns of black smoke in the air. A hauntingly familiar image as he thought back to the day after the Eclipsed attack.

Caleb headed toward the smoke.

‘Alpha Caleb?' a familiar voice suddenly spoke in his mind.

Caleb stopped in his tracks; his brows furrowed.

‘Clara?'

‘Oh, my Goddess! It worked!' Clara shouted with excitement.

‘How am I hearing you?' Caleb asked.

She was coming through on his neural link, but only Galen had another implant. Even still, the tower damage prevented communication between them.

‘Well, Nessa sort of… borrowed… one of the human satellites and redirected the signal from our communications tower.'

‘She did what?!'

‘She swears they won't notice!'

Caleb sighed.

‘She adjusted the frequencies so our normal comms can reach you and Galen on your neural link. Though we haven't tried Galen yet.'

Ignoring all the ways this could go wrong, Caleb told her to go ahead and try.

‘We got him!' Clara called out excitedly. ‘Ok, we can't do much for you from here, but the team you sent is approaching Winter now. So I am going to connect you and Galen. The comms here will serve as a bridge to keep your link open.'

‘Thank you, Clara.'

There was a soft giggle before another voice spoke out.

‘Caleb?' Galen called out.

‘Galen, I'm glad to hear your voice.'

‘What is going on?' Galen asked. ‘We have fires all over Winter, and communications are down. Axel thinks–'

‘It's an attack,' Caleb interrupted. ‘The communications tower was damaged, and the security system was compromised. Tell me where you are, and I will come to you.'

After a quiet moment, Galen replied.

‘Eastern village about a mile from the border… and Caleb?'

Caleb had already started in the direction he was told.

‘Hurry, they're here.'

***

[A Few Minutes Earlier]

“How did this happen?!” Galen shouted, passing the bucket of water down the line.

When an out of control fire had been reported, he had expected to find one, maybe two buildings on fire. But when he and Axel had arrived in the small eastern village, almost every building was already in a blaze.

The dark plumes in the northern distance were even more concerning than that.

“First communications go down, now fires?” Axel growled quietly. “Someone has breached our borders.”

“I agree,” Galen sighed. “Based on where we see the smoke, I would guess they started here in the east and have made their way up.”

“Why the fires? Most of these people made it out of their homes alive. So why not just attack them? With communications down, we wouldn't have known to come to help them. It was the smoke that sent us here.”

Galen looked around. He, Axel, and a large number of cold warriors had immediately left the central city and come to put out the fires. Even now, some of the cold warriors were splitting off to go north.

‘Galen?' Clara's voice called to him.

He was surprised to hear her voice, less surprised when she explained how she had gotten access to his link.

Clara told him that Caleb and Ashleigh were in Winter and that they had learned about the communications going down and sent a team. He felt relieved knowing they had backup on the way.

Hearing Caleb's voice reassured him. Axel was a great leader and strong Alpha, but Caleb would always be Galen's Alpha.

“Galen!” Axel called just as Caleb asked for their location.

Galen turned his attention to where Axel pointed. Between the fiery buildings, he saw movement. There were at least fifty of them. Wolves. Their fur was matted and dirty, their lips drawn back in rabid snarls.

‘Eastern village about a mile from the border… and Caleb?'

Galen didn't wait for a reply.

‘Hurry, they're here.'

***

Ashleigh had been following the faint smell of Bell's shampoo. She had only recognized it because of its uniqueness.

When she had stayed at Bell's house, she had first noticed the strange smell. Later, she learned it was a new shampoo, bubble gum scented. Bell admitted that pregnancy had done strange things to her tastes.

It was clear that Bell was being taken toward the mountain. Ashleigh considered whether or not to just spring ahead, but there was the slightest chance that she was wrong. If she was, she would lose them.

As she weighed her options, she almost missed the movement behind her. Her reaction was too late to avoid getting hit but quick enough to prevent the second swing from the hand that held the knife.

Ashleigh rolled to the ground beneath her. Then, swinging her leg, she swept the man and brought him down hard on his face. Quickly she jumped on top of him and punched him hard, knocking him out. Then, as she moved to stand, she was caught around the throat by an arm from someone behind her.

A light whistle through the air kept her from reacting. A soft groan of protest came from the woman that had grabbed her, and then Ashleigh was free. The woman fell to her knees and then onto her back with an arrow piercing her throat.

Ashleigh turned in the direction the arrow had come from. There, still holding her bow aimed, with an arrow already notched, stood Penelope.

“Penny…” Ashleigh whispered. “Where did you come from?”

Penelope lowered her bow.

“I've been here all day,” she said. “I'm assigned to the mountain's edge, remember?”

Ashleigh nodded.

“I guess I don't need to tell you that communications are down, and we've had a breach,” she said.

“Got that,” Ashleigh said. “Did you see Bell around here?”

“Bell?” Penelope asked with furrowed brows. “She should be at the community center with the others.”

“She was,” Ashleigh said, “but a scout came and told her that Axel needed her. So they took her west.”

“Alpha Axel wouldn't be over here,” Penelope said. “There are fires in the east. He would have gone that way.”

Ashleigh looked at Penelope, her eyes running over the bow in her hand.

“If you've been here all day and communications are down, how do you know where the fires are?” Ashleigh asked.

Penelope looked at Ashleigh curiously, then sighed.

“The trees, Ashleigh,” Penelope said. “I make my way around through the trees. When the alarms went off, I was already pretty high. I just kept going and saw the smoke, right to the east and north.”

Ashleigh nodded.

“I'm not the traitor,” Penelope growled.

“Didn't say you were.”

“No,” Penelope smiled sarcastically. “You just thought it very obviously.”

Ashleigh sighed.

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I don't know who to trust, but Bell is in danger, and I need help finding her.”

Penelope clenched her jaw and then looked away.

“You came from that way. I came from over there,” she said, pointing in different directions. “The traitor is one of our scouts, which means they know that going this way is the best option to avoid getting caught.”

Penelope motioned into the trees. Ashleigh furrowed her brow, there was one path left, and it was a direct route to the edge of the mountain.

“This way would be quicker if they are trying to leave Winter,” she said.

“Yes, but that way is also patrolled and has had traps placed for exactly this reason.”

Ashleigh hesitated. Looking between the two paths. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She looked back at Penelope.

“You said the traitor is one of our scouts… how do you know that?”