赤裸裸的滑稽故事

When Caleb returned to Ashleigh’s side, he was shocked by the absolute emptiness of the settlement. There were no shuffling figures, no bodies on the ground. Only Ashleigh walked alone down the rugged dirt road toward him.

She explained what had transpired. The disappearance of the bodies, the destruction of the mound, the veiled threat of the Leshy.

They were both exhausted.

The settlement was empty. There was no reason they couldn’t just choose a home and take a well-deserved rest. But they both felt the emptiness of this place, the haunting quiet.

Ashleigh led the way as they moved through the trees and the brush down the mountain to their car. Almost three hours had passed by the time they reached their destination. Finally, both too tired to chat or plan their next move, they crawled into their seats and fell asleep.

When she woke up, the car was moving steadily down the road. She sat forward, surprised by the restriction of her seatbelt.

“Good morning,” Caleb’s warm voice called to her.

Ashleigh did her best to stretch in her chair before turning to him with a lopsided grin.

“Good morning,” she replied groggily. “Is it morning?”

Caleb let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s closer to evening,” he said. “It’s almost four o’clock.”

Ashleigh looked out onto the road, trying to gather her bearings.

“Where are we?” she asked, not recognizing the landscape around her.

“Between places,” Caleb replied. “We are headed to Winter, it’ll be well past midnight by the time we arrive, but Axel’s already aware that we are on our way.”

“Winter? Not Summer?” she asked. She had expected that they would return home.

“You already said that your mission has a deadline that could go off at any time. I figure the ‘awakening’ of an ancient being probably doesn’t bode well for taking our time. We need Myka to help us with the next connection point and Myka’s in Winter.”

Caleb shrugged his shoulders as he spoke with a warm smile.

Ashleigh reached out and laid her hand on his knee.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“For always being there for me,” she said.

Caleb turned with a loving gaze and playful grin.

“You’re locked in for life, my love. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank the Goddess for that,” Ashleigh smiled.

***

Caleb was not wrong when he said it would be well past midnight when they arrived in Winter. It was close to three in the morning when they pulled up to the house.

A very tired Corrine waited for them just outside the front door.

“Mom, what are you doing up?” Ashleigh called out, running to her mother and embracing her tightly.

“I didn’t want you kids to arrive at a dark house with no one waiting,” Corrine smiled warmly. “Axel planned to be the one to greet you, but I sent him away a couple of hours ago. Alice insisted on staying by his side, and she’s only been out of the hospital a couple of days. So, I told them to go home and rest.”

“Good idea,” Ashleigh laughed. “But you didn’t have to wait for us. We could have let ourselves in.”

“Hush, let’s just get your things and go inside for some rest.”

Caleb grabbed the bags from the trunk of the car. They didn’t have much with them since the plan had been to return to Summer after destroying the mound in Moonguard. But they at least had some clothes for a day or two.

“Were you able to complete your mission?” Corrine asked as she walked with Ashleigh to the door.

“The first part,” Ashleigh nodded. “The mound in Moonguard has been destroyed…. As well as the Moonguard pack.”

“What?” Corrine asked with disbelief.

Ashleigh nodded.

“By the time we arrived, they had already been infected,” she said, holding the door for Caleb as he stepped inside the house behind them.

“It was a disturbing sight,” Caleb added.

“A whole pack… gone just like that…” Corrine whispered, easing herself onto the couch. “It wasn’t a small pack either… at least several hundred wolves!”

Ashleigh clenched her jaw and nodded.

“From what we understand, Moonguard was already working with our enemy. They chose to become monsters,” Caleb said, rubbing Ashleigh’s shoulder affectionately. “There was nothing we could have done to save them.”

Corrine looked up at Caleb, it was clear she had more questions, but a side glance from him told her that Ashleigh was struggling with what they had to do.

“Unfortunately,” Corrine began, standing from the couch. “War leads to terrible choices. Even the right ones can leave a deep scar on your heart.”

She put her hand under Ashleigh’s chin, lifting it to look at her. Corrine gave a warm smile.

“You did the right thing, even if it doesn’t feel like it.”

Ashleigh swallowed and nodded.

“Now, let’s all get some rest,” Corrine said, looking at Caleb warmly. “In the morning, we can talk with Axel and the others about all that has happened. What you have seen and the reports that we have received.”

Caleb furrowed his brow as the look on Corrine’s face showed concern.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “What reports?”

Corrine shook her head.

“Sleep first,” she said. “The morning will only bring more work.”

Caleb reluctantly nodded. He and Ashleigh made their way to the guest room, where the bed was already ready.

Corrine said her goodnight, and the house fell silent as Ashleigh and Caleb held each other into the land of dreams.

***

Ashleigh woke up early the following day after only about three hours of sleep. She went for a run and then hurried back to the house.

Caleb was in the shower when she returned. So, she sat on the bed and took the opportunity to make a call.

“Ashleigh! Are you ok? Is Alpha Caleb ok? Did either of you get hurt? Should I send a team? Should I tell–“

“Clara!” Ashleigh interrupted loudly. “Both Caleb and I are perfectly safe.”

“Oh.. ok, when you didn’t come home in the projected time, we got a little worried,” Clara replied. “I know that the mound was destroyed. The destruction registered like an earthquake in our systems. Of course, since you didn’t call, I didn’t know if something went wrong and the two of you were lying under miles of stone and dirt, trapped and running out of air inside the mound–“

“Clara!” Ashleigh called out once more.

“Sorry, ok, shutting up.”

Ashleigh let out a soft chuckle.

“We are fine, I promise. We went ahead and drove to Winter.”

“Winter? I thought you were coming back to make a plan before you went to talk to Myka?” Clara questioned.

“That was the original idea, but some things happened that have made it clear that we need to finish this task as soon as possible. There’s no more time to waste.

“So, I will be talking to Myka today. Have you had any luck finding the original mound in Spring that started all this and the connection between Summer and Winter?”

“I have leads on the Summer and Winter connection, but nothing solid yet. I found the maps that Alpha Cain made but based on the most recent information from Spring and how they have laid out their territory, it won’t be easy to get there. It will take some serious maneuvering. And that’s without knowing the monster situation there.”

A knock at the door drew Ashleigh’s attention.

“Just a second, Clara.”

Ashleigh got up and opened the door, holding the phone to her shoulder.

Corrine smiled at her from the other side.

“Your brother is here. It’s time we had that discussion I mentioned last night,” she said.

“We’ll be right out,” Ashleigh replied, closing the door. “Clara, I have to call you back. It’s family meeting time.”