赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Ashleigh slipped away from camp just after finishing her food. She had already done a cursory sweep of the area and felt confident that they would be safe while she visited the village. She expected to only be gone for a couple of hours at most. Plenty of time for Myka to get the camp stored away and prepare the children to begin the hike back down the mountain.

As she walked through the trees, she thought about her last time there. She and Caleb had worn heavy armor, she remembered how uncomfortable it was for her, but he moved with ease. It had irritated her.

They had fought through the hybrids together. Both were at the highest risk of infection, but together, they believed they could do anything.

‘Then we do this together?’ his voice whispered.

Ashleigh closed her eyes, seeing the soft grin on his face as he whispered and kissed her lips. ‘As it should be.’

They had been lucky.

So many times, they had been in danger, so many times they had escaped death. She never realized how lucky they had been until that luck ran out. Until the mountain sealed around him, and their connection was severed.

She took a shaky breath.

Ashleigh knew that the village held no answers on bringing Caleb back, but it was one of the last places they had fought together, side by side. She wasn’t ready to face Summer. There were too many memories and people that would look at her with pity.

Moonguard was different. It wasn’t a happy memory.

Here they had put themselves in danger and killed unarmed enemies. Here, she had seen the disappointment in his eyes as he realized that they might not want the same things in life.

Ashleigh swallowed. She saw her brother and Alice in her mind. They smiled and laughed as he reached out and touched her swollen belly.

Her hands tightened into fists, and she clenched her jaw. She took a deep breath and then shook her body, pushing away the wave of anger and resentment that tried to surface.

Clearing her mind, she returned to her hike. She wanted to reach the village. She needed to see what these new creatures were to gather some information on them. It was the only way that this trip would have any value. It wouldn’t be just her selfish and reckless decision to endanger others.

Something in the bushes caught her eye as she climbed up a small hill. She slowly made her way to it, looking around before she reached down and picked it up. It was a small dagger. She recognized it immediately as one carried by the scouts of Winter.

But why was it here? Why was it tangled in these bushes?

She looked around again. This time she noticed how the grass was flattened just past the bush. The way the small flowers had been trampled and pulled from their roots. And as she leaned closer, she saw the deep grooves in the dirt. Drag marks were left by fingers as they had desperately tried to grab hold of something before being pulled further into the underbrush.

Ashleigh swallowed. She turned her head and looked in the direction of the drag marks. It would take her away from the trail. But, from what she could see, a slope was not far from where she stood. A good chance that something could be down there, ready and waiting to ambush her.

She took a deep breath and summoned a small blade to each hand. Then, carefully and slowly, she moved away from the trail and into the brush.

When she reached the slope, she looked down. There was no sign of movement. After a thorough scan of the area, she jumped down, preparing to be attacked. But there was nothing.

Ashleigh continued to investigate the area. She found a piece of fabric torn and attached to an old tree branch. The drag marks continued in the same direction. As she followed them, she saw signs of struggle. The scout must have found a way to fight back around here.

A few feet ahead, Ashleigh saw something that was both hopeful and concerning.

She had now faced enough treant to recognize their particular roots compared to a standard tree. What she was looking at was a severed limb. The scout somehow managed to get himself free and sever one of the roots from the treant. It was quite impressive.

Looking at the signs of struggle, it seemed likely that the scout had run off in one direction further into the trees, but the treant… had changed its direction. It didn’t follow after him. Why?

Ashleigh followed the signs of the treant’s movements. It led her to what appeared to be some sort of backwoods trail. It wasn’t clear of grass and bushes like the standard hiking trails made by the Moonguard wolves, but it was clearly used frequently.

She followed the trail for a little longer, wondering where it would lead. Finally, as the path went up a significant slope and she stood at the top of it, she took a moment to try and get her bearings by looking out at what lay ahead. Her eyes widened, and her chest tightened with a terrible realization. In the distance, there was only one clear destination.

The lake.

***

The children had all worked together to pack up the camp quickly and efficiently. Myka praised them and promised that when they returned to Winter, he would treat them all to a good meal with a big dessert.

Sadie had finished her task quicker than most of the others. She took out the journal that Peter had given her and found a place nearby to sit and look through it again. Finally, she returned to the page about the lemon berry. Looking at the sketch of the tree, she felt disheartened.

Of course, she was curious about the flavor, but what she really wanted was to be able to tell Peter that she had found one. To show that she had read his mother’s journal, paid attention to it, and even found something his mother had once seen.

To add her own little note in the journal. Her handwriting placed beside that of his mother and grandmother. Then, she could show him she was truly a part of his family. Then, he might allow her to call him dad.

Sadie took a deep breath, letting out a gentle sigh.

She looked up from the journal and looked around. Her eyes scanned the area, looking for nothing in particular, such an uninterested glance that she almost missed it.

But she didn’t.

Sadie gasped and turned back. Her eyes widened, and she stood from the small boulder she had used as a chair. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was only a few feet away, slightly hidden among the other trees.

A lemon berry tree.

Sadie let out a soft laugh.

“Myka! Stefan!” she called out, looking over her shoulder toward them.

Myka turned at her voice. He smiled when he saw the expression she wore. Something good must have happened.

“It’s a lemon berry tree!” she laughed, pointing behind her with delight.

Sadie turned back, and she started to run in the direction of the tree. But she didn’t get far. She fell to the ground, the pain of her face hitting the dirt registered before she felt the tight squeeze on her belly.

The wind was knocked from her chest, and as she gasped and wheezed, she heard Myka’s voice and Stefan's too.

“Sadie!!!” they both screamed.

But before she could understand what was happening, why they were screaming, why she had fallen. She let out her own scream as she was suddenly dragged back into the trees.