赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Ashleigh gasped as she woke in the car. Beside her, Caleb was looking through a set of binoculars. She looked around to find they had pulled over on a side road surrounded by overgrowth and tall trees.

“Did you have a good nap?� Caleb asked, still keeping his focus on whatever it was he saw through the binoculars.

“Informative, to say the least,� Ashleigh yawned. She stretched her back, pressing her shoulder blades together and rolling her neck. “What are you looking at?�

“Not sure,� Caleb replied, pulling the binoculars away from his eyes and handing them to her. “Up, above the fallen tree.�

Ashleigh looked where he directed.

She saw a wolf with an appearance like nothing she had ever seen. Its fur was colored in grey mud, perhaps even coated in it. There were leaves seemingly growing in small bunches all over its body, green, brown, red, and yellow.

The creature turned, its eyes were sunken holes, and empty blackness was all she saw within. It lifted its head, howling to the sky in a sound that made her lower the binoculars and clutch at her ears. It was low and, at the same time, high. A fluctuating pitch that grated on her ears and sent chills through her bones.

“I think it might be like the one that attacked Myka,� Caleb continued. "Description seems to fit.�

Ashleigh lifted the binoculars back up; she noticed something stranger than she had already seen. Roots came from its back, tendrils that moved seemingly on their own with tiny barbs at their ends. This must have been the delivery system for the infection Myka was fighting.

“It has to be,� she said. “Is there more than one?�

“That’s the only one I’ve seen,� Caleb replied. “I pulled over when I heard that disturbing howl. Haven’t heard any reply or seen any others.�

Caleb looked in different directions, then pointed away from the creature.

“He came from that way. Seems to be traveling in one direction so far. Fortunately, it is away from where we are headed,� he said. “If we give him a few minutes to cross this section and then hike straight up, I think we can avoid him altogether.�

Ashleigh swallowed. She looked again through the binoculars.

The creature was still moving forward without looking around or sniffing the air. Instead, it just moved as though it were following a predetermined path.

Lily’s words suddenly came to her.

‘These creatures are crudely stitched together with scraps of the power from the ley lines. They do not hold a spark of life on their own. The wolf was killed, his soul trapped inside and used to fuel the body... Eventually, these stitched-together bodies will die. But only after they have consumed the entire soul, a life that will never be reborn.’

Ashleigh swallowed and lowered the binoculars.

“We can’t,� she replied, shaking her head. “We can’t avoid it.�

Caleb furrowed his brow. He looked back up at the creature and the options ahead of them.

“I’m pretty sure that we can, Ash. He seems focused on the path he is following. If we are careful, we can just sneak past him.�

“No,� Ashleigh shook her head. “We can’t avoid it; we need to kill it.�

Caleb clenched his jaw and swallowed.

“Ash,� he whispered. “We know that these creatures were the Autumn wolves. They’ve just been changed. From what Axel told me earlier, Myka’s been cured... there is a chance, with a bit of time, we can find a way to heal them too. So, let’s not jump to–“

Ashleigh shook her head and looked at her feet.

“No, they can’t,� she said. “They’re already dead.�

“What?�

“These creatures, their mutation has already been completed. The wolf is dead. What’s left is this monster that is using the soul of that wolf as a battery,� Ashleigh spoke quietly. “Once it’s used up, the creature will fall apart and die, and that soul will disappear from existence, never being reborn again.�

Caleb drew in a sharp breath.

“We can’t let it go,� she continued with a sniffle. “We must kill it so that whatever little bit of that wolf is left can live again.�

Caleb took in a deep breath, pushing it back out slowly.

“How do you know all this?� he asked.

“Lily came to me in my dream,� Ashleigh replied. “She told me about them... about how she can hear the soul trapped inside. Screaming.�

“Oh, Goddess...� Caleb sighed, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

“We talked about her too....� Ashleigh sighed. “Our timeline for taking care of the mounds has become a lot tighter. And we need to talk about that, but first, we need to kill this thing and set that soul free.�

Ashleigh moved to release her seatbelt.

“Wait,� Caleb said.

“Caleb, we don’t have a lot of time. We don’t know how long that thing has left. We can’t take the chance that it will consume the entire soul!�

“Please, Ash. Just listen.�

Ashleigh pursed her lips and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Okay,� she said, pulling her hand away from the seatbelt.

Caleb nodded and licked his lips.

“I understand what you’re saying, and I agree, it needs to be killed. But you can’t be the one to do it. You can’t face that thing at all.�

“What?! Why not?�

“Look, I spoke to Axel an hour ago. Myka is cured. Apparently, Alice did some kind of experimental procedure or something, and they were able to use her to create the cure.�

“Okay...�

“But the thing is, this infection and this creature was all built on your brother’s DNA. So the cure they were able to create seeks and destroys what it recognizes, the markers from his DNA.�

Ashleigh furrowed her brows.

“What does that mean?�

“Peter and a team in Summer are working on adjusting and finding a way to change how it works. But, for right now, it means that you and your brother... you can’t have the cure. It will kill you.�

Ashleigh felt that sinking weight in her stomach. Her throat felt dry.

She didn’t even know about a confirmed cure before she decided they needed to kill the creature, but she knew Winter was working on it. There was hope. But now, they found it, and it would kill her.

She swallowed.

“So, I will take care of this,� Caleb said, hitting the small pin on his chest, his armor spreading out over his body. “You stay here.�

Caleb moved to open his door, but Ashleigh grabbed his arm.

“You can’t do this alone,� she said. “It’s too dangerous.�

“Ash, come on, I’ve fought against overwhelming numbers and a giant tree,� he smiled. “I can handle it.�

“No, Caleb. This infection thrives on fae blood. You have the purest source of fae blood of anyone in this world. Myka is a descendant several times removed, and the infection almost took him within hours. What will it do to you?�

Caleb licked his lips and looked away.

“If I get hit, there’s a cure, so it’ll be fine.�

Ashleigh clenched her jaw and then reached up and hit the pin at her chest, her armor spread over her body.

“What are you doing?� Caleb asked with a hint of panic. “You can’t. I already told you, the cure--"

“That cure is in Winter. There is no way either of us would make it in time,� Ashleigh said. “So, there is just as much risk of you facing that thing as there is for me.�

Caleb took a deep frustrated breath and then closed his eyes.

“I was never getting out of this car alone, was I?� he asked, opening his eyes and looking at her.

“Not a chance,� she smirked.

Caleb reached over and pulled her to him, kissing her with all the affection and frustration in his heart. Then, as they pulled away, they smiled and looked into each other’s eyes.

“Then we do this together?� he asked.

Ashleigh nodded.

Caleb chuckled.

“As it should be,� he whispered, pecking her lips before pulling away completely.

After a brief discussion on the plan of attack, the couple carefully and quietly exited the car. They made their way up and around the brush to position themselves so they were flanking the creature. When Caleb gave the signal, they both charged it.

It let out that haunting howl, throwing Ashleigh off guard for a moment. Luckily, Caleb was able to knock the beast back before it lunged at her.

Regaining her composure, Ashleigh readied her small blades and called out to Caleb.

He attacked the creature with heavy swings keeping its focus on Caleb. At the same time, Ashleigh moved quickly and accurately to remove the most significant threat.

She jumped on its back and hacked away at the tendrils with the barbed ends they suspected would deliver the infection. She managed to cut off two, but the third was proving difficult, and the beast no longer cared about what Caleb was doing.

It threw itself to the ground, rolling Ashleigh under it as it did.

“Ashleigh!� Caleb cried out, surging forward to knock the creature off of her and trying to help her up. “Are you all right?�

Ashleigh took Caleb’s offered hand.

“I’m fine,� she said as she got up. “We’re not done here.�

Ashleigh gasped as that horrifying howl filled the air, but the creature stood before them silently.

Caleb looked behind them. He swallowed nervously.

“No, we’re not,� he said, gripping his sword tighter as two more mutated beasts padded toward them.