赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Bell quickly closed the door to the empty room, turning to Alice, who had gone pale as a sheet with Axel\'s final words over the radio.

"Breath," Bell whispered, rubbing Alice\'s arms as she spoke. "You need to breathe, Alice."

Alice took a short breath and then another.

"Come on," Bell said. "A little more, just let me hear a nice even breath."

Alice closed her eyes. She pushed back against the noise and the fear and focused entirely on taking a simple breath, and then two and three.

"Good…" Bell smiled, "good."

Alice opened her eyes and looked at Bell.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Of course," Bell replied.

"That was… unexpected," Alice said. "I\'m usually really good at handling terrible surprises."

"It\'s not your fault," Bell said, then stared pointedly at Alice\'s belly. "It\'s the hormones."

"Well, that\'s… great," Alice laughed. "Looking forward to it."

"Oh yea," Bell smiled. "It\'s the tip of the iceberg. Your little miracle there will have all kinds of booby traps and jump scares for you."

"Ah, the miracle of life, my favorite horror movie," Alice sighed.

They both laughed and very briefly enjoyed a quiet moment.

Bell looked away from Alice, chewing her bottom lip nervously.

"So…" she began. "When Axel said…."

She paused, pushing back against the fear she felt rising. She took a deep breath.

"When he said, \'old friend,\'… he meant Roman, didn\'t he?" Bell managed to say.

Alice gave Bell a look of understanding and then nodded.

"Yes," Alice whispered. "He has found a way to cross the border, it seems."

Bell nodded.

"Do you think… he would come here?" she asked, her eyes pointed at the ground.

Alice clenched her jaw and looked away.

"No," she said. "Not while there is still fun to be had outside these walls."

"How can you be sure of that?" Bell asked, her voice faltering just a little.

Alice took a deep breath.

"Bell," she whispered. "You know it too."

Bell chewed her lip, and then she nodded.

"He enjoys it," she sighed. "Can\'t pass up the chance to hurt as many people as possible."

Alice nodded.

Another long silence passed between them. Again, it was Bell who broke the silence.

"Alice?" she said.

Alice looked up at her. Bell turned to meet her eye.

"If you knew he wouldn\'t come here immediately," Bell said. "Why were you so scared?"

Alice swallowed and lowered her gaze. The hand resting on her stomach made gentle circles as she spoke.

"Because, as much as Roman wants to find us," she said. "There is still someone else that got away from him first."

Bell furrowed her brows and then understood.

"Axel…." She whispered.

Alice nodded.

"I wasn\'t scared for us… I was afraid for him."

Bell saw the tears welling in Alice\'s eyes. She immediately hugged her.

"Axel is a great fighter, and he has all the other wolves with him!" Bell insisted.

"I know," Alice whispered through gentle tears. "I know."

"Listen to me," Bell said, pulling back and looking Alice in the eye. "Roman is scary and insane… but if it is between those two… I am putting all my money on Axel every time."

Alice nodded and took a deep breath.

"In a fair fight," Alice began. "Absolutely."

She took a deep breath.

"But Roman doesn\'t play fair," she whispered. "That\'s what I\'m worried about… I don\'t know what tricks he has up his sleeve, and I can do nothing to help Axel."

Bell felt her heart pounding in her chest, and her stomach was tied in knots. She was terrified. For herself, her son, Alice, for Axel. But right now, Alice needed her a little more.

"I felt the same way when Galen ran after Roman," she said. "I knew that Roman would never play fair. So when Galen ran after him, I thought that was it, I was never going to see him again…."

Tears ran down her cheeks, but Bell still smiled.

"But I did…" she whispered.

Alice looked up.

"Galen fought Roman, and he won," Bell smiled. "Ok, sure, Roman came back from the dead, but the point is, he won."

Alice smiled and nodded.

"Now, don\'t you ever tell Galen this," Bell said with a pointed look and a laugh. "But Axel is even stronger than him. And smarter, I think it\'s all the chocolate he ate growing up…."

Alice laughed, and Bell smiled at the sound.

"And just like Galen," Bell continued. "Axel has a family waiting for him."

Alice smiled as tears fell from her eyes, and she hugged her stomach.

"So," Bell said, taking a deep breath. "Roman is going to try and pull a nasty trick. Somehow, someway, we already know that. But Axel is still going to kick his ass."

Alice sobbed heavily and nodded, pulling Bell in for a tight hug.

"He is… he is…" she whispered. "Thank you…"

Bell smiled, hugging Alice.

"I\'m sorry that I said you were trouble," Alice whispered. "You\'re not trouble at all. You are wonderful."

"Wait, what?" Bell questioned.

Alice continued to cry on Bell\'s shoulder until she was spent, at which point she apologized until she cried again.

***

[Somewhere in the forests of Winter]

One of the fallen watched from above as the Valkyrie slaughtered the feral wolves. The bear that came next stood no chance as they joined together to tear it apart in mere moments.

The fallen growled and made its way back to the small cave.

Inside, two more like him waited, as well as several feral wolves and one other.

"What did you see?" Roman demanded, walking straight to the fallen.

Through a series of growls and barks, the fallen told Roman about the Valkyrie protecting the Safe Zone.

"Well, we couldn\'t expect them to just open the front door for us," Roman smiled.

He pointed to the feral wolves.

"Take them, go up the mountain and down along the crags. There is no way they were able to border that off. You\'ll find access to the Safe Zone through there."

The fallen growled and turned, heading for the exit.

"Remember!" Roman shouted after the beast. "If you don\'t bring me Alice, or if she gets hurt, I will gut you and string you up while you still breathe."

The fallen lowered its head and let out a whimper before running from the cave with the feral wolves behind it.