My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I was jostled awake by a bump and a swaying sensation, followed by the feeling of a searing pain shooting through my leg and the sound of a car engine. I groaned as my eyes flickered open.

“Oh! Honey, she’s awake.”

“Hold on. I’m pullin’ over. Coast clear out there?”

“Hmm… Mhm. I don’t see anything.”

As my eyes adjusted, I saw the forms of two people sitting in front of me. Judging from the long leather seat beneath me and the two seats in front, I was in the back of a car. A truck, too, I surmised from the hollow and tinny sound of the engine as it sputtered to a stop.

I groaned again. The man in the driver’s seat got out of the car while the woman in the passenger seat turned around to face me. I blinked a few times, and as her face came into focus, I saw that she was an older woman with graying brown hair and a round, soft face.

“You sure woke up quick,” she said with a smile, reaching out and squeezing my hand. Her hand was warm and soft in a motherly sort of way, and it eased some of my anxieties.

“Wh-Where…”

The door by my feet opened. I looked up to see an older man standing there. He was wearing a flannel shirt tucked into a pair of jeans, which emphasized his slight beer belly. He had a baseball cap on and had a gray mustache on his upper lip.

“Howdy, young lady,” he said with a grin. “Let me see that leg. That okay?”

I felt myself stiffen, and instinctively looked up at the woman. “It’s okay, hon’,” she said softly. “Dan’s real good at this sort of thing. Aren’t you, honey?”

“Yup. Decades huntin’ and trappin’ll do that to ya. You get real good at pickin’ out bullets so it don’t spoil the meat.” My stomach turned at the thought, but Dan only chuckled. “Don’t worry. I don’t eat human.”

He reached out and peeled back the white bandage around my leg a little bit, and I let him, although it made me wince and grit my teeth. He eyed my wound for a second before nodding to himself.

feel, sweetheart?” the woman asked. “I’m Laura, by the way. That’s my husband, Dan, although I guess I already told you his name, didn’t I?

Laura smiled and nodded. Dan held out his hand for me and helped me sit up, and once I’d chugged an entire bottle of water in one go, he pointed at my leg with a confused expression on

mighty healed already for someone who was shot less than twelve hours ago,”

I couldn’t tell these people

for answers. “Well, either way,” he continued, “you’re lucky we found ya out

in. “You were nothin’ more than a hop ‘n a skip away from meeting the big old man in the sky,” she said, pointing upwards with a

wolf’s presence, it was nothing more than a flicker. She must have used up any

barely morning; the sun still hadn’t come up yet, but it was bright enough to see everything through the

he said. “We’re headin’ out that way where there ain’t any of them… What are we

proudly. Then, whispering: “I

at the same time, I knew I needed to get home. I couldn’t leave town, not

radius are crawlin’ with

on the way,” I replied. “I can

raised, but they said nothing. There was a

she asked. “You don’t wanna go

eyes were pleading and full of worry, but I shook my head. “I can’t.

probably beyond the point of help,” Dan said. “You were the

again.

everyone in town?” I swallowed; I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I only cared about my friends, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Dan, seeing this, finally nodded

“we can take you back to town if you really want. It’s your decision.

be fine,” I said. “Thank

once more and shut the door, then came around and got back into the driver’s seat. No one spoke as he pulled away from the side of the road, then swung the truck back

right on the outskirts. I got out first, limping on my injured leg despite Laura’s protests, and grabbed my backpack out

sure about this?” Dan