The best way to protect Ashley......
When you go back into the village there are places for Ashley to hide, they are orangeish redish colored, they look a little like dumpsters. All you have to do is walk up to the dumpster looking things until you see a command that says R2 Hide. Press the R2 button and Ashley will hide in the dumpster things. Until you reach the Castle these dumpsters are along the way. Clear the village before calling Ashley to you, or the zombie dudes will attempt to kidnap her, and then you have to save her all over again, this time all you have to do is kill the zombie before the zombie gets to an exit point. Normally you have between 5 to 10 seconds to kill the zombie or you get the Mission Failed screen.
When you clear the village call Ashley to you and move on. Every time you see a dumpster thing, tell Ashley to hide in it and clear the area. This is a relatively long process getting through the village because you have to make sure you have Ashley in a hiding spot before attacking the zombies, some zombies will attempt to kill you both.
Once you reach the castle, there are no hiding spots for Ashely. When you fight zombies you have to protect yourself and Ashely. It sucks, but I believe it is meant to be more intense once you reach the castle.
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