Deadland: Untold Stories of Alice in Deadland (Alice, No. 5)

by Dhar, Mainak

  None of her bullets hit the trooper, but two hit the tree he was hiding behind, and the next time he ducked behind the tree for cover, he never came back up. Jones had crept up behind him and finished him with a bullet to the head.

  Alice and the others came out of cover and watched as Jones stripped both men of their weapons and ammunition. When he walked over to them, he was looking straight at Alice. She was afraid he'd be mad at her and shrank back as he reached out towards her.

  'I'll take the gun, Alice.'

  As she handed the gun to him, Alice saw that her hands, and indeed her whole body, were shaking. She was ashamed that Jones would think her a coward, but he just smiled at her.

  'Kids, we have a ride back to the settlement in the fine vehicle these gentlemen have left for us.'

  The terror of the last few minutes gradually dissipated as the kids grinned and ran towards the black Jeep the troopers had come in. Jones tapped Alice on the shoulder.

  'You did good. Real good.'

  ***

  Word spread fast at the settlement as the kids shared what had happened. There was much relief and celebration at the narrow escape they had, but there was no such celebration or welcome for Alice. Her mother marched her back to their home.

  'Alice, what in God's name were you thinking?'

  Alice just kept her head down, not sure of what to say, only sure that whatever she said would probably get her into even more trouble.

  'No, the problem is that you weren't thinking. You were only thinking of having a little fun, not of the danger you were putting yourself or others into. Stop thinking only of yourself, and start getting some sense of responsibility.'

  Alice wanted to clarify what exactly a sense of responsibility was, but she figured this was a wrong time to be asking, so she just kept shut and looked down as her mother continued.

  'It's hard enough trying to keep ourselves safe, and you have to go and seek out trouble, don't you? Alice, when will you learn? When will you learn?'

  Alice looked up at her mother.

  'Mom, I'm sorry.'

  Jo knelt down in front of her little girl. 'Saying sorry doesn't fix everything. What if something had happened to you out there?'

  Just then there was a knock on the door. It was Mrs. Jones, along with three other mothers of the kids who had been out on patrol.

  'Joanne, I just wanted to thank Alice. She saved all our kids out there.'

  Jo didn't know what to say or do. The last thing she needed was for anyone to further encourage her daughter's wild streak, but Mrs. Jones came in and gave Alice a big hug.

  'Thank you, sweetheart. I hear you were really brave out there. If you hadn't done what you did, our kids might not have come back to us.'

  As Alice walked out, she began to smile. It felt good to be appreciated; it felt good to not get into trouble for a change; it felt good to be more than another little kid who nobody took seriously. As she walked, several people in the settlement pointed at her, and a couple of them patted her head. Junior was standing in a corner with a friend, and when she passed, she half-expected him to say something nasty. Instead, he just looked at her and nodded.

  As Alice rounded the corner, she saw her Dad talking with Jones. She overheard some of their conversation.

  'The Zeus commander will probably say these were two rogue troopers who were drunk.'

  'Sir, you know these guys are up to no good. We've all heard about so-called accidents and bandit attacks at other settlements to convince them of how unsafe life is without Zeus protection.'

  'I know, but what option do we have? We're in no condition to fight Zeus, and can only hope that they learn to leave us alone.'

  Just then he saw Alice and called her, grabbing her in a big hug, lifting her off the ground.

  'Alice, am I glad you're okay. Just promise Daddy one thing.'

  Alice looked into her father's eyes.

  'Never go out alone again. Please.'

  She promised and ran off to play. As Jones watched her run, he smiled.

  'Sir, I think it's time I began training Alice. It'll give her what she wants, and also get some discipline in her.'

  'She's too young.'

  Jones shook his head.

  'No, sir. I think she's more than ready.'

  ***

  NO MORE RIDDLES

  'Why does he make us run so much?'

  Alice grinned at Myra, who was struggling to keep up with her as they ran along the perimeter walls of the settlement.

  'Because, if you find yourself facing more Biters than you can handle, your best bet is to run away!'

  With that, Alice put on a burst of speed and left the other kids behind as she raced towards Jones who was waiting for them at the gate. Jones just nodded at her, but she could see a smile playing at the edges of his lips.

  Ever since he had taken her in for training just over two years ago, she had thrown herself into it with a dedication that had surprised everyone, including her parents. Alice the troublemaker, the girl who was always up to some mischief, the girl who never seemed to focus on anything, had suddenly found something she loved. Since she was naturally fast and agile, the constant exercise and training had built up wiry strength that meant that Alice could often take down boys several years older to her in unarmed combat training, and she seemed to have a natural love for guns. As a mark of recognition for her first feat in battle, Jones had let her keep the pistol with which she had warded off a Zeus trooper who had been attacking them.

  As she ran into her home and drank a glass of water before collapsing on the sleeping bag that was her bed, her sister Jane looked up.

  'We missed you at the farm. You do know we need everyone to help gather the fruits, don't you?'

  Alice smiled at her sister, knowing that whatever she said would only tick Jane off even more.

  'I was training.'

  Jane's reply betrayed her frayed temper.

  'Everyone trains, only you need to train three times a day so you don't have to do any other work. Grow up, Alice. Life is not all about running around and fighting. You're nine years old, and you need to stop acting like a spoilt kid all the time.'

  As Jane stomped out of the room, Alice watched her leave. No, Jane was wrong, you could grow all the fresh fruit you wanted, and have all the nice vegetables to cook a great meal with, but when Biters and bandits came calling, none of that would save you. The only thing that Alice knew guaranteed safety was having a gun and knowing how to use it. She giggled to herself as she imagined Jane trying to fight off a Biter by throwing fresh fruit at it.

  She heard Jones calling out to the kids, and she ran out, reaching him before any of the others. As the other kids reached, Alice asked, 'Uncle Jones, what's up? Are we going out on patrol?'

  Jones looked at the little nine-year-old blonde girl in front of him with a pistol tucked into her belt. He remembered enough of what the world had been before The Rising for such a sight to still make him regret all that had happened. The fall of human civilization lay not just in the decimation of its cities and buildings, but in the fact that its children had been robbed of all hope, of all their innocence.

  'No, Alice. You know kids don't go out on patrols. What I am going to do is to get you kids drilled on perimeter defence.'

  Alice looked up at him, wondering what he meant, yet hesitating to ask, lest it make her look stupid in front of the older kids.

  'Come on, kids. Grab your handguns and join me.'

  As they drilled, Robert Gladwell sat in the community center, sipping on some tea and watching his younger daughter jump onto a platform near the wall, scanning for imaginary attackers. In his hand he had a single sheet of paper that had been passed onto him by the local Zeus officer. It was essentially a rehash of the demands that Zeus had been making for years, and he had no intention of entertaining them.

  Rajiv came and sat down next to him. In the two years since he had been rescued by Gladwell, Rajiv and his wife Sheila had become an in
tegral part of the settlement. Having been a Vice President in a bank before the Rising, Rajiv might not have had a lot of survival or combat skills, but he had huge organizational and planning skills. Once he had joked that Bob was the CEO of their settlement, to which Bob's repartee had been that Rajiv was then the Chief Operating Officer. That was true enough, as Rajiv had taken charge of planning their resources, ensuring that they had adequate stocks of food and grain and working out duty rosters so that everyone contributed and also benefitted from life in the settlement.

  For all that, there was one important issue on which the two of them disagreed, and Gladwell suspected that it was that very issue that had brought Rajiv to him now.

  'Bob, are you sure you don't want to think again about the Zeus offer? We've done well on our own, but how long can we manage like this? I talked to one of the other settlements, and they said that in the Zeus camps, they get fresh food and canned vegetables and fruits flown in.'

  Gladwell looked at Rajiv, knowing just how tempting it was to get back a life of security, one where someone else was in charge of keeping you free and safe. Where every day was not a battle for survival.

  'Who are these guys? They are a mercenary army, a very well equipped one at that. Who's equipping them and paying them? What is their agenda? Why don't we ever hear of who this bloody Central Committee really is? Here we grow our own food and our labor feeds our families. In the Zeus camps, they have people work as little more than slave labor. Everyone works the land, but the produce is flown out to feed whoever Zeus' masters are and people wait to be rationed food they themselves grew. What kind of freedom is that?'

  Rajiv had no answers to any of those questions, of course. Still, he wasn't going to give up quite so easily.

  'Their demands are not unreasonable, are they?'

  'Rajiv, I will not sell our freedom for a few cans of fruit. Have you forgotten when their troopers attacked our kids? Have you forgotten stories of how Zeus intimidates other settlements who resist them? They don't mess with us because they know we have the firepower to resist them, and so they probably figure why bother taking losses in fighting us when there are so many other settlements out there willing to sign up to be their slave labor, producing food for their masters in the Central Committee.'

  Rajiv shook his head ruefully. He admired Bob and what he had managed to achieve in his settlement, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a mistake by trying to stick it out all alone.

  'You do know all the reports about them trying to take the old airport from the Biters, don't you? We've seen an airplane flying around as well. If they have working airplanes, Bob, they have a base somewhere for them. That means there is still civilization somewhere, and we're not signing up for it.'

  'Civilization does not just mean having airplanes or gadgets. Let Zeus come totally clean on who their masters are and what their agenda is and we'll talk.'

  Their argument was cut short by a single cry.

  'Biters at the wall!'

  ***

  Alice heard the shout and ran to the far end of the wall where one of the sentries had spotted the Biter. She climbed onto the box that acted as a platform near the wall and peered over it.

  A single Biter shuffled along, seemingly oblivious to the many guns that were now pointed at her. It was an old woman, with long gray hair flowing over her bare torso that was covered with blood and gore. She wore torn trousers and kept snapping her jaw at something.

  'Our boys swept the area just fifteen minutes ago and it was clear. Now this freak shows up out of nowhere.'

  'Do you think those stories of underground Biter bases are real?'

  Alice shivered in spite of herself as she overheard the men talking near her. Biters were bad enough, but Biters with enough sense and guile to hide in bases under the ground and then emerge to strike were terrifying. Alice had seen Biters for many years, and they seemed to be exactly what they appeared at first sight—brutish monsters with no intelligence. No, the stories of their bases had to just that—stories.

  The Biter seemed to be ignoring the settlement, but then someone coughed and her head snapped towards them. Even at this distance, Alice could see the blood dripping from her mouth.

  'This one's fed recently.'

  The man next to her had also seen it. Seeing a Biter never failed to make Alice feel a mixture of hatred and revulsion. Hatred because these were the monsters that had made her people live in so much fear, and revulsion because of how dirty, how horrible they seemed. She felt for the gun at her belt, but one of the men whispered to her.

  'No point wasting bullets on this one. Let her roam, and she'll pass us or fall into the moat and we can finish her later.'

  As the Biter came closer and hissed at the people ringing the wall, someone threw a stone that hit her on the leg. She roared in anger and came towards them. Another stone hit her on the head, and she stumbled to the ground, only to get back up and come at them, her jaws snapping. Two of the men were now taunting her and shouting at her to come closer. The Biter roared and hissed in anger at them and was coming closer.

  Alice felt a tug on her arm. It was her father. Gladwell pulled her off the platform and led her away from the wall. They could now hear cheering as the Biter fell into the moat.

  'Fighting to protect one's own is one thing, but being cruel for the sake of it is another.'

  Alice didn't always understand what her father said, but she was sure it must have been something important. Still, this line of thinking didn't make sense to her.

  'But, Daddy, Biters are the enemy.'

  Gladwell looked down into his daughter's eyes.

  'Yes, Alice. They are, and when they threaten us, I'll be the first to destroy them. But there's no bravery in jeering at them from a distance. There's no bravery in butchering one for sport. That doesn't show how brave you are, it shows how weak you are.'

  Alice nodded, though she wasn't very sure if she had got it after all.

  That afternoon was unarmed combat training with Jones. All the other kids were at least ten years old, and most were bigger than her but Alice had got a significant head start, having started her training at the age of seven. Jones liked to keep his training simple, because as he liked to say, 'No Biter's yet got a black belt in Karate,' so the focus was on quick take-downs and fighting off multiple Biter attackers. Today, Alice was sparring with Junior. He seemed to have grown more in the last two years than in all his preceding years and now, despite being only around thirteen years old, towered over Alice, and was as tall as some of the grown men in the settlement.

  So far, Alice had sparred only with kids her age, and she had been pestering Jones to let her spar with the bigger kids. How else would she be ready to go out on patrols, to fight battles? Well, it looked like Jones had decided to grant her wish today by pairing her with Junior, who was not only bigger, but reputed to be a real brawler.

  Junior looked down at Alice.

  'Ready, pipsqueak?'

  The tone was still there, but the smirk had long gone. Gone that day two years ago when Alice had picked up Junior's gun to ward off a Zeus trooper. The banter was still there, but the bullying had gone. Junior moved towards her, faster than Alice would have given him credit for, and swung his leg out. Alice knew that he meant to sweep her feet out from under her and she moved back, barely managing to keep her balance. Junior was not going to give her any quarter—he moved in again, this time striking at her solar plexus with an open palm.

  'Oooff...'

  The breath exploded out of Alice as she fell back, crumpling to the ground. Junior came towards her, and she cringed, expecting another attack. Instead, he smiled and held out his hand.

  'Up you go, pipsqueak.'

  Alice sheepishly took his hand and was hauled up. Jones was waiting, watching her with a smile on his face.

  'Alice, what did you learn today?'

  Alice shrugged.

  'That it's not a good idea to get hit?'

&
nbsp; Several of the kids giggled and Jones' eyes bored into Alice.

  'You wanted to fight a bigger opponent, but you tried fighting him the same way you fight kids your size. He was bigger, taller, stronger and with a huge reach advantage. If you try and play by his rules, you will land on your ass every time.'

  Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as Jones continued.

  'If you kids ever want to go out on patrol, remember that there's all kind of shit out there. Biters, bandits, even drunk Zeus troopers, right, Alice?'

  She was now looking down, wishing she could just do this all over again, and be spared the public embarrassment. Jones walked up to her as another kid called out.

  'So what do we do?'

  'There's no one answer. You play to your strengths. Some of you are strong, others have good eyesight, and Alice here is the fastest kid I've seen. Know what your strength is and use it against your opponent.'

  Before they could begin sparring again, Alice heard a boom that was louder than anything she had heard before, even gunshots at close range. As she looked around to see where the sound had come from, a pillar of black smoke rose over the horizon.

  'What the hell is that?'

  Alice didn't know who had asked the question, but she knew every single person at the settlement was thinking that very same thought.

  ***

  'Kids, try and concentrate, please.'

  Alice didn't see how Sheila thought she could teach a group of kids aged between seven and ten anything when there was so much excitement rippling through the whole settlement. Her Dad had talked to Jones about sending out a scout party to see what the explosion and smoke had been about. Some of the grown-ups had been talking about it perhaps having been an airplane crash, and that scared Alice. Those strange things flying overhead were spooky enough, especially when one of the grown-ups told Alice just how big they really were in spite of looking so small when they were high up in the sky.