by Dhar, Mainak
Imagining one of those monsters falling to the ground, especially on top of their settlement, was something that was playing on Alice's mind. They could shoot a Biter and deal with bandits, but what could they do about a huge metal monster diving down on them from the sky? Alice was imagining such a monster flying down towards and her and trying to shoot it with a gun before it crashed on top of her when her daydreaming was interrupted.
'Alice, can I have your attention, please?'
Alice looked up sheepishly at Sheila, who was scrawling something on an old blackboard they had salvaged from a school. Sheila had been a teacher before The Rising, and once she and Rajiv had settled into their new home, she had proposed that they start a more formalized plan to educate the kids instead of each family doing what they could. The reality was that the early days of fighting to survive each day had left little energy or time to think about education, but now that things were more settled, Gladwell had agreed to Sheila's proposal. However, that also meant that she had the unenviable task of dragging into a classroom a bunch of kids who had never been to school, and most of whom couldn't read or write beyond a very rudimentary level.
'Please read this out for the class.'
Alice had been taught the alphabet by her mom, but had never progressed beyond learning to read very basic sentences. What she did recognize was how her name was spelt.
'That's Alice,' she said with a look of triumph.
'Very good, Alice. Yes, that is your name. Now, what are the words before your name?'
She was not going to be let off the hook so easily. She looked at the first word and it seemed easy enough.
'M...my...'
'Very good, Alice.'
'Namey.'
'That should be name, Alice.'
'Is.'
'Perfect.'
'My name is Alice.'
Sheila beamed at her. 'There you go. That wasn't so tough, was it?'
Alice heaved a sigh of relief at having passed the test, only to be mortified when Sheila scribbled another word on the board.
'Now let's try something a bit more difficult, shall we?'
Alice looked down, not willing to meet Sheila's eyes, hoping that she would pick on someone else. No such luck.
'Alice, you're doing well today. Why don't you try?'
Alice looked up at the unfamiliar word. Try as she might, she could not make head or tail of it. If she tried hard, she could decipher some of the sounds, but the word sounded like it meant nothing. And she wasn't going to make a fool of herself by saying something ridiculous. Maybe it was just a trick, so Alice kept quiet and shook her head as Sheila guided her through the sounds.
'The word is riddle.'
'What's a riddle?' someone asked, and Alice was relieved to find the focus of the conversation shifting to someone else.
'It's something that's difficult to solve.'
'Like what to do when a Biter is stuck in the moat and you're wondering whether you should use a bullet on it or use a knife instead and save the bullet?'
A couple of the kids giggled and Sheila rolled her eyes, trying to keep her composure. Before she could continue the lesson, there was a huge commotion outside. Alice heard the sound of their jeep returning, the one they had appropriated from two Zeus troopers who had tried to attack them a couple of years ago. There were excited yells and cheers, and Sheila realized it was a losing battle to try and keep the kids engaged in her lessons. As one, they looked at her with pleading eyes. Finally Sheila put the chalk down.
'Okay, go on and see what's happening outside.'
Alice raced outside to see that Jones and a couple of the men had returned from a recce to see what the explosion and smoke had been. All the adults seemed to be crowded in around them, and Alice tried slipping through them, but couldn't get close enough to see what had caused so much excitement. However, she did hear a lot of the comments.
'Canned peas!'
'Tinned juice!'
'How much stuff is there in the wreckage that we can salvage?'
'Should we get more stuff or would Zeus get pissed off?'
Above all the chatter, one voice rang out. It was Gladwell.
'Folks, calm down. Let me update everyone on what we know so far and then we can get to whether Rajesh gets his apple juice or not.'
There was laughter and people calmed down, waiting for Gladwell to continue. Alice ran to her father, hugging his leg. She loved how he would make people, including her, smile. It was hard to be angry around him, and everyone seemed to like him. What was more, he seemed to always know what to do. If anyone could figure out what to do with the thing that had fallen out of the sky, it would be him.
'Folks, it appears a transport aircraft with Zeus markings came down. It was headed for the old airport and must have had some mechanical failure. No survivors, indeed it seemed to have no passengers other than two crew members who didn't make it, but it was full of supplies. Looks like supplies for the Zeus troops garrisoned around the old city. There are a couple of things all of you should know, so listen up carefully.'
There was pin-drop silence as Gladwell continued.
'First, this is a Zeus aircraft, no doubt about it. So if they send a crew to salvage the supplies, they are within their right to do it, and we would be stupid to get into a fight with Zeus over some supplies.'
Disappointed murmurs rose among the crowd, but Gladwell raised his hand to request them to let him continue.
'Of course, out here in the Deadland, the usual rule is finders, keepers. From whatever we know, Zeus stays in its bases and if they do venture out into the Deadland, it'll take some time to organize the kind of numbers they usually like coming out in. So, if we move fast, we could get there before them. We'll need to go out in numbers, both to carry back as much as we can and for security, so we'll rigging up the van, the jeep and as many bikes as we can arrange.'
A few people began cheering, and Alice was grinning. What an adventure! Going out in such force to a wrecked airliner, loaded with food and supplies they could use. Out there in the middle of Biters and Zeus troopers all around them in a race against time. What Gladwell said next sent her hopes crashing down.
'It's twenty minutes out and back, so I hope we won't be gone more than an hour. I don't want us to be out there any longer because I don't want a Zeus chopper using us for target practice. Jones will work out the roster, but some of the older kids and adults will need to set up patrols to make sure we're not heading into a large group of Biters or Zeus troopers on the way there or back; I'll take fifteen adults with me to the crash site, and a few adults and all the younger kids will stay back.'
Gladwell had been tousling Alice's hair, but she abruptly broke away from his grasp and ran to their home, where she had every intention of sitting and sulking at having to miss out on all the excitement.
***
'Alice, where are you? Mom's been looking for you.'
Alice was sitting in their room when Jane came in. She was carrying a rifle and a backpack loaded with water and ammunition, ready to join one of the scouting parties. Alice always thought it funny to see her older sister carry weapons, since it was so obvious that she didn't like the idea.
Jane had been ten, just a bit older than Alice was now, when The Rising had happened, and once in a while, she would tell Alice about how life was back then. She would go to school, watch movies, play on the computer—not lug around rifles and watch out for undead monsters. Alice couldn't really understand what was so exciting about having to go to school every day and confront riddles like the ones Sheila posed. She had no idea what a computer or the Internet was that Jane seemed to miss so much. The way she saw it, it was much more fun to carry a gun and go out on adventures than to be sitting down, solving riddles in a classroom or in front of a box where you supposedly saw letters and pictures and did something called browsing that Jane seemed to have done a lot.
She had been sitting in the room for the last thirty minutes, devastated
that she was not going to be out there with the others. Jane sat down next to her.
'Stop sulking, Alice. We'll be back real soon, and besides, I don't see what's such a big deal about going out there? It's basically another supply run, just in bigger numbers. Most likely the most exciting thing we'll do is load some boxes into the jeep and the van and get back.'
'Then let me go in your place.'
'You know I can't do that. Mom and Dad are both heading out, and they were looking for you.'
Alice came out to see her mom, also loaded with gear for the journey. Jo hugged Alice tight.
'Sweetheart, be good. We'll be back soon.'
Gladwell came by, and as the other adults were getting into the Jeep and the van and patrols were setting out, he took Alice aside.
'Alice, do you know why you're being kept back while we go out there?'
'Because I'm a kid and kids never get to have any fun.'
'Not just any kid, sweetheart, but the best shot and the fastest runner among all of them, even kids older than you.'
Alice beamed as her dad said those words, loudly enough for everyone around to hear.
'While we're out there, we need to make sure the settlement is safe. If there's big trouble, some of the grown-ups will light the smoke signal and we will see it and hurry back. That's the plan but you know how it is—we've never really planned to be split up for any long period of time, and I seriously doubt the smoke signal will work, especially if it's windy. That's why we also need someone to watch out for, and fight, any Biters who happen to come this way. That's where I'm counting on you.'
Alice was now grinning broadly, as Gladwell continued.
'Can you do that for me?'
Alice was grinning from ear to ear, and ran back to their home to fetch her gun. While she loved carrying the gun around, the reality was that her parents had forbidden her from keeping it loaded and the magazine and bullets were with her Dad. Gladwell followed her back and took one loaded magazine from his bedside and passed it to Alice. His eyes were now serious, and Alice's grin disappeared.
'Alice, we're all headed out there and everyone's excited at all the food and supplies we can get, but we've never had so many of us leave the settlement at one time. There will be some adults around, but most of our good shots and fighters are going out on patrol, so be careful. I know you can shoot well, and I know you're brave, but just be very careful—this is not just an adventure, but someone's life could depend on you.'
With those last words, Gladwell kissed her on the forehead and left to join the others leaving for the crash site. Alice stood there, thinking of what her father had said. Having an adventure and carrying the gun was fun, but she wasn't so sure she wanted any of the responsibility he had talked about.
As she came outside to wave goodbye, Junior passed her. He was carrying a rifle and joining one of the patrols.
'Look out for Dakota, will you?'
Alice wished him luck, but the last thing she wanted to do was to babysit Junior's five-year-old kid sister. Dakota always seemed to be up to some mischief, and when Alice had once complained about her, her Dad had said that she was very much like Alice had been at her age. That had made everyone else laugh, but Alice had found nothing funny about it. She was sure she had never been as much trouble as Dakota was.
Even as the Jeep and the van left, Dakota walked up to her. 'Will you play with me?'
Alice gave an exasperated look.
'Dakota, I am on guard duty. I don't have time to play.'
Dakota's lower lip quivered, and Alice found herself praying silently.
Please don't cry. Please don't cry.
But cry she did, and soon Alice found herself comforting and distracting Dakota and taking her around to the farm where they could run after the birds who came down all day. Dakota ran after the birds, screaming and hollering, but always slowing down when she got close to the birds. The birds, for their part, seemed to know this was all part of a game. They would just hop to a new location a few feet away, which would cause Dakota to break out into peals of laughter and the chase would be renewed.
At first Alice just watched Dakota, hoping that she could get back to guard duty. However, after a few minutes, she also got caught up in the spirit of things and began running alongside Dakota, chasing birds up and down the garden. They kept at it for more than ten minutes, laughing, cheering, calling out to the birds to stop. Finally, they stopped, exhausted, and lay down on the ground.
'That was fun!'
Alice smiled. Yes, it had been fun. A lot of fun. Part of her wanted to get back to watching the walls for Biters, but part of her was happy just being here, soaking in the laughter, liking the soft feel of the ground beneath her, listening to Dakota giggle. Playing was not something Alice or other kids who grew up after The Rising took for granted any more and Alice realized that for all her protests at having to babysit Dakota, she was actually having fun. She was about to prod Dakota into another round of chasing the birds, when she realized playtime was over.
Moaning noises came from beyond the walls. Noises that could mean only one thing.
Biters.
***
Alice ran to the wall and jumped onto a box to get a better view of what was happening outside. What she saw took her breath away.
There were several dozen Biters roaming just outside the walls. Somehow they had made it through the patrols that had been sent out. Alice could not understand how that might have happened. The only way so many Biters could have broken through the large number of patrols they had out in the Deadland would have been after a major battle. Yet there had been no sounds of gunfire or any other sign of a battle.
Maybe all the stories of the Biters going under the ground and emerging from secret bases were true after all. When Alice had first heard the grown-ups talking about it, she had been terrified. Biters were bad enough as is, but to imagine that they could disappear and appear at will from these hidden bases was a really scary thought. Now, it looked like it was all too real.
At least they were safe behind the walls and closed gate of the settlement. A couple of the Biters fell into the moat and she could see them writhing and roaring down there. They would have to be put down eventually, but right now it was unthinkable to go out. The screams and moans of the trapped Biters did nothing to soothe the already frayed nerves in the settlement, and a couple of the younger kids were crying.
'Mommy!'
She looked down to see Dakota, standing there, bawling.
'Come on, kid. Just stay close to me and you'll be okay.'
She actually had little idea of how to keep Dakota safe if the Biters did attack, but her words seemed to comfort Dakota. She led Dakota away from the wall so that hopefully she would not hear the sounds of the trapped Biters.
The few adults left at the settlement were now all carrying guns, and Alice was surprised to see Sheila walking with a pistol in her hand. In theory, everyone had to learn how to use weapons, and Alice had heard stories of how in the early days, everyone, including her Mom, had had to fight pitched battles with looters and Biters. However, even at this age, Alice recognized that just having a gun did not make a person a fighter. Some people would fight, even if they were outgunned and outnumbered, but others would lose their nerve, no matter how well armed they were. Sheila had always seemed nervous around guns, and now she had a vacant look in her eyes as she walked around, trying to figure out what to do.
There were several people with guns, all milling around, all hoping that someone else would take charge and tell them what to do, and Alice knew now that her father had been right to be worried. The ones they had left behind in the settlement were not the fighters, and now they were looking for Gladwell, Jones, Sunil, or one of the others who had been the leaders. Except they were all now outside, on patrol or at the crash site. A settlement that was normally a well-drilled army able to fight as a unit was now just a group of individuals with guns with no clear plan or direction.
'They're coming to the gate!'
Her shout galvanized them into action, and three men took position at the gate, rifles at the ready. One of the men took aim and fired, hitting one of the Biters who was trapped in the moat.
'That was a direct hit!'
Another man cut short his celebration.
'Forget the ones in the moat. Let's take down the ones coming to the gate first.'
As the men took aim, another scream rang out.
'Holy shit! At the back! We need help here! They're coming at us from the back!'
She didn't know who had cried out, but she ran to the back of the settlement as fast as she could. Sheila was there, gaping at the wall and still screaming, and Alice could hear the thumping of several hands beating against the wall. She climbed on a box to get a look and saw that a large group of Biters had come towards the settlement, and several had fallen into the moat. Somehow, perhaps just by scrambling over the fallen Biters in the moat, two Biters had made it across to the wall, and were now beating their fists and heads against it.
It looked terrifying, and they would need to probably dig a deeper moat to prevent such a thing from happening again, but the reality was that there was no imminent danger. Two Biters would never break down the wall, and it would be easy to shoot them. Of course, that did nothing to quell the panic that suddenly swept the settlement. Word spread like wildfire—Biters at the gate, Biters crossing the moat to get to the wall at the back. Someone screamed that they were surrounded and that people should run to the community center to make a last stand.
