Alice in Deadland Trilogy (3 page)

The Zeus troopers seemed to comprehend what was going on,
and the fact that a young human girl seemed to be held captive by this horde of
Biters galvanized them into action. More troopers rappelled out of the
helicopters and they began advancing towards the wall behind which Alice was
now hidden.

Bunny Ears whistled, an ear piercing sound that made Alice
involuntarily cover her ears. When she peeked out the side of the wall, she saw
what his signal had meant. All around the Zeus troopers, Biters gathered among
the ruins and advanced upon them. The troopers opened fire and Alice saw
several of the Biters fall, but the others were now advancing at speed. The
snipers on the helicopters took out a few more Biters with carefully aimed head
shots.

Alice looked on in fascination. She had directly
participated in more than a dozen skirmishes with the Biters and witnessed a
dozen or more as a spotter or during her training. At that time, it had been
but natural to think of the Biters as the ferocious, formidable adversaries everyone
said they were, and she had not even thought twice before emptying her clip
into the undead Santa's head when he had blundered into their path during a
patrol.

Now, sitting among the Biters and getting a glimpse of what
battle against humans looked like from their perspective, she began to see
things a bit differently. Sure, up close they were formidable with their
strength, seeming immunity to pain, and their single-minded dedication to
biting human flesh. But in the open like this, against trained soldiers, they
were cannon fodder. They could not use any weapons, moved slower than humans,
and did not seem to have enough intelligence for anything more than the most
rudimentary tactics.

The dozen or so Zeus soldiers were now tightly packed with
their backs to each other, like a phalanx, and were moving steadily towards her
position. They were still picking off targets at will, and dozens of Biters
littered the ground around them. But the Biters kept coming, and Alice saw that
at least two holes had opened up in the ground, and Biters were pouring through
them, trying to get close enough to the soldiers to bring their teeth and nails
to bear. It was a massacre, and Alice wondered what the Biters were trying to
achieve by walking straight into certain annihilation. Or were they just such
mindless drones that they kept going, driven by instinct or bloodlust,
regardless of the odds that faced them?

She felt a tug at her arm, and Bunny Ears pulled her up and
dragged her along. She tried to resist, but his grip on her arm was so tight
that she could not shake him off. When she kicked out at him, sending him
staggering back, he nonchalantly slapped her across the face. The blow was so
hard it knocked her down and she felt the ground spinning around her as Bunny
Ears picked her up and slung her across his shoulders. He screeched loudly, and
in apparent response a dozen or more Biters stepped between them and the
advancing Zeus troopers.

It became instantly clear to Alice that there was a method
to what the Biters were doing. They were buying Bunny Ears some time so he
could get her away. Why they wanted her so badly and what the drawing on the
wall had meant were beyond her, but what was certain was that her hopes of a
rescue were being dashed. She could now see the Zeus troopers falter and start
to withdraw in face of the sheer strength of numbers of the Biters. Before
Bunny Ears ducked into some ruins, she saw the first Zeus trooper fall under a
group of clawing and slashing Biters.

They were someplace dark, and Bunny Ears was running through
what appeared to be long corridors of some official building. There were doors
lining the corridor, and Alice saw Biters hiding behind more than one of them.
Even if any of the Zeus troopers got this far, in the confined and dark
environment they would be easy pickings for the hidden Biters. She began to
reassess the Biters based on what she had just seen. Yes, they were clearly not
as intelligent as humans, but they were displaying some sort of planning and
forethought. But the big question still remained: what the hell did they want
with her?

Bunny Ears ducked low under a collapsed beam and finally
stopped, unceremoniously dumping Alice on the ground. She swore with the
choicest of obscenities she had learnt from years spent in the company of
soldiers and glared at him, but he just looked at her with no expression in his
yellowing, vacant eyes. He pointed to a hole in the wall that he motioned for
her to walk through. When she hesitated, he slapped her, sending her crashing to
the ground again.

'What the hell is it with you? Stop hitting me and I may
listen!'

Again, her words seemed to have no effect on Bunny Ears, and
so Alice, realizing she had no real options and no apparent means of escape,
walked in through the hole and began a steep descent underground. Just a few
minutes ago she had got her first glimpse of humans for the first time since
she had been foolhardy enough to follow Bunny Ears down the hole, and had begun
to entertain hopes of rescue. However, now she was again firmly in the clutches
of the Biters, and headed back into one of their underground strongholds.

They walked for what seemed to be at least an hour in total
darkness, and Bunny Ears finally stopped in an opening that was lit by a single
torch. Alice grabbed her sides, with barely enough strength left to stay
standing, let alone follow him any deeper.

'I need water, ok? I am not like you. I need to drink and
eat.'

He looked at her, with no expression on his face, and she
made drinking motions with her hands, hoping that he would get the idea. When
he moved his right arm, Alice flinched, wondering if he would hit her again.
Instead, he held out her backpack, which he had taken from her after the fight
in the Embassy. She opened it and took out her water bottle, draining it as she
drank every last drop there. When she put it back inside, she felt inside the
bag for a second. She had her first aid kid, and one signal flare. While she
had no weapons left on her, that flare might come in handy. When Bunny Ears
growled, she handed the backpack to him, thankful that he was intelligent
enough to understand what she wanted, but not quite smart enough to check the
bag.

She followed him deeper into the abyss, going through
several more descending turns before they arrived at a door. When Bunny Ears
pushed it open, Alice saw that they had entered some sort of shelter that must
have once been designed for use by humans. Metal bunk beds lined the room, in
which dozens of Biters were sprawled. Some of them hissed and moved in her
direction, but a series of growls from Bunny Ears sent them scampering back.
Perhaps to keep her close and out of harm's way, he grabbed her wrist and
pulled her behind him. Many of the Biters glared and spat at her, and she had
no doubt they would have ripped her to shreds if her unlikely guardian in the
form of a Biter with bunny ears had not been there.

They paused at an open door, and Alice froze when she heard
a human voice coming from somewhere on the other side. It was a gravely voice,
deep and slow, but it was unmistakably the voice of a human female, unless
Alice was about to meet her first talking Biter.

'What have you brought down today? Let me see.'

Alice heard some growling and screeching in response, as the
speaker continued.

'Two Zeus troopers? What on Earth would I want to do with
them? Their papers show that they are but fresh recruits, so they could have
nothing of use for me. Of course, you would have no way of knowing that, would
you?'

Alice heard more screeching, and listened to this surreal
conversation, wondering if the two parties actually understood what they were
saying to each other.

'Oh well, you have brought them down, and I did have a chat
with them. Unfortunately, they are totally brainwashed and unwilling to join
us, and after what they've seen, I cannot let them go back up. I was hoping
that they would have a more open mind. It's probably all for the better; these
two are part of the unit that killed all the little ones a fortnight ago.'

The screeching now gave way to a blood-curdling roar, and
Alice realized with a start that the Biter being talked to did understand what
was being said to it. The next words from the female voice made Alice's eyes
open wide with fear.

'Take them, and off with their heads.'

Alice heard the men begging and pleading as they were
dragged away, and then Bunny Ears began to push her into the room. She pushed
him back, now in a state of panic, wondering if she was being prepared for the
same fate as had befallen the captured Zeus troopers.

'Let me go! Goddammit, let go of my hand!'

Suddenly she heard the female voice inside the room call out
to her in a soothing tone.

'It's quite all right, dear. I suspect you have nothing to
fear from me. Come on in.'

'Who the hell are you?'

The voice tut-tutted, like a disapproving school teacher.

'Young lady, I had hoped for better manners from someone
from one of the settlements. You are not one of the wild humans roaming and
scavenging in the Deadland. Come on in, and we can talk like civilized people.
As for who I am, these fellows down here think I'm their Queen.'

And so, shivering with fear, Alice was pushed into the room
for her audience with the Queen of the Biters.

***

THREE

When Alice entered the room, she found herself in what
resembled an office of some sort, with a large couch at one end and a desk with
a high-backed chair at the other. The Queen was sitting in the chair, but had
her back turned to the door, so Alice could see little more of her than a
gloved arm resting on the chair's side. Bunny Ears was standing behind her and
making vaguely threatening growling noises. Alice had no idea how they
communicated, but she thought a fair attempt at translation would indicate that
he was reminding her not to try anything since he was right behind her. That
suited Alice just fine, since she was so terrified that any act of bravado was
the last thing on her mind.

'Dear, please sit down, and don't mind Rabbit there. He's
just very protective but is otherwise quite gentle.'

Alice found it impossible to contain a dismissive snort as
she considered how anyone could think of a vicious Biter as gentle. The Queen
seemed not to notice, or at any rate, take any offense, and so Alice sat down
on the couch and waited. When the chair swiveled around, Alice's curiosity was
in overdrive and she was leaning so far forward that she was on the verge of
falling off the couch. Then she got her first glimpse of the Queen, and to say
that she was let down would be quite the understatement of the century.

The Queen of the Biters looked like a friendly librarian at
the local library, complete with her grey hair tied in a neat bun, and dark
tinted glasses perched on the edge of her nose, framing an aging, tired, but
kind face. Of course, Alice had never been to a library, and had never seen a
librarian, but the figure she saw in front of her was the farthest thing
possible from the fearsome Biter leader she had half-expected to see. As the
Queen got up, Alice saw that she was most certainly not a Biter, with her face
unblemished, and that she was evidently Indian, for she wore a saree that hung
loosely around her thin frame.

'Are you the Queen?'

The old lady smiled, as she came closer to Alice.

'My name was Protima, though nobody has called me by that
name in a very long time. In our world, I guess I am considered the Queen,
though what I rule over is something I myself am not very sure of. Now, young
lady, let me take a look at you and see if what has got these fellows so
excited has any basis in fact or not.'

When the Queen came closer and took off her glasses, Alice
gasped and shrank back.

The Queen's face may have looked as unblemished as that of
any healthy human, but her eyes were red, dilated and lifeless, the eyes of the
undead. When she grinned, Alice saw crusted blood on her lips and around the
corners of her mouth. Alice began to scream, but a gloved hand was clamped over
her mouth.

'Shh, dear. There's nothing to be so terrified of. Yet.'

With that, the Queen grabbed a lock of Alice's hair and
pulled on it hard enough to make Alice grimace.

'Well, it is real blond hair. When these fools came in
blabbering about a blond haired Alice, I was sure they had got it wrong. Who
would have expected a young blond girl in the middle of what was once Delhi?'

Alice was sitting frozen in place. Somehow, the combination
of her unblemished face and her ability to speak so articulately made the Queen
even more fearsome than the most outwardly bloodthirsty and fearsome Biters
Alice had ever encountered. Finally, she mustered up the courage to speak.

'Are you one of...'

She never got a chance to complete her question as the Queen
snapped back.

'One of the undead? One of the Biters? What other hateful
label were you planning to use? That's always been the problem with humans. You
take anything you fear and cannot understand and make it an object of hate. So
much easier to hate and destroy than to seek to understand.'

Actually, Alice had been about to just say 'them', but she
was too scared to interrupt the Queen's rant, so she just sat in silence and
waited for what was to come next. The Queen sat down next to Alice and took off
her gloves. Alice saw that underneath the gloves were not the hands of a
healthy human, but yellowed, decayed and blood crusted hands crisscrossed with
open wounds and bite marks. When the Queen laid a cold, hard hand on Alice's
wrist, she involuntarily flinched, but the viselike grip on her wrist prevented
her from moving. In a brief moment of panic, Alice contemplated striking out, but
a low growl behind her warned her that Bunny Ears was right there, watching her
every move.

'Dear, you must be wondering what all the fuss is about,
right?'

Alice noticed that the Queen's face was twitching and while
her lifeless eyes betrayed no emotion, she seemed excited, like a little girl
at a toy shop.

'It is the prophecy I had made. It is finally coming true,
and that means that our days of suffering will come to an end.'

Alice had no idea what the Queen was talking about, so she
just waited for her to continue.

'Don't you see? You must be the one the book told me about.'

'What book?'

The Queen got up, and Alice saw that she was virtually
hopping in excitement. At that point, Alice realized that human or undead, one
thing was for sure: the Queen was totally unhinged. The Queen walked back to
her desk and fished in the drawers for a few seconds before bringing out
something covered in a coarse cloth. As soon as she raised the package in her
hands, Alice saw that Bunny Ears had gone down on his knees. Several thoughts
were buzzing through her mind. Since when did mindless Biters get religious?
How the hell was this so-called Queen partly human and partly Biter? How was it
at all possible that she of all people had anything to do with any prophecy
this crazed old Queen claimed to have made?

The Queen was now in front of Alice and holding the package
in front of her.

'Do you realize what this is?'

Of course Alice had no way of knowing, but she was young
enough to not know a rhetorical question, so she shook her head. Any response
on her part was largely unnecessary because the Queen was in a trance like
state, talking without a pause.

'When the mad human governments rained fire, I hid in the
underground chambers that they had made as bomb shelters and old sewers, moving
from one tunnel to another. Do you know how long I was down there?'

Another rhetorical question, and then the Queen continued.

'I kept my phone running as long as I could, turning it on
for a few seconds every day to see the time and date. When I lost it, it had
been three months. I had been bitten seven times.'

The Queen put the package on the sofa next to Alice and
raised her sleeves, showing a bloody, mangled mess on her hands. Alice wondered
again how this woman had retained some human faculties despite so obviously
having been bitten by Biters. Also, she shuddered to think just how horrible it
must have been to wander alone in the dark tunnels, surrounded by crazed Biters
in utter darkness, with no easy access to food or water. Anybody would have
lost their mind in such circumstances. The Queen continued.

'I would have given up and killed myself if I had been just
a human, but as you can see, I was becoming something more. I did not have much
to eat, so I scrounged around for herbs and leaves. And one day, I found this.'

She motioned to the package.

'At the time, I didn't know what to make of it, but when I
came back to the surface and saw what the world had been reduced to, I realized
it was perhaps the last book left in the Deadland.'

The Queen took a break and went back to her desk, bringing
out a bunch of green leaves that she proceeded to chew raw. Alice could hear
Bunny Ears growling in anticipation and the Queen threw him a couple of leaves
that he gobbled down. Alice recognized the leaves as ganja leaves and
remembered the warnings from the adults about never eating them. If this woman,
or Biter, or whatever the Queen was, had been living on ganja leaves for
months, no wonder her mind was a bit messed up with all the hallucinations it
must have caused. That feeling was cemented in her mind when the Queen took out
what was in the package and held it before Alice.

'Behold the prophecy I was given by the last book left in
the Deadland. A vision of you coming to lead us to victory.'

Alice saw what the Queen was holding and saw a slightly
charred book cover. It showed a blonde girl jumping into a hole after a rabbit,
and Alice suddenly realized that it must have inspired the drawing she had seen
and also explained why they had been so excited to see her. She could not
immediately make out all the words, but saw her name on top. The Queen seemed a
bit disappointed at the lack of recognition from Alice, but then she did not
know that Alice had not read a single book in her life, and did not recognize
the title on the cover.

Alice in Wonderland.

***

There must have been hundreds, if not more, Biters crowding
the large underground hall in front of the Queen, all down on their knees. They
kept up a constant crescendo of howling and screeching that made Alice want to
put her hands over her ears. But her hands were pinned behind her by Bunny Ears
and the Queen was now addressing her troops.

'Look at her! The prophecy is true! She will lead us to
victory and we will throw off the oppression and savagery of those evil humans
forever. They did not want to coexist with us but now we will have a chance to
make them understand, to accept us, and let us survive side by side with men.
Otherwise, we will wage our final war for survival and make them understand
that we can and will become the dominant species on this planet.'

The Biters seemed incapable of speaking in any human tongue
but they seemed to understand the Queen just fine, and soon they had worked
themselves into a frenzy. The more Alice saw them, the more they resembled wild
animals, and the Queen ended her exhortation by asking them to prepare for
their missions that night.

Alice was herded back to the small room that was effectively
her cell. She had no idea of how the Queen expected her to lead her forces to
victory. What could one young girl contribute? Moreover, Alice had no intention
whatsoever of playing out whatever role the Queen had imagined for her in her
delusional prophecy. She was just biding her time, waiting for when she could escape,
and so for now she decided that playing along with the Queen was her best
strategy. Her chance came sooner than she had expected when later that evening
the Queen sent for her.

'Alice, they look to me to be their leader, but I was an old
woman even before I transformed, and while I had my skills, being able to fight
and lead in battle was not one of them. You are the one who must take on my
mantle and continue our struggle.'

Alice could take it no longer and blurted out, 'What
struggle? Why don't you just leave humans alone? What harm have we done to you
that you lead these creatures to attack us?'

The Queen sat down, and while a smile played at the edges of
her lips, her eyes were as lifeless as ever.

'I don't blame you for believing what you do. You've grown
up hearing only one side of the story, and from my old life I know just how
good the powers that be are at propaganda.'

She saw the skeptical look on Alice's face and continued.

'I won't try and convince you because my words would be of
no value to you. So I will let you see through your own eyes.'

She nodded and Bunny Ears grabbed Alice by her arm and led
her out. She was dragged more than led up a series of winding tunnels and then
suddenly she found herself outside again. It was getting dark outside and she
was in a thickly wooded area. She saw a broken sign and she recognized the
symbols from some of her training when they had been familiarized with the
surrounding landscape. They were near the Yamuna River
–
or rather what used to be the river, but now
was a dried up trickle after the nuclear firestorms and subsequent battles had
destroyed the dams and reservoirs feeding it. She sensed movement around her
and she saw that there were at least a dozen more Biters hiding among the
trees.

After more than an hour of waiting, she turned to Bunny
Ears, asking him what it was he had brought her here to see, but he merely
grunted in reply, as if telling her to shut up and wait. Then as she watched,
something strange happened. She saw a large group of Biters emerge from the
trees, perhaps a hundred or more of them. They were all walking in single file,
which was totally contrary to the image Alice had grown up with of them being
savage, mindless brutes incapable of any act of co-ordination or reason. But what
totally took her breath away was the fact that the Biters were not just a
random group out to inflict violence, but seemed to be a social grouping of
some sort. There were a handful of women, many of them carrying small children.
The children themselves looked like something out of a nightmare, with their
yellowed skin and many cuts and bruises on their blood covered bodies, but all
the same, they were children. Alice had no idea if these were families formed
and born after the adults had been transformed to Biters or if these were
families that had retained some of their old bonds even after they ceased to be
human. Either way, yet again irrevocable proof was in front of her eyes that
there was much more to the Biters than she had been brought up to believe.

As the column came closer, Alice got a better look at them.
With their bowed backs and trundling along slowly in single file, they looked
more like a group of refugees than a band of marauding monsters. She heard
Bunny Ears screech behind her, and two Biters in the group ahead responded in
kind. What was the Queen trying to show her by sending her here? True, there
seemed to be much more to the Biters than what she had grown up believing, but
so far she had seen nothing that would change her mind about joining the Queen
or fulfilling some deranged prophecy of hers. No, if there was one thing Alice
was sure of, it was the fact that she would find the earliest possible
opportunity to escape.