Deadland: Untold Stories of Alice in Deadland (Alice, No. 5) (13 page)

Alice sat near the drainage hole behind her home, washing
the clothes with water, seeing the accumulated dirt and dust wash away, but her
mind was elsewhere.

It was Valentine's Day. She had thought if it were such an
important day, something special would happen, especially after what Junior had
said the previous night. Yet, here she was, getting bored washing clothes. She
saw some movement, and peered around the wall to see Jane.

She was with Ravi, and he had his arms around her.

'Don't go. Not today.'

'Jane, I have to go. Jones is sending out patrols but we're
supposed to look for these Biter holes, and I tell you, they don't exist. So
we'll go out, walk around a bit, and then come back in time for the party.'

'And then?'

He brought Jane closer and spoke in little more than a
whisper.

'And then, we sing, we party, and...'

Alice watched wide-eyed as he kissed her. Jane didn't seem
to mind all that much. Maybe kissing wasn't such a disgusting thing, after all.

Ravi put on his backpack and gathered his rifle and left.
Alice followed him to the gate and saw that small groups were heading out. She
knew that the rumors of Biter bases were spreading, and perhaps it was
important to look for them, but she wasn't sure she would want to go out there,
actively looking for Biters. It was one thing to defend yourself when a Biter
appeared, quite another to seek them out, especially when they were supposed to
be capable of hiding underground and appearing out of nowhere to attack humans.

Junior was at the gate, talking to his father. When he saw
Alice, he smiled.

'Hey, what are you going to be doing all day while we're out
there having fun?'

Alice smiled back. Junior knew the answer only too well, and
probably just wanted to needle her. Nobody had asked her if she wanted to go
out on these patrols. Indeed, kids her age were never allowed out on offensive
patrols or sweeps.

'I'll be watching for real Biters while you poke into empty
holes.'

As he passed Alice, he said in a whisper, 'Happy Valentine's
Day. I'll bring some flowers back for you.'

Alice smirked.

'I don't want flowers from you!'

***

Alice spent much of the rest of the day feeling a greater
sense of anticipation than she had expected. A few days earlier, she hadn't
even known that something like Valentine's Day existed. It had taken someone
like a Ravi, with his songs, poems and dreams and his talk of a better life and
the effect he had on Jane, to bring the idea of such a day into her life. Alice
had grown up knowing fear and conquering that fear in the only way she knew how—by
fighting back. While she could not wish the Biters or the violence that
permeated their lives away, it did seem a pleasant idea to spend even just one
day thinking of better things, of simpler pleasures like someone giving you a
flower, or a chocolate, or indeed, a kiss.

She passed a group of the youngest kids being taught about
Biters. She had been to the classes so many times she knew the lessons by
heart. Everything the kids needed to know could be summed up in three simple
truths.

If a Biter bit you, you would become one of them; if a Biter
bit someone you knew, it didn’t matter whether that person was your best
friend, they were now a Biter and would rip your throat out in a heartbeat; and
if you could take only one shot, aim for the head. Only the head. Nothing else
would put a Biter down for good.

Many of the kids were looking on goggle-eyed as they were
told tales of how people would seem to die on being bitten and then come back
as a Biter.

'What happens when you become a Biter?'

Alice had asked the same question herself and never got a
satisfactory answer, because the simple truth was that nobody knew. Did Biters
have memories? Did they retain anything at all of the humans they had once
been? Did they sleep or dream? Why did they attack humans the way they did?

So many questions, and not a single answer. However for
Alice, what was enough was the simple truth that the Biters threatened not just
her but everyone and everything she had in the world—her home, her family, her
friends. That was enough to tell her that the only right thing to do with a
Biter was to destroy it.

She came home to find Jane combing her hair, whistling a
tune. Normally, Jane was always quiet and dour. If Alice was the troublemaker
of the family, she would counter by saying that Jane was a bore. But something
had changed in Jane since she had met Ravi. She smiled more often, she sang to
herself and she actually laughed. If Valentine's Day could do all that, again
Alice decided, it was a pretty good thing. Not that Jane's romantic life
concerned Alice, but a happy and distracted Jane was one who told on Alice less
often and got her in trouble less often.

It was late afternoon when the first signs of trouble
emerged.

Jones ran up to Gladwell. 'Sir, Sunil's patrol was supposed
to be back an hour ago. No sign of them yet.'

Gladwell didn't look up from the piece of paper where he was
going through inventories of food and supplies. 'They'll be back. Sunil's been
out there countless times, and he's got two newcomers with him, but those guys
can shoot pretty well.'

'Sir, they're not the only ones.'

That got Gladwell's attention. He followed Jones to the
community center where Jones had put up a rough map of their surroundings with
pins to indicate the zones where different patrols were supposed to be
scouting. This was supposed to have been a cakewalk—go out in force and come
back to reassure people that the mythical Biter holes were just that. Three
patrols were already late reporting in.

'Sir, should we send out more men to scout for them?'

Gladwell thought it over. It was a terrible choice. The
patrols out there could well be in trouble but in sending more people out from
the security of the settlement, he would be exposing even more people to risk.

'If there's trouble out there that they can't handle,
sending a few small patrols out won't help. Let's get the defences ready just
in case.'

Word was passed around and within fifteen minutes, everyone
gathered around as Gladwell addressed them.

'Everyone, there's no need to panic, but as always, we need
to err on the side of caution. Some of our patrols have been late checking in.
I'd like to believe that Sunil is out there, challenging them to another round
of cards, but we need to be cautious. We lock down the settlement for now.
Close the gates, get everyone inside and set up defences. No need to get
everyone armed, but Jones will set up guards on all the walls, and just be
ready.'

Alice could see worried glances all around. There were many
families there with members out on the patrols, and in particular, the newcomers
were reacting with rising panic. They had come to the settlement seeking safety
after rejecting Zeus, and now they were learning the hard way that there was no
lasting security in the Deadland.

Alice stood on a platform on the wall near the front gate.
She was still young, but she was a very good shot by any standards, and
certainly far better than any of the kids. So, while her father would never
allow her out on offensive patrols, when it came to defending the walls, it was
a good bet that she would be picked for duty.

For a few minutes, she saw or heard nothing out of the
ordinary. Then the faint popping sounds began. At first, in ones or twos, and
then going off in quick succession. She looked around, and everyone had heard
them. Her father was scanning the area outside with his binoculars. When he put
them down, she could see concern in his eyes.

'Were they ours?'

Gladwell didn't even turn to see who had spoken, but kept
his eyes on the horizon as he responded.

'Too many guns. Far too many. Could be a Zeus patrol, but it
would have to be a very large one.'

Nobody said anything as the popping sounds continued, and
then began to die down—from the sustained barrage down again to single pops.
And then it abruptly stopped. Everyone had the same unasked question on their
minds—had their patrols just been wiped out by a Zeus force? The tensions with
Zeus had been very real and increasing over the years, but by and large, Zeus
had avoided any direct confrontation. Could that have just changed?

Alice now had her rifle on her shoulder, her eyes glued to
the scope. Jones had spent many hours teaching her how to enter the zone. How
to blank out everything and everyone around her. How to focus so intensely on
the task in front of her that she would act more on reflex or muscle memory
than with any conscious thought. When he had discovered her skills with a gun,
he had honed them further, making her stand at attention, her eyes glued to the
scope, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for two, scanning for him. He would
patiently stalk her and at first, he would surprise her, but as the months wore
on, she would almost always spot him, her concentration unflagging, and then
she would pull the trigger, the rifle clicking on empty as she shot him with an
imaginary bullet.

That was why when she caught her first glimpse of a figure
walking towards the settlement, she almost pulled the trigger, but she caught
herself in time. There was something familiar about the man, with his broad
shoulders and imposing bulk.

'Dad!'

Gladwell saw the man too and as he looked through his
binoculars, he whispered, 'Sunil.'

Jones raced out on a bicycle and fetched Sunil as the other
settlers kept an anxious watch out for the others who had gone out into the
Deadland. A dozen men and older boys were out there, divided into four patrols.
Their mission had been easy enough—scout out no more than three or four
kilometers from the settlement in all directions and head back. A show of
force, and also meant to reassure the settlers that there were no secret Biter
hiding places near their settlement. As Gladwell watched Jones cycle back with
Sunil behind, he felt sick. He had agreed to send all those men and boys out
and there, and he was responsible for whatever had happened to them.

As the bike entered the gates, Sunil fell more than got off
the back seat. People had gathered around him, anxious for news of what had
happened. Someone passed on a jug of water, which Sunil drained before he began
speaking.

'It was simple enough and we were getting bored of walking
around, but then we spotted a large force of Zeus troopers. Must have been a
hundred of them. They weren't just out on patrols, they were hunting Biters. We
thought the holes that Biters came from were a joke, but it seems Zeus takes it
seriously enough. They were lobbing grenades in any holes or tunnels they
found. We lay low, since with those troopers, you never know when they'll turn
on you, and I told the two guys with me to head back to the settlement. As I
circled back, I passed two more of our patrols, and I told them to get back
individually, since moving in a group would make them easier to spot.'

'Are they...'

'I think they'll be fine. There was no danger to them but I
just told them to lie low and take their time before they headed back.'

'So what was all the shooting about?'

It was then that the look in Sunil's eye changed. Alice had
known him ever since she had been a little girl, and she had seen him stand
shoulder to shoulder with her father and fight Biters with a knife and axe in the
darkness of night, but she had never seen him scared. Till today.

'There was one patrol I hadn't got in touch with, and so I
moved back to try and see if I could spot them and warn them. I never did get
to meet them. The Zeus troopers were getting careless, they were laughing, a
few were drinking as they lobbed grenades. This was maybe five kilometers away,
near the old factories. And then it happened. I never even saw them coming—they
seemed to come out of some construction tunnel behind the troopers—dozens and
dozens of Biters. The troopers took position and shot many of them, but then
more Biters came out of some drainage pipes. It was a slaughter. They killed
every single trooper—maybe a hundred men, all dead.'

There was utter silence around him as everyone digested the
implications of what he had witnessed. Someone cried out.

'They're heading back!'

Almost as one, everyone rushed to walls, and sure enough,
they could see figures walking back to the settlement. Gladwell looked at Jones
and nodded, and several men rode out in bikes to fetch them. Several cheers
went up and the tension lifted.

As they came back through the gates, their friends and
family members rushed to hug them. Jane had come up to stand next to Alice, and
was anxiously scanning the returning men.

As the last of the returning men was brought in and the
gates closed, Jane said in barely a whisper, 'Where is Ravi?'

***

As they did a headcount, Alice felt a sinking feeling in her
stomach. Ravi was not the only one who had not come back—Junior was also
missing. Jones was asking everyone who had gone out on patrol where and when
his son had last been seen. Most of them were clueless, either not having been
in the same area or having been in a hurry to get away from the battle that was
unfolding out in the Deadland. One man had been with Junior and Ravi, and he
spoke up, his eyes pointed at his feet. He was one of the early settlers, and
had been paired with the relatively inexperienced Ravi and Junior to provide
them guidance and leadership.

'We heard the shots and thought some of our people were in
trouble, so we went over to help. When we got there, the massacre had started.
There was nothing we could do to help the Zeus troopers so we set out on our
way back, but there were Biters everywhere so we split up to keep a lower
profile. I didn't see them after that.'