The Crocodile's Jaws: An Alice in Deadland Adventure (Alice, No.7) (7 page)

The airport had been pummeled by cruise missiles fired by
India when Pakistan had begun to use the airport for military flights during
the Rising. The old city itself, visible in the distance, had fared little
better. Taliban had battled security forces in an orgy of violence in the last
days, and bombs and rockets had ripped the heart out of the once-cosmopolitan
city of Karachi. What they had not destroyed, hordes of Biters and looters had
achieved. Alice had seen and lived in the ruins of the old city of Delhi, but
this was different. Delhi had fallen to the Biters during the Rising, and been
depopulated by the catastrophe of the Rising and the airburst nuclear weapons
the government had used as a last resort. Karachi had not seen a nuclear strike—India
had taken out the nearby Air Force base and army barracks with tactical nukes,
but had spared the city's civilian areas. Yet the city looked like it had been
ripped apart brick by brick.

'So much for the LZ. We need to tell the President that
nothing will land here.'

Alice noticed how easily John had accepted Robertson as his
commander. There was a lot she did not understand about the old world, and one
of those things was why people so readily gave others authority over them. Very
few people were able to exercise such authority without being corrupted by it.
Konrath had been one of them, but she was still not sure about Robertson. Yet
John was right. No plane could land in the wreckage that remained of the old
airport. If Robertson wanted to bring in reinforcements to tackle whatever
threat lurked in Karachi, he would have to find a different way.

When she booted up her tablet to pass the bad news, there
was already a message from Robertson waiting for her. He wanted her to contact
him urgently. When she got on the video link, his eyes were drawn with fatigue,
as if he had not been sleeping much. As he heard the news about the airport,
his shoulders visibly sagged.

'We have but two days. They say they will destroy Washington
unless we free all the Executive Committee leaders in our custody. We have to
do something.'

'Do you know where these missiles are based?'

'No. We barely have a few communications satellites up. The
old spy satellites that could have tracked them are no more. All we've been
able to trace is that they are in Karachi somewhere.'

John seemed to be thinking and then he spoke up.

'Sir, the airport is gone, but we came through a large
stretch of highway where fixed-wing aircraft may be able to land. There are
long stretches with no vehicles or wreckage that could act as a runway. The
forces you send would have to trek several hours to get to Karachi, but it's
better than nothing.'

Robertson's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

'Great idea! Send me the co-ordinates or any landmarks. The
Executive Committee had a few of the old satellites up and running and we
captured some of their transport aircraft with working GPS systems so if we
know the rough area, our pilots can find it. We'll work on something, but we
don't have much time. You need to get more intel about what we're up against.'

As Alice and her companions set off in the direction of the
city, she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. Call it
intuition, call it paranoia, but she felt that someone's eyes were on her. They
were passing through some densely packed slums on both sides of them, and more
than once, she thought she spotted movement.

'John, I have a bad feeling about this. Bunny Ears, scout
the—'

A bullet slammed into her chest, sending her crashing to the
ground.

***

SEVEN

Shots erupted all around Alice, sending the dust swirling
around her from near misses. She had been wearing a protective vest, not
because she could be killed by anything other than a direct head wound, but
because she saw little reason to carry around any more wounds and gashes on her
body than was absolutely necessary. She still retained some of the vanity that
had come with being a young woman, and grimaced when she saw the many wounds
she had from years of fighting.

Alice rolled to her right, coming up behind the hulking
wreck of an old bus. She could see numerous muzzle flashes and brought up her
rifle to shoot at one of them. She pulled the trigger and someone jerked back
as her rounds struck home. She had no idea whether she'd scored a hit or not,
but the shooting stopped for a few seconds, as if their attackers were
regrouping to deal with a quarry that could shoot back.

'Bunny Ears, John, Zohar!'

In the chaos of initial ambush, Alice had lost sight of her
companions, and when no reply came, she had a sinking feeling. Then she caught
sight of a pair of familiar rabbit ears across the road. Bunny Ears had heard
her and was coming towards her. Several shots rang out, hitting the buildings
near him, but he kept coming. Afraid that she was calling her friend to his
death, Alice shouted out again.

'No, stay there!'

An explosion rocked the other side of the bus and Alice was lifted
by the impact and thrown several feet away. Two men came at her, carrying old
rifles. Both looked like the addicts she had seen so far, wearing tattered
clothes, with ancient weapons, and with scaly skin all over their arms. Alice
knelt and put a three-round burst into one man's stomach and the man went down
in a heap. The second one knelt and took aim but Alice stitched him with
another burst that sent him down.

An impact on her back sent her staggering. The men directing
the attack had used the addicts as cannon fodder to distract her and reveal her
position, and had flanked her, bringing fire onto her from behind. Alice rolled
into a shallow ditch on the side of the roads and turned to face her attackers.
More firing rattled in the distance. Presumably John was still alive and
fighting back. Men shuffled among the buildings ahead and she took aim.

That was when a voice spoke in a strange accent.

'Give up or we kill the boy.'

Zohar.

Alice watched with a sinking feeling as a large white man
emerged from the buildings, dragging Zohar forward with one hand, while in the
other he held a pistol pointed at the boy's head. He was flanked by two
addicts, both carrying automatic rifles pointed at Alice. Has it just been her,
Alice might have taken her chances, but she was not going to sacrifice an
innocent boy.

'Put down your weapon.'

Alice did as she was told and then sensed movement behind
her. She barely had time to look back when two men rushed at her and put a
cloth sack over her head and hit her head with the butt of a rifle. Alice fell
to the ground as the men bound her hands behind her while the man holding Zohar
called out to her again.

'Resist and I blow the boy's head off.'

Alice's head rang from the blow and she struggled to her knees
when a kick to her back sent her down again. She could see nothing with the
sack around her head but she could hear Zohar crying and the occasional pop of
gunfire. There were more attackers out there who seemed to have John and Bunny
Ears pinned down. Hands pulled Alice roughly to her feet and she was dragged
away and loaded onto a vehicle of some sort. As the vehicle started moving, she
felt a comforting hand on her leg. It was Zohar, sobbing uncontrollably.

'I'm so sorry. I couldn't fight them off.'

That focused Alice. She had no idea who her attackers were
or where they were taking her, but she needed to be strong for Zohar.

'Don't worry. I've got out of worse situations before,' she
said, not entirely believing her own words.

'Shut up!'

A kick to her back rocked her forward, and Alice was quiet.
They drove for several minutes and then the vehicle stopped and Alice was
hustled out and thrown into some other vehicle. As it began moving, Alice
sensed that they were on water, on a boat of some sort. It was rocking from
side to side and she heard the sound of waves lapping the sides of the boat.

Where were they taking them?

They kept going for some minutes and then the boat slowed
down considerably and rocked violently as large waves hit it. She was dragged
upright and pushed forward. Spray hit her body and Zohar gripped her leg tight.
The boy's hand was shaking in terror.

'Nikolai, that is not a very polite way to treat an honored
guest. Please take off the sack.'

The big man who had captured her yanked off the sack, and
Alice blinked, trying to accustom her eyes to the sudden light. What she saw
took her breath away.

The city of Karachi was well behind them, and they were out
to sea. Alice had seen the sea from the airplane when she had flown to the Homeland
but had never actually been in it. The vast expanse of water stretching all
around her filled her with awe and dread. But even that was not the thing which
most shocked her. In front of them was an immense black apparition that sat
half submerged in the sea. Alice would have thought it was some monstrous
creature had she not seen the metallic sheen on its body. It was a vessel or
machine of some sort. High above her was the man who had ordered the sack to be
taken off. He wore a uniform of some sort, with a cap atop a lean, hard face,
and with medals across his chest. He spoke in a lightly accented English.

'My, my, so it is this Alice I have read so much about.
Having you here at this time is indeed a sign from the Gods, is it not?'

Alice spat out her defiance.

'Who are you and what do you want?'

The man smiled, though there was little humor in his eyes.

'There will be a lot of time to talk business. First come
aboard our humble ship. Alice, welcome to the Crocodile.'

***

'Just a month ago, if someone had told me they had seen a
girl who was half Biter and half human coming our way, I would not have
believed him. But here you are before me in the flesh, and I have now read all
about you even before my men started describing you in our area of operations.'

Alice was sitting in a chair with her hands tied behind her
and with chains around her legs. She had been hauled aboard the strange ship
and then been separated from Zohar. She had been assured that he was safe, and
would be so as long as she cooperated. The man took off his cap and bowed
before her, his formality absurd.

'I am Captain Vladimir Chernenko of the Russian Navy, and
you are aboard my little baby, the
Yuriy Dolgorokiy
, the lead ship of
the Borei class of attack submarines.'

None of that meant anything to Alice, so she just stayed
silent, wondering what this man and his strange ship were doing here.

'This submarine was one of the most powerful vessels ever
built, and I dare say today there is nothing in the world to match its
destructive power. With its nuclear reactors, we can keep sailing without
needing fuel for many more years. We carry sixteen Bulava ICBMs, each with six
warheads. That means we can destroy ninety-six cities at the touch of a button.
Perhaps hundreds of millions of souls wiped out, just like that.'

As he snapped his fingers to make his point, Alice sat up,
her eyes widening in horror. She had seen what a single nuclear rocket had done
to Shanghai. The destructive power of ninety-six such weapons was almost beyond
comprehension.

'We were trained for a war that never came—a war against the
Americans, a war that would end it all. We did end it all, of course, but not
by lobbing missiles at each other. Instead we ate each other up.'

He chuckled, and Alice began to get the feeling that despite
his polished words and demeanor, the captain was quite unhinged.

The man named Nikolai, her captor, now entered the room.

'Welcome, Nikolai. Alice, this is Nikolai Talinin, sergeant
of the small group of marines we have on board.'

The big man glared at Alice. He was a good head taller than
his captain, and his face had several scars. His nose looked like it had been
broken, and when he nodded, it was almost imperceptible with this thick,
stub-like neck.

'Captain, now that you have this witch, should I kill the
boy?'

He had said it so casually that it took a second for the
words to register, and then Alice struggled against her bonds. The captain
smiled at Alice.

'Not yet. Is that any way to treat our guests? First let me
discuss a few business propositions with Alice and then you can cut the
urchin's throat and feed him to the sharks if she doesn't comply.'

Then he turned to Alice, all business, all politeness gone
from his eyes.

'I am the most powerful man left in this stinking world. I
can literally destroy the whole world and every human being still alive, and
nobody can touch me in my Crocodile. Yet what have I been reduced to? After the
Rising, we sailed the world and kept waiting to hear back from our headquarters.
Nobody called. Nobody was alive to call. We stopped at a dozen ports. All the
big ones were nuclear cesspools, the others overflowing with Biters. My young
First Officer, Yuriy, had a romantic notion. Why don't we find a nice,
untouched island paradise and settle down there? So we explored a lot of places—the
Maldives, Seychelles, islands in the Pacific. We went to Hawaii, to coastal
cities around the world. We sailed for years. Nobody was untouched by the
Biters, but there were humans. Many more than I would have believed. There were
settlements everywhere, small groups trying to keep alive, trying to make sense
of it all. Yuriy and some of the others settled down with some of our hosts,
but I kept going, trying to see where a man like me fit into this mad new
world.'

Alice sat up. She had believed that the humans in the
Deadland where she had grown up had been an aberration. Later, she had learnt
of all the survivors in the US Homeland. Now she was learning that many, many
more humans had survived across the world.

'Then I began to think. I was the most powerful man in the
world—by then, I was quite sure none of the mighty navies or armies of the old
world existed. Yet here I was, living like a vagabond, begging our hosts for
food or shelter while we docked there. So, I began to take what I wanted, what
my men wanted. Food, women, supplies.'

Alice spat out, 'For all your words, you are nothing but a
bandit.'

The captain looked at Nikolai.

'I told you she would have spirit. She does her reputation
justice.'

Then he leaned forward and slapped Alice hard across the
face.

'Talk when I ask you to talk. Otherwise, keep silent.

'Six months ago, we came to Karachi. My Comms Officer is the
eternal optimist. After all these years, once a month or so, he would listen
for signals, see if anyone was out there. And then we heard you, your friends,
your allies in the Homeland. We saw the Internet start to come back on, and I
learned of your story, of the war that had been waged here while I vacationed
in my island paradises. I learned of your city of Wonderland and others in the
US Homeland—cities where people live by the thousands, farms that grow food, a
whole new world being created. A world worthy of being ruled by someone like
me.'

***

The door of her cell creaked open, and she was instantly on her
guard. She had no weapons, but she would not go down without a fight.

The door opened just enough for a small figure to be thrown
in. It was Zohar. The room was illuminated by a single, flickering bulb on the
ceiling, and in the dim light she saw crusted blood on Zohar's lips and nose,
and when she held his left arm, he groaned in pain.

'Are you okay?'

Zohar hung his head down in shame.

'I tried to fight them. I'm sorry, they captured you because
of me.'

Alice's heart went out to the brave boy in front of her and
she hugged him.

'We'll get out of here, kid.'

The door opened again and this time Nikolai stood there,
grinning.

'You have your kid back, as you wanted. Now the captain
wants you on the bridge to talk about how you can help us.'

Alice would have lashed out then and there had it not been
for the two marines behind him with their rifles trained on Zohar. Having him
hurt would not be worth the satisfaction of wiping the grin off Nikolai's face.
However, she was not going to give in so easily. She had figured out that the
captain thought she could be of some use to him, which was why she was still
alive. She would use that leverage to whatever extent she could, and learn more
about what was really going on in this strange ship.

'I am not meeting anyone till a doctor comes and dresses
Zohar's injuries. Unfortunately you and your men think it's brave to hit a
small boy.'

Nikolai's eyes narrowed in rage but he controlled himself
and slammed the door. A few minutes later, a young woman entered. She looked
around furtively, her eyes widening as she saw Alice. But then she quickly
averted her gaze with the practiced discretion of the weak and the enslaved. This
woman was out of place on the ship, not just because she was the only woman Alice
had seen so far, but also because she seemed to be ethnically from the local
region versus the fair-skinned and blond or brown-haired crewmembers. The woman
knelt before Zohar and tended to his wounds, swabbing them with cotton pads
doused in antiseptics, and then gave him some painkillers to take.

'What is your name?'

The woman would not meet Alice's gaze and ignored her,
making sure she stayed away from Alice as she tended to Zohar. Part of it was
the fright at seeing someone who looked like a Biter but could talk, but part
of it was an even bigger fear. As she finished and gathered her things, she
whispered to Alice.