Through the Killing Glass (4 page)

'These men look
up to you. Ask them to go back home. We can all talk when people cool down.'

`Cool down? My
son was torn apart by her kind, and you ask me to cool down? We should have
destroyed the Biters, but we had to tolerate their presence because of her.'

Satish turned
on the man who had just spoken and looked him in the eye.

'Jai, you do
remember that I took a bullet to save your family when the Red Guards came? I
also share your grief and want to punish those responsible, but don't turn on
Alice or rush to conclusions.'

Arjun was now
outside, with Alice beside him. The big man strode forward, and while he had
his gun holstered, Alice saw several of the men lower their guns as he
approached. Satish had been an invaluable soldier in their struggle, but he was
a relative newcomer. In contrast, Arjun had been leading his band of `Ruin
Rats' for years, helping them survive against Biters and Zeus troopers alike.
Many of the men in the crowd had been part of his original crew, and looked
away as he addressed them.

'Jai, Ritesh,
Ankush...all of you were my brothers. Brothers who bled and fought with me.'

Alice saw some
of the men sheepishly put away their weapons as Arjun continued.

'But today you
insult that bond by turning on a girl who has perhaps sacrificed more than all
of us. Give her a chance, that's all I ask of you.'

Alice now
stepped forward. She had left all her weapons inside the Looking Glass.

'I did not
choose to be this way. I too want to play with my sister and eat meals with my
parents. I too want to go to school and learn something other than killing
people. But I have no regrets, for in all that loss we had created a bigger
family than I ever had. A family called Wonderland. I promise to personally
bring to justice those who have done this to your families and children, but
please trust me at least this much. For all we've been through together, please
give me this much trust, and let me find out who was behind this. If it was one
of the Biters in Wonderland, I promise you I will spare none of them.'

Whether it was
the impact of her words, Arjun's cajoling, or the simple fact that through the
entire exchange the gun turret had been trained on the group, they grudgingly
dispersed, leaving only Arun. He walked up to Alice and she half expected him
to say something sarcastic or provocative. Instead, he looked genuinely
shell-shocked.

'Alice, I know
we've had our differences. I know that in the last few months people have been
questioning why we still live in a state of war when there is no war to be
fought, and I know that yet others question why we keep the Biters close at
hand. But I'm willing to forget all of that if you help us find out who was
responsible for this massacre.'

Alice looked at
him, trying to gauge whether he was sincere or he just wanted to maintain the
status quo since that best served his political agenda. She was perhaps too
young to judge and took him at face value.

'Arun, we have
known some measure of peace, but the world outside is still at war. I know we
situated Looking Glass outside the center of Wonderland because you thought
people would get alarmed at all the bad news. The reality is we cannot pretend
away the fact that the world is still bleeding, and today some of that blood
seeped into Wonderland.'

Arun looked
away sheepishly as Arjun took up where Alice had left off.

'Arun, you and
others had voted to reduce patrols and cancel regular combat training. We
cannot pretend this is the Delhi the way it was before the Rising. We know
peace now, but that might change at any moment. Let us get to the bottom of
today's killing, but you as an elder need to help people understand that things
are much more dangerous outside Wonderland than they may want to believe.'

Suitably
chastised, Arun went back, and then Alice mounted her bike.

'Alice, do you
want me to come?'

Alice refused
Satish's offer. This was something she had to do alone. Maintaining her
composure had been necessary in front of the bereaved families, but now she was
gripped with fury. Whoever had killed those children would pay dearly.

***

The groaning
Biter went down on his back, his hand cracking in several places as Alice
twisted it and threw him over her shoulder. Before he had been turned, he had
been a slight old man, but there was no sympathy or pity in Alice's eyes as she
kicked him, dislocating his chin. That did nothing to improve his face, which
already had skin peeling off in several places and an ear missing from a
gunshot.

'What lunacy
made you let outsiders into Wonderland?'

She was not
sure how much he understood, but she was so angry she really did not care. The
Biter was now on his knees, snarling, all obedience to Alice gone. His teeth
were bared, jagged and covered with dried blood. He snapped as she came closer
but she easily weaved out of the way. In the time she had spent with the
Biters, she knew that they would only obey a leader who spoke from a position
of strength. With Dr. Protima, their first Queen, who had first opened Alice's
eyes to the true nature of the Biters and the conspiracy behind The Rising,
that authority had come from her ability to speak and reason like a human and
her possession of the tattered copy of Alice in Wonderland that the Biters had
come to revere as their holy relic. For Alice, that authority was backed up by
her combat skills honed in years of fighting to survive in the Deadland.

The Biter
lunged at her again, and this time Alice caught his right hand, snapping it back
and then bringing the heel of her own right hand snapping against his nose. The
blow would have killed a grown man, but Biters did not die so easily. The Biter
fell back and struggled to get back up, his face mangled and bloody, when Alice
took out her combat knife and stabbed him through the head. He did not get back
up again.

Alice had come
to the Biters’ reserve and told Hatter and Bunny Ears about what had happened.
They knew the potential implications and she sensed their panic, and within
minutes they had brought the old Biter in front of her. He had screeched and
groaned as if pleading for mercy, but the hand gestures Hatter made were clear
enough. This Biter had let in a band of outsiders in return for a thick bunch
of ganja leaves that some of the Biters favored. Pleading had soon given away
to a desperate attempt to escape as the Biter, like a cornered animal, had
turned on Alice. That had been his last mistake.

As the
adrenaline wore off, Alice tried to calm herself down and looked at Hatter and
Bunny Ears. Hatter looked imposing, standing well over six feet tall and built
like a tank. The hat he guarded with such pride still stood atop his head. He
had suffered more than his share of wounds over the years: at least six bullet
holes were visible on his chest and bites too numerous to count crisscrossed
his body. His eyes were dilated and red, and his yellowed face was covered with
dried blood. Just a year ago, Alice would have run in terror at such a sight.
Today he seemed to be cowering before her.

'Hatter, what
the hell happened? I told you to make sure everyone stays here and does not
wander.'

Bunny Ears had
his head down, like a pet that had just been disciplined. His face was still
contorted in what at first glance appeared to be a lopsided grin, but Alice
figured out later had been the result of a gash drawn across his face by Biter
nails when he had been bitten and turned.

'You do know
what people will want to do, don't you? They will start hunting you down
again!'

At this, Hatter
looked at her and a low growl came from the back of his throat. Alice sighed.

'Yes, and you
will fight, won't you? And then we'll be back where we were. Tearing ourselves
apart while the Red Guards and their masters rule over us.'

Not wanting to
face any of the affected families, Alice did not go back to the city center but
instead went back to the Looking Glass. Danish was there, as usual, playing
with his computers and radio equipment.

'Danish,
anything new?'

He tapped on
the monitor in front of him. 'The Americans posted again.'

Alice leaned
over and read the message.

Free
American forces under Colonel Barnett swept aside Red Guards at New Orleans,
and are linking with other forces to press the offensive to liberate the city.
If you are anywhere near, find safety or join the fight.

'They seem to
have their communications working again,’ she said, ‘How did they manage that?'

'America was
much more developed than India, and I suspect their Armed Forces and government
would have had secure and protected networks and servers. They were ready to
survive a nuclear apocalypse with Russia at one time, so something must have
survived. Also, in India hardly anyone other than the Police and Armed Forces
had guns since public gun ownership was limited. In the US, lots of people had
their own guns, so it was easier to fight back when they needed to. I think it
just took time for them to regroup and get over the shock of the Biters to
start organizing. Plus, I was on the radio with them earlier today. They think
we helped a lot.'

'How did we
help?'

'Our postings
and messages first started causing dissension in Zeus. Before The Rising, Zeus
was an American Private Military Contractor, so most of their senior officers
were American, especially ex-military folks. When the news started coming out
that the whole mess had been orchestrated by elements in China and some
American elites, many of them revolted. We're much closer to China, so
significant Red Guard reinforcements came faster. In America, that took more
time, and by then the Zeus deserters and local settlers had made a lot of
headway.'

Alice had to
ask the next question given what she had been through over the day.

'Danish, what
about the Biters in America?'

Danish looked
away.

'Well, they
hear that it’s more like a disease, that they can be lived with – they hear
about you. But they’re not buying it. I can't blame them. Remember how things
were here before you got here? They hunt down Biters and burn them. They call
it a Biter Barbeque. Not pretty.'

That night was
anxious for Alice, spent wondering how she could possibly keep things from
exploding. The next morning, she did what she thought was the right thing to
do. She went to visit each of the families who had lost children in the attack.
She told them about what had happened in the Biter Reservation and promised
them that she would not allow such a thing to happen again.

Then she called
Arjun and Satish for a meeting in her room.

'Guys, there is
no way such a thing can take place ever again. I've told Hatter and Bunny Ears,
but you know that discipline is too much to expect from every Biter out there.
So we need to help.'

'What do you
have in mind?'

'Arjun, we need
more security patrols inside Wonderland to watch the borders from the inside.'

Arjun sadly
shook his head. 'It’s not as simple as that now we number so many. Now we'd
need it voted in the Council, and you know how Arun and his friends feel.'

'Come on, they
would think differently after the attack, wouldn't they?'

Arjun looked at
Alice grimly. He realized that for all her combat skills she was but a child,
and unschooled in the murky world of politics that Arun had mastered.

'Alice, Arun
was very nice to you when he last met you, but he's been telling anyone who'll
listen that he doesn't believe the story about it being Biters from the
outside. He says he's sure it was Biters from the Reservation. He won't vote to
increase patrols; he'd much rather put the blame on you for being too soft on
the Biters.'

Alice gritted
her teeth. 'So what does he want to do?'

'He hasn't said
it out loud as such, but he thinks we should move the Biters far away, and of
course, he'd rather he run this place all by himself as leader instead of a
Council where you have such a large say given your past. That's why he keeps
asking for elections for a single leader.'

Satish broke
his silence. 'I can help.'

Both Arjun and
Alice looked at him as he elaborated.

'I could have
two of my recon teams come in closer to the city centre.'

Arjun spotted
the obvious problem in the suggestion. 'We send the deep recon boys out to
watch for Red Guard incursions and wild bands of Biters to intercept them
before they get close. Your move would leave us exposed.'

'Yes, but only
till the situation stabilizes.'

Alice shook her
head. 'Word will get out. Some of those boys will speak to their wives in the
city. Others will talk too much over a drink. Arun and his friends will throw a
fit and accuse us of overriding them.'

Just then,
Alice's tactical radio crackled to life.

'White Queen,
this is Looking Glass.'

It was Danish.

'Looking Glass,
what do you have to report?'

'One of our
recon teams called in and said that they found fresh footprints, many of them,
leading into the city. I don't know how they evaded our patrols, but they say
the footprints must be of Biters by the way they seem to have moved. Then Rahul
down at the farms just called on his radio, saying he saw what seemed to be a
group of Biters down the road.'

The words sent
a chill down Alice's spine. Satish and Arjun had both heard the transmission
and they knew what the implications of another Biter attack would be. Without a
word being said between them, they gathered their weapons. Alice was the first
out the door, and roared down the road on Danish’s bike, with Satish and Arjun
following closely behind in a jeep. There was no time to call for
reinforcements. They would have to handle this themselves.