Free Alice in Deadland Trilogy by Mainak Dhar

assumed that he would be awed by the men in front
of him, but he gathered his sobbing daughter in his arms and looked them
straight in the eye as he thanked them.
    As he began to leave with her, General Appleseed spoke up
softly.
    ‘ Chief
of Mission Gladwell. It is a pleasure to see you after all we have heard of
you. It is a pity that you choose not to join your old comrades again. ’
    Alice felt her father stiffen as he turned to talk to the
General. There was a cold bite to his voice, very different from the gentle,
loving father she had known.
    ‘ General,
I served the United States of America and what she stood for: freedom, liberty
and equality. That nation is dead, but the spirit lives on in all of us who
refuse to bow to the new dictatorship of big business and hired guns and the
Chinese tyrants who pay you. ’
    The General ’ s
eyes hardened but his voice remained soft. ‘ How
long can you last out there by yourselves in the Deadland? ’
    ‘ We ’ ve done well so far. ’
    With those words, he whisked Alice out of the room and
walked her out. She wanted to tell him so much about what had happened, but he
just hushed her, telling her that they would talk more when they got back. When
they stepped out of the building, Alice saw that there was a sprawling air base
outside and Dewan ran up behind them.
    ‘ Your
helicopter is waiting there. Mr. Gladwell, you have an incredibly brave
daughter. Good luck to you both. ’
    Alice ’ s
father seemed to size Dewan up for a second and then, seemingly liking what he
saw, shook his hand, thanking him again as they walked towards the waiting
black helicopter. Alice saw four boys whom she recognized from the settlement
standing at a far corner. They looked miserable and scared and one of them
glared at Alice as she passed him.
    ‘ Dad,
what are they doing here? ’
    ‘ They ’ re here to join Zeus as
recruits. ’
    ‘ But
we never …’
    Her father stopped her.
    ‘ That ’ s the price we paid to get
you back. Four young, untrained boys for a trained combat veteran like you. We
all agreed it was the best decision when Zeus demanded something in return. ’
    Alice felt like she had been punched in the stomach and felt
sick that four boys would now have to live away from their families, in the
murky world of the Zeus army, because of her. As they sat down in the
helicopter, she looked at her father. He looked old and tired, as if he had
aged years in just the few days she had been gone. He had implied that the
leaders had decided on trading her for the boys, but she knew just how much it
must have been gnawing at his own conscience. She reached out and took his arm,
and he smiled at her. She saw Dewan waving to them as the helicopter took off
and she sat back, wondering just what she had got herself into with that one
fateful decision of jumping into that hole behind the bunny-eared Biter.
     
    ***
     
    Alice ’ s
mother smothered her in hugs when she landed, and her older sister, Jane,
ruffled her hair. That was as close as she had ever seen Jane get to a public
display of affection. Jane was almost ten years older than Alice, and remembered
enough of what the world had been like before The Rising to harbor bitterness
at what she had lost. That bitterness had never entirely left, and if anything,
it had acquired an even sharper edge with the years of fighting to survive.
    For the last one year, they had made an abandoned village
their home. The village was located near the crest of a small hill with a great
view of all directions, and that made it both easily defensible in case of
attack and also offered several escape routes if they had to abandon their
settlement.
    When Alice walked into the large building that had once been
a school but was now the communal dining hall, she could feel many eyes on her.
She had been well liked and also respected for her skills, but she saw that
something had changed. Many of the men and women she had fought shoulder to
shoulder