Free Phantoms of the North: An Alice in Deadland Adventure (Alice, No. 6) by Mainak Dhar Page A

everyone agree on one course of action. All with a smile on his face.
    Feeding thousands of people,
resolving daily disputes that were inevitable when you had thousands of people
living in close proximity, arranging work schedules—all were things that Alice
was sure she was no good at. Yet people looked to her for answers. She had
never set out to lead anyone. She had set out to avenge her fallen family, a
personal vendetta that had transformed into a bigger struggle for freedom. A
fifteen-year-old girl had been swept up by circumstances and destiny and
transformed into something and somebody that she was not sure she wanted to be.
    But all that didn’t matter—as her
Dad had once told her, he wasn’t leading anybody because he wanted to. He had
people counting on him, and he would do what was needed to take care of them.
He had said that leadership did not lie in big, formal titles, but in doing the
very best for whoever depended on you. As Alice looked around at Wonderland,
with people bustling around, Biters freely walking on the roads, children
playing in the open, she realized she had a lot to defend and fight for.
    Bunny Ears shuffled off and Alice
followed. It was that time of evening, when the Biters would gather and she
would read from the old book she carried with her.
     
    ***
     
    ‘So, what did you do before The
Rising?’
    ‘I was like seven years old, so I
guess I didn’t do much other than bug my older sister.’
    Salil had been trying to make
polite conversation, but Brittany was proving to have no such intent. Truth be
told, he was trying to be more than just polite. If he was going to spend hours
out in the sun in the wasteland with an attractive woman, he might as well get
to know her a bit better.
    ‘I was ten. I remember going to
school, I remember the Internet, I remember listening to songs on my iPod. I
remember watching zombie movies. Who would have guessed what would happen to
all that?’
    Brittany grinned as she answered.
    ‘At least we know the zombie
movies got it wrong.’
    ‘You watched zombie movies when
you were seven?’
    Brittany grinned again.
    ‘My sis had all of the Walking
Dead series on DVD and I’d pop them in when nobody was around.’
    They kept walking together, now
just a kilometer away from where they had parked their Jeep, and a ten-minute
drive back to the farm.
    ‘We’ve been at this for an hour.
There are no bandits out here, and even if they are, they have better sense
than us than to be walking about in the heat. Should we get back to the farm?’
    Brittany nodded.
    ‘I hear Haroula’s making some
cake. It’s Christopher’s birthday celebration in a couple of days. Haroula told
me we can’t touch the cake till his birthday but she’s also making some sweets
that she’s promised us.’
    That put an extra spring in Salil’s
step. Christopher was one of the kids who had come over to join their parents
at the farm. He was about to turn twelve, and was a good kid, always eager to
help out on the farm. He had been fascinated by the sniper rifle Salil carried,
and even more in awe when he heard how Salil had taken it from a Red Guard sniper
who had shot three resistance fighters by crawling up behind him and killing
him in hand-to-hand combat.
    ‘Come on, I’ll race you to the
Jeep.’
    Salil set off, but soon regretted
his challenge. Brittany was a good few steps ahead of him and he was struggling
to keep up.
    That was when he heard the horses.
    ‘Brittany, get down!’

She turned to look at him,
wondering what had gotten into him, and he ran towards her, pulling her down
behind a rock. As they peered over the side, two horsemen galloped into view.
Each one had a rifle strapped to his back over a cloak that totally covered
their bodies. Their faces were masked, and they were riding from the direction
of the farm. Salil looked through his scope and saw that the front of both
their cloaks were streaked red.
    Salil had his rifle ready, but the
horsemen