Free Alice by Christina Henry

you’re going, lads?” one asked. He was a little shorter than Hatcher, and had a blaze of white just above one eyebrow. It stood out in stark relief against the darkness of his hair and the night.
    The two men formed a wall in front of Alice and Hatcher, their bodies saying quite clearly that nobody was going around without their say-so. Alice felt a quick burst of relief that the man referred to her as a “lad.”
    “Just passing through,” Hatcher said. His head was up, staring directly into the face of the man in front of him, not insolent, not daring, just . . . not afraid.
    Alice thought it best to copy him. She lifted her chin and faced the man in front of her. He was around her age, or maybe even younger. His face was crusted with dirt and some rusty stains that might have been from splattered blood. Two of his bottom teeth were missing, and he held a long knife in his right hand. Alice thought that in a duel with her own blade, he would win. He had the advantage of size.
    But then, you don’t have to duel, do you? she thought. Just find somewhere soft and push it in as hard as you can, like you did before.
    The thought startled her. Before? When she’d escaped from the Rabbit?
    She’d gotten lost in the tangle of memory for a moment, so she missed some of what passed between Hatcher and the man with the blaze, who seemed to be in charge. When she came back to where she was supposed to be, everything seemed more fraught than it had been a moment before, like the air around them was a balloon slowly filling up with tension.
    The man in front of Alice— Toothless, she thought—took a firmer grip on his knife. In her pocket, Alice did the same.
    The other man—Blaze, she thought of him—took two fingers and pushed at Hatcher’s shoulder. “I asked what you were doing here. No one passes through Mr. Carpenter’s streets without his permission, and I’m the one gives permission when he’s not about. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell up and then pay up, and mayhap we’ll let you through without too much damage.”
    Hatcher did not speak. Alice darted a quick look at him. His face was blank, and she thought with a flare of terror that the Jabberwock might be near, possessing him.
    Blaze pushed Hatcher’s shoulder again. “What’s the problem, my lad? Are you daft?”
    Hatcher’s head moved slowly, like an automaton Alice had seen once on an outing with her governess. He looked from Blaze’s hand on his shoulder to the other man’s face.
    Alice sucked in her breath. “Hatch, no,” she said, but it was too late.
    The blade of the axe flashed in the dim light, before anyone even knew it was there. Hatcher buried it in Blaze’s throat, the force of the blow so great that the head tipped back, almost but not quite severed.
    Blood spurted in a wild spray, splashing Alice’s face. There was one motionless second where they all watched Blaze’s body falling backward, the head lolling in an unnatural curve.
    Then Toothless opened his mouth, and Alice thought, He’ ll raise the alarm.
    Before she had time to consider it, Hatcher was in front of her, his blade sliding into the other man’s belly. The belly is soft, she thought, as he pulled the knife across quick as a wink, under the ribs, making a red gaping mouth there.
    Toothless stared at them in shock, his hands going to his stomach. His lips separated, but no noise came out. He fell to the ground like his friend, writhing and panting.
    Hatcher moved beside her, the bloody axe in one hand, his knife in the other. “You can’t leave them like that,” he said, as if he were instructing a student. “You have to do the job properly or they come back for you.”
    The axe flashed again, and Toothless stilled. Hatcher wiped the blade on the inside of his coat, where the blood would not be so obvious. She uncurled the fingers that gripped the knife in her pocket. Her hand shook badly so she fisted it at her side, willing it to be