I jog down the stairs and into the crowd. While walking, I turn around to see...Not Will. Was he lying? Of course he was. Luck hasn’t been in my favor for a while now.
I sigh quietly. I turn back around and see someone that looks vaguely familiar watching me in an alley. I walk closer, and, to my surprise, I indeed do see Will.
He walks deeper in the alley, and I turn and follow. My heart is beating loudly; I feel scared out of my wits and also hungry, very hungry.
I watch him shift his feet and glance around at the crowd around him.There is something of the urban warrior in him combined with some sort of gentleness that makes my heart pounce.
It’s almost as if I can see the kindness that no one else can. It is almost as if Will hasan engine that is put together like he’d been doing all his life, every movement competent and flowing. Something about him is so mesmerizing.
I bite my lip, how can I start a conversation when I don’t even really know him?
Do I just walk up to him and say, “Hey! Decided that you aren’t crazy and you’re really hot so let’s get this party started!”
Then in that instant he turns and catches my eye; Before I can look away with shyness, a genuine grin spreads across his face, turning it from handsome into divine. In that one moment I can feel my body flush warm.
“Changed your mind I see,” He says with a playful glint in his eyes.
He has a smirk on his face that makes me blush slightly. Sunglasses cover his bright eyes and he has a beanie over his dark hair. Pieces of his hair are peeking out from under the gray beanie, making him look younger than he really is.
He leans against the wall with his arms across his chest, making me turn away from him. I really hope he doesn’t notice the large amount of blushing I have been doing.
“Maybe.You said something about my brother. That’s the only reason that I am here.” I say while holding my head high. I must admit: Will is hot. Sadly I can almost feel his arrogance making my head pound. He is something I’ve dreamed of but always forget about because I made myself realize I don’t need a man. I shall not let his looks distract me from the main agenda.
“Fine, but we better get out of here, cause princess, you already have an assassin following you.” He grabs my arm and pulls me into the crowd.
“What do you mean ‘assassin’?” I throw my hands in the air. I am trying my best not to start freaking out. Well I am certainly doing a marvelous job at that so far, aren’t I?
“Could you stop making a scene? And for your own good, will you stop talking so damn loud?! Look, we have gotta get to the safehouse.” Will snaps.
“Safehouse?” I whisper in a confused question.
He nods quickly before snatching my wrist, and dragging me through the thick crowd. His fingers dig into my skin, but I can’t do anything to get out of his grip. We shove by people, and for the first time, I begin to feel claustrophobic.
The anxiety of possibly having some psycho following me around, and everyone staring at the large target on my back starts to kick in. I try to pick up the pace to escape the crowd, but Will seems to want to walk slowly through the crowd, probably for us to seem casual.
Finally the crowd begins to fade away, and Will lets go of my wrist. I rub it gently to release the pain, he doesn’t apologize. Will stops in front of gates that have many signs pinned on it saying, “no trespassing.”
Behind the gates is a large, worn down looking building, almost as if one little blow could send it crashing down. That’s when she realizes what it is. This building is the old Mist factory. For every state there was a factory where the Mist was created. The Terrorists, though, began to break in and try to destroy the machines that made them, so the government shut the production down and kept the Mist inside of the closest Capital Distract.
Without saying anything, Will gripped onto the gate and starts to climb over it. I stare at his figure quickly slipping up, then swiftly dropping over to the other side. He faces me, and smirks.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he says confidently.
I stare at the ‘no trespassing’ sign hesitantly before slowly pulling myself to the top. I hear Will let out a fake yawn. He might be attractive, but his cockiness definitely overpowers it.
For a moment I stay perched on the tips of the gate, taking in the light breeze, but then Will shakes the gate, which obviously scares me. My feet and hands heat up, causing me to fall from the gate and onto the sidewalk – at least I’m on the right side.
I expect for Will to laugh at my clumsiness, but he just storms to me on the ground, grabs me by the bicep, and yanks me up from the ground.
“Smooth job, Lee, you just burned off half of the gate,” he growls.
I turn to see that he is right. A large section of the gate has been burned off, the tips are still smoking. “I-uh…sorry?” I blubber.
He lets go of my arm and storms off. Obviously, though, he is angry. He walks only a few steps before spinning around on his heel and storming back to me. “You do realize now that if a C.T.O. truck happens to drive by they have enough evidence to storm in there and take down everyone hiding out in there?” He hisses.
I open my mouth to apologize again, but he storms off before I can. I jog up to his side, trying to keep up with his quick pace. We reach the front doors, and he yanks it open, not stopping to hold it open for me.
I look around as he locks the door. The warehouse is very deep, with two floors, a spiral staircase ascends to the second floor near the back towards the left of the building. To my right are mannequins with red target circles painted onto the head, chest, and knees. Near the mannequins are tables and racks filled with malicious weapons.
Why would people collect things like that? Well, they aren’t exactly people, are they? This is a ‘safe-house’ filled with Chemi-Terrorist, the very people I was taught to hate. For the people out walking around, they seem oddly normal, and calm. A few girls sit at a circular table near the center, talking and laughing. Around them are other circular tables.
It seems too normal. Paintings hang from the wall and weapons are attached to it. Those people still value art, which makes them… human. Maybe they are not monsters after all?
Maybe the paintings are there to remind them who they are… to provide beauty. Beauty which could save them from what they are but don’t want to be. A foreign writer said that “Beauty will save the world.”. I remember these words from Eric. He taught me about the writer when… when he was with me.
I can recall his name. Yes, it was Dostoyevsky who said that, “Beauty will save the world.” It will.
My eye catches some maces hanging from the dusty walls. I turn to my left and take a few steps towards it to get a better look.
They look nothing like the one in the chest looks like. These look normal, manmade. The one in the chest looks like no person could make. It seems like it can breathe almost as if it has a beating heart inside. I turn my head away, wanting to forget about that once more. It was too uncanny a sight.
Further down, near the center, is a long table with food everywhere. My stomach grumbles from the amazing smell. People are eating and others are fighting. It is around 10:00 AM, so it seems that breakfast is still being served.
“Why am I in a place full of ChemiTerrorists?” I whisper to Will.
“We prefer the term Conduits if you don’t mind. Now you are one of us also.” He says loudly with a shrug, “And I wouldn’t want to call myself a terrorist.”
I just stare at him, he is right.
It doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. In the depths of my mind, I know it is time to accept the truth. Yet, my heart doesn’t want it, or it is just my gut.
“Come on, this is going to be your home for a while, if you like it or not.” He says.
“What? I am not here to kick back and hang with my other Conduit brothers and sisters! I just need to find Eric!” I exclaim. This isn’t what I am expecting. He said he could help me find Eric.
“You will, okay! Just not like that. All you have is a gun. No paddings to help you from bullets. And being a Conduits is going to help you a lot if you just learn how to use your powers.” He whispers.
“How did you know I have a gun?” Really, I mean, I had looked in the mirror like ten times and I couldn’t tell it is there or not. I pat the gun just to make sure it is still there.
“Oh, come on! You yourself even called me a thief! Of course I would know.” He looks at me as if I am an idiot.
He starts to walk away,while I just stand there. How can I do this? I only know how to use a gun, and maybe even shoot bow and arrow.
I can’t wait forever when I am an expert till I get Eric. People are starting to stopand stare at me, and that is something I cannot handle.
“Are you coming or not, Princess?” He stops and turns to look at me.
“II am coming. But I would appreciate if you would call me Alice.” I stutter.
“Alright then, Alice. We haven’t had a proper introduction, I believe.” He says with a killer smile.
I almost don’t know what to say. I am at loss of words because the way he smiles at me. His blue eyes are shining with amusement and a smirk is now plastered on his face.
“Loss of words, princess?” He chuckles. “How ‘bout I go first. My name is Will Bones, but it seems as though you already you know that.”
I stand up straight and reply, “I am Alice Lee.”
“Lee?” He asks with his left eyebrow raised.
I nod suspiciously, “Do you happen to know that name?”
“Well, yes actually. My father left a journal for me before he died in a car accident.” He shrugs, “and the name Lee, is in it a lot. He might have known your parents.”
A strange feeling runs through my stomach, sending a series of chills down my back. “Car accident? If you don’t mind me asking, how old were you when it happened?”
Will crosses his arms over his chest. A silent minute passes before he speaks hesitantly, “Five.”
My eyes widen and I mutter, “Must be a coincidence.”
“What? Were you also five?” He asks with a shrug.
“Well, yes and Eric was seven. I don’t understand, this might just have been a random thing that is set out for us in fate, but there is just this feeling in my gut that this is more than a step in time.” I ramble off.
“You need to work on your rambling. Cause in that whole thing, you spoke in riddles.” He chuckles. “Besides, maybe our parents knew each other, but I am pretty sure that is it.”
I nod at Will and shrug off the idea. Maybehe is right, so I try my best to push of the feeling in my stomach.
“Come on,” he says as he begins to walk deeper into the warehouse.
I follow him with more calmness then before, since I don’t think that any of these people will try to kill me any time soon. “Where exactly are we going?” I ask.
He nods his head towards the spiral staircase. We both stay silent as we walk over. I watch a little boy to my left get chased by an older woman. He giggles and she says in a high pitched voice, “I’m gonna get ‘cha!”
A small smile slides onto my lips at the scene. The kid stops running when he sees me, a perplexed look on his face. His mother wrapped him up in her arms quickly, throwing me an evil look.
Quickly I look away, right as Will stops at the staircase. I get onto the first step when I realize he isn’t following. I turn and ask, “aren’t you coming?”
He shakes his head, “Jo wants to see you alone.”
“Jo?”
He nods up the stairs, “just go.”
I hold his stare for a few extra, not needed moments before turning and continuing my way up the spiral staircase. The second floor isn’t really anything up the staircase, just a door that must lead into a single room. I walk to the door and slowly open it.
Inside is just a simple office room, a bookshelf against the back wall, a professional desk littered with papers, a leather chair behind the desk, and two regular chairs on the opposite side. A woman stands near a window that looks out into the neighborhood behind the warehouse. She has auburn hair with light grey strands, light brown eyes, and a built body. She also has the Conduit tattoos.
“Miss Lee,” Jo says sweetly, “My name is Jo. You’re probably extremely confused right now, so please, take a-”
I shake my head in polite interruption, “honestly, there isn’t a need for the whole, ‘let me explain our history and who we are’ stuff. I’m here for one reason only, so I can go back to being normal.”
Jo walks over to her desk and slides into her chair, “sorry to say, Alice, but your life won’t ever be the same, brother or not.”
“Can you see the future?”
She pauses, startled by my question, “Well, no, but-”
“Then I mean no disrespect, but I shall not take your word for it,” I say.
Jo chuckles at me, “don’t worry, I understand. I didn’t plan on tell you about our…what did you say? History? No, that’s foolish…I just wanted to assure you that you will get your brother back.”
I cross my arms over my chest for a silent moment, waiting for her to continue on.
“You see, we all have something against the C.T.O. The first most foremost thing is, obviously, the fact that we are treated like criminals,” she paused, as if to wait for a reaction. I didn’t move. She continued, “but some of our reasons are personal, like you, for instance. You want your brother back, I understand that. The C.T.O. took away my husband, I know how you feel, but you fill never get your brother back if you ignore your newfound abilities.”
“You want me to…use them?” I ask quietly. I never thought that I would need to.
Jo leans back in her chair, and says, “were you just going to ignore them?”
I shrug, “I dunno,” I say, “ignore them till they go away?”
She laughs, and I shrink back. “That’s not how this works, Alice. You got them for a reason, now-”
“Uh, I was mugged by some of your people,” I interrupt for the third time, “if that is a right enough reason for me to have this…curse, then yeah. I got this for a reason.”
Jo stays silent for a moment, watching me intently. “Alice,” she starts quietly, “we are human, with just an extra hint of extraordinary. Regular humans, without the extra hint, have…problems. There are criminals in both of our species; none of us can stop that.”
I look down at my feet. There is a slight chance that I am over exaggerating, but I can’t really help it. Everything has changed for me, and I need someone to blame, or I might fall apart.
“Just…stay here for a little while, Alice,” Jo continues, “no matter how much you’d like to deny it, you’re not safe on the outside anymore.”
Surprisingly, I can’t come up with any kind of rude comment. She is just trying to help me, even if I don’t want it. So I nod, and exit the room without another word. As I close the door I hear her let out an exasperated sigh. It makes me feel guilty.
I quickly trot down the steps to see a lot more people than before out and about. Most people sat at the circular and long tables, eating. My stomach growls impatiently – I forgot how hungry I was. I hesitate before slowly walking over to the tables where the food was spread out.
No one gives me odd looks, no one backs away from me. They only step aside to give me space to grab a plate and some food. I don’t grab much, and I stay away from the crowded tables. I sit by myself, keeping my eyes on my plate.
I look up at the sound of someone descending the spiral staircase; it’s Jo. Her hair is now down and she carries a old looking satchel. No matter how much my brain says to look away, my eyes stay right on her walking to the front doors. She stops once near the target mannequins to grab a hand pistol off of a rack. Then she exits.
Will is nowhere to be seen. So once again, obviously not for the first time today, I feel utterly alone.
Will Perspective
Previously
/> She is so frail. With one touch, Alice can fall apart like an ancient china doll. It was pretty funny watching her hold a gun up at me.
Aye, Alice is determined. She is very strong and has a type of aura to herself allowing people to trust her and follow her. If I can help her, she can become as strong as her will is.
Alice might be the person we’ve been waiting for to lead us into freedom. I can tell from her stance that control isn’t one of her best traits. I’m afraid she won’t be able to control the fire burning in her body.
Without control, the flame can eat you up.
When I was training to control, I was faced with beatings and discipline. Now, I’m strong. Many of the Conduits who have gathered here have asked me to be the leader but I turned it down. I am bad at leadership.
Yes, I’ve learned how to fully take control of everything in me but I’ve also learned something’s that keep me from leading an army.
I sit in the Dining Hall. Usually I would sit in the center with a few of my friends, but today I need time to think. Something is different about Alice. When I witnessed her brother being taken away, I knew he was normal. He isn’t a Conduit, yet they take him prisoner like he is. It is sad that he is gone now; She must be devastated.
There is something different about her brother though. While Alice was talking to Jo I looked for a spare room for her to stay in. The only empty room is next to mine and I really didn’t approve of that. A girl that I used to know lived in there. She died not too long ago. I guess one can say we had a relationship. Now Alice stays in that room.
May Brookshire was my life. I had met her in boarding school when I was eleven and I never left her side from the first day I saw her. She was shorter than Alice by a couple of inches. May was the most popular girl I have ever met.
Everyone knew her and everyone who did, loved her. Those who became jealous of her would soon drop that feeling. Usually, May would know and talk to them. At the end of those talks, the jealous people would leave with puffy eyes and rebel tears at the corner of their eyes. Clearly, May was a soul speaker.
Alice: The Leader Page 5