“What is it?” I whisper.
“Let’s put the camp here,” He says in reply. I nod and hold up my hand to the others. Closing my eyes, I let my fire go loose and take the shape of words. It reads, ‘We make camp here.’ I do this so everyone can see and know what to do. The fire goes back to my hand and I walk to the center of the clear land that Will picked out. There really isn’t grass at all here, only patches of it.
A group of Conduits set up a large tent so we may have our last meeting before we attack. Will, Red, and I walk into the newly put up tent.
With nothing inside, we just stand and have our last talk. “This is it. Time to end all of this crap. Are you two ready?” I ask. My mind is racing as I think about what is to come.
“I am. I can’t wait to put an arrow in the Captain’s head,” Red is holding an arrow and using a knife to sharpen the head of it.
“I’m ready. Not sure about all of those Conduits, though,” Will says as he nods at the opening of the tent.
I nod at both of them, “Then I guess we better check, huh?” I start to walk outside, when Will grabs my arm.
“Wait, I need to talk to you,” His eyes look pleading. I hope he doesn’t want to talk about last night.
Red shrugs, “I will gather them up. Don’t take too long. Midnight is just around the corner.”
I nod and look at Will, “What is it?”
“You want to save Eric,” He whispers. Will’s voice is full of anxiety.
“Yes, I do. So?” I don’t understand why he seems so nervous.
“Well, what if you’re the one who ends up needing saving?” He looks down at me with his hard eyes.
“What do you mean? Do I look like I’m made of marshmallows or something?” I cock my head to the side. This wasn’t a problem before, so why now? Why just before we are going to do this, he suddenly begins to panic?
“If you can’t get Eric back safely, yet we win this fight. What will you do with yourself? Lock yourself away, or keep living? I’m just worried about you,” Will takes my hand softly. I can tell he is worrying. But, I will get Eric.
My heart flutters as he squeezes my hand slightly, “I see your concern, Will, but I will get Eric. I’m sure of it.”
He shakes his head at me. Will doubts me!
“What? Do you not think I can get him back? I worked out a plan! I have an equation! I can see every persons move. No one can escape me,” My voice wavers when I say the last sentence. I sound harsh which makes me flinch at my own words. I am just hurt that he doubts me all of a sudden.
“Alice, just stay on your toes. Expect the best and the worst. Please,” He is begging, pleading.
“Okay. Okay. Just stop looking at me like that, will you?” I laugh trying to push away the sudden tension, and he laughs with me.
He cups my face with his hands and leans forward. He gently kisses me; it is soft, and lingering. I wish it just could be like this forever. But it cannot. Eric is counting on me. Everyone out there is too.
Pulling away, I say, “We should get going.”
He nods and we walk out. Outside, everyone is waiting for me, to encourage him or her. I let out a deep and shuddering breath.
“Everyone, this is it. The day we storm up to the C.TO. We will NOT stand for people to treat us like we are monsters. We are people. We just aren’t understood. We will save all of the people like us, all over the world. Who here is ready to gain back their freedom?” I yell.
Everyone in the crowd yells, “Aye!”
“That’s what I thought! Now let’s gear up to kick some ass!” I shout, while fist bumping the air.
Everyone scatters and collects their things. We decide to leave the tent there, for we don’t want to take it along as baggage. We move in a group again, and the scouts head up into the trees, with Red leading them.
The cool night breeze pushes us to our destination as silence spreads amongst the crowd. No one dares to speak. Everyone seems to be preparing themselves for what is to come. A thought suddenly comes to my mind. Are they preparing themselves for death? I push away the thought quickly, not wanting to think about that right now.
Right ahead of us is the C.T.O headquarters. A grin crawls onto my face, deceiving my brain. Eric and I shall be reunited. Joy and hope flows through my veins.
We line up a distance from the base, and our bombers go straight to the gates. The barriers are as tall as the trees, and guards walk on top with guns guarding the facility inside. The place reminds me of a jail, and I bet that really what it is. Holding Conduits captive.
The rest of us stay back in the shadows as the bombers put their makeshift bombs on the wall and sprint back to us. Turning away, we all cover our ears and crouch down to the ground. The wall explodes and automatically earsplitting sirens go off in the building. I can feel the impact of the rubble on the ground, vibrating like an earthquake.
Will suddenly jumps up from my right side and yells, “Fight! NO MERCY!”
Everyone runs in after him yelling, “NO MERCY!”
I jump over a fallen tree, and charge. I pull out two handguns from my belt, and fire at C.T.O. that come running out from the white stone building. When they fall, a lump forms in my throat. I am killing people. People who have families at home waiting for them to come walking through the door, healthy and alive. I shake my head.
Stop it, Alice! These people aren’t innocent! They have done much wrong by staying here.
Suddenly I get hit with the bud of a knife right on my forehead. I scowl at myself; how do I not see it coming? I grunt at the impact and feel something drip on my hand. Glancing down, I see blood.
I turn and look at my opponent. She has bright red hair that is in a loose ponytail. Her eyes are green with a red tint in them. Her gaze keeps on flickering to the left, back to me, then to the right.
I can’t tell if she is on her guard or is very excited to kill people. She is crouched down slightly, with her hands slightly outstretched towards me. She twirls the knife around in her left hand and snarls at me.
About my size, this girl saw my wrong move, and attacked. Impressive.
Sadly, like the others, she is in my way. She aims for a slice at my face but time slows, and I see her whole move in front of me. She plans to hit my neck but I know the perfect way to stop her. I counter by turning my torso around and hitting her in the neck with my right palm, and with my left I take her knife.
The girl coughs and grips her neck as she takes in struggling breaths. She yelps in surprise after regaining her breath and quickly pulls out a handgun and aims at me. I toss the knife in the air and grab her hand, letting my smoke go around her body. She screams in horror and falls to the ground as the smoke leaves her body and back to me.
I lean down and take her hand in mine to check her pulse. She isn’t dead.
Just knocked out, luckily. I pick up the fallen knife from the ground and take a look at it. Around the handle is a stem and right where the silver of the knife starts, is a Lotus flower. I slip the knife into my belt. Maybe if she is still alive after this, I can give her knife back to her. But if she is dead, I will put it on her grave as a sign of respect.
I run farther into the battle and throw a throwing knife at a guard’s torso, who was holding a pistol to a Conduits head. Red isn’t anywhere to be seen and it makes me worry. I run through the crowd, not stopping for anyone anymore. Eric is my mission and he is so close that I can feel it, but I cannot see him.
From out of the blue, I get twisted from behind and put in a chokehold. At first, I panic, but after regaining my posture I grab a knife from my belt and stab the person behind me in their leg. The person lets out a yelp and to my surprise, it is the girl from before.
I jump around to see burn marks all over her body. She pulls the knife out of her leg and starts slicing at me with a heightened speed. I keep on jumping backwards, the blade missing my chest just by inches. I make a mistake by trying to counter her fast and skilled movements. Her blade slashes my
hand that is still in the process from healing. Pulling my hand to my chest, I let out a yelp.
The girl twirls her knife around and hisses, “You gonna cry?”
I spit on her shoes and growl, “Not in your lifetime, bitch.”
She glares at me and throws the knife. That is her mistake. I catch the knife at its tip and send it flying back at her. I guess Will did teach me something. It punctures her right in the chest and I swallow my guilt as she falls to the ground.
I jog over to her and lean down. Her eyes are wide open and blood slips out of the corner of her mouth. Her chest is moving up and down quickly, and I can tell that she is nearing death.
“What is your name?” I ask her quietly. Her head turns towards me slowly and she spits out blood near me. I sigh and ask her again, this time with a more commanding tone, “What is your name?”
She reaches for my belt and places a bloody finger on the hilt of the knife. I pull it out and look of the butt of the knife. “Cressida Miles. That is your name?” I say.
The girl nods slightly. She closes her eyes as a tear slips down. She opens her eyes and looks at me. She is afraid. I take her right hand, which sits at her side, and clutch it tightly. She smiles at me and squeezes my hand.
“Am I going to hell?” Cressida whispers in question.
I shake my head rapidly. “No. No, you kill because of orders. You shall go to heaven because I can see the good in you. Your commander will go to hell, though. And if I go with him, I will kill him all over again,” I growl quickly.
She sniffles and says, “But I tried to kill you.”
“You were defending yourself. I forgive you,” I whisper.
Cressida smiles at me and lets out her last breath. She is dead. I close her eyes and lean over her. I kiss her forehead and whisper, “Sweet dreams, Cressida Miles.”
I stand from her body and twirl her knife in my hand. I place it down on her lap and turn away from her. She tried to kill me. I don’t even know her. By the look of it, she looks out sixteen. The poor girl.
I start to walk away and someone tries to throw a punch at me. I twirl around and quickly mold my arm into a fire hammer and bash him so he flies away from me.
Looking around, I see a few of my men on the ground, but most of the bodies are the C.T.O. I see Will hovering in the air using his smoke. He looks at me and points to a set of doors on the side of the building. I nod and run towards where he is aiming. There is a sign on two doors that says, ‘CHEMITERRORISTS’.
I grin and shove the door open.
Looking around, the walls are all a blinding white, and sickening clean. I place my hand to the wall and feel slight scratches on the walls. By the way the indents look, I’m guessing that people were scratching at the walls.
I walk over to one of the white doors. There are tiny little slots that allow you to be able to peer inside the room with bright lights that make my head ache. There are two conduits in the small room. They are both men. One is in the corner with his head in his knees and the other is pacing with rocks surrounding him. I look at the sign on the door.
The order goes by last name. Lee. I have to find the L’s. Running down the hall, I turn my head from side to side, looking at the signs. I suddenly skid to a stop. Finally, I get to L.
Looking past a couple of more doors I see the name that makes me tingle inside. On the door, a sigh reads, LEE. He is the only one. I burn the lock on the door, and kick it open.
“Eric?” Silence. Please be in here.
“Wwho's there?” A shaky male voice comes from the back on the room. I can make out his shadow, but because of the lights it is hard to make out his body.
“Oh my God! Oh my God, ERIC!” I yell and run over to him. I don’t have to see his body to know that it is my brother.
He is wearing an orange shirt and pants that the other prisoners wear. His hair is messed up and there are bags under his eyes. His face is full of dirt and blood is on his shirt.
“Alice? Alice!” He collapses in my arms and sobs into my neck.
“EEric, I’m here. Don’t worry, we are going to get out of here,” He slumps down on my shoulder, and wraps his arm around my waist. I can tell that he has lost some weight, but overall he seems like he usually does. Except he looks very depressed, and there are red rings around his eyes.
“Gun,” He whispers in my ear. His voice is low and raspy.
“What? No! You can’t even stand up straight!” I argue. He murmurs something else that I cannot hear.
Shrugging, I start to run out, and Eric runs with me with all of the energy he has left. I kick the door open, I have to remember to come back here and free all of the Conduits. I keep a tight grasp on his right hand and my other hand is holding a gun. My knuckles are white and I can feel my nails digging into my palm, causing blood to drip down to the ground leaving a red trail behind us.
When we get outside, the fight is still raging on. More of our people are on the ground, but even more of the C.T.O. My eyes go wide when something catches my eye. Someone that I know is on the ground, but I cannot make them out through all of the smoke, rain, and dirt in the air.
“Alice!” I hear someone yell from behind me.
Turning, I see Will. “Will! Get Eric out of here!” I move Eric towards him, when suddenly the earth under us starts to shake.
Eric almost falls to the ground but Will catches him and looks at me with confusion. “What’s happening?” Some of the conduits are yelling.
A scream ripples from the right and my head shoots in the direction. A young girl falls down a large crack in the ground and an older boy is trying to help her out. He pulls her out and I sigh in relief.
“ARGHHH!” Jo shouts out a loud battle cry as she storms in front of me. She has molded her arms into fire swords, one in each hand, and charges at someone. I cannot see the person she charges, but then I hear her scream in surprise. I gasp when she goes flying backwards and skids to a stop on the ground.
I hear someone near her call out, “She’s okay!”
I stare forward to see who is next on my list.
A man in a long trench coat with short blonde hair and a goatee stands across from me. At first, he seems a little handsome. But then you notice the pale skin and dark lips. His ears are slightly pointy and when he opens his mouth, I see his sharp teeth. He has a large sneer plastered on his mouth and an excited gleam is sparkling in his dark coal eyes. From where I stand, he looks quite terrifying.
I gasp when I see what is in his hand. In his hand is Red. His right hand is clasped around her neck and she has cuts over her arms and in her right hand is her broken bow. Now that I see this, I realize that this must be the Captain.
“Well, well this is the girl that has been being a little rebellious. It seems as though I must do everything myself these days,” His voice is deep and intimidating, very terrifying indeed.
“Put her down! Or I will put these bullets in your head,” I raise my gun and point right at his forehead.
“Pull the trigger. I know you can’t kill. You won’t dare,” He growls as he throws Red to the ground and she coughs.
She manages to crawl slowly to where Eric and Will stand. I let out a breath that I don’t realize I am holding when I know that she is all right.
“But I would love to see you try, terrorist,” He disdainfully growls at me.
I fire the gun six times, but each time he holds up his hand and a rock comes flying up from the ground, colliding with the bullets. The gun was a custom revolver made by one of our gunsmiths and it has a seven bullet drum instead of the regular six.
“Empty mag, I see. What are you going to do now, terrorist?” the Captain disdainfully tells me.
When I fire the seventh bullet he is taken by surprise, as he doesn’t have the time to react and a bullet flied straight between his eyes.
The bullet drains into his forehead as if it was water and there are no marks left of any damage there.
Putting away my gun I face my
palms toward him. “How dare you call me a terrorist when you use us for your own reasons! You are one yourself!” I hiss at him.
He laughs again and quickly, with a speed that I have never seen before, he fires a handgun at me. I know that I’m not fast enough to do anything to dodge the attack.
Bracing the sudden impact, I ready myself with his bullet. But instead I hear a gasp in front of me. I open my eyes to see Eric in front of me with his arms spread out. He slumps to the ground, with blood pouring out of the wound.
No.
This isn’t happening. Not again! The world around me seems to slow to a stop as I fall to the ground beside him. “ERIC! No.... No!” I press down on his wound, but too much blood is already in a puddle around him. His breathing is fast and in short gasps as he stares at me.
Eric grabs my hand and says, “It’s ok,” he says between coughs, “You are leading these people. You are who I always knew you would be,” He coughs again, spraying blood on my shirt. “I am so proud of you, Alice,” He whispers.
“Don’t talk like that! I vowed I would get you out of here safely and that’s what I am going to do!” I cry.
“No... Save these... these people... lead them... but...” he stops to cough and blood slips out of the corner of his mouth, “Remember... nothing is as what it seems...” he takes his last breath and his hand falls out of mine.
“No.... NO!!!!” I scream. My blood is filling with fire and rage.
Kill who killed Eric, a voice whispers in my head. KILL HIM! It yells.
Tears are streaming down my face but I just ignore them. How can I just let this happen? I have no more family. I cup his face and gentle pat his cheek, hoping that I might be able to feel his breath on my hand. Hoping that he might smile at me and wake up laughing at me saying that I fell for his silly joke.
“Aw, how sad. Now, are we done here?” The Captain says with a sneer, proving that this isn’t one of Eric’s pranks. He has a mocking smirk on his face as if he was enjoying this. Does he think I am petty? Does he think I will give him mercy for the death he has caused? No! He is wrong!
Alice: The Leader Page 13