Alice: The Leader

by Gabriella Dennany

  He deserves death!

  I look at my hands, which have Eric’s blood on them. I stand up, shaking with all of these emotions boiling up inside me, sending my blood running. Fire engulfs my whole body as I scream. Fire comes out of my mouth and the tears sear off my face as my scream comes to an end.

  I jump to the Captain with my fist out towards him. He lifts his hands and creates a wall of rock. I break straight through it and hit him. When I land he is on the other side of the building, in the wall.

  Captain jumps from his spot and over my head into the air. I send a fireball after him, but he sends a rock at the same time so it doesn’t hit. I growl in frustration and point both of my hands at him and fire comes blazing out with nothing to block it.

  The Captain falls to the ground and lets out a groan. “Now, now. I think we can talk this through! Let me really teach you to use your gifts!” He pleads.

  What a coward. “I don’t bargain with murders, you coward,” I snarl. I am striding towards him with all of my hate aimed at him. I grab him by the neck and lift him off the ground.

  “You deserve death. That’s all you should get,” I hiss in his face.

  A grin forms on his face as he says, “You’ll all die!”

  I growl and throw him at the wall. Before he can make impact, he makes the earth below him rise to keep him safe.

  “You shall be the last person to die this night!” I shout.

  The Captain laughs and jumps down from the shelter of his rocks. “I knew your mother,” he spits, taking a good look at my surprised face, he continues, “I should’ve killed her and that little friend of hers a long time ago. You see, I was a part of the F.B.I. but your mother suddenly came into my life and told me that she will tell the government everything there is to know about you Terrorists. Then, before she could, I met someone. This someone made me who I am today. She will find the daughter of Rosemarie Swan, and she will kill you!”

  I clench my fists and jump towards him. I tackle him to the ground and dig my nails into his neck. He screams in pain and I tighten my grip around his neck. My eyes are red and he stares at me in fear.

  “No one will kill me, but the ones I love,” I hiss quietly and twist his neck. Instead of breaking his neck, I accidentally did something else. My arm turned black and molded the flesh all around him.

  I feel a huge pull of gravity from where should his body be as he enters me and my bloodstream. He turns all black and molds into me.

  I hear his scream from inside my head. It nearly broke my ears. A huge headache strikes me and I grab my head with both of my hands and scream like I’ve never screamed before.

  Suddenly, his memories flash before my eyes. I see everything. I see how he stood in front of the men who took Eric. Eric struggled, but the Captain sedated him, and took him in.

  I see even earlier, the story of Will, how he tortured him personally with whips, tongs, unsterile makeshift weapons, then everything that happened to a girl, which seemed significant to him. Her name was May. The Captain had no mercy.

  My mind flashed when the Captain’s childhood emerged before me. I saw in first person how he was abused mentally by his parents. They were Conduits like him. One day, filled up with anger and sadness, he swore to destroy every single conduit on earth.

  Then I saw how he abused Red, his daughter in the same manner he was abused by his parents. But he was worse. When Red grew older, the Captain tried to break and mold her to suit his preferences. But she was rebellious.

  “You have failed me. You will be punished,” I hear the Captain’s growling voice from inside my head as he looks at Red. I see a house in flames. Lots of blood.

  My mind travels back in time again as I see how he behaves violently towards his wife when he finds out she was also a Conduit. He started abusing her so much, she came down with a terrible illness.

  A hospital. The woman is lying in bed. The Captain approaches her. I feel mercilessness shrouding me as I in first person talk to her as the Captain. The woman dies. I feel the Captain smirk.

  The moment the Captain became one of the Conduits happened before he met his wife. “To kill the monsters, you must become a monster,” I hear a woman – the Vice-President – say as she touches the Captain’s arm and gives him the gifts of a Conduit.

  I hear the Captain scream “no” over and over again. Something changed in him at the moment.

  I see his life became filled with hate and anger, he was full of bad intents from the very second he was turned. He submitted himself to the government so he could achieve his goal of extermination even faster.

  He was full of regret of becoming what he was. But time went by and he started getting used to his powers. At first he called himself an abomination. He wanted to erase his mistake of existence. He hated what he was. Many scenes where he put his gun to his head emerged. But he didn’t dare to pull the trigger. But time healed his wounds and he slowly started calling his powers ‘gifts’. He felt powerful and he started to like it.

  He didn’t want to be human anymore.

  Huge tentacles of flesh emerge from my body in all directions with a huge shockwave soaring the air around and pull back to me.

  No more pain.

  It’s over.

  The surviving C.T.O. members drop their weapons and surrender. Will jogs over to me. Our people start to cheer in victory. When Will comes to me I collapse in his arms.

  He picks me up and I close my eyes as the tears stream down my face once more. I grip on to his shirt and try to hold back my sobs from the happy people around me.

  “Sleep,” he whispers, and that’s exactly what I do.

  The Traumatic Change

  I am running with all of the strength I have left. I notice the place that I zip through automatically. The blinding white walls of the C.T.O. base shall never leave my memory. I risk a quick glance behind me to see the Captain chasing me.

  He is yelling at me. Saying things like, “THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!” or, “YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!” and, “ONLY IF YOU HAD BEEN ON TIME!”

  The Captain sends rocks flying at me. I jump just in time when I feel the rush of sudden wind making the hairs on the back of my neck stand in fright.

  I scream as I sprint through the twisting halls. He is right. I am the cause of

  Eric’s death, and of so many other people’s deaths.

  “ALICE! WAKE UP!” I hear someone yell.

  I keep on running and I turn to not see the Captain anymore. Instead, Eric stands before me wearing the orange jail suit. I frown at him and open my mouth to speak, but he speaks first.

  “Alice, what happened to vowing to keep me alive? Now, you’ve got no one. Even one of your friends is dead because you agreed to this madness,” He says slowly while taking some steps towards me.

  I feel my heart fall and Chuck comes into my mind. That body that I saw, the person that I couldn’t remember turned out to be Chuck. He was such a great friend, and now he is gone. And Eric is right, even if this isn’t really him.

  “How are you here?” I whisper.

  Eric now stands right in front of me with disappointment in his eyes. “You failed me, Alice. I thought I could count on you, but no. I cannot count on my own sister,” He cocks his head at me and answers my question, “You are feeling guilty. Your guilt has taken over all of you, which makes you dream about me. Sadly, I cannot do anything about it.”

  I take a step back while looking down at the ground. I can still hear someone yelling at me faintly, but I push the voice to the side. “I tried so hard,” I mumble.

  “Well clearly you didn’t try hard enough! I’m dead, and so are many other innocents that shouldn’t have been!” He shouts. After a moment of silence, he says more quietly, “You’ve become one of those freaks. Our parents were normal, they weren’t freaks like you. They died a normal death and lived a normal life. Now, if you ever settle down and have a family with that disgusting boy Will, they’ll be freaks too.”


  I glare at him and say, “He is not disgusting.”

  Eric rolls his eyes and spits, “Even though I am dead, I am still your brother.” He spins around on his heel and keeps his back to me. After a moment of a peaceful silence, he continues saying with a more calm tone, “The government did what they did for human race’s safety, Alice. All you did was destroy that safety. The gates kept the people safe, the guards kept us safe from the terrorists that raced through the shadows. Now, you’re going to make those who survived think that the world doesn’t need the C.T.O.,” Eric snorts and looks at the ceiling.

  “You people aren’t going to be able to take down the head of all C.T.O. She is legend, and you’re nothing,” Eric spits out the last word and glares down at me, “You’ll all certainly die.”

  “I remember you got pretty upset when I started reciting what the President says. Since when do you like the C.T.O.?” I ask.

  He grins at me and says, “Good memory. But I did. The correct way to say it would be”

  “‘Since when did you like the C.T.O.’ Yes, yes I know,” I interrupt.

  He laughs and answers my question, “Since I spent some time captive by them.”

  I don’t say anything. Finally, I look at him and ask, “If you are touched by a Conduit, would the same happen to you that happened to me?”

  Eric shrugs and replies, “No. I’m different than you. Better than you, actually,” He sneers at the end and starts to walk away.

  I slowly walk by his side in peace. The yelling is still happening, but it is like I can do anything about it even if I wanted to. “What exactly did happen to you while you were held captive?” I ask with curiosity.

  Eric shrugs, “Can’t really remember. All I know is that I was injected with some new drug type of thing.” I stare in confusion when suddenly, Eric falls to the ground and yelps in pain. I fall to his side, and suddenly the world around me changes. I’m not in the base anymore. I am outside of the base, watching myself try to save Eric. I stand with the remaining C.T.O. surrounding me as I watch in sadness. Suddenly, my mouth opens and words that I cannot control come spewing out.

  “Aw, how sad. Now, are we done here?” My voice is deep and male. I sneer at the scene before me. Inside, I am shocked as I realize what is happening. I am the Captain.

  I watch myself get up from where Eric now laid dead and explode in fire. Everyone around backs away, but I don’t. I want to though. I look quite terrifying. Looking down, I see the Captain’s feet, not mine. People are terrified as I watch myself charge at me. A scream slips through my lips as I shoot up from bed.

  Tears stream down my face as I look at who sits next to me. Will sits wearing a plaid button down shirt and black jeans. I let out a cry and spew out, “Will, it’s all my fault! They are all dead because of me!”

  “No they aren’t! Snap out of it, Alice!” He pulls me to his chest and allows me to bury my face and just cry. His right hand is in my messy hair and his left is rubbing my back in a soothing pattern.

  I lift my head when the sound of footsteps comes into my room. “Will, let us talk.” Red says quietly from behind him. She pats Will on the shoulder and whispers reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I am pretty sure I know how to deal with this, trust me.”

  “Fine.” He says with no enthusiasm. Will kisses my forehead and lets go of me. I automatically feel alone and empty as soon as he exits the room.

  Red walks over and sits down next to me on the bed. At first there is an awkward kind of silence, until I ask quietly, “Are we still at the base?”

  “Yes.” She says with a soft voice. I remember in my dream screaming, and Eric used to tell me that sometimes what you do in your sleep happens out of it too. “Was I screaming?” I ask.

  “Yes. You were kicking your feet too.” Red explains.

  “I was running away from the Captain, at first. He was saying that there is blood on my hands.” I hesitate to continue but I know that I have to trust her so I can get this crap out of my system. So, I let out a sigh and admit, “I believe him though, Red. It is true. All those people are dead because of me. Eric is dead and I could have done something about it, but I didn’t. I don’t know what to do without Eric. He has always been there. He was the only family I had left. Now I am alone again.” I sigh. I thought that by starting a rebellion would make things better. As soon as I saw Eric last night, I thought things were about to be normal again. We could have forgotten all about this and went off to college together like we wanted to.

  “I have felt the same way before to, Alice. My job was to kill. I was an assassin. And really, that is what I will always be. I will never be able to get rid of all the death I had caused. But, I know that after every person who was killed would understand why I did that. Why I was an assassin. They will understand and forgive me. I had trauma too. But others helped me get rid of it. You have Will and I and of course, all of the other Conduits. You are never alone. And of course, your parents are always by your side even if you can’t see them. Also Eric. Eric is watching you. His hand is on your shoulder, guiding you through all of these hardships that you are going to face during the time of mourning. You are never alone. And you will always be loved. Just remember that when you go to sleep at night. And if it makes you feel better I will sit in here with you until you go to sleep.” Her voice is very soft and comforting. I appreciate her kindness.

  Usually it’s hard to come by these days.

  “Thanks and I think it would be easier to sleep if you or Will are in here.” I take her hand and suddenly, a question pops into my head. “Red, do you think you can tell me about being an assassin and...” My voice trails off.

  “And what?”

  “Your mother,” I whisper. I look up at her and see that her face pales. “Ha, now is not the time for that. Maybe on a road trip or something,” She smirks and stands up. The paleness leaves her face and the color comes back slowly. “Do you want me to stay with you some more?” She asks.

  “No I’m good, thanks,” I reply with a small smile of gratitude. Red nods and exits, closing the door behind her.

  I get up from the soft queen sized bed and walk over to the balcony to look at the conduits walking around. Most are picking up rubble and moving the dead bodies to coffins, some are even carving the epitaphs that will be on the tombstones. But there is one body that is untouched. That lies there with flowers making a circle around it. I squint my eyes to get a better look.

  Eric.

  Nobody has moved him yet. They are just placing flowers around him. I see a few girls walk over with more flowers. They are making his name around the body with them. I smile at the beautiful kindness. I bet those girls didn’t even know him. They are just being nice. After making his name, they pull out more flowers and spell out, ‘for our leader: Alice Lee’. I choke and feel the tears roll down my face. I put my hand over my mouth as the tears fall quickly. Gods Eric, I wish he could be here right now telling me that everything will be better. That we will be going home soon, that I don’t have to worry anymore.

  All of the sadness leaves me. The only emotion I feel now is anger. He could be here if I wasn’t a stupid petty idiot, Eric and I could be at home making breakfast. I pick up a lamp on the nightstand and throw it at the wall. It shatters into many pieces all over the brown rug. I walk over to where my gear is from yesterday and I pull a knife from my belt. Suddenly I remember Cressida Miles from yesterday. I shake my head in regret and guilt as I think of her lying dead on the ground with her knife in her hands.

  I walk into the bathroom and lock the door. With all the anger boiling inside, I twirl the knife in my hand and think about what I want to do. Maybe this seems stupid, but I need a distraction. I look at myself in the mirror and take in deep breaths. Bags are starting to form under my eyes and I am shocked at all of the bruises and cuts all over my body.

  My gaze glances towards the dagger, and with speed, I slice my flesh right above my black tattoos on arms. I quickly drop the knife from the pain a
nd curse under my breath. I look at a blue towel beside me and decide that putting it in my mouth would possibly keep me from saying something to loud. Grabbing the towel, I shove it in my mouth. I pick the knife back up and continue cutting myself for every person I had witnessed drop to the ground lifeless last night.

  A tear escapes from my left eye and a whimper leaves my mouth. Soon there are ten bloody scratches on my arm above my tattoo. I take the towel from my mouth and dab at the blood. Biting hard on my tongue, I am able to clean the escaping blood and the pain slowly stops. Looking in the mirror, I glance at the wound on my arm. It has to be covered or someone will see it.

  It’s summer, so putting on a long sleeved shirt wouldn’t be bad, just really hot. I grab a long shelf shirt and tug it over my nightshirt. I wipe the tears from my eyes and look at my face. My eyes are red and puffy and my skin is pale. A frown is on my face and oh how I try to smile. And oh how it fails.

  Eric would be disappointed I did this. I snort to myself as I exit the bathroom and lock the door that leads outside into the halls.

  “Eric isn’t here,” I mumble. I walk back to the balcony and look out at the people once more. The girls are gone, and their project is done. I know that they cannot just leave his body there forever; it will decay and give off a terrible smell.

  Soon, it will be time for him to be buried. Most likely, they will bury him where he lays because he is just so important. After standing there for a while, I see Will go walking by with Red with him. I glare at the two of them in jealousy. They are just always together and hanging out.

  Soon enough Will shall not be mine anymore. I watch closely as they stop walking and hug. That is when I almost jump off the balcony right then and there. I watch in shock as Red’s lips move by his ear in a clear whisper.

  “What the hell?” I ask myself out loud. My voice seems raspy and I chuckle. “Now I’m even talking to myself. Oh goodie!”