The storm stops, Conduits rush out onto the battlefield, as fast as a cheetah hunting its prey. I can hear air rifles shooting from every angle, sharp like a glimpse of an eye. Vultures flying in circles above our heads, ready to dig through dead battered corpses and eat the dead flesh. The ground is scattered with body parts detached from the dead bodies: hands, arms, feet, and heads.
All of a sudden, I have the urge to walk across the battlefield, it is an awakening response, and my heart is racing fast, as I slowly walk through the jaws of death.
As I am walking I suddenly stop, it has suddenly gotten to a point where I cannot talk anymore. I stand still and freeze in isolation and a thought, cropped up though, I don’t mind looking at dead flesh; I don’t want my flesh to be eaten by creatures.
This thought is eating me inside, the sense of reality has been established, and I know this isn’t a dream, or is it? The thought is so mortally scary, that I can’t take it any longer. All I feel is loneliness and pain, as one day every living soul will bear such a punishment, they will taste death which happens to be the true reality of life, and one must go through it alone.
While I am thinking and looking at the deceased another thought comes into my mind. These people are innocent and now, lying on the ground dead. People I love, people I hate. The bodies that lie here will perish one day, they might even lie here for days, months and/or years. But, eventually these bodies lying here will disintegrate, their flawless skin will perish, but all that will remain are hollow bones. Suddenly, my heart starts pounding from my chest, moist sweat soaked to the skin, from my cold head. Sweat is streaming down my disturbed face. I turn pale and collapse on the ground, trying to yearn for breath. I get up slowly and feel energy growing inside me, as my body begins to feel warm and my temperature begins to return back to its normal slate. I have woken up from my fears, my heart rendered of unnaturalness. I feel like a supernatural being. I continue, deeper into the wilderness and trying to think of what other vulnerable images, which lie in the mysterious and desolate field.
Suddenly, someone grabs me and holds a torrential Pistol on my head. He is forcing me to betray the Conduits, repeatedly I refuse and out of nowhere I am pounded on the head with the Pistol and thick blood starts pouring down from my left eye. I am blind as a bat; yet, I do not like bats. I shudder at the thought of being one of those disgusting creatures. Slowly I am losing consciousness, as my vision grows fainter, my eyes droop down as if my body organs are declining. There, I am paralyzed and trying, to regain consciousness again. There are two bodyguards holding me from my numb, fragile neck. They shove me in a black jeep and take me back to the battlefield.
Finally, we arrive at the battlefield, where my soldier’s bodies lie. They open the car and throw me out; again I can hear the sounds of air rifles, bullets’ piercing through brave soldiers as I lie helplessly. My heart is being punctured with innocent cries of pain. I bang my small fist against the bloodcovered ground in pain as I watch death sweep through the lifeless bodies and take some of my closest friends. One of our great Conduits is heavily wounded; he is bleeding internally, a deathly bullet plunged deep through his lungs. He is drowning in his own thick blood, as he is gasping for breath. Blood pours mercilessly out of his deep wounded chest. I can see the torn light pink lung inflating quickly, there is so much blood being lost. I can see his veins clotting in blood, ripped open from his lungs. The blood also gushes out from his deformed mouth, the light in his eyes fades in sign of his departure. I watch helplessly as death hovers over him waiting to eat the man’s dead soul. As he takes his last, final breath he fled from this world. I glance at his face and my heart falls when I realize whom the person is, who is now dead before my eyes. His eyes are sterling blue, and his lips are a light red. His blonde hair is plastered to his face with blood and one tear leaves my eye. Eric, my brother lies before me.
I feel terrified, as my eyes grow small. I try to get up but I cannot. I feel vulnerable as my eyes go and I grow of anger, and begin to realize that death is inevitable.
Along with the other Conduits, it is my turn to join them. But, my death is something more tolerable, nothing like being slaughtered in an inhumane way, like my fellow friends. However, even though we all die in the end, there is morale to this. That death can approach us at any time or any place.
We die as martyrs but every human will die of a different cause. Therefore, take life as an ultimate test and face every calamity, as it comes. This is my last message as slowly the temperature of my body falls rapidly; my rival succeeds as my heart stops.
My head shoots up from against the door. I wipe my eyes, trying to get the horrifying picture out of my head. I use the door to steady myself as I stand up from my spot. I tilt my head to the side and grimace at the pain. Note to self: never sleep in that position again.
It seems as though my dream was worse than the actual scene at the battlefield. How can that even be possible?
I stumble to the bathroom and glance at the clock. It is 10:00 a.m. At least I slept for a while, even if it wasn’t a nice sleep. I brush my hair and quickly change into jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Before putting the shirt on, I inspect the cuts. They are starting to heal, which is good. Most likely, I will never do this again. I pull on the shirt over my head and walk out of the bathroom. I am about to walk out of the room, but decide to take a look outside first. I walk over and choke at what I see.
Sam is holding hands with Red right by the gates of the base. My mouth is opened wide and I cover it to keep myself from busting into laughter. I turn my head slightly to see Will standing near Eric’s body watching them. I watch closely, eager to see what he is going to do. Red turns right on time to see Will come walking over to them. Sam doesn’t let go of her hand as he waves gleefully but Red takes a step backwards.
I roll my eyes at her insecurity. She really cares about what Will thinks of her.
I wish I could hear what they spoke of. Will’s lips are moving with a serious matter as he stands in front of Red and Sam.
Sam’s face falls as he hears Will’s words. His left hand flies up to his mouth in shock. Red looks down at the ground, clearly in deep thought. Will finishes talking, waiting for someone else to speak. I watch in confusion, wondering what he told them.
From out of the blue, Red’s gaze shoots right up to mine. I jump backwards hastily. Crouching down, I peer over the railing and see that they all now are watching me. I stand up tall and glare back down at them all. Inside, I am cheering for how much I feel higher then all of them at the moment.
Will watches my every move, surprised that I am awake in the first place. Sam looks between all three of us. He seems to know what is going on, is that what Will told him? Red gives me a hard stare, trying to find my emotions. I am tempted to flip them all off and walk away in style. But instead, I remain professional for all of the Conduits watching below and glance around at everyone walking around. I spin around on my heel, and walk away from the railing.
I pace in my room for a few minutes before stopping in the middle of the room. I grab my dagger belt and strap it around my hips. I slip two guns in the back of my pants and let out a sigh.
I turn and walk out of room, determined to be professional about all of this.
I hold my head high and nod at people who pass by while strutting down the hall. They seem happy that their leader is back in order. I grin at the thought and jump into an elevator that is held open for me. I stand in front of three people. As soon as I go in, my eyes inspect them quickly. Two boys and a girl; they are all armed with two handguns and two daggers. Clearly, they are all Conduits but I cannot see their marks.
I’m not comfortable standing it the front, so when I turn to scoot over to the back, I am shocked to be held at gunpoint. The three are now, wearing masks that I didn’t even notice before. The masks are a pure white, with black paint drawn on them. Near the jaw, all three of them have a flower painted on, I guess the flower is a tulip, but I’m not sure. They
all have their guns notched and aimed at my head. I hold my hands up as the girl takes a step forward.
“Alice Lee,” she has a French accent, is quite short, and has blonde hair that is tied in a very tight bun at the top of her head. Her arm is held up, so I can get a quick glimpse of her tattoos and veins on her arms, black and brown.
“That’s my name,” I mutter darkly.
“You have been condemned to death by our most trusted leader, the Unknown,” she states slowly.
I raise an eyebrow and warn them by saying, “Alright, I’ll warn you now. Leave now and forever hold your peace, whoever you are. If you decide to stay then know now, I will take you down and all three of you shall be imprisoned here.”
The girl laughs and so does her little dumb goons. She fastens her finger on the trigger and says, “Say, goodnight, Miss. Lee.”
“Goodnight,” I growl through gritted teeth. Just then the elevator opens and I jump backwards. I run to the right and hear them chasing me. I yell while running, “GET OUT THE WAY! MOVE! STAY OUT OF GUNFIRE RANGE!”
People move out of the way, and the sound of gunfire makes me jump while running. I go straight to the auditorium and noticing that I have a head start, I pull my guns out of my pants. As soon as I hear the pounding of their feet, I aim at the ground. When they come to a stop, I shoot at their legs. The two bulky men in the back jump out of the way landing on their faces, but the girl easily jumps out of the way.
She charges at me with a battle cry, and knocks me to the ground. She throws her leg over my neck and twists my arm back. I let out a yelp and bite down on her leg. Blood slips into my mouth and I quickly spit it out near her. The French girl recoils and I launch over her. I jump to my feet and watch her jump upwards. She charges again and kicks out at me. I keep on jumping back until I reach the cold wall. She launches her fist at me but I drop to the ground. She grimaces at the impact to her fist on the wall but she easily reaches down and grabs my shirt.
The French girl moves her hand to my neck and, surprisingly the tiny blonde is very strong. She lifts me off of my feet and bangs me against the wall. Stars dance across my vision, and I shake my head and fasten my hands on hers that clasp on to my neck. I move my right hand and reach out to her face but she is too far. I start to gasp for breath and black spots cover the corners of my eyes.
I thrash out my right leg and hit her thigh. She drops me in surprise and I head butt her to the ground. She jumps up gets a good hit at my face. I ram into her and mold my hands into massive fire claws, and I dig them in the girl’s flesh.
The girl screams in pain and frustration as I push her backwards. She knees me in my gut and I fall back to the ground. She kicks me over and over. I grab her leg and pull her to the ground. I jump on top of her and hold her in a chokehold. Again, she surprises me with her strength and she shoves me off. She grabs me by the neck once more and throws me to the other side of the hall.
A minute later, I’m on my feet and charging at her. I manage to punch her several times in the gut but she puts me in a chokehold again. Suddenly, her grip looseness around my throat and I fall to the ground. The French girl falls right next to me and I glance up to see Will having his right arm molded into a fire mace.
My heart flutters, but instead a glare is on my face. “Did you kill her?” I demand as calmly as I can.
He sighs and replies, “No, just bashed her head. She’ll wake up later.”
“Alice Lee, death is coming to you!” One of the bulky men shouts from my left and gets up. He and the other come charging right at me.
Will molds his arm into a short yet elegant fire sword, but I know that the man will easily trample him. I stay on the ground, but I grab Will’s ankle and yank him down. He gasps at the sudden pull and raises an eyebrow at me in question. I close my eyes and feel my tattoos tingle. When I open them, I sit on the other side of the room with Will. I did it! I can transport with someone else! I look forward to see the two bulky men lying on the ground, with blood gushing out of their foreheads. They banged into each other.
Will stands up from the ground and stumbles a bit. I raise an eyebrow and ask, “You okay?”
He nods and says, “It takes some getting used to I guess. Thanks.”
I nod at him and try to get up, but my legs start to shake and I stagger back down to the ground. Will jumps over to me and picks me up and cradles me in his arms. My heartbeat is running fast as I place my hands on his chest gently. I can feel his pulse beating hard on my hand.
“I’m taking you to the infirmary,” He states softly.
I look away and at the French girl. Some Conduits on guard duty went and pick her up, taking her to the jail below. “I need to find out who she is,” I mumble to myself.
Will raises an eyebrow at me and asks, “How do you feel?”
“Fine,” I mumble. Black spots still block my vision, and I am doing my best to keep my eyes open. He grins and gives me a sweet kiss on my cheek. I feel myself blush and again, I look away. Does he think he can just forget about what he said before and be on with his life?
I was hurt! Ha, I still am hurt, yet he treats me like nothing ever happened! Why does he always do this crap to me? Fucking bipolar people...
When we get to the infirmary he sets me down on one of the soft light blue beds. I pull the sheets on top of me and cover my eyes with my palm. Will still stands there, I never hear him walk away. I move my index finger and peer at him.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
He smiles and sits down on the side of the bed. “I think I should stay here so you can get some sleep,” He suggests.
I sit up on my elbows and mutter, “I don’t need to sleep, though. Just a little checkup.” I shrug and cuddle up more under the sheets. The bed is so soft though, and I want to stay in it.
Will shrugs and squeezes my left hand that lies beside my body.,“You sure?”
I nod and pull myself up all the way. I shove the blanket away, determined not to fall asleep.
Will stands and walks towards the nurse. He tells her about my wound, and I hear him say ‘concussion.’
I put my right hand to the back on my head and grimace at the pain. Pulling my hand back down, I see blood slipping down my index finger. I roll my eyes and when Will comes back, I spit, “I don’t have a concussion.”
The nurse comes next to me with a clipboard and answers for him, “You never know, Miss Lee.”
The nurse has brown hair that ends right under her ears. She has hazel eyes and freckles around her nose and on her cheeks.
I wave my hand at her and say, “I prefer to be called Alice.”
She nods and introduces herself also, “Gwendolyn Vivien. I prefer to be called Gwen.”
Will smiles and says, “I shall be leaving now, if you wouldn’t mind.” He turns on his heel and walks out of the room. I roll my eyes and turn my head to Gwen.
She smiles at me reassuringly and says, “Don’t worry, you’ll be out of here in no time.”
As soon as I walk out of the room, the paranoia begins. I keep looking behind my shoulder, and I know that from now on, I can never use the elevator again. After fast walking out of the base, I stay close to the walls surrounding it. I don’t want to be anywhere near Eric. Speaking of Eric, I decide that I really need to get out of this place. Besides, I left an apartment with all of our things unguarded. It is time to head back there.
It is time to head back home.
While walking, I see Sam and Red standing in the same spot as before in a deep conversation, along with Will. Red looks right at me and so does Sam. Sam smiles, Red just stares and Will jogs over.
“No concussion?” He asks.
I shake my head and ask, “Can I borrow the Jeep?” He looks shocked at first, but then he smiles.
“Where you going?”
I raise an eyebrow at him and say, “I don’t think that is any of your business.”
“Actually, you’re taking my car. My car is my business,” Will crosses his
arms over his chest.
I roll my eyes and say with an annoying tone, “I’m going to the city. To my old home.”
He doesn’t even hesitate to drop the keys in my right hand, “About time.” I slightly smile and walk past the three of them. I hear footsteps behind me as I unlock the car.
“Leave me be, Red,” I say, seeing her from the corner of my eye.
“Don’t you think you should take someone with you, though? You know, for safety,” Red is now leaning on the car door to where I have to go in.
I look at the sky, refusing to meet her eyes as I argue, “No. This is something that I have to do alone. I hope you understand that.”
Red nods but continues, “Of course I understand that. But, your safety is what I understand more. If you want to go in alone, then fine. But at least, I should accompany you.”
For a moment, I just stare at her. But then, I open the passenger door, and crawl to the driver’s seat. Red smirks at me from outside and taps the window. I turn the car on and lock the doors. She stays standing there, and I am becoming impatient. If she doesn’t move, then I have to run her over. Finally, I roll down the window and unlock the doors.
Red automatically jogs to the other side and jumps in. She rubs her hands together and asks gleefully, “Where to exactly?”
“I thought you understood the situation.” I mumble.
She nods and says, “You told Will that you’re going home. Is home your apartment, or the old Conduit hideout?”
“Apartment,” I mutter as I put the car in reverse and drive away to something that I now regret dearly.
People seem to be moving around more carefree. They laugh, smile and walk casually down the sidewalks. I notice some Conduits that I remember seeing the first time I went to the Conduit hideout. They laugh with each other, freely showing their Conduit marks. Some people eye them, afraid that they will hurt them. Others, mostly younger people, are embracing the fact that they are here and are asking them about their powers with great enthusiasm.
Alice: The Leader Page 16