by Cameron Jace
Chapter 13
THE PRESENT: OXFORD
The Cheshire had been roaming the street in Jack’s body for some time. And boy was it fun.
First of all, Jack was young, and allowed the Cheshire to mingle with young people, which excited him. Yesterday he’d played a game of football. Gone to a movie with a few youngsters he befriended at the game.
Even better was how girls liked Jack. They always complimented him and flirted with him. They thought he was funny and easygoing, though the Cheshire hardly talked. He didn’t want to expose himself as being a very old creature.
Usually, he only smirked, laughed, and used Jack’s attractive facial expressions to push a conversation.
The best thing about him were his dimples, the girls said.
Thankfully, he knew enough about Jack to sustain believable short conversations when he forced to say something.
At the movies, everyone wanted to see the latest Star Wars movie. But the Cheshire persuaded them to go see Puss in Boots.
That was some experience for him.
Seeing a kick-ass cat, subtly evil, loved and cherished by the audience, made the Cheshire’s day. Maybe humans weren’t that bad after all — but soon he changed his mind and convinced himself that Puss in Boots must be a Wonderlander he hadn’t heard of. One with expanded influence in this world. He should tell the Queen about him later.
Then he went to dinner with a girl. She kept holding his hand all night, showing him she liked him. She made him drive her home and spent a significant time at her doorstep, talking to him. At first he didn’t understand, until she neared and kissed him.
“Meow.” He moaned.
The girl backed off immediately, pretended she had school tomorrow and disappeared into her house.
“She’s definitely not a cat person.” he told himself.
Walking away, the Cheshire wondered about those strange human emotions. Holding hands, going to movies, kissing. Those humans sure knew how to enjoy themselves. They didn’t spend their days hunting for a rat to feed themselves and their families. And they didn’t spend much time evading imminent threats of predators, dogs, and passing cars.
Holy furs, grins, and purrs.
They didn’t even have fleas sticking to the backs of their necks, driving them crazy all day and night.
And most important, each and every one of them had a place to go home to at night. It was just silly.
Suddenly, the Cheshire heard someone call behind him, “Alice!”
The Cheshire turned and saw no one. But the voice continued, “Alice. I love you.”
The Cheshire’s eyes rolled. Was he getting madder than he already was?
“I need to tell you why I came back for you, Alice.”
Enough, the Cheshire thought. What was going on?
Then the headache started. He clapped his hands over his ears, but the voice persisted. He finally realized whose voice this really was.
It was Jack’s. The Cheshire was listening to Jack’s thoughts. About none other than Alice.
The Cheshire grinned. A big grin. It was time to listen to why Jack had really come back for Alice.
Chapter 14
THE FUTURE
The place I just left turned out to be a compound of some sorts. Safe and sound from the mad world outside.
Here in the streets, it’s a circus of insanity. It's like a kindergarten for adults. People drive cars into each other and laugh at the injured passengers. Others are vandalizing every other building they come across. There are a bunch of what look like protestors gathered in the streets. They're holding signs that read: We want our brains back.
And that's just what I am capable of comprehending from a brief look.
I stop the car, too worried to get out, still trying to understand what's going on. Is this the real future? What about the place I came from?
I turn back and see my neighborhood behind the gate is protected by a fortress wall. Surveillance cameras everywhere. Several signs with warnings stretch across the walls. Don't come near or you will be fried like toast.
Farther to the left, there is a bigger sign. It says: The Wonderland Compound.
I remind myself that I am lying on a couch in the Inklings bar a few years back in time now. Does this mean the Inklings has been turned into this protective compound in the future?
Why?
Turning back, I stare at the mad world in chaos and realize I am staring at where Big Ben once stood. The building still has a clock, but it's not Big Ben anymore. It's a giant building, shaped like a mushroom.
I decide to drive further into the mad streets of London. It's not easy, considering the crazy people rapping on my car, demanding that I stop.
But I manage. Maneuvering left and right. A building is on fire next to me. A march of naked people with tattoos on their chests: Government! Give back our brains!
What happened here?
I arrive at what once was the British Parliament in Westminster Palace. It's not that anymore. It's something scary.
I slow down and stare at it, unable to believe my own eyes. But it's hard not to know what it has turned into.
A circus.
A fluttering flag before the tent reads: Ladies and gentlemen, mad and madders, come watch the freaks who call themselves sane and rational.
I halt to a stop, needing a moment to let it all sink in.
We didn't really win the war, did we? We lost it. Big time. And the Wonderland Monsters turned the circus around on humans. Now the insane watch the sane for entertainment an d freak shows.
A slight look to the right and I see the Queen of Hearts’ face, full profile, drawn on the vertical length of a ten-story building. The drawing makes her look taller, thinner, and not as ugly as she really is. Underneath her painting there are more words to read: In Her Majesty's Bonkers Service!
I let out a shriek inside my car. This is the worst future for mankind.
Another horde of protestors walk toward my car. Those are different and most nonsensical. They hold up signs that say: We volunteer to have our heads off. All in the name of the Queen.
They keep advancing and pointing at my car. They want me to let some of them in. I pull the roof of the car on and lock myself inside. But then they pull out their Bandersnatch guns and are about to shoot me. I put the car in reverse and hit the accelerator.
It doesn't work. An ambulance, driven by a madman, crashes into my car from behind.
I need to find a way out of this.
Chapter 15
THE PRESENT: OXFORD
The Cheshire was going mad — well, at least madder than he already was.
Jack's voice in his head was killing him. At first he thought he could know why Jack came back for Alice. But the little piece of information didn't present itself. Instead, Jack turned out to be in real love with Alice, thinking about her all the time. Remembering how they met. All those late night phone calls. The walks. The talks. And the romance.
The Cheshire felt like he was going to vomit from the clichés and cheesiness. Humans pretended they were superior in their feelings toward each other.
But then the Cheshire remembered the youngsters he'd just met and gone to the movies with. Maybe he really had to give humans a chance.
At least guys like Jack.
How was it possible to really think about someone this way? How was Jack benefitting from loving a girl who’d killed him?
It drove the Cheshire mad. But he decided he had to figure it out. Starting with sorting Jack's mind out.
Like a cabinet full of curiosities, he wanted to locate Jack’s memories with Alice. The memory in the bus where where she killed him and the other students.
Chapter 16
THE FUTURE: LONDON
Running wild in the streets, chased by a horde of mad people, I glanced at what once was the Big Ben again. Not only does it look like a weird mushroom made of what looks like marshmallow bricks, but it has a cuckoo bursting out of it when the clock strikes. The
cuckoo has a husky voice, shouting, “We’re all mad here!” three times.
There is much more madness that surrounds me, but I try to focus on two things. My survival, and finding a way out of London to Oxford University.
Pictures of the Queen of Hearts are everywhere. A few statues too. One of them shows her chopping off a flamingo’s head. The following words are carved underneath: She finally did it!
I take a left onto what I think will lead me to the road out of here. The madmen are right on my tail. From the signs I believe Great Britain is now called the Great Republic of Wonderland, just like Tiger told me.
And that’s not all. There are maps on the walls of buildings. Maps of the empire of Wonderland. Apparently Black Chess colonized the rest of the world like the British Empire of the past. Mushrooms are Black Chess’s trademark, planted in every country they set foot in, as a marker of territory.
Damn. The Queen’s plan really worked.
Now I take a right, as I elbow one of my attackers hard enough to throw him back. I think I am stronger now. I wonder how.
There is a map that shows that the republic’s most proud achievement: conquering Uncle Sam’s land. The United Loons of Wonderland is what the US is called now. Hell, there is a picture of the Sphinx in Egypt with the Queen’s head instead of a lion’s.
This by far is the worst-case scenario. How did we lose the war?
A couple of my chasers manage to grab my hand and slow me down. I kick one in the crotch and slice a shard of glass though the other’s neck. What the heck am I doing?
But I have no time. I keep on running before the others find me. This is insane. The world is chasing after me. I don’t even know why.
And here it is. Oxford University. How did I just step out of London into Oxford this fast? I wonder if it has something to do with time traveling. Does time collapse distances this way?
But here I am, staring at… Wait.
At first I am surprised that the university buildings are left as they were. No mushroom structures or other sorts of nonsense have touched it. Then I read the sign hung atop the Tom Tower. It says: Welcome to the Oxford Asylum for the Sane and Mundane.
Pictures of Einstein on the outer walls, depicted as a madman with a hookah pipe and flapping white hair, say it all. There is a bubbling quote coming out of his mouth: Time? What about time? Time is mad.
But I’m not that surprised. It has all gotten out of hand already.
What does surprise me is that my chasers are now split in two groups. Left and right. Now I can’t enter the university — I mean the asylum — surrounded by mad people in all directions.
I’m stuck with a shard of glass for a weapon, between two groups of mad folks wanting to kill me — or so I believe.
I stand in place, circling slowly, my eyes meeting theirs. They’re approaching me. They’re not in a rush. Why would they be? We have all the madness in the world.
What are you going to do right now, Alice? Die in the future? What does that even mean?
I realize that what really bothers me is that I am a mother now. Who is going to take care of Lily and Tiger if I die?
But I’m not even supposed to be here. Time traveling is really messing with my head.
The madmen and women approach me with grins worse than the Cheshire’s. I swallow hard. What am I going to do? I guess I will have to fight them. Can I confront all of them?
I pray my None Fu skills have evolved tremendously, or I will die a mushroom in the future.
Suddenly, a huge vehicle stops nearby. A red one. Its wheels screech to a halt. It’s a fire truck. Before I know it, the madmen, including me, are thrown backward by the rush of water pressure out of a fire hose.
Left and right, mad people glide and slide on the floor.
Who is doing this?
The mad people beg whoever is doing this to stop. But he keeps drowning us, and we’re unable to see who he is behind a wall of moist air.
“Alice!” I hear someone call.
Who is that?
The water stops. The silhouette of a man appears.
I squint as he approaches me, shooting a couple of madmen with a rifle on the way.
And slowly, I can see.
The man wears a hat and blue suit, and white gloves. He is unbelievably dry in all this slippery wetness.
“Pillar?” I stand up, not believing what I am seeing.
He shoots another mad attacker then stares at his pocket watch. “Hmmm,” he mumbles. “A bit too late.”
“What?” I am not sure whether to laugh or cry now. “Late for what?”
“For an important date.” He winks and pulls me by my hands. “I told you I’d see you again in fourteen years. Did you put some weight on?”
Chapter 17
“How did you know I’d be sent to the future?” know I’d be sent to the future?” I ask the Pillar as he drags me into the fire truck.
“Missed you too, Alice,” he says, climbing up into the driver’s seat. “Now hop in.”
I climb up, but one of those madmen grabs at my legs and tries to pull me down. I try to kick him away, having dropped my shards of glass, but he won’t budge. The Pillar shoots him instantly with his rifle, as if we’re in a zombie movie escaping brain eaters.
“That wasn’t necessary,” I say, locking myself inside. “You didn’t have to kill him. He isn’t evil. He is just mad.”
“That’s why I shot him.” He pushes the accelerator, running a few other madmen over. “All of this isn’t real, Alice. We’re in the future.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I hold on to the dashboard.
The Pillar drives over a set of crashed cars. “The future is like a video game. Shoot the bad guys. And when it’s ‘game over,’ rewind to the past and play it all over again.” He shifts gears. “Now pick up a helmet from the back. We’re going to set this place on fire.”
“Set the place on fire?” I pull on a helmet. The Pillar never changes.
“We’re firemen, aren’t we?”
“Who said we’re firemen?”
“We have a fire truck. Makes us firemen,” he says, “So we’re going to burn this miserable place down.” He stares at the long line of gasoline he poured earlier, then throws a cigar into it. I remember that cigar. It’s the one from when we were in Mushroomland. “Hang tight. I’ll speed up.”
“Pillar.” I nudge him as the truck hits bumps on the ground. “You’re overreacting. I’m not sure those mad people want to kill me.”
“Of course they do. They know who you are.”
“They know I am Alice? Why would they want to kill me, then?”
“Because you left the compound.” He turns the wheel. “You see, the Wonderland Compound belongs to the richest of the rich. The ones who left the world to rot after Black Chess won the war and ruled the world.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Black Chess, being the greedy Wonderlanders they are, spared the rich, like it always happens, and gave them immunity in exchange for their money and resources on the planet.”
“Resources?” The truck bumps again. In the rearview mirror, I see the streets are in flames behind us.
“Black Chess needed to know about every conspiracy theory the humans held in the past. Where they hid Hitler’s gold, who really controlled agriculture, if there’s such a thing as UFOs, etcetera, etcetera. And only the rich knew about it.”
“So they collaborated?”
“Yeah.” He suddenly stops the truck. Had I not used my hand as a shield, my head would’ve bumped against the dashboard. I raise my head to see why he stopped. And now I see it. “Do me a favor and pick up that dog, Alice.”
Immediately, I jump out of the truck and rush to pick it up. It’s a German shepherd, but it seems to be either wounded or extremely hungry.
Back in the car, I rest the dog in the back as the Pillar takes off again. It’s not wounded, so I shelter it and give it water and food the Pillar has stacked i
n the back.
I get back into the passenger seat. “You drive madmen over and save the dog?”
“Madmen had a choice to be either mad or sane. Hell, they had a choice to win the war or lose it. The dog didn’t.”
Again with the Pillar’s logic. “So if what you’re saying about the Wonderland Compound is true, why do I live there? Shouldn’t I be one of the masses who lost the war? Why would I make a deal with Black Chess?”
Another bump in the road. “Later, Alice,” the Pillar says. “Now tell me, did you receive the note in the envelope?”
“You know about that, too?”
“I’ve been here for a couple of days. I asked around, and killed a few people. I even blew up a bridge on the River Thames for the fun of it.”
“Fun of it?”
“Like I said, we can always go back in time and correct the future. I’ll send a note to Inspector Dormouse once we go back. I’ll warn him of me blowing up the bridge in fourteen years. Happy? Now what’s the address in the note?”
“Oxford University, which means we shouldn’t have left and burned the street behind us.”
“Oh.” He raises an eyebrow and turns the wheel. The truck loops back a hundred and eighty degrees. “I love how I have the streets all for myself to play with.”
Once we’re in the right direction again, I don’t let him drive further. I grip his hands on the wheel as tightly as I can. “Pillar. How the heck did you know I’d be here? What’s going on?”
Chapter 18
“Okay.” He sighs, his white-gloved hands on the wheel. “Remember two weeks ago when Margaret fooled Fabiola into thinking she is her insider in the Queen’s palace?”
“I do.”
“When I figured it out, I found a way to listen to a meeting in Margaret’s office in Parliament. I heard her talking to unknown members of Black Chess about the next step to get the keys. She proposed using Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock to make you time-travel and locate them.”