Hunting The Snark: An Alice in Deadland Adventure (Alice, No. 4) by Mainak Dhar Read Free Book Online Page B

shot him twice. The third trooper fired, missing her narrowly
with a burst as she rolled to the ground and came up in a crouch, shooting him
dead.
    It had all taken less than ten seconds, and three Zeus
troopers were lying dead around Alice. As quickly as she had attacked, she
leaped back over the trunk and behind cover and picked up her rifle. She aimed
for the nearest muzzle flash and fired and was rewarded by a shout of pain as
she hit a trooper. Tom’s sniper rifle rang out once more and another trooper
fell. Through her scope, she could see the other Zeus troopers retreat. One of
them was pulled back into the darkness and began to scream uncontrollably as
Bunny Ears bit into his shoulder and then snapped his neck before emitting an
angry growl audible even over the gunfire.
    A squad of twenty Zeus commandos had come in, guided by a
drone flying overhead that had picked up the trail of Alice and her companions.
With the advantage of numbers and surprise on their side, they had thought this
would be a one-sided battle. Now more than half of them were dead, and they now
seemed to be under attack by Biters. The Squad Leader took stock of the
situation and decided to retreat. He called for his men to back up as another
was snatched by Bunny Ears and began screaming as he was mauled to death.
    When the Zeus troopers had retreated, Alice shouted out to
Bunny Ears to stop since he was setting off in pursuit. They ran through the
forest for the next twenty minutes, only pausing when they were sure that there
were no more troopers following them. As everyone stopped to catch their
breath, Larry doubled over, wheezing.
    ‘Jesus, girl, you are crazy!’
    ‘Running away from a fight never helps. The fight will catch
up with you sooner or later.’
    Tom had come up behind her.
    ‘A fighter and a philosopher. What now, Flyboy?’
    Vince was looking at the tablet computer he was carrying. It
had been captured from Zeus stocks and the resistance had set up a primitive
network of its own where coded messages could be exchanged. He took a minute to
decode the message that had been posted on a message board.
    ‘Guys, the General is back in business, and he says there’s
a mission for us if we want to get to this Snark.’
    ‘What mission is that?’
    ‘That part of the message wouldn’t be posted on a board
where Zeus could intercept it. Most of our secrets are traded the old-fashioned
way with runners carrying paper messages. The General says we’re to meet up
with a group that has more information on our mission.’
    ‘Who’re they?’
    ‘The Night Witches.’
    When Alice looked at Vince, wondering what he was talking about,
Josh cut in.
    ‘They’re bad news, very bad news.’
     
    ***
     
    FIVE
     
    ‘This place is what people call the Biters’ Backside. It’s
so infested with Biters and bandits that Zeus has pretty much written it off.
We captured a map from a Zeus officer once and it showed that the Executive
Committee doesn’t even consider this as part of the Homeland that it
administers.’
    Alice took a look around her as Vince spoke and as far as
she could see, there was nothing but the broken husks of buildings. She had
seen more than her share of destruction and death, but there was something to
this place that was different. It was as if death hung over it. Skeletons lay
in the streets and every once in a while, she caught a glimpse of Biters in the
shadows between the buildings. They had resumed their journey in a Jeep waiting
for them in the resistance safehouse and had been driving for close to two
hours.
    John spoke up, a bitter twinge to his voice.
    ‘My home was a few miles from here. When The Rising
happened, I was in New York meeting a client.’
    ‘What the hell happened here? I’ve seen the Ruins of Delhi,
but this place somehow looks much worse.’
    Tom had been silent so far, and he sighed as he answered
Satish.
    ‘What you’re looking at used to be Lincoln, the capital of
Nebraska. Home to