ALICE

Chapter 70: HOMECOMING

Chapter 70: HOMECOMING

 The team drove for a good while, and after some WillyWack OrganMakers, Angel was feeling much better. He slept a lot, spitting blood out the side occasionally. Alice grimaced as she thought of the last hour or so, seeing the kiss with Angel over and over in her head.

 Angel was lucid enough now to cry in the back. He tried to rub the tears out of his eyes but only managed to get his eyes bloody, giving him the appearance that he was crying blood.

 Alice just watched the desert go by again, rubbing her arm gently as she poked and prodded, investigating the broken bone. Alice sucked air in quickly when she touched a particular area that was extremely painful. After that she just left it alone.

 Alice didn’t feel pride in this mission. It was so bad. Angel had nearly died, and Redd was crippled and hardly talking. As far as Alice could tell, the mission was almost a total failure. The only good thing that had happened was when ZERO was killed.

 Redd stopped the car, and got out. He stood against a cactus and took a slash, and after coming back he made a bit of an announcement.

 “Okay. I brought along a little something in case we didn’t die, and luckily, we didn’t, so…” He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a bottle of very nice scotch, and three cigars. Alice turned the corners of her mouth up slightly as she was tossed a cigar, still in the plastic wrap. She pulled it out, and chopped the end off with her knife. When the cigar, which had a sweet but bitter, smoky smell and taste was in her mouth, Alice leaned into Angel’s Zippo, now fully carved in, and inhaled a few times to get it lit. When she got her first lungful of smoke, she coughed and sputtered, doubling over for a moment and taking deep breaths.

 After a few more inhalations, Alice got used to it, and within the hour, with three long pulls of Scotch in her, Alice was stepping on the cigar butt and getting into the jeep again. She fell asleep against the door, allowing the wind to whip past her and put her to sleep.

 (BREAK)

 Alice awoke from her nap when the jeep was about two kilometres away from the base. The usually quiet base, however, was roaring. Cheers, laughter, crying and general noise was mashed together into one huge roar of happiness and relief.

 The truck got about thirty metres from the base before it was showered by confetti and happiness. Alice was grinning, Redd was laughing out loud, and even Angel was managing a dry giggle. When they got into the gates, the truck stopped and all three people got out, Redd carrying Angel. Alice walked through the crowd that had mobbed the jeep, shaking hands, hugging, and receiving thank you’s everywhere. Alice was grinning from ear to ear as she pushed through the crowds, grinning until George was in her face, and then in one quick second his lips were on hers.

 Alice pushed him off, but he came on to her again. Not a single person noticed. Alice punched George in the stoumach, and when he got off of her, punched him in the face. He hit the ground, and as Alice began to kick him, the sound from the yelling crowd was muffled out and replaced by her heartbeat. She kicked him, landing heavy hits to his head, sides, and face. Alice kept kicking, stomping and stepping on him until he was lying in his own blood, crying and struggling to breathe.

 Alice left him, pushing through the crowds as the mob continued. She found Redd and Angel, Redd in a passionate lip-lock with Christina Snow. Angel was leaning against a wall, kissing another pretty girl that had been shooting looks at him ever since the mission to kill ZERO was approved.

 Alice smiled as she scraped the blood off of her boots. Kendo came up, a single tear running from his eye as he pulled Alice into an embrace.

 “God bless you Alice.”

 Alice smiled and hugged him back. She was caked in blood and sweat, and so she wanted to get out of the clothes she was in and go to sleep. The night was coming and Alice knew the celebrations would likely go for days. Alice pushed through, shaking a few more hands and finally making it towards the bak of the camp, which was eerily devoid of life. The roar was still loud but this side was very dark and more quiet. Alice found her lean-to, and her bed which was cold but would warm up. Alice pulled her vest off of her chest, peeling the tank-top and her bra off. She took off her boots, and pants, and curled up into the bed, draping the blanket over her and falling asleep very quickly.