ALICE

Chapter 76: NOW

Chapter 76: NOW

 Alice had gone to sleep on a small cot for nearly an hour, but when she awoke and tried to cry, no tears ran. Alice had cried herself dry, and she was done with crying.

 Alice paced quickly over to Romeo, kicking herself for forgetting.

 “Romeo. Where’s George.”

 He went from laughing with a friend, to very quiet. Romeo turned around, and slid a small, glossy piece of paper out. He flipped it over, and showed Alice a photograph, black and white, and well-lit. The photograph was of Alice and George, kissing passionately in front of the helicopter Alice took on her very first mission.

 “I’m sorry. Before he died, he told me to give you this.”

 Alice took the photo, and saw the messy writing on the back.

 Heart-Breakers and Life-Takers. Love, George.

 And so Alice hit the ground. She could only look at the photo for small amount of time before she began to cry again. She was wrong. She could cry forever.

 And as far as Alice was concerned she was going to.

 (BREAK)

 When Alice was done she found Romeo again, working up the nerve to ask him;

 “How… How did George die?”

 “He was asleep on the cot in the medical tent because the drugs. He was just… Shot. He would have died peacefully.”

 And so Alice now knew she killed George. If she hadn’t put him in the hospital, he would have been lucid enough to fight for his life. Alice may even have seen him down here.

 But no. Alice had killed George. Killed George dead.

 (BREAK)

 Alice found Angel again.

 “What do we do?”

 “Kendo is dead, Alice. You’re in charge.”

 “Then I think you should tell me something.”

 “What’s that?”

 “Tell me what the hangar is.”

 “Okay, it’s back there.” He nodded, and led her towards the bright light that everything was silhouetted against.

 They passed through the lights, and then traveled through dim hallways for nearly half an hour. Alice brushed her hand against the damp concrete as they spattered through the puddled ground. Eventually, they reached a solid iron door.

 Angel turned the wheel that sat in the center of the door. When it was unlocked, Angel pulled onto the door and it slid open silently. Alice marvelled at the inside.

 The room beyond was an a thousand meter by thousand meter area with a concrete flooring. The floor was lined with yellow paint put into lines. Along the room, with the walls unfinished and lined with brown rock, were light wired and drilled directly into the wall. In the room there were a total of about sixty aircraft, helicopters, big and small, a few small aeroplanes, and three jets.

 “This is the hangar, where we keep all of our aircraft. It was kept secret from you because we weren’t sure we could trust you.”

 Alice rolled her eyes. “I can be the general but not know about these parts of the base?”

 Angel cocked his head and shrugged. “I for one wanted you to know, but in the end it was Kendo’s decision.”

 “So what do you think I should do?”

 “Well, I would say that we get everyone in these aircraft and make a mad dash to… Well, somewhere.”

 “The Forest?”

 “They were overtaken.”

 “Is the Glacier still abandoned?”

 “It wouldn’t be for long.”

 Alice pushed a stray hair behind her ear as she sighed in thought.

 “The desert, then.” Alice said, distraught.

 “Many of us won’t make it there.” Angel said as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

 “What else do you suggest?”

 “I don’t know. We can’t stay here forever.”

 “Excellent.” Alice said.

 “So, shall I rally the troops?” Angel asked.

 “Not yet.” Alice said, “Is there a medical helicopter? Something Redd and the others can fly in?”

 “There… May be something.”

 Angel led her towards the back of the hangar. They weaved throughout the helicopters and jets, and eventually, in front of them, was a hulking behemoth of a helicopter. It had two large rotors and a smaller one on the rear. The craft was coloured deep grey, and some parts were blackened from explosions.

 “We call it the Black Smith. She’s the last of a kind of helicopter the LSF built. We found her in a junk yard and fixed her up. She’s got ten inch thick iron armour, and she’s more likely to be knocked out of the sky instead of being blown up.

 “The craft has two thirty calibre guns, built in machine guns that are supposed to be manned, missiles, the works. Inside, she’s armed up to carry nine wounded, two pilots, and three extra troops.”

 “This could definitely work.” Alice said as she thought about. After about two minutes of silence, she was decided. “Okay. We move everyone into this Hangar, and pack as many people as we can into the jets. We’ll have to… We’ll have to leave the dead.” She turned to Angel. “How many wounded have we got?”

 “Six that can’t sit up.”

 “That’s good. We’ll get the wounded into the Black Smith. You, I, a few others will go with them, and then we’ll split almost everyone up into the other helicopters, leaving the jets for the best flyers. The jets will be hunter killers, covering the slower helicopters and taking out any LSF fliers that are out there.”

 Angel nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll tell everyone.”

 Alice nodded her head as Angel walked away. When he was gone, Alice took a closer look at the Black Smith. She ran her hands over the armour as she looked at the cockpit, with its bulletproof glass that had poorly cleaned bloodstains on the inside. Alice looked at the craft that would fly her through danger to safety, or, at least try.

 “Alright old Bessy.” Alice said as she walked away. “Time for one last fight.”

 Alice exited the Hangar.