ALICE

Chapter 22 - RESISTANCE

Chapter 22: RESISTANCE

 Alice had fallen into a heap after another trip up, and discovered that the heart had begun to bleed again, and that she was almost immobilized. It seemed the LSF had decided to pull out, or Nine and Kendo had managed to kill most of them, since about a long minute after, it was just them who came for her. Alice opened her eyes and saw Kendo towering over her.

 "We know you're not the Alice we know."

 "Wh... What?"

 "You're not the Alice that was in charge of those men back there. You proved that by helping us. Nine doesn't trust you, but he'll come around." Kendo held his hand out to her. 

 Alice took it, and he pulled her up.

 "Come on, we're here."

 Alice turned around, and saw an impressive sight. An entire camp, dozens of small tents poking out from the stone wall that was made from the same stones that were everywhere. She looked around her surroundings, seeing just plains of small pebbles as far as the eye could see. Alice looked at the camp, the smaller tents were grey, and in the middle, a large tent that was not quite sky blue. She saw people on ladders putting up a huge grey tarp that was just the wrong shade of grey to match the overcast day. As they moved closer, Alice noticed the wall was topped with clear glass and razor wire, and she shivered as she saw that the blades on the wire was covered on blood.

 They moved towards the gate, which was solid iron, with bars across it to keep it from being knocked down from anything short of a cannon. Kendo banged the door, and a slot opened, with a pair of eyes staring through. 

 "Name and password."

 "Kendo, applesauce." He was let in.

 Nine came next, "Nine, trash bin. The girl's with me, she's a victim, she looks like Alice, get the word to Big Top, and make sure no one kills her."

 "Got it." He was let in.

 "You," Alice realized that Nine didn't know her name as he said this, "Give me your guns and knives. People wouldn't hesitate to kill you in this place."

 Alice handed him Kendo's gun, and he tucked it into his wasteband. Then they walked through the door. The camp was bustling, men, women, children, walking around with purpose. Shots were fired from the other side, presumably from a firing range. A man was running towards the large tent, probably to tell everyone of Alice's arrival. Alice looked around at the community, and saw a man holding a ladder, with a woman in front of her and a man behind her. He hit the man behind him with the ladder, turned around to apoligize, hit the woman in front, and ended the graceful maneouvre by dropping the ladder on his own foot. Alice had a short giggle, and even Nine's mouth curled into a smile that didn't look like it belonged on his face.

 Alice followed Nine to the large tent, where a Kendo was standing, arms crossed. Their were five guards, all packing M4's and grim looks. She walked past one, into the tent.

 Iniside there was a formal looking office, with mahogany desks with maps spread across them, green lamps, and comfortable looking chairs. It was bustling with activity, about 50 men walking around, talking to eachother, consulting about maps. Alice saw the handle of a gun in every single mans houlster, and saw nearly every hand reach for it as the tent went silent and stared at Alice. A man pulled his revolver out, and fired at Alice, missing terribly and causing everyone else to duck. It was just the one man, standing up with a smoking .44 Magnum and an embarrased look. Nine aimed his gun at the man, and yelled:

 "Friendly, friendly! Put your gun down!"

 The man dropped his gun to the wooden floor, and put his hands up.

 "Okay." Nine said.

 Alice followed Nine to the top floor of the tent after the area slowly regained energy and momentum again. Up there, there were four desks, each one with a nametag in it and no person; 

 Cpt. Cole Redd

 Cpt. Jack Kendo 

 Cpt. Jacob Glass 

 Cpt. Christina Snow 

 "This is the commitee, these four people approve missions, raids, recruits, interrogations, assassinations, you name it, it has to go through them first. They all earned their place on the commitee, too. Redd has taken two bases in his time here, single-handedly. Kendo was in deep cover as an LSF soldier, he risked his life, and he took out ten elite sqauds of LSF assassins in two years. Glass..." He said the name with a mad look, "He was... Injured, and he managed to get out of hostile territory, after being tortured for days, he broke out, and got out, without giving up anything. Snow, she pulled a bomb out of this base, into the LSF HQ. We didn't expect to see her again, but she came back, and earned a place on the commitee."

 "Wow, you've got some seasoned war heroes."

 "Hey," He turned around to her, "I'm really sorry about earlier, I thought you were Alice, and I-I-I mean... You look just like her."

 "Nine, it's no problem, I don't understand what the hell is going on here, but I'll figure it out eventually."

 "Let's start. I'm Nine." He held his hand out, "Only name, no first or last."

 "Alice," She shook it. "Alice McCormick."

 "Well, Ms. McCormick, why don't you come with me?"

 She followed him past the desks, up more wooden stairs, to a platform, on top of the huge tent. He held his arms out at the camp, which was incredible from so high up.

 "Alice McCormick," He said, grinning, "Welcome to The Resistance."

 Alice looked at him, smiling, and she realized, Nine wasn't that hard on the eyes, he was only about 19 or twenty, just a few years older then her. Nine had close-cropped hair, a chiseled nose, and striking grey eyes. He was looking at her too, with a look of fondness. She liked this guy, Nine.

 "I like you, Alice."

 And without another, their lips were touching, kissing intimatley. The feeling was electric. He put his hand on her cheek, feeling her hair, and they seperated, just slightly. He was about half a head taller, which seemed like the right height difference. He looked in her eyes, his smile looking much more natural, looking like it belonged now.

 Alice spoke now;

 "I like you too, Nine."