ALICE

Chapter 27: PROPISITION

 Chapter 27: PROPOSAL

 Alice awoke in her lean-to, about a week after training ended. George was next to her, sleeping in nothing but boxer shorts, snoring loudly. He seemed to sense Alice awaking, and he half-opened one eye, eyeing Alice's sexy curves up and down.

 "Morning stud." Alice said.

 "Top of it to ya, babe."

 Alice had only been in Landerwon for a month and a half, yet she had already lost her virginity, had her second boyfriend, and lost eight pounds, not that there was much of her to begin with. She was in peak physical condition, and George probably knew it better then anyone.

 Alice stood up as tall as she could in her short lean-to that was in the middle of the maze of tents in the HQ, and turned to George.

 "Get out George, I'm changing my bandages, it'll turn you off."

 He threw on a t-shirt and fatigues, and lifted his handgun off the floor, which he had to have everywhere. He kissed her, almost turning it into something more intimate, but then he pulled away and left the lean-to. 

 Alice pulled off her shirt, and looked at the bandage. It was a miracle that the wound hadn't opened last night in something as physical as what they had done. She peeled off the bandage, causing a small amount of bleeding from a scab being peeled off that was stuck to it. She winced, and tossed the bandage into the rubbish, washing her hands of her dried blood in a bowl of tepid water on her wooden crate that served as a side-table. As she opened it up to find her bandage, she saw that she only had enough for about two more changes, which was not good. 

 Alice got up to report to the command tent where she worked, filing maps and things like that, but was interupted by someone who needed her to run a message over, and she spent most of the day being a messenger. After an exhausting day of sprinting around the camp, she lay down in her tent, knowing that George would be out tonight, running a suspicious errand for Kendo. As she lay down, and turned the parrafin light off, her tent was opened by a young boy of about ten, who had purple bags under his eyes, and looked unimaginabley tired. 

 "You're wanted in the... Command tent..." He fought off a yawn. "Kendo wants you..."

 "Why don't you go to bed?" Alice said in a soothing, motherly tone.

 "Robin's sick... Need to... Take... The nightshift."

 "I'll vouch for you if you go to sleep, I'll take the fall."

 He smiled, and exited.

 Alice stood up, and put on a pair of combat fatigues. There was already a belt on it with a houlster on it. She slid a Glock into it, and put an extra mag into her pocket. She pulled on a black t-shirt, and then exited the lean-to. It was olive drab, with the three letters, LSF stencilled into the side. She had been taught to hate these letters, but there was no point in letting good equiment go to waste, because The Resistance didn't exactly have governmental support. All weapons in Landerwon were made by Willywack Inc., which officially supported the LSF.

 Alice walked between tents, taking the fastest route. She slipped over a tent peg, and gashed her hand on a rock. She swore, and wrapped her hand in her t-shirt. She moved along to the command tent. As she opened up the flap, she saw a rifle barrel aimed at her face. 

 Her body reacted naturally, pulling the barrel past her, and then slamming it into the man's masked face. She pulled the Glock out of her pants, and slammed the man onto the ground, and pressed the gun against his forehead. She grabbed the man's M4, holding it with one hand, and turned around to look if there were anymore men. Still keeping the handgun on the guys head, she aimed the rifle at the second man, who was Kendo, holding his revolver. At this moment, a drop of blood from the gash on her hand, which had formed at the beginning of the impressive CQC maneouver, dripped onto the floor. The entire thing had taken just a couple seconds. 

 "Well done."

 "What the hell is going on?" Alice gripped the rifle tighter.

 "Just a test," The man who was on the ground said. "You passed with flying colours." She tore the balaclava off his face, revealing a bloody nose on NIne's face.

 "Jesus Christ Nine!" She pulled the gun away from him. "You're lucky I didn't kill you!"

 "Try it."

 Alice, to her disgust, pulled the trigger without hesitating or thinking about it. The gun made a click.

 "Did you... Sabotage my gun?"

 "Switched it," Kendo held up an identical Glock. "It's a broken one."

 "What if we got ambushed?"

 "We didn't."

 Alice grunted. "So that was it? I just came here for a test?"

 "No, you brought a gun with you. Glad to see some people actually follow the rule. We actually have a propisition for you, a mission."

 Alice's heart lept. "A mission?"

 "Right. I want you to come with me."

 Alice followed him to his desks. He sat in the more comfortable chair behind the desk. Kendo enjoyed this, as he liked watching the people he was usually putting through the grinder squirm. It gave him an ego boost.

 "8 months ago, the LSF invaded and captured our Resistance base in the forest. It was a bloodbath. They slaughtered most of the fighting force, and captured and tortured most of the survivors. We had secret contact with ten people, who had managed to transmit audio wavelengths to us, giving us insider information on the occupation. Slowly, one-by-one, we lost contact them."

 "When did the last one go dark?"

 "Two days ago. MacDonald was a major morale boost for the camp, we haven't told anyone else."

 "What's the mission?"

 "The mission," Nine said, stuffing tissue up his nose to stop the bleeding, "Is to retake the forest."