Sunshine

Part 3

Warning:  Blood, fire, injury, explosion

The world was ringing. It wasn't the kind of ringing that came from peaceful church bells, but the kind that signaled some sort of danger. Feeling oddly serene, Alice did not open her eyes. She felt her heavy limbs and a tingling over random parts of her body. Left arm. Ears. Knees. A foot... which one was it? Tongue. Cheek. Slowly, the tingling became a burning, and the burning became sharp pain.

Now worried, Alice tried to open her eyes. They were heavy like lead. The serenity she felt before was eradicated as she forced her eyes open. The first thing that she saw was blurry blobs of brown and black. Then, Alice noticed heat against her back. She was lying on her side. As her eyes came into focus, the blobs sharpened into splintered wood and glass. Her back was really hot now.

She was thinking that the air smelled funny when she finally moved her arms. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she tried to understand what was happening. Fire. There was fire. That was why her back was hot. It was only small licks on flames, but it was close enough for her to scoot away.

Now her head hurt. When did her head start hurting? Placing her palms against her head, she felt her hair. Where there had been a neat bun, there were now loose, blonde locks falling past her shoulders. She pulled her hands back. They were black. A lot of things were black.

Finally standing, she gathered her thoughts. 'Garrison' was the first word to pop into her mind. "I am at the Garrison." She croaked out loud to herself on accident. She looked down at her blouse and skirt. Sleeves and hems were ripped, but that was all. Where did her shoes go? She looked around until she found one half-covered in soot. The other was either obliterated or buried under rubble.

"Holy FUCKIN 'ELL!!!!" The loud voice startled Alice. She placed her hands on the bar. Why was the bar still there? Rubbing her hands against it, she felt the surface under her fingertips. Stone. It must have been reinforced somehow, Alice thought dizzily. It was then that she realized why she had not been blown up. She had fallen behind the thick, stone bar.

"Hello!?" Alice cried, suddenly understanding the extremity of her situation. "HELLO!?!?" She screamed.

Muttered curses followed by thrown rubble brought Arthur to her. "Alice." He sounded as if he had just registered that she was there. "You alright?" He placed and arm on her shoulder.

Horrified and confused, Alice cried at him. "Alright?! AM I ALRIGHT?! NO, I'M NOT ALRIGHT!"

Arthur only watched her with awkward sympathy. Alice felt as though she might die right then just due to the intensity of her distraught emotions. She put her hands over eyes and felt them tremble against her skin. Tears silently crawled down her sooty cheeks.

"Erm. Okay then. Let's get you out of 'ere aye?" Arthur tried to comfort her, but he had never been good with crying women. He guided her out of the building, or the lack of building, to be more precise.

Dropping her hands to see, Alice hopped over large pieces of woods and she was fairly sure that she was cutting her feet on glass. However, Alice felt numb everywhere except for her hot face and her cold fingers. Once outside, she saw many people either blatantly ignoring or just avoiding the scene.

A sudden blur ran right up to her and Arthur. "Fuckin 'ell." John muttered in disbelief as he stared at the previously known Garrison. Just as Arthur had, John suddenly realized that she was not only present, but relatively injured. "Shit." He said as he looked at her.

"This is your fault!" Arthur pointed at John angrily.

"My fault? How could it be my fault? I wasn't even 'ere!" John looked at Alice as if to ask her to back him up on his argument. Alice was feeling progressively vulnerable.