Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar

sister sleep in the same room as them. It was hard to believe that things had got so bad so fast. It had begun with a fight between two young boys at lunch-time, one of them supporting her father and another insisting that they should just go the way of so many other settlements and do what Zeus wanted. When things had got more personal and some harsh words had been said about Alice, a couple of her friends had waded in. Soon words had given way to blows and before anyone could control it, the settlement had been neatly divided down the middle. What was apparent was that it had to do with more than whether they believed Alice's story, or even what they thought about joining Zeus. It had become a battle for power. A battle between Alice's father and some of the original founders of the settlement and others who had joined them more recently, and resented the authority the old-timers wielded.
     
     
    Alice's father would have normally waved it all off as yet another of the countless arguments that had been inevitable over the years when you put strangers together in such a high-stress situation. But now things were different. He knew the imminent danger of Zeus moving against them, and he had also now seen first-hand that what Alice had said had some truth to it. He had been tempted to pull the trigger the moment he saw the Biter emerge in front of his daughter, and he had to fight years of conditioning to not blow his head away. But then he had seen it stand there, apparently listening, apparently understanding, and then walking away. With all the devastation the world had endured, if there was even a small chance that things could be set right, then it was worth fighting for.
     
     
    He had called a meeting just after breakfast and as the entire settlement gathered, he noticed that the lines were drawn. People were sitting in groups, and those he knew supported his views were sitting around him and his family. However, an even larger group was now sitting around Rajiv, who had somehow taken on leadership of the splinter group. Better him than one of the rabble-rousers, he thought, as he began his account of what he had seen.
     
     
    He was less than a minute into it when he saw the dissenters stirring. Rajiv stood up.
     
     
    'Gladwell, we go way back, but you cannot seriously expect us to believe this. I understand you're trying to help your daughter but this is too incredible to be true. After all the Biters have done to us, why are you doing this?'
     
     
    He heard a few catcalls and a man's voice boomed out from the crowd.
     
     
    'He's just scared of no longer being the head honcho if we join Zeus, that's all. And if he hates Zeus so much why did he strike a deal to save his daughter?'
     
     
    Alice could see her father wither in the face of the criticism and he put his head down, defeated, knowing that nothing he could say was going to make a difference.
     
     
    Just then one of the lookouts shouted.
     
     
    'There's an intruder headed our way.'
     
     
    Immediately, all differences were forgotten as guns were picked up, safeties switched off and men and women began taking their defensive positions. Those too young, old or sick to fight were herded to the middle of the village to shelter in the building that served as their communal dining hall. Everyone else was expected to fight. Alice was one of the first to reach the wall where the shout had come from, and she was on top of the boxes that served as the perch for snipers before many of the older and slower men had even reached the wall. She put her rifle to her shoulders and peered through the sniper scope. She could hear others take position around her and the nervous shuffling and swearing of those who had not seen combat before. As Alice waited, she found a clarity that had eluded her in the confusion of the last few days. This was what she had been trained to do since she could walk. This was when there was no ambiguity to deal with- where it was simple-