The Crocodile's Jaws: An Alice in Deadland Adventure (Alice, No.7) by Mainak Dhar Page A

The space beneath them was
filled with boxes of pills and syrups. The factory owners must have locked them
here when the Rising began, hoping to recover their inventory when things got
better, which of course they never did. Alice looked at some of the boxes,
seeing unfamiliar words on the side. One which appeared regularly was 'codeine'.
    'Why do they want the pills so badly?'
    'That part is easy. They need those pills to make whatever
drugs they're on. But that's not what worries me.'
    In the short while that Alice had known Cheshire, he had
seemed confident, always ready with his grin, but now he was dead serious.
    'These different gangs operating across such a broad area
looking for these pills means that someone, somewhere is coordinating them.
That means someone with considerable power or influence over them, and now
they're right at our doorstep.'
     
    ***
     
    Alice saw the smoke rising above the treeline first and
began pumping her legs harder, riding as fast as she could. Cheshire was fit
for his age, but was an old man, and unlike Alice, would get tired like any
human. So he fell further and further behind as Alice raced towards the
settlement.
    A terrible battle had been waged on the banks of the lake,
and three torn bodies of attackers lay sprawled, but there were also a half
dozen Biters lying around, their heads shot out. There were two more boats
lying near the bank, and Alice guessed they had been on another scouting
mission when they had spotted the abandoned boat with the bodies of the men she
had killed and come closer.
    She wanted to scream out for Bunny Ears, to see if her old
companion was safe, but she didn't want to alert any remaining attackers. As
she parted the bushes and walked towards the settlement, she passed two bodies,
ripped to shreds by the booby traps. But two men hid behind trees, pouring fire
into the settlement from automatic weapons. These men were nothing like the
local bandits and thugs she had encountered so far. They had fair hair, wore
thick body armor and were carrying well-maintained automatic rifles. The goons
they employed had died as fodder for the Biters and in the booby traps, and
these men had come in unscathed. There was return fire from the settlement, but
the two men were too well concealed to be hit. One of them reached for a radio
at his chest, calling for reinforcements. As she crept closer, the man spoke in
thickly accented English.
    'Get our location and send more men. We are…'
    He never finished his sentence as Alice shot him in the back
of his head with her pistol. As he fell, the second man turned to face Alice,
bringing his rifle up to shoot. Alice shot him thrice. Two shots hit him on his
chest. His vest stopped them but he was rocked back by the impact and his own
burst went wild. The third shot hit him just above the right eye.
    Alice spent the next five minutes making sure there were no
more attackers, and then a growl came from her right. It was Bunny Ears and he
was followed by two Biters who had fresh blood coming out of wounds on their
necks and arms. They still wore knives at their belts, showing that till
recently they had been among their attackers. Alice guessed their attackers had
sent a smaller force to lure away Bunny Ears and some of the Biters while the
two men who clearly were the best-armed and equipped, perhaps their leaders,
attacked the settlement. She nodded in relief at Bunny Ears, and realized just
how much she had dreaded losing him.
    Cheshire now rode into view and the gates of the settlement
opened. Alice walked in, and the people inside cheered in relief at their
narrow escape, especially when they heard that their attackers had been calling
for reinforcements when Alice interrupted them. Alice went back out to strip
the two men of their weapons and equipment. Body armor, radios, automatic
weapons, all with lettering in a script that Alice did not recognize, and clearly
they had a base they were coordinating with. Cheshire had