A large cityscape opened up in front of them. Towering skyscrapers, short brick buildings, they all appeared to have been wasting away for a trillion years. Pieces were falling into the road here and there. Mold covered the streets, and garbage filled every nook and cranny.
"This is disgusting Hatter. What happened here?" Alice asked gazing at the landfill of a city that stood in front of her.
"The royal family has completely removed all life from the city. Everyone who didn't die from disease works in the castle as a servant." Hatter snorted. "More like slaves."
Alice looked down at her hands and then back up at the city. "What disease?"
Hatter laughed in disbelief. "Look around you Alice. Is this sanitary?"
"You have a point."
The truck plowed on through the dark, damp city streets. That was until Alice demanded that they stop. "What is it Alice?"
A low hymn could be heard nearby. Alice had heard it before; at least she thought she had. "Do you hear that?" she asked pushing her ear against the glass. She didn't dare roll the window down for fear that something evil could crawl inside the truck and eat her.
"The hymn? Yes, I hear it. It's just a spirit." Hatter said starting the truck up again.
Alice listened for another moment and then it stopped. "What's do you mean spirit?"
"Over there." Hatter whispered pointing to a black entity sitting near a pile of garbage. Alice looked at the thing it frightened her. The black thing was the same as the one that had been floating over her head in the reflection of the broken mirror in the forest. She didn't understand how such a beautiful sound could come out of something so terrifying. "What…is it?"
"It's a spirit of a person that has been claimed by disease. It's said that the Jokers feed off of them, for they have no soul of their own."
A bright light in the distanced blinded Alice. She covered her eyes and peeked out to see just what it was. A large street cleaner looking machine was barreling towards them. "What is that!?" Alice cried pointing out of the windshield.
"That's a chaser. Remember how I said the royal family had cleaned out the city? Well, that's their method of 'cleaning'" Hatter whipped the truck around and sped into a back alley. He pushed Alice out of the truck and threw it into reverse.
Alice screamed after him, throwing her arms about. "Hey! Where are you going!" she cried. She knew it was too good to be true that some stranger would just help her. Alice leaned against a brick wall and slid down slowly. She was going to die alone in this dark and foul city. She had heard that if you die in your dream, then you die in real life.
"No. I can't wallow in my pity. I need to suck it up and move on." Alice said aloud and walked to the end of the alleyway. She poked her head around the wall to her right. The chaser was gone and so was Hatter. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him."
Alice walked along the mold covered sidewalks until she had come face to face with one of the spirits. She froze in her tracks. It stood a whole head taller than her and looked down at her. She saw it's mouth open and then close.
It moaned and wailed like a banshee. Somehow, Alice managed to understand that it was trying to speak with her. "He is…over…hill..." It wailed.
Alice half debated whether to communicate with it or not, in the end she did. "Who's coming back?" she asked.
"…man…" It wailed out.
Alice thanked the spirit and continued walking. The spirit watched after her and then began to fade away. The speaking took what life force it had left and it withered into nothingness.
Headlights were visible as Alice reached the peek of a small hill she had been walking up. She was sure they were the truck's headlights and not a chaser's. As she approached the truck, she saw Hatter standing in the bed holding a baseball bat. "What the hell are you doing?" Alice asked.
"I'm fighting off Jokers. How did you find me?" Hatter asked. "Forget that, how the hell haven't the Jokers caught you?"
"I don't know." Alice said as the city began to grow darker and darker until the only thing visible was the small light from within the truck. "Can we get out of here?"
Hatter jumped out of the truck bed and nodded. Alice got in the passenger side and buckled up. Hatter turned the truck around to go back the way that Alice had come from.
Alice looked up and saw two people standing in the road. Both of them were dressed in what looked like untied restraint jackets. They had on white pants that came over their shoes. One was a male and the other was a female. The female had her head tilted and her jet-black hair was in pigtails. The male was standing upright and his hands were behind his back, his black hair was long and pulled back in a low ponytail.
Hatter stepped on the gas and the truck lurched forward. "You're going to hit them!" Alice screamed.
"Those are the Jokers, Alice."
Alice covered her eyes and leaned back against the seat, she could feel the seat springs pushing against her back. She never felt the truck collide with anything; in fact, it felt like they had just kept going straight. Alice peeked over her hands and looked out the window. All she could see was the road. "Where are they?" she asked hesitantly looking over at Hatter.
Hatter said nothing to me, but instead he spun the truck completely around and there I saw the duo again, in the same spot, waiting in the street.
"You missed?! How the hell did you miss?! They were right there!" Alice screamed. She looked back out of the windshield look up the female was gone. "Where is she?"
Hatter's focus hadn't left the road. "I didn't miss them, they jumped. As for the girl, I don't know where she went."
Alice jerked head in every direction all at once. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of something looking in the door window, but she was afraid to look back. Something deep inside her knew it was the female from the road.
A blood curdling cackle came from the window, it grew louder and louder as if someone had told a joke and this person just could stop laughing.. "I'm going to get you Alice and I just might kill Hatter too." The voice was high pitched and Alice could feel her blood freeze within her veins when it spoke.
"Alice. Don't look out your window." Hatter said gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white from pressure. He stared solemnly out of the facing windshield and stepped on the gas.
Alice heard a banshee like scream from behind the truck and then there was aloud thud on top of the cab.
"If they catch you Alice, you won't ever wake up. Do you understand that?"
"Yes. But why?" Alice whispered and looked at the ceiling of the cab, she worried that any minute the roof dweller would come through.
"They must have been sent by the royal family. The queen must have gotten word of your arrival."
"Why would she target me specifically?" Alice asked as the roof dweller began pounding on the cab.
"The Queen doesn't like those who are not servants to her. If the Joker's catch you then they will take you to the Queen. From there you'll become her slave, and then there is no chance that you will wake up." Hatter said spinning the truck. Alice slammed against the door. "Sorry." Hatter said.
"If I become a servant then won't I be able to access a mirror?" Alice asked holding her arm that began to bruise from it's impact with the door.
"Doubt it. They're locked up for sure."
One more quick turn and the roof dweller flew off. It was the male Joker. He lay on the sidewalk in an unmoving crippled heap. Alice watched in relief, she was sure that they had defeated one. Just as Alice was going to turn back and talk to Hatter, she saw the Joker move. She watched it stand up, bones sticking out here and there, blood soaking it's white clothes. "How is it still alive!" she exclaimed.
"I'm not to concerned about that right now. I need to know where the girl is."
The male Joker grabbed his left arm and snapped it back into place, a huge grin lay plastered across his face. He stared directly at Alice as he began moving slowly towards the car.
"It's coming." Alice said staring at it.
"Okay." Hatter said in a nonchalant tone.
"Hatter, it's coming at the car!" Alice cried and still Hatter did not move the truck.
The Joker picked up what looked to Alice, to be a metal pipe of some sort. He posed it over his shoulder as if he were ready to break out Alice's window. The Joker was only a few feet from the truck now.
"Hatter he has a fucking pipe! Move the god damned car!" Alice screamed. She stuck her leg under Hatter's and slammed on the gas petal. The truck veered down the street and into a field of weeds.
"Who what the hell are you doing!?" Hatter yelled grabbing the steering wheel and straightened the truck out.
"You were going to get me killed!"
"What are you talking about?" Hatter asked stopping the truck in what seemed to be the center of the field.
Alice stared at him in disbelief. "Don't stop the car dammnit!" she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I told you the Joker was coming for the car with a pipe. He was going to get me and you did nothing about it."
Hatter said nothing. He looked out of the truck and then inched it forward a few feet. A large white ravine appeared before them and they were on the edge of it.
"What is that?" Alice asked.
"That is the White Quarry. It the most confusing place in Wonderland, I know some people who live there." Hatter got out of the truck and stood on the ledge. Alice got out and stood beside him. She looked down into the quarry. All the rocks in it were stark white and covered in thick white jungle like over growth. There were rock formations jutting out in random places it could have easily covered a few miles. Alice couldn't see the other side of it. "Someone lives down there?" Alice asked, straining her eyes to see any signs of life.
"Plenty of people do. Mostly runaways from the castle, fugitives like you, and criminals." said Hatter jumping down onto a ledge.
"Why are we going down there?" Alice asked lowering herself down slowly.
"Well, it's extremely easy to get lost because it's so huge, and everything looks the same."
Alice looked confused. "How is that a good thing?"
"Well, the place is so large that the Jokers won't be able to find us. So you will be safe for a while."
"Won't we get lost too then?" Alice asked jumping down to another ledge where Hatter stood waiting.
"Nope, I used to play here as a child so I know how to get around."
Alice and Hatter reached the bottom of the quarry after a few minutes of steep rock jumping. All that Alice could see was whiteness; it seemed as if everything was covered in snow. "Are we going to meet someone down here?" She asked looking around for any signs of life.
"Stop looking for people. You'll never see them out here." said Hatter walking a little ways ahead.
Alice followed Hatter over and under trees and through tall weeds. Eventually she go sick of walking. "are we going to meet someone or not?"
Hatter turned back to see her a few feet behind him. "Harold DeLuca, he's an old friend and he's very knowledgeable." He scowled.
"What's your problem? I just asked a simple question."
"I haven't slept all day and I'm hungry." Hatter snipped and continued walking.
Alice followed Hatter closely but at a distance for the fear of straying to far and getting on his bad side. She understood how anyone could get lost in this quarry. Soon they arrived at a large hole in the rock face. "What is this?" Alice asked quietly.
"This is where Harold lives." said Hatter turning and leaning his head into the hole. "Harold! Are you in yet?!"
There wasn't a response at first but then Alice heard a faint voice, just barely a whisper. "Go away. Only an old Hare lives here now."
"It's Hatter." Hatter said and a man, well, hare, came out of the hole.
This was the same hare that had been at the tea party hours before. Accept this time he was dressed in a black vest and wore a purple dress shirt underneath it. His hair was thick and gray, and he had it slicked back on his head between his ears. He was quiet tall and his back was slightly hunched, he kept his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. He had on glasses that sat at the brim of his nose and he had a very large overbite. He resembled a man as much as he did a rabbit.
"Ah. Harold. Good day to you." said Hatter tipping his hat at the hare. "This is Alice." he said gesturing to me.
"ALICE? ALICE YOU SAY. WASN'T SHE AT THE TEA PARTY TODAY?" yelled Harold squinting at me.
"Yes Harold." Hatter said rubbing his temples.
"PLEASED TO MEET YOU ALICE!" said Harold grinning and showing his huge overbite. He held his furry hand out to me and I shook it softly. "I"M HAROLD DELUCA, BUT YOU MAY CALL ME HARE IF YOU'D LIKE!"
Alice winced at the tone of his voice. "Does he really need to scream?" Alice thought. "Nice to meet you Hare." She said louder than usual.
"OH THERE IS NO NEED TO SPEAK LOUDER DEAR! I CAN HEAR JUST FINE! I JUST HAVE TO YELL OR YOU WOULD NEVER HEAR ME!" said Hare stepping out of the hole.
Hatter leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "He speaks in a very low whisper, therefore he must yell." The yelling at the tea party now made sense. All of the guest must have thought that Hare couldn't hear them because he yelled so they screamed too.
Hare looked up into the trees and his ears twitched lightly.
"We're being followed." Hatter said calmly.
"I ALREADY KNOW! I COULD HEAR THOSE DAMN JOKERS FROM A WORLD AWAY!" Hare said as he pushed past us and began to walk away.
Hatter followed him and Alice followed Hatter. "We need to get away from them." Hatter said as we arrived in a clearing that was covered in green grass, but overhead hung a canopy of the white overgrowth.
"HOW DO YOU PROPOSE TO GO ABOUT DOING THAT?!"
"A mirror." Hatter said nonchalantly.
"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY SO? I MIGHT HAVE ONE!" The Hare lead them to a large round table in the middle of the grassy clearing. There were all sorts of foods set out on the table and many chairs placed around it.
"We don't have time for lunch Harold." Hatter said as Hare sat down in a red velvet covered chair.
"NONSENSE! TIME DOES NOT APPLY HERE! YOU KNOW THAT HATTER! SIT AND EAT!" Hare said patting a chair next to him.
Hatter grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. "Don't eat the jam, butter, or mustard." he hissed quietly in my ear.
Alice was confused. "What? Why?"
"Remember when he was throwing cups at the tea party?" Hatter said walking towards the table and taking a seat across from Hare.
"Yes." Alice said sitting next to Hatter and looking at all of the food, it was fresh and seemed as though it had just been made.
"That's why."
"EAT!" announced Hare as he began to fill his plate with breads and fruit.
I glanced at Hatter who nodded at me to begin eating. "Is this even safe to eat?" Alice wondered.