Deliquesce

Chapter 24: Alice

Warnings: Violence and all that jazz

A/N: Turrislucidus: Our dear old Mr Wonka has been through a lot, hasn't he? I don't think I'd do him justice by portraying him strictly how he appears to be in the film, where everything he worked for wasn't really shown. But the evidence still stands, his factory, his franchise, himself. It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! No one who works that hard could ever be a pansy ;)

Artic: Thank you :3

I used to dream of hundreds of rotting faces surrounding me, hungry for my flesh. Their eyes were empty, focused only on the skin that their instincts urged them to bite into. I would always looks up to the sky until it closed over with the faces and then I would wake up.

Jackson made the first move, a knife that he had picked up from the unconscious guard, straight through the head of the person aiming his crossbow at Wonka. The man fell down before any of their people could even realise that we were here. Jackson pried the crossbow from the man's hands and threw it to Spencer, who pointed it straight at the man coming up behind Jackson and shot without hesitation.

At that point I realised that the dead were nothing to be afraid of. They weren't alive. They weren't twisted. They weren't sick. They didn't wake up every day with the intention of murder. The living were the ones to be afraid of. I felt my pulse racing and heard my quick, shallow breaths. I was alive, too.

And then the crowd turned on us, hungry eyes burning. Our group sprung into action immediately despite the lack of weapons which they soon acquired anyway. It was violent. It was ugly. But dear fucking god, it was satisfying.

My eyes caught sight of a figure dancing on top of the barricades. Not actually dancing, but every move he made was full of more grace, speed and confidence than I could comprehend. His face wasn't scared. His face wasn't delighted. His face was blank, eyes focused, as if he had one mission that his life depended on. Which he did.

I sensed something behind me and ducked the bat that was aiming for my head. I grabbed onto the base and gave a hard kick to the man's stomach. His hands loosened and I pulled the bat from his grip, swinging it around until it came into contact with his head.

Reaching around to unzip my bag, I felt around until I could grab the hand of the machete and pulled it out just in time to hack into the arm that was coming for my throat.

It was a daze from then on. I moved without thinking, fast and efficient and just as good as the rest of them. It was automatic, instinctive. The only thought that resonated through my mind was that I had to get us out alive.

Wonka had jumped down from the barricades to join us in the thick of the fight. Bodies littered the ground around us, but there were still so, so many left.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl in the corner. She was small, smaller than Briley. She looked scared. I wondered how they could take Ember, as small and fragile as she was, and not feel anything.

And then a thought occurred to me. I yanked my blade out of someone's back and weaved my way through the crowd to the girl.

I felt disgusting as I slipped the blade under her neck. I knew nothing would happen to her, I didn't want to harm her, I just wanted the fighting to stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lorraine on the floor, a halo of deep red bleeding into the pure white of the snow around her.

The girl's scream alerted the crowd. Almost instantaneously, the fighting stopped. I saw someone move quickly to make a grab for Spencer.

"You touch any one of my people, and she's dead." I spoke. The guy reluctantly backed away, eyes flashing angrily. A woman pushed through the crowd and stood facing me, eyes never leaving mine.

A long moment of silence, all eyes were on me now. No one moved.

"Your daughter, I'm guessing?" I asked her. My heart was beating furiously but I tried to keep my face calm.

"My daughter." Her voice was low and dangerous, but the fear in her eyes was obvious. She knew she was in a vulnerable position.

With my free hand I pointed at Briley.

"My group." I said. "Drop your weapons and we will leave. If you don't, well.." I patted the girl on the head. "I don't want to be as much of a despicable person as you people are, but I will, without hesitation, if I have to. If you refuse, you will not win this fight. Our numbers are almost even now, and you know we have better fighters and weapons. If you decide to follow us back to our base, you will lose even more pathetically. There's a lot more where this came from."

I moved the machete a little bit.

The woman's chest rose and fell quickly, and she cursed. "Drop your weapons and go back to your lodgings." There was some protest, which quickly quietened back down again when she help up a hand. I could tell she was some sort of leader figure. "Now."

One by one, the street emptied until it was just my group, the woman and the girl. I let my arm relax and the girl ran into her mother's arms. They fell to their knees and hugged. A little bit of guilt tugged at the edge of my mind, not for the distress I had caused the girl, but because of how true my words were. I would have killed her.

I'm not the hero.