Deadland: Untold Stories of Alice in Deadland (Alice, No. 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

that out! This won't seem so funny when a real bloody
Biter is ripping your head off.'
    That shut up all the kids. Vineet lumbered in towards Ram,
trying to grab him with his arms and snapping his jaws in to bite as a Biter
would. Ram swept his legs but could not move the larger boy and soon was
grabbed in a bear hug.
    'Game over, kids. Ram just joined the undead or had his guts
pulled out and torn apart.'
    Jones took Ram's place and asked Vineet to come in again.
His right leg swung out in a blur of motion and in a second, Vineet was on the
ground. He then repeated the action in slow motion.
    'Move your right shoulder in to get into position. Plant
your left leg for leverage, and then sweep your leg in, aiming behind the knee.
If you just kick out at random like Ram did, you'll just have a pissed-off
Biter in front of you. Now what do you do when you have a Biter down on the
ground?'
    'Go for the head?'
    Jones turned towards the kid who had ventured the
suggestion.
    'Very good. But not just tap him on the head or punch him
like you might a human in a fight. You need to smash his head in, with a knife,
axe, rock or whatever you can get your hands on. That needs strength which kids
your age still don't have. That's a very good and practical reason why we don't
send kids out on patrols till they're older.'
    Alice was watching and moving her own legs, imitating Jones,
when Jane came up behind her.
    'I've been looking all over for you. What the hell are you
doing? Didn't Mom tell you that we were going to plant some tomatoes today?'
    Alice groaned inwardly. Her older sister could be such a
pain at times. She would just do whatever the grown-ups had asked her to do. How
boring to be out there, planting tomato seedlings in a straight line in the
garden they had set up in the back of the settlement. How much more fun would
it be to learn how to fight with Jones—or even better, to actually go out on a
patrol and come back laden with food, weapons or supplies for the settlement. Or
better still, go head to head with Biters and defeat them. Alice wasn't sure
she could bring herself to smash a Biter's head in, but she had been paying
attention to Jones' lessons, and she was sure she could bring a Biter down and
run so fast he would never be able to catch her.
    'Alice, are you even listening to a word I said?'
    That snapped Alice back to reality and she reluctantly
joined Jane as she walked back towards the garden. Alice's Mom was there, along
with a dozen other women and an equal number of younger kids. They had furrowed
the ground and were now busy putting the tomato seedlings in. Alice was handed
a bunch of the small cups and pots into which the seeds had been planted a
couple of weeks ago. Small green leaves were now visible, and Alice knew that
now they had to be put into bright light. It helped that it was sunny all day,
and then at night, the grown-ups would bring some bright lights in to shine on
the seedlings.
    As Alice got to work, she thought that the only saving grace
was that her favorite soup was tomato soup, so at least there was something to be
gained from this drudgery.
    Most of the others had left for lunch break, and Alice had
just two cups left to plant, so she said she would join them in a minute when
she finished. That was when she heard the voice she dreaded hearing.
    'Hey, Goldilocks! What's the pipsqueak doing today?'
    She groaned when she turned to see a boy walking towards
her. Jones Jr, or just Junior to everyone at the settlement, the only son of
the same Jones who had been her Dad's friend and the instructor in unarmed
combat to all the kids in the settlement. Jane was a few feet away, and she
hissed at Alice.
    'Just keep your mouth shut and he'll go away.'
    The problem with bullies like Junior was that it was hard to
avoid them by just shutting up. They sought out those they thought they could
bully, and for Junior that list was pretty long. He was eleven years old, but
very big for his age, so his size