Phantoms of the North: An Alice in Deadland Adventure (Alice, No. 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

well
connected politically and his skills were much in demand. Then everything had
gone to hell, and once he had recovered from the shock of what he had witnessed
during The Rising, Bilal realized that the new world he lived in threw up a lot
of opportunities for someone of his talents.
    It was a world without laws,
without the police, where the strongest and most ruthless survived. So Bilal
had thrived in the Deadland, once again a predator, but now hunting not for
money, but for survival.
    Then had come the masked horsemen
from the North, with their demand for human slaves, and Bilal had found a new
calling. The fact that he enjoyed Dreamweed didn’t hurt, either. The only
downside was that now he was no longer a solitary predator, but needed to use
men like the ones arrayed before him. Men who had been illiterate peasants
before The Rising, crude men who knew nothing of the skill and finesse needed
to kill a man without making a god-awful mess. Bilal shifted on his good leg
and cursed the yellow-haired witch. He had been taken by surprise, and he would
not allow such a thing to happen again.
    ‘Men, stay sharp. The good news is
that our customers are okay with us supplying Biters, and a shortage of Biters
is something we haven’t ever had to complain about. Now go out there and find
me some stinking Biters.’
    As the men dispersed, Bilal kept
two of his best men with him. He had walked for ten minutes when he caught the
stench of Biters. He signaled to his men to get down as two Biters walked into
the open a few meters from them. One of his men raised his rifle to fire and
Bilal swatted it away.
    ‘Idiot! We’re supposed to capture
them, not kill them.’
    Bilal had made his men carry ropes
and handcuffs with them, but to be honest, he was not sure they were actually
up to capturing Biters and then transporting them across the mountains. Still,
they were desperate for their Dreamweed and he didn’t want the Phantoms coming
for him. So they had to try and this was as good an opportunity as any.
    One of his men ran ahead, and as
the Biters turned towards him, another one flanked them and hit one of the
Biters on the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. As the Biter fell
down, the man handcuffed his hands behind his back and took out a strip of
cloth to tie around his mouth. The second Biter growled in fury but was swept
off his feet by a well-aimed kick and was similarly bound and gagged. Bilal
looked on, pleased at how his men had reacted.
    ‘Call the others and let’s load
these animals on a cart.’
    That was when Bilal heard a low
growl and turned to see a tall Biter with strange bunny-shaped ears come into
sight. Behind him were more Biters, too many to count. Bilal raised his rifle
and shouted at his men to get ready. They never had a chance. One of his men
fell, hit by a shot to the head. Another went down as a round caught him in the
mid-section. For a split second, Bilal was dumbfounded. When did Biters learn
to shoot? Then he saw movement in the bushes—a flowing lock of golden hair. He
knew his game was up—the witch called Alice was supposed to be able to control
Biters, and now Bilal saw that in action as the Biters came at him and more of
his men fell to shots.
    Bilal considered staying and
fighting but then his survival instinct took over. The old pickup truck they
used to ferry people over the border was parked a few hundred meters away, and
he ran as fast as his injured leg would carry him towards it. He ran into the
bushes and kept running, trying to blank out the sounds of his men screaming
behind him.
     
    ***
     
    That week, Alice and her comrades
went on four sweeps through the wastelands, netting twenty bandits killed. The
word spread quickly—the area was no longer a safe haven for bandits and slave
traders. Totally outmatched by Alice and her friends in terms of firepower,
they melted away, many going North into the mountain passes and valleys of what
had been Kashmir.
    For Alice,