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

victory had not rested
in simply scattering the bandits, but in the more than twenty people they had
rescued. Many were in terrible shape from torture and malnutrition, and Norbert
and Doctor Edwards had their hands full in tending to them.
    Sayoni was now on her feet, and
Alice quickly discovered that the young woman, for all the horrors she had been
through, was a real live wire. Alice always suppressed a smile whenever she saw
Aalok and Sayoni together—the quiet, shy man who loved nothing more than
tinkering with tools and gadgets, and the talkative, loud woman who loved being
around people. Aalok was popular for his ability to fix and create things, and
Sayoni soon became popular due to her sheer ability to make friends where she
went.
    They were standing near the old
airport, awaiting the first jet that would bring in machines and experts from
the Homeland. So far, they had been ferrying people back and forth with old
Dakotas, which had to make multiple stops to get to Wonderland. But after the
Executive Committee fell, Konrath’s people had found two C-5 Galaxy transport
aircraft in airworthy shape.
    Alice’s jaw dropped open as the
giant aircraft came into view. She had never seen an aircraft as big as this
one, and everyone gathered on the ground had their eyes fixed on the monster as
it circled the airport. Over the next week, the plan was for the planes to make
six trips to Wonderland, laden with equipment and people to operate them.
    ‘I think I’d like to go to the US.
I went there as a kid with my family before The Rising.’
    Aalok, who had studied Engineering
at a US university, smiled as he held Sayoni’s hand. After all the horrors they
had been through, things were finally looking like they might be returning to
normal. Traveling for tourism was still something nobody had contemplated, but
who knew, with the way things were going, Sayoni might just have her wish
fulfilled.
    The Galaxy landed and taxied to a
stop and as the ramp opened up, the first person out was a young woman wearing
combat fatigues and carrying an assault rifle. Behind her were a half dozen
more armed Americans. The woman walked up to Alice and saluted.
    ‘Brittany Lee reporting, Ma’am. I
am in charge of the security detail for the experts coming in.’
    Alice felt really awkward at all
the uniformed men and women saluting her and walked up to shake their hands.
    ‘Just call me Alice. What are your
names?’
    ‘Phoenix Stormwolf. You sure
kicked ass back in the Homeland, Alice. Glad to meet you.’
    ‘Kevin Gletus.’
    ‘Kris Hansen.’
    As she met all of them, Brittany
guided Alice towards the plane.
    ‘We’ve got twenty crew to operate
the machines. They’re just ensuring the machines made it okay on the flight and
should be coming out any minute.’
    As Alice came to the airplane,
people began trooping out. Leading them was an old woman with silver hair and a
grin on her face that instantly put Alice at ease.
    ‘My name is Haroula, and boy am I
glad to be here. All my life, I worked our farm till everything went to hell.
It’ll be good to get back to doing what I knew and help our people. Just tell
us where you want us.’
    The others had now come closer and
the new arrivals were warmly greeted, and the large tractor and harvester that
rolled out off the ramp were met by huge cheers. Alice turned to Haroula.
    ‘I guess you want to rest for some
time before you and your team get to work. We can arrange for you to be driven
to the farmlands tomorrow. We’ve built some houses there but you may want to
change things. Do whatever you need to be comfortable.’
    Haroula smiled with a twinkle in
her eyes that made her look much younger than she was. ‘I’m a farm girl and
there are people who need to be fed both here and in the US. So I don’t need
any rest. I’m happy to get there to see the fields right away and I’d want the
kids to work as soon as I can.’
    A couple of the younger members of
Haroula’s team