The Gruesome Adventures of Alice in Undeadland Read Online Free PDF

could not sustain life itself. She took from others, turning them into undead things. It kept her corruption at bay, but when the life force began to wane she took it from the land itself. Turning the wondrous land into a cold and evil place. Even then as the last drop of colour drained from the sky it was not enough and once again she looked for new dark ways to keep her from rotting. She crowned herself Queen and demanded tribute from her subjects. The tribute was body parts from their very own walking corpses. So she was known as the Queen of Hearts for her collection of those that could no longer beat. The Heartless Queen in the Kingdom of Rot. A queen that could even make the dead scream
.
    “So are we to ask for an audience with the Queen?” asked Alice, curious how they would face what lay ahead.
    “Oh, no,” Mousehead replied. “I have no idea what to do or even how we will ever find your heart. Perhaps we should not go to see the Queen after all?” There was hope in the tiny voice.
    Alice examined her damaged chest. The wound had turned black and was weeping. Her arms had become the colour of bruises. She felt her face; her skin was too soft and missing in places.
    “I think,” Alice said with some thought, “I think we have had enough taken from us. I think I would like to have something back.”

Chapter Ten
    So they travelled far away from the Garden of Graveyards, beyond the Rigor Mortis Forest. Further and further. At the River of Poltergeists Alice stood at the bank. She could see apparitions churning in the misty swell, the wails of dead spirits swirling along a current of ghosts that held out wispy claws begging for Alice to join their misery.
    “How am I to cross?” Alice wondered.
    “Carefully,” Mousehead replied. “We could go around.”
    “And how long would that take?” Alice asked. “I know time has no meaning for the dead. However, the longer I tally, the chances of finding my heart are less and less. I cannot and will not lose my parents again.”
    Alice stepped forward and noticed a path of stones, each one spaced apart leading across the haunted river. Slowly Alice took the first small leap and managed to catch her balance as she landed on the first stone. The spirits floated around the rock, splashing at Alice’s ankles, moaning with a strange echo sound.
    Float with us, Alice, float with us
.
    Alice jumped again
    And missed
    And fell into the river.
    Death was cold. The purest death of body and spirit was colder still. Alice’s very being was frozen as what was left of her flesh and bone disappeared. She wailed and wailed and wailed until she became as the ghosts, as formless as torn butterfly wings. Around her a torrent of spirits forced her along. Millions of screaming faces spun around Alice in utter turmoil, taking her with them.
    Float with us, Alice, float with us
, a million voices whispered.
    I am losing myself
, she screamed in return.
    Alice sank deeper into the manifestation, pulled into the whirlpool of dead spirits. Disappearing and becoming one with the haunt. Until at the last possible moment before all hope was gone a familiar face appeared, floating and unaffected by the rest of the poltergeist river. It was her mother, as Alice remembered her before cholera took her life. She smiled at Alice and beckoned her to follow. Alice tried but the pull of the dead spirits was too strong. She was gone…
    Until her mother reached in and brought her into her arms and for the briefest of moments, Alice felt happiness again.
    You are safe now, child
, her mother said.
    Suddenly Mousehead was calling.
    “Alice, Alice, speak to me.”
    Alice found herself standing across from the poltergeist river, apparently after crossing successfully. She checked herself. Her rotten flesh was as it was before she fell into the river; she could see her familiar bone breaking through where her journey had taken its toll.
    “Are you here with me?” asked Mousehead.
    “Yes,” she replied,