Through the Killing Glass by Mainak Dhar

make contact with the Biters and get them
to join the battle. The problem was that they would only follow in helping the
humans if she were there to lead them. Edwards was already frail and the escape
had taken a heavy toll, so he sat behind her. Vince and Satish would cover the
ten-kilometer distance on foot.
    Alice reached
one of the nearby tunnel openings that she knew the Biters used and threw a
flare down. She hoped it would be noticed in time. She was about to reach their
patrol area when she felt Edwards grip her shoulder tightly.
    'I can see them
coming.'
     
    ***
     

FIVE
     
    Alice watched
the two transport helicopters come in low and fast. She had not heard them
until they were merely a few hundred meters away, but Edwards had seen them in
the fading light. The moment she saw the helicopters, she ditched the bike and
she and Edwards took cover behind a sand dune.
    'I've never
seen a helicopter as silent as these. No wonder they managed to come in for
their attacks without us realizing it.'
    Edwards peered
around the dune’s edge. 'Stealth, or maybe it’s some sort of noise suppressant
technology. The United States, China and some other countries had such
technology before The Rising. Clearly they've been saving these for whatever
they have in mind.'
    Both helicopters
landed as Alice kept watching in impotent rage. With her assault rifle and
pistol, she would be able to do precious little against them. Edwards had been
given a pistol, but it transpired that he’d never fired a gun before, so he
would be of dubious utility in a fight. Even with Satish and Vince here they’d
be hopelessly outnumbered.
    The rear doors
swung open on the large helicopters and Alice saw several figures walk out.
From their shuffling gait it was obvious they were Biters. Alice raised her rifle
scope to her eyes to take a closer look and saw what she had noticed before in
Wonderland: these Biters were all wearing clean clothes and did not seem to
have the many wounds and mutilations that Biters in the Deadland would almost
inevitably have.
    'Doctor, they
seem to have produced their Biters, but one thing makes no sense to me. Biters
would never follow a human being this way. How did they manage it?'
    Edwards had no
answer but kept watching as a total of more than fifty Biters filed out and stood
there, as if awaiting orders. Alice gasped almost audibly as a woman in a Red
Guard uniform walked out and the Biters knelt before her. The woman was wearing
dark glasses and had her mouth covered in a mask, presumably to keep out the
stench of the Biters.
    'That's
impossible! I've never seen Biters take orders from a human.'
    Edwards’ mind
reeled, grappling with the science. 'I know they managed to inject healthy,
loyal Chinese citizens to transform them into Biters. Perhaps they were able to
create variations in the virus.'
    Alice stayed
focused on the assembled Biters. Their origin was unimportant; the main concern
now was preventing them from reaching Wonderland. She did not fully understand
what the Red Guards' plan was, but with the two Biter attacks they had
effectively stripped Wonderland of much of its defenses. Alice and Satish, two
of the most experienced in combat, were essentially outlaws; the Biters who had
provided Alice's forces with much of its strength of numbers could no longer be
counted on to defend Wonderland; and now the deep recon teams who served as
their eyes and ears in the Deadland had been withdrawn to the city.
    As Alice
watched, the Biters began walking behind the Red Guard officer. It was less
than a thirty-minute walk to the borders of Wonderland and once inside, Alice
knew the kind of havoc they could wreak. The two helicopters stayed where they
were, and other than the pilots there did not seem to any other Red Guards on
board. That was at least one saving grace; that meant there would not be anyone
to man the Gatling guns mounted on the helicopters.
    Alice heard a
double click on her tactical radio. That