Through the Killing Glass by Mainak Dhar Page B

dripping blood and his face was torn in several places. He lunged to
bite, but Alice swiped with her knife first, catching him in the throat. Before
he could recover, she shot him in the face.
    She paused for
a second to get her bearings. It seemed that Hatter had succeeded in taking out
the Red Guard officer; and without someone to control and co-ordinate them it
would be easier to pick off the remaining Biters.
    Alice heard a
scream and looked up, and for a second her mind refused to believe what her
eyes were seeing. The Red Guard officer had a large chunk of flesh torn out of
her left arm but she was hardly out of the fight. No human could have been
bitten by Hatter and not been affected. The officer pivoted on one leg and
kicked, making solid contact with Hatter's face, stopping him in his tracks. In
one fluid movement, she turned and brought her sword up and cut through
Hatter's stomach, slicing upwards as she cut through his chest. The move would
have killed any human, but Hatter was oblivious to pain, and the unexpected
resistance only enraged him further. He tried to claw the officer's face and
she swerved out of the way in the nick of time, losing her glasses and mask in
the process. Before Hatter could attack again, she had cut him off at the right
knee with her sword. Hatter collapsed on the ground and she brought her sword
down on his head.
    'No!'
    Alice ran – but
it was too late. Hearing her scream, the Red Guard officer stood up to face
her. Now Alice was close enough to see her features and she stopped, her mind
trying to reconcile to the impossibility of what she saw before her. The Red
Guard smiled.
    'This is an
unexpected bonus. I had not hoped to meet you so soon. Now die at the hands of
the Red Queen!'
     
    ***
     
    Alice brought
up her gun to fire, but Li’s hand shot out at blinding speed, and the gun flew
from Alice’s grip. She looked down to see a metallic star embedded in her right
palm. Even before Alice had fully pulled it out, Li was upon her, screaming
with her sword raised above her head with both hands. Alice brought up her
knife to parry the blow and barely succeeded, the razor shap edge of the sword
slicing through part of her left arm. Alice might have felt no pain, but she
realized that she was up against a formidable enemy, so she rolled out of the
way to gain some space and time to think.
    Li’s red eyes
were glowering and she hissed in rage.
    ‘I have heard
much about you, Yellow Witch. Now I will avenge all you have done by cutting
your head off and taking it with me.’
    Alice had her
knife ready, but she knew that her enemy would have a big reach advantage with
her sword. She seemed to be perhaps only a few years older than Alice, and like
the other enemy Biters she had seen, her face and skin seemed relatively
unmarked. She came in again, thrusting with the sword, and Alice side-stepped
her, twisting the knife into her stomach as she passed. As Alice regained her
balance, she saw Li spit in contempt.
    ‘You cannot gut
me like a mere human, witch!’
    This woman was
unlike any enemy she had ever faced. Biters were simple to deal with; they knew
nothing of tactics nor skill. Human adversaries, no matter how skilled or
strong, were at a disadvantage versus her because they would tire, fall victim
to wounds – she would not. However, for the first time she was facing someone
like her, and she would have to rethink how she fought.
    Li struck again
and Alice again weaved out of the way, this time sweeping Li’s leg under her as
she passed. Li hit the ground hard as Alice turned to face the next attack. She
did not know where this half-Biter had come from or where she fit into the
Central Committee’s plans, but one thing was clear. She was making an
elementary mistake: she was fighting angry.
    Li swung her
sword again and grunted in despair as she missed and overshot and once again
Alice stabbed her in the back before rolling away.
    Li and her
elder brother had been brought up in