Chapter 43

**Alicia **

*Four Years Ago*

Voices…so many voices…

Darkness still swirls around the edges of my mind, but there is something more now. It’s as if the whole world is amplified. I’m being hit by words and images from every direction, but it’s all too fast. I can’t make out a single thing no matter how hard I focus, which is not much. My head is killing me. Why won’t they all shut up?

“What should we do with the Doctor’s body? The king won’t be too happy about this.” I hear a man say.

“Let me worry about his majesty. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do, so what more could he want?” A different man, but familiar says.

“I think he intended for more than one success…an army. Or did you forget what the end game is? You’re ambition has clouded your judgment Walrus. Don’t forget you are nothing without the power the king gives you.” The other man who is not the Wlarus says.

Why does that guy have an animal name if he is human? Yet another question I can’t seem to get an answer to. When I do ask questions people look at me as crazy. How can I not ask questions when things only get curiouser and curiouser?

“I know my place but it seems you have forgotten yours Carpenter…did you forget we came from the same dirt hole? You were trash just as much as I was. Now look at us, but don’t forget the power I hold here. You might be the king’s pet, but I am his general.” The Walrus guy says proudly.

His voice quickly gets drowned out by something else…someone else…

“Dear me…when will she wake? She has been out for hours…why would they do this to sweet little Alice? Where has she been all this time? I must get out of here and find out what we missed over the past six years. Did she never go back topside?…” The voice sounds familiar, but it too gets drowned out by yet another voice.

This one is darker and sounds more like the whispers of a monster. It is gruff and there are more guttural sounds than words, as if it’s a whole other language that I can’t understand.

“W-who are you? What are you?” I ask but I’m not sure if I am asking in my mind or out loud.

Another sound that I try my best to understand. I try to focus harder and something starts to become clear.

“Human…trapped…danger…” The odd voice says.

“Are you trapped?” I ask it.

“Hurt…human…” It says.

I can’t tell if it’s a question or…

“Yes, they hurt me,” I tell him.

There is a low growl.

“I…hurt…human…”

Does he mean he hurt me? How?

He isn’t speaking normally, so he isn’t like me. I don’t remember seeing a creature that didn’t look human like. So what is this…who is this talking in my mind? Or am I talking in his?

“Wake up!” A hard kick to my side startles me awake.

My eyes feel heavy and so dry that I whimper when I open them. The air burns them forcing me to blink several times to try and moisten them.

“You’re coming with me and I’m not carrying you.” A man in the typical guard uniform says.

I’m not sure how he sees out of the helmet he’s wearing. He’s covered head to toe in black. His armor, gloves, and his helmet are all of black metal. His helmet has a piece of fine mesh wrapped over it that completely covers his face. He’s also carrying a long stick with a blade at the end and a black rope wrapped around the blade. A spear…that’s what it is. He also has a sword strapped to his hip. I’m not sure how much fighting he can do in the get-up he’s wearing but it would most likely protect against attacks.

If he’s a guard then making sure no one kills him or gets past him is the most important part. What I’m not happy about is him kicking me with the metal boots he’s wearing. It hurts, and my body…wait.

I push myself up to a sitting position and take stalk of my body. My eyes are dry but besides that I don’t feel…anything. How is that possible? A rough hand grabs me and pulls me to my feet and for the first time since I woke up here I pull away from the man. He isn’t expecting it so he releases me and I stumble back and onto my butt. My wide eyes meet his mask as he stalks toward me.

“Don’t test me human.” He says ‘human’ like it’s the most disgusting word ever. “You mean nothing, but the Wlarus wants you, now move or I will force you.”

For some reason, his threat doesn’t feel as dangerous as it might have the days before I…killed…I killed that man. I’m so lost at the reminder of what I've done that when the guard grabs me I don’t fight back. He drags me through the cell door and I trip over one of the uneven cobblestones that are sticking out of the floor.

“Alicia…” My head snaps to the cell where the Hatter is.

His wide eyes ask so many questions but I’m pulled away before he can say anything else.

The guard drags me into a hallway that leads to a large circular room surrounded by doors. A single table sits against one of the walls with a lantern and a jug of some kind. That must be where the guards sit when they’re not harassing the prisoners. Except the other doors are pure metal with only a small opening above the middle of it. As I’m being dragged toward the stone steps eyes appear in the small sections and the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

Dark blue eyes with slits for pupils look back at me. Without hearing him make a sound I sense a familiarity. He’s the creature I spoke to in my mind.

“Hello?” I try to speak to him, but he doesn’t react.

How did I connect to him before?

Too late I’m pulled up the stairs and out of sight from him. The guard tugs me in front of him and I catch myself before I land on my knees. I walk ahead of him until we stop at the top in front of a large wooden door. It opens before I can reach for the handle and I’m greeted by another guard. This one is wearing a white cloth over his chest that has a giant spade on it. His helmet doesn’t cover his face, but…his face doesn’t look right. He almost looks like a doll with no expression. His eyes are half-lidded and move but the rest of him is stiff, even his mouth. In fact, it looks as if his mouth is sealed shut.

He makes a grunting sound and grabs me by the arm. I’m so shocked by his appearance that I just follow along with my eyes fixed on his face. His skin is so pale that he looks…dead. What sort of nightmare is this?

The sound of marching has me finally looking away from him and I have to fight a gasp when I see more guards like him walking by us in a straight line. They look just like him but some of them…some of them have cracks on their faces so deep that you can see what lies beneath their skin but there is no blood. The cracks look like chipped porcelain but inside them look like what usually lies under a person’s skin. I’m so disgusted that I have to look away so that I don’t throw up.

I finally take in my surroundings. We’re walking down a long hallway with white wallpaper covered with spades. The ground is made of white marble and a long black carpet down the middle leading on for a long time. How big is this place?

We only reach a few feet down before I’m led down a different hallway. This one looks vaguely familiar. It ends with another wooden door, and once again someone opens it before I can. How do they do that? Do these scary doll-like people communicate smoother when their mouths are sealed shut? Maybe they talk in their minds like I appear to be able to. In that second I wonder if the many things they have injected in me are also in them. How else would they communicate? Unless…No. Please no. I don’t have their blood in me, do I?

My stomach is about to protest the thought when the guard behind me pushes me inside a room. A room with a flat table…with straps, shelves full of half-filled jars, and skulls.

“Please do come in…Alice…” A man with a gleeful smile says, and my stomach drops.

No…NO!