War For The World

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The dying girl with the spirit of ten men launched herself violently up the stairs.

Alice was coughing and spluttering. She could feel the vile concoction working its way through her lungs, poisoning her organs and slowly breaking her down from the inside out.

She wasn't sad. She had no time for sadness, such an emotion was a luxury she couldn't quite afford right now. As of right now she knew her only focus was on stopping Dr Malkins.

There would be time to mourn, it was not now.

Tears streaming down her face from the gas she made her way to the top of the stairwell.

The air cleared somewhat as she burst through the door into the main hub of Yosemite Square. Already the place looked alien. Unwelcoming and strewn about, the base had completely lost its familiar feeling for Alice.

She spotted a figure darting towards the exit elevator doors. The wiry frame and pages under his arm weren't necessary to let Alice know it was Dr Malkins, for she knew down here it was just the two of them.

Aware of her dwindling energy and already patchy vision she raced for the only thing she could think of. Sliding on the ground she came up towards the desk she'd manned for many weeks down here, slamming her fist against a bright red button and watching as a green light quickly switched to red.

She gave herself a momentary pause to smirk as she scrambled up from the floor. It seemed all those hours working as a receptionist were finally paying off, for knowing how to activate security lockdown protocols had not been common knowledge among the square.

This fact could be seen by Malkins shocked expression. The elevator doors paused mid closure, the two starign at each other for a moment as both began contemplating what their next step would be.

"You blasted fool!" he cried out

"Takes one to know one" she replied courageously.

Malkins sneered "this wont deter me. You think... you think a little thing like this would deter me?! All I need to do is return to my lab to collect the last of my notes and then wait to be rescued"

Alice frowned "One problem with that plan doc, the tripods"

He chuckled "Naïve girl... the tripods aren't decending on this place. They never were! Once more I managed ot get my hands dirty, seeding ideas of doubt and crafting doctored information for the right people until they finally got the message I was hoping for. I needed them gone you see, so I could return to the archives and retrieve freely the last of this information"

Alice raised her eyebrow

"Yeah? What the fuck do the krauts have any interest in Martian evidence"

Malkins smirked. It made Alice's blood run cold, to see the familiar face for so long wear such a malicious look.

"I'm afraid you wont live long enough to find out..."

"Ill stop you" she spat back

"You just don't know when to quit do you Mrs Fletcher" Malkins remarked, trying one last time to shut the elevator door and get it started.

"That's the problem with us Americans Doc, we never do know quite when to quit" the last few words came out in slurs, and Alice dropped to the floor as her vision began to blur.

Chairs and tables faded in and out from view as Alice felt her insides begin to scream out. An odd sensation of pain and longing began to dig its way deep into her heart. She'd never felt this way before and yet she recognised it almost instantaneously, the feeling of death.