Behind Sanity

Chapter Thirty-Six

                                                                    Behind Sanity

                                                                 Chapter Thirty-Six

                                                                                1

Alice stepped down the hallway.  She listened to her own footsteps and prayed not to hear the cranking sounds of the March Hare’s mechanical leg bending from the knee as he came closer down the algae-green hall.  She wondered if he was the Hatter’s solitary obstacle.  And, if he was, she wondered what sort of mind-boggling goodies the old man had rigged him up with. 

Perhaps he shoots acidic tea from his mouth.  No; too predictable and with no style.  Perhaps he was equipped with razor sharp claws and heat- seeking missiles? 

What an imagination she had!  Heat-seeking; surely not!  But such things were more reasonable.  Hatter did have his style, though a bit more morbid than she remembered from past times.  Strange; she had always thought of him as a coward.  As different as he seemed now, it was still so much like him to send another to do his dirty work.

Pressing on, she could hear the steam becoming louder in her ears.  She must be coming closer upon something.  This place was run completely by machines?  Steam engines turned large gears that kept this place running smoothly?  How could she have expected it?  It seemed too far out of the ordinary to be true.  She had never known the Hatter to be this obsessed with time.  What had made him change his mind?

She stopped short at a split hallway where it turned into two halls and parted ways.  Which way to go?  There was no apparent distinction between them.  Each was neatly lined with rails and had lovely designs across the walls – so much different from the corridors she had been traveling.  She listened for a moment to the sounds coming from each.  They were so close together that it was hard to tell what sounds were coming from where.

Looking on, she began to hear a clanking sound.  It started low, but began to get louder, accompanying a slow movement.  She heard the metallic bending of the knee.  She heard the dragging of long, metallic claws against the floor.  But most importantly, she heard the breathing.  The raspy struggle warned her of danger.  She closed her eyes a moment and denied the urge to run into battle.  But what good would it do to run?  She would only be tracked by smell.  The Hare was the Hatter’s bloodhound after all.

She watched the shadow emerging on the wall of the hallway.  She saw the huge creature, slumped over and dragging heavy mechanical parts.  He didn’t appear to be too quick.  Of course, that was what she had thought about the Hatter as well.

She began to hear the sounds of his mechanical eye darting back and forth in search.  It was time to go.  Gathering her pride, she darted down the hallway to the right, making sure not to be too noisy.  After she had gotten a little way down the strange corridor, she slowed to a walking pace.

There was no threat in sight down this hallway – only darkness.  She neither heard nor saw anything threatening.  She walked on, hoping nothing would take her by surprise.  She had left the croquet mallet in a safe place so that she would not attempt to use it by accident.  So what exactly had Cat had in mind when he told her that her smaller toys wouldn’t work?  If not, how would she defeat him?

The Hare.  She remembered him.  He was mad – possibly even madder than the Hatter himself.  He was always conversing insanely and sipping tea from unconventional items – like his own shoe.  Strange fellow… And now he was a killing machine – literally.