War For The World

CHAPTER FIVE

A cry out into the dark answered by that of another panicked voice. She couldn't quite recognise it to begin with and swore she noticed the twang of some sort of foreign accent. It spoke again
"Can you hear me? I said come here!"
And suddenly she was matching the voice to a face. Doctor Malkins! Marcus's scientific superior. Alice's heart began to race at the thought of being able to share such a terrible maddening experience with that of another real human being when she crashed once more into someone. Both Alice and Dr Malkins quickly shot back up from the floor in equal embarrassment and grabbed hold of one another, peering into the darkness.

"What the hell is going on" Malkins said, his tone urgent and panicked, voice cracking in a few places.
"One of those Martian pods people have been talking about landed across the road! It's absolute carnage outside. Seems like a full on invasion"

Alice could feel tears beginning to well up and tried her best to subdue them, but they began to flow freely nonetheless.
Malkins moved forwards slightly and held out his arms to comfort her. When he found where her arms were he held them tight
"It's ok Alice. We've dealt with attacks on sovereign soil before. For now, we need to escape. Follow me for a moment"
She gripped onto his arm as he pulled her forwards into one of the adjacent rooms, the light from Alice's torch revealing numerous shelving units with hundreds of papers and strategic planning everywhere. A large table in the centre of the room held a military planning kit complete with the soldier and tank figurines all positioned in real time locations in correlation with the war.
Alice stood by the door, shining her torch along the room as Malkins went shelf by shelf skimming through different papers and documents. The roof once more shook and dust become unsettled. Alice had no intention with facing whatever horrors were occurring outside but she was becoming impatient.
"Dr. Malkins, what good will paperwork do we need to escape"
Without turning around, Malkins continued to sift through page after page, tutting
"Mrs Fletcher think. These are all valuable assets for our military. If this base is destroyed we could lose hundreds of strategies, axis power spy locations or deciphered code legends. These are all vital towards winning the war"
Alice frowned and gestured down the hallway she'd just come "Yes.. but what about the war going on right out there this very moment"
Dr Malkins paused for a moment.
"That one can wait"
Silence between the two, filled only with the sounds of paper on paper until
"That should do" Malkins said to no one in particular before returning back to Alice, a wad of papers in a folder now wedged in his armpit. He smiled
"Let's go"
The two of them turned and began to make their way back the way Alice had came. Her stomach ached and she longed to see Marcus. She had tried her hardest to find him but obviously to no avail, and hated the feeling of leaving him in the middle of all this. Marcus had been a friendly face to talk to since her very first day working for Yosemite Square. He had made some silly joke about the weather and offered to show her all the tips and tricks about working at the military base. His friendly, dorky nature was a refreshing change from the usual soldier type she let in day in and day out, and he'd even helped her out when she inevitably forgot how to work the phone machine at the reception desk. Without the familiar presence of her almost older brother, she felt lost
The two encountered a road block up ahead and quickly came to a stop. A section of the roof had crumbled inwards, blocking off the hallway. Chunks of brick and wood was piled inwards and the closer they got to it the more unstable they realised the subsequent rest of the building seemed to be. Wherever their escape route went, it most certainly did not lead out the front door
"Fuck" Dr. Malkins cursed under his breath
"So" Alice was struggling to breathe, her adrenaline was beginning to waver "What do we do now"
Dr. Malkins faltered, he began to stutter. Unable to make a coherent sentence, the doctor quickly fell to his knees.
Alice didn't like this, not one bit. There seemed to be no way out and her hope was quickly draining fast.

She took hold of Dr. Malkins arm in an attempt to hoist him up onto his feet, but the Doctor's folder of papers dropped everywhere and in a hurry he fell back to the floor, frantically trying to corral the files back up.
"Mrs Fletcher, Dr Malkins. Both of you come here quick"
Her heart now perpetually in a state of flutter, Alice's attention quickly turned back down the hallway and she aimed her torchlight down to reveal a bloodied General Sharpe.
The general held his left arm softly and he sported a large cut on his forehead but other than that he seemed relatively fine.
"General Sharpe?!" Alice called out.
"In the flesh, Mrs Fletcher. Now please, escort your friend Dr. Malkins this way. We don't have a lot of time before another collapse.
The word collapse sparked something within Alice and she tugged on Dr. Malkins arm once more. She was able to drag him into a standing stance and the two of them made their way over to The General, already moving forwards.
He stopped very shortly afterwards, pressing his hand against the dull grey wall of the hallway. His hands delicately danced on top of the wall and his two guests turned to look at each other, a look of confusion on both their faces.
Suddenly a large section of the wall gave way, revealing a hidden room behind the walls. The room had grating on the floor and ceiling, sporting just a single pair of buttons on the right hand wall. General Sharpe gestured for the two of them to enter the room and soon all three were inside, the door closing behind them. The General pressed the lower button and with a loud creaking and groaning sound the room slowly began to descend. Their logo, a large mountain range within an outlined circle, emblazoned on the opposite side of the door.
Alice felt as if she were in some sort of spy novel, being allowed down into the secret hideout of undercover superheroes. Her day had become more absurd as time went on and she tried to convince herself that the only logical answer had to be that it was all a dream, in fact the more she thought about it this was undoubtedly the answer to explain the occurrences of today.
Alice pinched her elbow hard, half expecting to wake up in bed. Alas, all she got was a mighty jolt of pain for her effort.

The room shook and groaned as it came to a stop, the three struggling to balance themselves.
Slowly, the door opened once more to reveal a room alive with activity. Alice had never been so excited to see a community of loud panicked people before. Large concrete columns held up the roof of the large hall like room, similar white concrete covering all four walls and the floor of the room. Tables were covered in dust and some pieces of equipment seemed to come from the 1800's. Rudimentary radio equipment lined the back wall and men in suits sat down arguing.

General Sharpe pushed past them and made his way over to the gaggle of men, he shouted something and the others moved over to discuss with him.
Dr. Malkins similarly moved out, however he kept to himself. Walking towards the left most side of the large room and leaning against the wall, thumbing through the countless documents he had brought with him. Soon a figure had moved up to Malkins and they were discussing something. Alice caught herself in a mirror left leaning against a leg of a table.
Her hair was covered in a thick coating of dust, her mascara had run dry and for her crash with the lady she could see a black eye forming. Blood caked her clothes and hands and she suddenly had the biggest craving for the hottest, bubbliest of baths.
A familiar voice stood out among the noise and Marcus came running over to greet Alice, hugging her tightly. His dirty brown lab coat was not coated in black and dust, the bottom of it torn to shreds.
"Marcus!" Alice exclaimed. "I thought you were-"
"Im so glad you found us!"
They were both talking too fast for the other and finally figured out how to hold a successful dialogue
"I was briefing General Sharpe on some scientific trials when the Martians hit-"
Alice's interest was piqued "Martians?"
"-and he told me to follow him into this secret base"
He smiled and took a small step back, giving her the view of the room. She noticed hallways trailing off on the left-hand wall. "Apparently, this place was built sometime during the late 1800's. Invasion countermeasures and all that. Its built to withstand almost anything and is meant to be a last resort if the enemy take our city. We are safe in here thank god"
Alice was beginning to catch up with herself now, her hands beginning to shake violently and she suddenly felt awfully cold. She gripped onto Marcus's hand tight and he made no attempt to push her away. She stared into his eyes, her own eyes bloodshot and shaken.
"Anyway how are you. How'd you find us"
Alice suddenly realised she was holding her breath, she let it out and took in a large breathe of air.
"We saw them arrive. Just outside. I ran, I ran and came looking for you"
Images flashed before her eyes. The roof caved in, the old lady, the man and his eyes...
The tears returned and she pressed her hands to her face
"Oh god"
Marcus moved forwards and embraced her, hugging her tight and not letting go for a good while. The two stood there, at the entrance to the bunker simply hugging, clinging onto each other for dear life and too afraid to let go.
"We were too late weren't we" Alice muttered through alternating sobs.
A beat of silence between the two
"Yeah. Yeah Alice I think we were"