Chapter Six:
Emblym didn't know where she was exactly. It took her hours before she finally saw a road sign and was able to get off this seriously strange never-ending road with this gloom around her head. She was still carrying the blood red axe, which strangely felt like she was carrying a feather. She hadn't figured out how to change it back into her knife --- or literally anything other than this crazy axe.
Occasionally, a truck would drive down the roadway, and Emblym ducked behind the nearest thing she could find. This, however, was extremely hard since she had only seen a whopping total of five trees since she came out here.
The first sign she saw was a picture of a gas at the next exit, which was a few miles, meaning it took Emblym another hour before she actually got there.
Emblym stopped outside the perimeters of the gas station in order to catch her breath. The voices had been screaming at Emblym since she broke Hatter's barrier. Emblym sat down, clutching her skull, "Shut up for a minute!" She snapped at them, "I need your help. How do I get rid of this thing!?" Emblym demanded, referring to the axe.
Nobody answered her, "Listen!" She screamed, probably a lot louder than she would have pleased --- and in public too.
'In order to change its form, you must select a new one,' A thick, deep voice spoke.
"I've already tried that, doesn't work," Emblym muttered, rubbing her temples.
'You did not,' the voice scolded, annoyed with Emblym. 'If you did, you would not be asking us for guidance.' This made all the voices burst with laughter, and Emblym felt herself go red with anger. She growled, throwing the axe on the ground, and it clattered to the concrete.
"I need my knife!" Emblym snapped, shaking with anger. She didn't quite know why she was so angry, it could have been Hatter, or the Voices, or T-Dee, or herself. She was just angry, and the voices weren't helping it.
Emblym kicked the axe, but stumbled when it was gone. Staring at it in shock, she lookes around. The axe had disappeared, and was replaced with her knife.
Not wasting a second, Emblym picked up the knife and shoved it between her waistband, then she began to walk towards the gas station.
•♠️♣️♥️♦️•
Emblym began to realize something was very wrong as soon as she walked in the had station. Emblym didn't know what it was --- or could have been --- at first. Maybe she smelled bad, or she was sweaty from all that running. Maybe there was a piece of hat stuck in her hair after hiding behind hat stacks.
Then, her eyes roamed to a tiny television that was on beside a checkout counter. The young woman standing there was as white as a sheet. She had freckes and greasy blond hair, and she was staring at her, mouth opened wide.
Emblym looked at the television. It was a news channel, and her face was on it with a headline reading, 'Escaped Asylum Patient On The Loose!'
"Touch that phone," Emblym said, noticing the woman's hand reaching for a landline beside her. "And you will be eating your own fingers." The woman moved her clunky fingers away from the phone.
Emblym could practically hear her heart pounding with every fleeting second, and Emblym began to get nervous. She hadn't killed anyone in four years. She remembered how delicious the blood looked after she had killed her guidance counselor all those years ago.
Her voices realized this too and again they demanded bloodshed. This innocent woman's blood all over the pretty linoleum floors. How lovely it'll go with the white tiles.
Emblym closed her eyes, then turned to the fridges, grabbing a large bottle of water. "Pl--Please," the woman stammered, her country accent thick. "Ta--Take whatevah ya want, jus'--jus' don't 'urt me!"
Emblym came back to the front, breathing carefully, and the woman jumped, tears springing in her eyes, "Oh god, oh god, oh---" Emblym hands touched the woman's and she let out a whimpering sob. Slowly, she picked up her sweaty hands, and moved it off the receiver of the phone, setting it down beside it. Emblym reached into her back pocket to pull out her knife. The woman screamed, as she brought it down.
For a minute, nobody spoke. All thst could be heard were the several huge trucks going down the street. The woman just cried and sobbed. "Look," Emblym said, but she didn't stop crying. And she was so loud, so annoying. "I said look!" Emblym snapped angrily, and she woman hesitantly pulled het eyes to her. Emblym held the reciever of the landline phone in her hands. She set it on the table, the cord connecting to the line severed completely.
The woman stared at her in shock and fear. Emblym took her water bottle, the sweat of the bottle cleansed her hands of the woman's perspiration.
The door opened and Emblym ducked her head, not wanting anyone else to recognize her. She turned and began to leave. "Is everything alright, Ma'am?" A male voice asked as Emblym made her way to the exit. The woman just cried, shaking her head. Emblym glanced at the woman and the man, who was bald and wore a black clad jacket with a strange symbol on it. Police.
Emblym didn't hesitate. She ran, racing down the street and the man screamed after her. A truck was pulling out of the gas station and she ran to it, jumping on the back of it as it drove away.
"Stop!" The man demanded, then he turned and got in a black car. Emblym didn't wait for him to catch up. She jumped into the tall grass of the expansive fields and hid.
For several minutes, Emblym was left alone with her voices screaming and excited at the rush of adrenaline. She was silent as the black car zipped past, following the end of a goose chase.
Emblym stood and walked, the opposite direction. She was quiet for about ten minutes when three helicopters flew low above her, in the same direction Hatter and the man who chased her went.
Emblym stared at it. The dark night seemed to suffocate her, and the bugs plentiful. But strangely, in all the darkness, there was a bright light, sticking out like a sore thumb. Even the voices seemed just as confused as she was, and quieted down. What was going on?
Then, Emblym remembered the trucks from earlier, and how she broke the barrier. She... She couldn't have broken through the entire barrier, could she? Didnt Hatter say that the barrier protected them from the people that wanted them dead --- that wanted her dead!?
"Oh, my god!" Emblym gasped and began to run as fast as she could. The voices urged her on as her heart pounded in her chest. They couldn't be dead! They couldn't be dead! Oh god, please, they couldn't be dead!
•♠️♣️♥️♦️•
Emblym found the house surrounded by soldiers in black. She could hear the booming of the speaker phone echo across the empty fields. "We have you surrounded! By the orders of SHIELD, exit the house with your hands up!" The man who operated the speaker phone said this several times, with a pause between each one.
Emblym stared, sticking to the shadows, how was she going to get in there. There was no way she could---
A paw touched her shoulder and in a cloud of blue mist, she was no longer in the field, but at the kitchen table.
Emblym stumbled, her side hitting the table, and she winced. "Glad you could join us," Cheshire said, his voice, although trying to stay calm, was very tense.
"What's going on!?" Emblym demanded looking at the occupants of the table. Dormouse and Bayard looked sullen, and Hatter's face was in his hands, his hat on the table. TweedleDee merely looked jittery, glancing around the room, practically oozing anxiety.
"It seems we have been caught," Cheshire said, "And I wonder who's fault that---"
"Shut it, Cheshire!" Hatter snapped lifting his head.
"She would never have even known anything if it weren't for him!" Cheshire fired back, glaring at T-Dee, who seemed to be off in his own little world.
"She wouldn't've had to be kept in the dark, if ya hadn't've lied to 'er!" Dormouse snapped back. "Face it, Chess! You fucked up!"
"We're getting nowhere," the Bloodhound said with a sigh. "Arguing isn't going to make the SHIELD agents at our doorstep disappear."
"Bay is right," Dormouse agreed. "We've faced 'em pesky agents before, yeah? We can do it again!"
"Not this many, Dor," Hatter said, "Never this many."
"We--We'll find a way!" Dormouse said seriously. "We've gottah!"
"This doesn't make any sense," Emblym said, her eyebrows furrowed. "I--I still have, what, eight months left? We can't, we can't die now."
"Yes," Hatter agreed, "But if you die, then, well, we only have minutes."
"What if I don't?" Emblym demanded, glancing around at the worn out faces. "You can hide me, right? We--We can figure this out."
"There is no figuring this out," TweedleDee finally spoke, and everyone turned to him. "We've been at this for centuries. What do you think the outcome is for all of the Red Queens of the past? Death. All death. Some by SHIELD's hands --- ask Chess about his girlfriend, he'll give ya all the details." Cheshire growled, his eyes glowing blue at the mention of the woman. "Each time, each and every time, they've died. So why shouldn't we?"
Everyone was quiet for about thirty seconds, "Because," Dormouse said, "We need to save---"
Besides that!" T-Dee snapped, his hands coming down on the table, and Dormouse stumbled, letting out a sharp cry.
Bayard steadied him and glared at T-Dee. "Watch it!" He glowered.
"Everytime," T-Dee continued, ignoring Bayard, "Everytime we try again and again, only to let them die, why? Ask this man!" Tweedle pointed to Hatter, who looked shocked. "He's the one that keeps making us do this! He's the one pushing so hard for this war to end! Why? So he can build his own kingdom!" Tweedle growled.
"What does this---" Cheshire began, but was cut off by the egg-shaped man.
"I say, since he dug us through all of this, we kill him!" T-Dee demanded, bloodlust rising.
"Whoa," Emblym said, stopping the egg-man's rant. "Wait! We're not killing him!"
"Why not?" T-Dee demanded, a snarl curling his thin lips. "He got us in this mess!"
"He isn't the reason the SHIELD agents are here!" Emblym snapped, "I am. So, if anything's going to happen then, it's my fault... I should have---"
"This isn't your fault, Emblym," Hatter spoke calmly. "None of this is your fault. You never asked to be apart of it. You..." Hatter sighed, "We can get you out of here. You'll have to find a way train and defeat the Queens yourself. We can't let you die, not this time."
"I'm not leaving you," Emblym said stubbornly. "We'll negotiate with them. None of us have to die."
"You'll find rather quickly that these agents are quite non-negotiable," Cheshire commented, bitterness in his voice.
"Then, we'll all hide. You have your magic, your hat! Can't you find something?" Emblym asked Hatter, but he shook his head.
"This is already a pocket dimension we're in, and my hat and I are old. If anyone uses magic to disrupt it, then..."
"Okay, I get it," Emblym sighed, beginning to pace, twirling her knife. "God, there has got to be a way."
"We'll jus' go out, Emblym," Bayard said, managing a small smile. "Us old dogs 'ave been 'round long enough, eh?"
"No," Emblym said, shaking her head, "We're all making it out of here."
"No, we aren't," TweedleDee said, shaking his head, "And frankly, I'm done arguing it." He snapped hia fingers and the entire room shook. Emblym yelped, holding onto the counter, and managed to catch a falling Dormouse on her way.
"No! Don't!" Hatrer yelled at TweddleDee, who was beginning to seem fuzzy and strange. Hatter grabbed his hat and a sugar shaker off the table. He quickly shook the sugar into his hat.
"Oh dear," Cheshire said, then vanished quickly. Emblym felt as if her stomach was turning inside out and slammed her eyes shut, holding Dormouse close to her chest. Then, the pocketed dimension failed.
•♠️♣️♥️♦️•
Emblym realized she was on the grass of their yard all too late. She jumped, her clenched fist opening to reveal a very dazed Dormouse. "Put your hands up or we will open fire!" A man shouted behind them, and Emblym looked around. They were surrounded by the SHIELD officers, and helicopters whirred loudly overhead, probably ready to shoot them too, if necessary.
"This is your last warning! Put your hands up!" The man barked again, and Emblym did. She set Dormouse on Bayard's back before standing up and lifting her hands. The bright white and flashing red and blue lights blinded her, and Emblym squinted. Her head throbbed and she could hear her voices chanting in her head. Emblym closed her eyes, trying to cover her ears. This was too much, this was too much!
"Drop what's in your hands!" The man ordered, and Emblym shook her head. There wasn't anything in her hands!
She looked beside her, to see TweedleDee, his hands clenched and dangling out of them were five old watches with gold chains attached at the ends. Emblym's jaw dropped, and she stared at TweedleDee.
"Give it to me!" Hatter screamed at him. "Drop it! Now!"
"We can't go on any longer, Hatter," TweedleDee said, his voice delirious. "I haven't seen my brother in years, because of you! Because you played with our Queens! Why should we have to fight a war you started!? This is your punishment, this is your own hell, and you dragged us down with you!" Then, TweedleDee threw all five watches. Emblym heard them crack upon collusion with the ground.
Assuming the worse, the soldiers turned and shot the watches in the grass. Emblym could hear each and every one almost individualally. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Emblym turned to see the others, who screamed in agony. Even Cheshire seemed to be in pain. TweedleDee, however was laughing. Tears streamed down his face but he chortled and laughed into the starry night sky.
Emblym ran, ignoring the soldier's orders as they fell to the ground, their limbs turning to ash in the wind. "No!" She heard herself scream. "No! Please! Don't do this! Don't to, Hatter, please!" Emblym felt tears fall on the man's face and suddenly realized she was crying.
Hatter looked to her, his eyes dazed, his hat appeared in his hands and he whispered, "Emblym... White," before he crumpled to dust in her arms, his hat disappearing.
Emblym didn't know how quiet the country could be. Even the insects and birds seemed to silence in order to allow room for her grief. And just lucky for her, Emblym filled it. She screamed and sobbed and cried, cursing the sky, and hugging his remains to her chest. Emblym sat in the grass, her years staining her cheeks.
A hand was set on her shoulder and Emblym took out her knife. In an instant, it lost two of it's three fingers. "Leave!" She screamed, her voice accented by the hundreds of voices in her head. Her knife began to grow as she looked around, furious. All of the guns were pointed at her, all of the men and women looking cautious and angry at the same time.
Emblym felt a prick in the back of her neck. She searched for a moment before yanking out the small needle.
Emblym felt her eye lids grow heavy, but she forced herself to stay awake, or alive, if they were planning on killing her. However, the drug was too powerful. Emblym's body felt numb and she tilted back, looking at the bright stars that seemed to glare down at her. Then, her eyes rolled back in her skull and she was unconscious.