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“Go to the country, they said. The children will be much safer there than in the city, they said,” Alice muttered, trying not to fall as she was dragged along by her governess, the woman running as fast as she could in her skirts and petticoats. Not for the first time in her life, Alice bemoaned the need for a woman’s many layers. Her young cousins were far ahead now, having dashed off in their trousers and boots, leaving the hampered women in their dust. Leaving them behind to die, Alice knew. “Go to the country. It will be just delightful. Until the monsters fall out of the sky and start vaporizing people!”
“Alice, just run!” Her governess snapped, and Alice realized her last mutter had likely been more of a shout. She’d apologize for her outburst, but really hadn’t the breath to do so. As if spurred on by Alice’s words, Ms. Mitchum pushed herself even faster, now truly outpacing her young ward who struggled with all her might to keep up.
Alice wondered how soon it would be before the woman gave up and ran on ahead without her. Alice was trying to run, truly she was; she certainly didn’t want to remain behind with those bloody machines chasing after them. But her much shorter legs could only run so fast, particularly when considering her governess’s much stronger fear.
It was hard to panic, even in the face of strange creatures from the vastness of space, when one has faced down a Jabberwocky with only a sword, Vorpal or otherwise. She wished she had a Vorpal sword now. Or perhaps not, she amended, sneaking a glance over her shoulder at the not near so far off figures of their attackers in the distance. The walking armor the creatures had encased themselves in looked to be some sort of metal. Even the greatness of a Vorpal sword might blunt its blade against such a mechanical creation.
No, what she really wanted, what she truly, desperately needed, was a rabbit hole. A looking glass seemed more bothersome as an entry point just now, and indeed, she could hardly pause to search the neighbors’ estate for a mirror the proper size that a young girl, and possibly her governess if she could be convinced, might fit through.
No, a rabbit hole was the only thing that would do. But blast and bother, how to find one? On the run and stumbling about seemed hardly the most practical way to go about locating one. And, she risked another glance over her shoulder, she’d need to find one very, very quickly if it was to do her any good at all.
Distracted by her study of the ground several feet ahead of her, Alice missed the tussock of grass directly in front of her. She tripped and fell headlong, her hand slipping out of Ms. Mitchum’s grasp.
Time seemed to slow as her governess turned to look back at her ward, already a distance away as she hadn’t stopped until a few steps after Alice had fallen. Alice watched as the woman stared down at her and then up and past her in horror. Ms. Mitchum’s decision flashed across her face, and Alice was not surprised to see the woman lift up her skirts and turn to run, leaving Alice behind.
She was surprised when a blast of heat rocketed above where she lay, near to scorching the back of her dress and hair. It struck her governess, and there was a flash of light, and a brief scream, and then nothing at all. The creatures’ heat ray had claimed another victim.
Alice knew she should try to care that she’d watched another person, one she was relatively fond of even, die in such a terrible manner, but she was too concerned with the mechanical stalking ever closer.
With her pursuer, and with the dark shadow she’d finally spotted in the lee of another hillock just ahead of her.
Alice crawled forward, desperate to reach what she hoped would prove to be her salvation. Sure enough, she found a hole in the ground, with the echoing promise of a deep passage behind it.
Alice dove for the rabbit hole just as another blast of heat rushed towards her. She fell into the darkness and never saw the world above again.