'Sweetheart, they're here to get you. They promised us that you'd be back by evening. Just tell them whatever they want to know and you'll be fine.'
Despite his reassuring words, Alice could see the strain in her father's eyes. She knew that he was dealing with a lot of compromises he had been forced to make to get her back-sending the boys to Zeus and dealing with those he had tried hard to avoid all these years. He had often told Alice that unlike before The Rising when there was at least some form of order due to governments, the chaos and vacuum that had resulted had been filled by greedy, power-hungry men and their private armies. He had spent all these years keeping their settlement free of such men and now to protect his daughter, he had been forced to compromise with them. Alice was old enough to realize just how much of a sacrifice her father had made for her and she hugged him tight as she boarded the black helicopter.
The helicopter turned North East, and flew over forests on the outskirts of what had once been Delhi, but was now simply called the Ruins. On her previous flights she had been too terrified or tired to notice, but now she got her first look from the air at what lay below. It was a depressingly familiar pattern-miles upon miles of wrecked buildings and debris, broken by the occasional small settlement of humans. Without many standing buildings, the sands from the Rajasthan deserts were now freely swirling over the cities nearby, creating a near constant haze.
She then saw a large fortified compound with gun turrets on the walls, followed by the airfield she had seen before. As the helicopter came to a rest, she saw Dewan run up to it. While he was a stranger by any standards, he was the one familiar face and she felt a bit more comfortable having him there. He spoke loudly to be heard over the helicopters and Alice leaned over to hear what he was saying.
'General Appleseed himself is here. From what I gather, what our Intelligence folks most want is tactical intel. So just tell them what happened when you went into the Biter base, what you saw, the numbers of Biters and so on. Also, any clues as to where hidden entrances could be will be very helpful. That's really all they want, so it should be pretty simple and then you're on your way home.'
It sounded simple enough and Alice was feeling much more reassured when she stepped into the briefing room. General Appleseed was the only one there and as Dewan saluted, he asked him and Alice to sit down. The big General folded his arms in front of him and smiled, trying to put Alice at ease. With his big neck, huge arms and bald head, it was hard to think of the General as anything other than a raging bull, but Alice smiled back, glad that he was at least trying to be nice.
'Ms. Gladwell..'
He paused, puzzled as Alice stifled a laugh.
'I'm sorry, nobody's ever called me Ms. Gladwell before.'
Appleseed grinned and continued.
'Okay, Alice. I know you've had a tough few days, but you know just how terrible our continuing war is, and any information that can help us strike a blow for all humans would be of great value.'
Alice didn't say anything, but she noted that Zeus was now claiming to represent all humans. She wondered what her father would have said to that as the General continued.
'So, please just let me know everything you saw and experienced. Don't worry about any detail seeming to be too small or insignificant, just tell me everything from the beginning.'
So Alice began her tale, starting with how she had seen a Biter jump down a hole and how she had followed. She watched Appleseed raise his eyebrows as she talked about the first confrontation in the caves and how she had managed to get away. He was scribbling notes furiously and stopped when she mentioned about the room she had entered and the seal she had seen on the door. He looked at Dewan.
'That can only be where the US Embassy was. I know we had underground bunkers, but who would have thought those mindless monsters would have used our own underground bunkers and the ones the Indians had built against nukes to hide? When we're done here, I'd like a recon group to go and check out the area.'
Alice continued her story, about how she managed to get into the room and saw old newspapers. When Appleseed asked what was on those papers, Alice replied that she saw the pictures of when The Rising first happened, but that she could not read fast enough. She thought she saw a flicker of satisfaction cross Appleseed's face as he continued.
'Now these creatures were outside the door. How did you manage to get out?'
Alice started speaking and then wondered how she could possibly explain the drawing on the wall and why the Biters did not tear her apart or at any rate bite her to convert her into one of them. However, she had never been a good liar, and struggled with what she should tell the General. Her dilemma was solved when a trooper knocked on the door.
'Sir, we are serving lunch in the cafeteria now. Will you come and join us or should I send it over here?'
Appleseed growled, his friendly demeanor gone in an instant.
'Trooper, we're working here! Colonel, can you ask them to arrange a bite here?'
Dewan walked out, resting a friendly hand on Alice's shoulder as he left. Alice looked back to see Appleseed looking at her with his chin in his hands, as if contemplating something. Finally he came around the table to sit next to Alice.
'Alice, we will continue the debriefing when Dewan gets here, but there is one thing I needed to ask you in private. It is a highly confidential matter that nobody else should know about, but if you helped me with this, it could make a huge difference to the war effort.'
He took out a photograph from his pocket and put it on the table in front of Alice. It was an old, faded photo, with some of the edges torn off, but the smiling face with greying hair in the middle of it was unmistakable. It was the woman whom Alice had met as the Queen. She tried to contain her reaction, but Appleseed must have noticed.
'Alice, I need you to tell me if you saw this woman.'
***
Alice was saved from having to answer by Dewan coming in with some sandwiches. As they ate, Alice told them about how after the encounter in the Embassy room, she had managed to hide in the underground caves and tunnels for the next two days. Appleseed was skeptical and his expression showed it.
'When our men first saw you, it seems you were in the company of Biters. How did that happen?'
Alice's mind raced. At the best of times, she was terrible at making up excuses, now she had to find some plausible reason for why the Biters around her had not attacked her when they first encountered the Zeus helicopters.
'General, I was hiding behind some ruins when your helicopters arrived. The Biters would have found me in minutes if they had not landed up when they did. I was hardly with the Biters then-but with all the fighting, I couldn't get to the troopers and I hid underground.'
'And what about the incident in the forest when we gave you the beacon? Or did you again just happen to be near the Biters? One of our men said that it looked like they had you in their custody.'
Alice saw that Appleseed was not going to be so easily convinced.
'Biters can hardly take anyone in their custody. They tried to get me in the forest and I was fighting them off when your men arrived. It was all so chaotic that someone must have mistakenly believed the Biters had captured me. I was scared and in the middle of so many Biters that I just dove into one of the openings in the ground. It seemed to lead into one of their bases and I hid there, waiting for you guys to get me.'
Dewan nodded at Appleseed and whispered that he had indeed seen her fighting Biters when he first saw her. The General just grunted as Alice continued her tale about how she had been deep underground escaping the Biters when the rescue mission was mounted. As she talked, she noticed that the General seemed to be relaxing a bit as he clearly got pieces of information that he deemed useful, such as the exact location of the tunnels near the old Yamuna river, and more than once he whispered to Dewan to get sorties out over the areas to check them out for any sign of Biters. Finally he closed the writing pad in front of him and asked Dewan to go and check if the helicopter to fly Alice back had been arranged.