The Adventures of Alice and Max
Chapter 22: Alice and Max Rendezvous
Racing furiously and desperately, Max journeyed through the streets dodging cars and weaving in and out of people for hours until he stopped abruptly and fell to the curbside of an alleyway. He didn’t find Alice yet.
Was she taken again?
Maybe, but he didn’t think so, she was out here looking for other orphans he knew that much. But as he sat and thought of the mangled memories of his past few months at the flying ship shop, he was glad to be out. But what they would say to his disappearance and the murder of Devon by Lauder’s hands, he wasn’t sure. He would never know.
Now as he gazed out into the dark world, he became frazzled beyond belief, his mind spun in different directions. Nothing made sense to him now. He seemed as though the whole world had left him, departed from his vision. He felt abandoned and alone.
Then he heard Alice’s voice amid the insanity of the streets. “What’s your name?” She said over and over again. That’s all he heard, he ran in the direction of its origin. He sprang and found her.
She was nestled in a small corner between buildings of varying sizes. A dumpster was seen and a lamplight shined. He trod lightly in the dark. Alice was speaking to a little orphan who was very small, nearly a toddler. She patted the girl toddler in her lap as Lily sat smiling and speaking gently to her.
“What are we gonna name her, Alice?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe Ginny?”
“Oh, Ginny, I like that.” She said grinning at the child. Then Max approached the lamp light.
Alice saw him and perked up, “Max! How are you? Look who we found.” She said excited and in awe of the beauty of the child.
“Alice… we need to talk.” Alice knew something was horribly wrong with the way Max spoke and how he hung his head. Some blood covered his face. Lily was oblivious.
She gave the baby to Lily, “Oh, OK, yeah, let’s talk. Lily, we’ll be right back.”
Then they disappeared into the shadows. “What happened? Why are you sweating so much? You’re supposed to be at work, right?”
“I was but then… Oh, Alice, it was terrible. This guy at work he… he tried to kill me, but… but Lauder saved me. He killed him and he told me to go. So I, uh… I went. I tried to find you and here you are,” he chuckled in despair. “Here you are.”
“Oh, Max.” She held his face, frightened for his life. “I’m so sorry,” Embracing each other, they both felt safe.
“Alice, we gotta go. We gotta escape. I think they’re on to us. The guy who almost choked me to death said he heard us on the radio. I feel like we’re not safe. I think Rapture is gonna find us at Miss Rose’s.”
Alice wasn’t sure where they would go though.
“Max, I… I like it here. I feel safe and… Miss Rose is wonderful. I love her.”
“I love her too. She’s like the mother I never had,” he said with tears in his eyes. “But sometimes, you gotta let them go. We have to let our dreams go, Alice because it’s not real. Nobody’s gonna look out for us. We gotta look out for ourselves. There’s no safety, there’s no protection, no home. Know that.”
“Max, that’s… not true.”
“It is! I keep telling myself that it isn’t too, and yet, I experience deep loneliness. Everyone leaves in the end. Mr. R, my job, Lauder. It’s all fleeting. It’s all going away. But we’re not safe here.”
She couldn’t help but believe him. She wiped her eyes which were tearing up. “OK, OK, but Lily, she’s gonna miss me.”
“She can come. You know that.”
“You’re right. Wow, no more scaredy cat, I guess. You’ve changed,” she chuckled.
He smiled, “Yeah, I guess I have. Come on, let’s go.”
“What about the baby? We have to bring her with us.”
“Yeah, OK.” They came back to where the baby and Lily were.
“She’s sleeping now,” Lily said quietly.
“Lily,” Alice began, “We need to go.”
“Yeah, you’re right, let’s go back home.”
“No, Lily, I mean… We’re gonna leave Miss Rose and everyone.”
She looked up startled. “Why?” she asked, glancing over at Max who was breathing heavily, and feeling his bruised neck.
“Because, well… I’m sorry, but we gotta go. It’s not safe. We have to find our own way.”
“But Miss Rose needs us. She’ll protect us.”
“No, Lily, we’re illegals here. We came in illegally that’s how we found Miss Rose. But I fear they’re on to us. Max fears that too.”
Lily considered this for a moment but then became angry, “No, I’m not gonna leave. I like you, Alice, and if Max wants to go then he can go.”
“Lily-”
“No! Alice, no! Don’t go.” And they shouted over one another each bringing a case to the conversation while Max waited for them to debate it. But as they were arguing a car pulled up on the side of them and a blackened window rolled down. The same tan car as before.
A kid called out, “Hey, you wanna ride?” The three turned their heads.
Alice and Max felt as if they had seen the vehicle before. A tan old model.
Suddenly, two kids got out and both looked like criminal thugs. One had a wife beater with shades and a black Mohawk on his head with baggy brown pants. He had a pistol in his hand. The other had a knife and wore a black leather jacket with skulls on the back. He wore black pants and green neon gloves and a scar was visible across his face. His red eyes blazed in the dark alley. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Alice, Lily, run!” Max said.
Running in the opposite direction, Max led the way with Alice and then Lily in the back. But a third teen had blocked their way. He was a towering six-foot-five kid. He had sneaked around and blocked their way. A shaved head was seen with bulging muscles and a built figure with a vest that exposed his six-pack body wearing tight tan shorts. He intimidated Max immediately as he stopped short.
“Where you think, you’re going?” he said with an evil look. He had a machine gun in his hands and pulled it on them. “Turn around and no one gets hurt.”
“Please,” Alice said. “Let the baby go.” The tall kid looked over at Lily and the child. He nodded to the other boys in the back of the trio.
“Alright, take the blond and the boy.” They grabbed Alice and Max while the other kid took hold of Lily. Alice tried to break free, squirming.
“No, don’t you hurt her!” she screamed. Suddenly, her head was pulled into the vehicle.
The tall kid took hold of Lily and said sternly. “You didn’t see us. Get it!”
Lily was so terrified holding the child that she trembled and nodded.
“Don’t go around spreading the news, girl.” Quickly the thug went back to the car, and got inside next to Max as it sped off into the dark City out of sight never to be seen again by Lily.
To Be Continued…
