Mated To An Enemy

They made their way inside the building through a ventilation shaft disguised as a tree. Moving carefully and quietly, they could avoid being seen by any of the security teams or lab techs.

“We just need to get down another two levels. There won’t be much traffic after that,” Alice whispered as they entered a stairwell.

Ashleigh stayed close, mirroring Alice’s movements around the cameras. When they reached the floor Alice had mentioned, she took Ashleigh down another hall and stopped.

“Around this corner is the security office, our exit,” Alice whispered. “Four guards, armed.”

Ashleigh nodded.

Alice motioned for her to follow, and they continued carefully down the hall.

Alice took them down two more flights of stairs to the outside of a small lab. Once she was sure it was empty, Alice immediately pushed inside, going to the computer and typing away.

“Alice, what are you doing?” Ashleigh whispered from the door. “Aren’t there cameras in there?”

Alice shook her head.

“Not in here. They never wanted evidence of their actual process,” Alice replied, still typing. “Only in that room.”

She absentmindedly pointed toward the back of the lab. Ashleigh entered the lab. She looked in the direction that Alice had indicated. There was a small room with a metal door. Ashleigh stepped closer. She got on her tiptoes to look through the small window in the door.

Inside it looked like a prison cell. It was dirty, the walls covered in grime, and the floor covered with dirt and stains that looked like old, dried blood. A bed was chained to the wall; there was also a sink, a toilet, and an old blanket.

Ashleigh lost her balance and fell forward. She hissed as her hand touched the door.

“What the hell!” she shouted, pulling her hand back and seeing a red mark on her skin.

“Sorry,” Alice said, “I should have warned you. Unfortunately, that door is made of silver.”

“What is this place?” Ashleigh asked. “Some kind of prisoner experimentation room or something?”

Alice stopped typing. She looked back over her shoulder and raised her hand to point to the room Ashleigh had looked in.

“That was my room,” she said.

Ashleigh’s eyes widened.

“For how long?” she asked.

Alice turned back to continue typing as she spoke.

“From eight to eighteen, I was here most of the time. After that, it depended on my assignments. But I came back here to be reset whenever the job was done.”

Ashleigh felt a rush of anger as she imagined a child in that room.

“Where were your parents? How could they let this happen to you?” Ashleigh demanded.

“My mom died,” Alice said. “My dad… had high hopes for me.”

Ashleigh wanted to ask what she meant but felt it wouldn’t go over well.

“When did you escape?”

Alice paused.

“When your dad and I got out of Autumn.”

Ashleigh swallowed and closed her eyes.

“My dad…” she whispered. “Was he… in a lot of pain?”

Alice took a slow breath and sighed.

“You don’t want that truth,” she said, finishing up her last line of code before shutting down the computer.

Alice stood up and turned to face Ashleigh.

“Just know, even after everything he suffered, he still took down an entire squad of those Savage Cove bastards. Just to help the Blue Reef kids. That’s what you need to remember about Wyatt. He was a hero, just like the rest of you.”

Alice walked to the door, checking for anyone coming down the hall.

“It’s all clear. Let’s go.”

***

They traveled further down until there were no more stairs, only one last door remaining.

“We’re here,” Alice whispered. She lifted her head to look at a handmade sign above the door.

Ashleigh followed her gaze.

[Welcome to Wonderland]

“I don’t get it,” Ashleigh whispered.

Alice stepped forward to the keypad beside the door. She typed in the code she had assigned herself from the computer in the lab. The door buzzed, and a clicking sound told them it was unlocked.

Ashleigh glanced up just before taking a step forward.

“Alice!” she shouted. “The camera!”

Alice looked up and gasped, then stuck out her tongue. She turned to Ashleigh with a smile.

“I set this camera on a loop earlier.”

“Would be nice to know… anything,” Ashleigh sighed.

Alice stepped forward and opened the door. She turned before Ashleigh stepped forward.

“You’re right. I haven’t been straightforward with you about exactly what we are doing here. I wasn’t lying when I said that this was a rescue operation. There are innocent lives at stake here.”

“Ok…”

“But the thing is,” Alice continued, chewing her bottom lip. “There are some circumstances that the werewolf community struggles with. Situations that lead to the death of innocent people.”

“What are you talking about?” Ashleigh asked.

Alice lowered her eyes.

“Ashleigh,” she said, “the people I am looking to save, many wolves would not want to be saved.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because they shouldn’t exist,” she said.

Alice pushed open the door and stepped inside. Ashleigh followed after letting the door close behind her.

The room was large and dark. To the left were rows of computers and different lab stations with experiments that seemed to be in progress. But there was no one in the room.

Alice turned on the lights, and Ashleigh gasped as she turned her head to the right and saw what filled the rest of the large room.

“What the hell….” Ashleigh whispered in disbelief, moving toward the beds.

Before her were rows of small beds. On each bed, a child was attached to IV poles and monitors. There were at least fifty of them.

“What the hell is this?” Ashleigh asked, turning back to Alice.

“This is Wonderland,” Alice said with a bitter smile. “A place where wonderful things can happen.”

Alice moved toward Ashleigh.

“A girl can be made and remade into a doll,” she said with a bow and then stood on her toes and twirled as she continued. “Who dances and sings to whatever tune you ask.”

Alice stood straight and tilted her head as she looked at the children.

“Or where children can be made into special order monsters,” she whispered.

“What is happening to them?” Ashleigh asked in horror.

Alice closed her eyes and turned back.

“Come,” she said, walking toward the computer.

Ashleigh followed after her.

Alice sat down and quickly broke into the system, sorting through files until she found the one she wanted.

The one labeled simply as [Alice].

She opened it up and found videos and pictures of a small Alice practicing with blades and whips. There were health reports and updates. A spreadsheet with different names, dates, and personas she took on, over one hundred on the list.

And finally, there was another folder titled [The Alice Project].

In this folder, they found pictures of the children lying in those beds. Medical records and dosing instructions. But Ashleigh only counted fifty children, but the files listed almost one hundred.

“What the hell is this,” Ashleigh growled.

Alice took a deep breath and then looked back at Ashleigh.

“These children are my replacements,” she sighed.