Page 3 of Escaping Wonderland

No, no, no!

One of the orderlies slipped his arms beneath Alice’s from behind, looping them around her chest—brushing his fingers over her breasts and nipples in the process—and dragged her backward. Another man took hold of her legs. They lifted her off the gurney. Her head tipped back, and her hair fell to clear her vision. Her captors carried her toward one of the coffin-like pods along the wall.

This isn’t real. This isn’t real.

I’m still in my bed. I’m going to wake up any moment in my room, in my house…

The orderlies brought her to the open pod and lowered her onto the soft cushions within. Her body was impossibly heavy. She felt herself sinking into the cushions, felt like they weregoing to swallow her up, and it sparked a fresh wave of panic in her—not that it was enough to get her body moving again. New tears fell from the corners of her eyes. The walls of the chamber rose over her on either side as dark blotches in her peripheral vision; they seemed to be getting higher and higher as the sinking feeling intensified.

This isn’t real! This isn’t real!

“Is she in position?” Doctor Kade asked.

One of the orderlies leaned over the pod and brushed his fingertips across Alice’s cheek. He muttered, “Lucky the director’s got his eye on you, or?—”

“Is she in position?” the doctor repeated, a hard edge in her voice.

“Yeah,” the orderly said, withdrawing his hand. He grinned, leaned down so his mouth was close enough to Alice’s ear for her to feel his breath, and whispered, “Welcome to Wonderland, Alice.”

The pod hummed to life around her, and Alice could only lie there, mentally screaming, as sharp, unseen objects pierced her skin from all around. There were too many of them to count, too much pain to fathom; they pumped fire into her blood that mixed with the iciness of her fear to become something that seared her very soul.

But the peak of her agony didn’t come until something pushed up through the cushion beneath her, parting her hair to sink into the back of her neck. It felt like a knife slowly pushing into her flesh. The object clamped down on her spine, and she heard—felt—metal scraping her vertebrae.

The pod lid, which was hinged somewhere over her head, swung down. Darkness reigned in the pod, broken only by the dim, diffused bit of light trickling in through the small window directly over Alice’s face.

No sounds existed in the pod except for those of her ragged breaths and thundering heart. Her vision darkened and narrowed as the heat inside her grew. She focused on the little window, willing herself to keep her eyes open, to stay awake.

This wasn’t real. The pain wasn’t real. It was all a bad dream…

Despite her struggles, the light faded, and even the sounds of her body fell silent. The last thing she heard before darkness claimed her was a whispered voice rising from her memory.

Welcome to Wonderland, Alice.

CHAPTER 2

Alice was first aware of darkness; it was wrapped around her like a funeral shroud, leaving her world empty and silent. But she wasn’t alone—someone was with her, someone wastouchingher. The back of a finger, which felt like it was covered by a thin layer of velvet, trailed from her chin up toward her cheekbone. The hand—she couldn’t see it, but she could sense it all the same—lifted away for a moment before gently smoothing back her hair.

She smiled. This mysterious touch was pleasant, and she leaned into it. Strange as it was, she preferred this dream to the last one; she was at peace now. There was an almost worshipful quality to the phantom touch. If she let it go just a little longer, it could erase the lingering memory of those other hands, those rough, cruel hands that had dragged her toward this darkness.

A gentle sound broke the silence—leaves rustling in a soft breeze.

“You’re going to be mine,” someone whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear.

Suddenly aware of her body and its weight, Alice had a brief but intense sensation of falling—her body jolted even though she was already lying on the ground. Her eyes snapped open. Sheswallowed and turned her head to look around; whoever had spoken was nowhere to be seen. She was alone.

Orwasshe?

Pressing her lips together, she willed herself to sit up—expecting her body to be as unresponsive as it had been before she fell unconscious. To her surprise, her muscles obeyed.

The breeze picked up, and the sound of rustling leaves grew in volume. Alice looked up to see towering trees all around her, the canopy swaying in the wind, which carried upon it the night songs of unseen insects. It was at once soothing and deeply disturbing.

Something seemed wronghere, even though this was a perfectly natural setting.

I was in anasylum, not the woods.

Clenching her fists at her sides, she forced herself to study her surroundings.

Patches of a violet night sky were visible through the dark shadows of the leaves, which seemed impossibly high—a sense only enhanced by the immensity of the tree trunks from which their branches sprouted. Was she in a redwood forest? As far as she knew, those trees only grew on Earth—her home planet didn’t have any—but she didn’t know any other trees that grew so large…

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