Goodbye Alice - Ending

Ending by Lana
Partner: LOT
Word count 618


When I first spotted one of my father’s soldiers, he was relieving himself behind a run-down church. Ten years ago, this building was jam-packed with a hodgepodge of individuals who marched up the stairs every Sunday morning to express their devotion to God.

Survival is our God now that our world has changed.

The smell of urine on the damp earth made me want to puke, but I kept quiet as I inched my way toward the unsuspecting soldier, knife in hand. He was choking on his blood and squirming in his urine in record time. Bending over the soldier, I reach out to search him for weapons and ID. Before my fingers touch the man’s shirt, there is a gun against my temple, and reluctantly, I drop my knife.

Before whoever was holding it got the chance to pull the trigger, I drop down on the concrete and kick out my legs with the intention of knocking the person down. It works, but in the wrong direction. A heavy weight slams onto my back forcing the breath out of me and, a masculine voice curses in my ear. The good news is that his gun is gone.  The bad news is that he’s up and twisting one of my arms behind my back in an unnatural way. Screaming, I do my best to wriggle out of his hold, and by some miracle, I succeed. Quickly, I turn over and go nuts with my fists, and hope they hit something important—like his head—so I can hightail it out of here and get back to the rebel camp.


“Gotcha! Now stop moving so I can search you.” The male huffed and struggled to pin my arms down as I kick and buck at him full force.

Pain, hot, seething, agonizing pain, rockets up my left leg. Though my limp is gone from years of training myself to correct it, the pain is still there and now, magnified times a hundred.


“I’m not going out without a fight.  And you better hope I don’t get free, because then you’ll get dead really fast.” Squinting, I try to get a look at his face, but the sun is gunning for my retinas and I have to deal with fighting blind.


His legs find a way to pin my hips down then his free hand shoots down the front of my shirt.


“What’s this? A picture? ”


Oh God. Not my Alice picture. It’s all I have left of Zander. The only memory I have of the time we were happy and in love.


“Shana?”


I’m free. The man lets me go and I’m free. Scrambling up, I turn to punch him and…Zander?


“I thought you were dead. I saw the arrow in your chest.” I choke out between the waterworks. 


“I survived, but was forced to join your dad’s army. My orders are to kill you on sight.”  He pulls me into his arms; his hand caresses my dreads, no longer the curls he loved. “I will never hurt you, Shana. I love you so much.”

“I love you, Zander. Oh, God, I can’t believe you’re alive.” I step back to look at him to make sure. His eyes are the same intense brown. His hair, a blonde buzz cut.


“Shana. This is our chance. We can finally be together. We leave everything behind and never look back, okay? ” Our lips meet, and we kiss like it’s our first time.


“Yes. Okay. Yes.” Lacing our fingers together, we walk away from the lives we were forced to live and forward into a new one together. 

Goodbye, Alice. I think to myself, as Zander flings the picture behind us.