Lucky Alice

Part 1 – What's inside the box?

“So, what’s in the box?” Alice asked with a grin.

“You know the rules dear Alice,” replied the man sitting across from her. He was also smiling. “Don’t ask...”

“Just deliver, yes I know. But it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“We both know that’s not true,” he said as he gestured towards the item that brought her to this shithole.

The smile left his face. The man’s name was Roland, and he was a facilitator. People need things. Sometimes, those things needed to be liberated from those in in current possession, and sometimes those items needed to be delivered from one place to another. Roland was the middleman between those people and Alice, who at times would be liberator, but mostly she delivered. Roland had a lot of contacts and whenever a new job came up, Roland would refer to his contact list and pick the best suited for the job. He knew better then to ask for anything for than thievery. She was no death dealer.

“This is different, Alice, this is some serious shit, you dig?”

“I’m not sure if you are joking or not, so, just lay it out.”

“There is a lot of chatter on the streets in the last few days, people are getting worked up about a package being delivered soon.” Roland looked down at the package sitting between them on the table.

“Doesn’t look like much,” said Alice. It was a plain thing. Rectangular in shape, measuring about eight inches in length, ditto for the width, and it was about four inches tall. The box was wrapped in brown paper and stamped with... a gargoyle? Or maybe a demon? She could not tell. Ugly though.

“It’s too damn dark in here,” Alice muttered. She looked up from the suspicious package, smiling once again. “So, what’s in the box?”

Part 2 - Lucky

Alice would never call herself lucky, that would just ruin it. But if others wanted to say she was lucky, well, who was she to contradict them? Lucky or not, Alice was a woman not to be trifled with. She stepped outside onto the dirty street, although it was more like an alley. Fallen roof tiles from the surrounding buildings littered the ground, no one cared enough to pick them, no one cared enough to fix the roofs. She could not wait to get back to the country. She only came to the city to work, and even that was getting unbearable. Alice started to walk down the street, she had not taken more than half a dozen steps, when a figure appeared from the shadows. Another man appeared, and a third. Five men total, and quite honestly, she was thrilled. However, she soon realized that Roland was not joking.

“Alice Perkins,” said a man. He stepped forward and bowed. “You have a package in your possession. I know that you have it there in your bag. Just hand it over and there will be no need for us to bother you any further.”

Alice said nothing, her mind was reeling with the fact that this stranger knew her last name. Something only a handful of people were privy to.

“Too bad,” said the man and two of the five men moved forward, “chivalry is not dead,” said Alice. She moved forward and kicked a scrap piece of wood and catching it in her hands, she hit the man closest to her across the face, the man fell to the ground with a moan. The second man hesitated, caught off guard by the sudden and short attack. This was all Alice needed, the man lunged for her, trying to wrap his arm around her neck, she slipped from his grasp, grabbed his arm, pivoted and pulled upwards. The man screamed as she let him go, he turned with a furious expression that turned into utter pain as she kicked him in the groin. He too fell over onto the filthy street, writhing and swearing loudly. The third man came forward now, Alice backed against the wall behind her, he was larger than the previous two, so she used his weight and momentum against him. He moved quickly toward her, she sidestepped his wild punch, grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed it into the wall. The man stumbled back from the wall, teetered but did not fall. He turned towards Alice and at that exact moment, Alice heard a thwang and she dropped to the street. The big man stumbled again and tried to speak, only a gurgle came out, followed by blood. The crossbow bolt, fired by one of the remaining men, was sticking out of the man’s neck. His eyes wide and unbelieving, stared at the fletching before he fell.

Len was flabbergasted, Len was furious. He watched as Lars fell to the ground, clutching at the crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck. He looked over at the man responsible, hired because Len was short a man and this one happened to be named Lou. To a part of the L gang, your name had to start with L. Next time he would make do with four. This woman was no soft girl, and now this idiot kills Len’s best man. Lou was pulling the string back, preparing to load another shaft.

“I don’t think so,” said Len and yanked the crossbow from the man’s grip. “Orders were to keep her alive if at all possible.”

“But…”

“Get the package!” shouted Len.

The woman seemed quite happy with the prospect of meeting Lou and as soon as he was within reach, she broke his nose and slammed him repeatedly against the closest wall. Again and again, she whipped poor Lou around and into the wall. Larry and Luke, his other two men, were stirring on the ground and Len hoped she would be distracted enough with beating Lou that she would not notice. But no, she stopped man handling Lou and pushed him out into the street. As Lou stood there in a fog, a roof tile came tumbling down and hit him square in the face. Len did not need to see; the sound was enough. Larry and Luke were getting to their feet now and Len started to move but quickly leapt back as a cascade of roof tiles came falling from the sky and on to his comrades. Len was screwed, he and the woman both knew. She stepped toward him, and one last tile, which must have been barely hanging on, let go and fell, hitting the woman on the back of the head. Len did not move until he was sure the area was clear, then he walked out into the street. Lars, Lou, Larry and Luke all dead. The woman, the woman was alive.

“Lucky,” said Len as he reached down and picked up the package wrapped in brown paper. She was very pretty, he noticed, and genuinely hoped he would meet her again. He examined the seal, shivered, and began walking away from the terrible scene. He was very unhappy about the loss of his men, but it could not be helped. It did not matter now anyway; Len Walker was going to be rich. He began to whistle as he walked.

Part 3 – According to plan

Len walked down the street, his step steadily picking up pace as he went. He was itching to get back to his pad and off the streets. As he neared the next corner, a group of more than a dozen youths came into view. Len’s step stuttered but did not stop. “Shit,” he thought to himself. You could never be too careful with street kids, half of them would rob you at knife point while the other half would just stab you without the dilly dallying. As Len and the youths came together, he held his breath. They were not paying him any attention at all. Suddenly, Len was jostled violently as the youths began elbowing and shouldering him. He bounced back and forth, desperately clutching at the package in his grasp, and for a second, he thought he had lost it. But he could still feel the package as his hand gripped tighter around it. As suddenly as it began, the elbows disappeared and when Len looked up, the youths were rounding the far corner and disappearing out of sight. Len checked his pockets, sure they had stolen something, but all was as it should be. That is when a deep hole opened inside of him, dreading what he would see, he looked down at the package he was holding. It looked right, same size and shape, no one would be any the wiser if it were not for the big smiley face with the word “GOTCHA” stamped on the top. Len wondered how quickly he could get out of the city.

Part 4 – What goes around

Sam could not stop laughing, “what an ass” he said, falling over in another fit of laughter. They had done their job well, simple and easy, just like he planned. No muss and no fuss. Sure, they could have just slit the guy’s throat and been done with it, but Sam’s way was much funnier. And less blood meant less attention on them. He had the largest gang in the city, at sixteen years old this was not only a big accomplishment, but a testament to Sam’s abilities at organization and discipline. The discarded youth of the city flocked to him, he offered decent work for good pay, and you always went to sleep in a warm bed with a full belly. It was the best life any of these boys were like to get and Sam was happy to provide it for them. He was not the most powerful person in the city, far from it. But he did have sway and people looked to him for guidance. And now with this final job, Sam and his boys would have it made. Shit, he could buy his own city after tonight. They had been drinking since soon after lifting the package from that shmuck. The camp was a ruckus, and it was nearing two in the morning. Sam’s laugh was cut short as a giant crow flew down and landed beside him. It tried to grab the package and Sam kicked at it, the crow flew off in a frenzy accusatory cawing. As the minutes wore on, Sam noticed the cawing intensify. More crows sounded from the trees; it was getting louder. Then all went quiet. The crows, the boys, even the wind disappeared as the leaves in the trees fell limp. With a burst of feather and beaks, a hundred crows flew from shadows. All was confusion; the boys ran off in panic, screaming in fright and cursing loudly as the crows pecked at their fleeing backsides. Sam saw the crow, was it the same crow? It did not matter; it was trying to grab the package again. With a desperate cry, Sam leapt forward making one final attempt at regaining the package, but it was too late. The package was flying upwards with the struggling bird and Sam was struggling to comprehend what just happened. Then he thought of escape.

*************

Alice’s head hurt. She opened her eyes and sat up. She was dizzy and slightly sick to her stomach. She felt the back of her head and winced; it was sticky with blood. A soft caw came from her right and she looked over. A large crow was standing beside her. And beside the crow was the package, which seemed to be unharmed.

“About time,” said Alice as she grabbed the package and stood up. “And thanks.”

The crow cawed with importance and flew up to her shoulder. “Let’s drop this off and get the hell home, huh?” The crow cawed in agreement; it had been a long night.

End