Chapter 3 Part 2

I whip out my knife and hold the man coming out of his home in a chokehold. He thrashed as I slid my knife across his throat looking into Cheshire's eyes all the while.

The blood spattered onto the ground decorating it as Cheshire blanches.

"Why?... What have you done?"

He looks on the verge of crying, his big eyes accusing as they look at me.

"Run kitty. Run."

I drop his body to the ground and get started on the screaming wife and children.

Cheshire lashes out trying to scratch at me and I use a chair to block him as I stab at the family killing them in cold blood.

Their brief screaming ends miserably as they choke on their own blood.

Thankfully we're close to the edge of the camp.

Cheshire is still angrily staring at me with horror in his eyes.

"It's nothing personal, Cheshire it always is. I'm just doing what I'm told."

"You killed them over politics?!"

"No. Worse. Because of a dream that we're all going to die in."

I step out of the hut dragging him along as he tries to mist away.

Keyword: tries.

I grab him as he flails scratching up my arm.

"Did you enjoy the chips?"

His eyes widen in understanding.

I learned a few dreams ago that whenever Cheshire eats specific food from my world he loses his ability to mist away. Not forever just for two hours if it's something small like chips but that's all I need. Chips, fries, and pizza.

Junk food makes him weak.

I unzip and grab the rope from my bag, tying it around his neck and restraining him. He howls and tries to get away fighting me tooth and nail.

I tie him up and leave him in the hut attached to a chair.

"You won't get away w-"

I stuff a piece of fabric down his throat and tie it around his furry head.

I turn my backpack around wearing it properly.

Quest information?

[The Queen's Quest]

(0/1) Defeat The White Queen(0/1) Kill the Jabberwocky (0/1) Seal Alice in Underland(04/50) Kill 50 Hatters

[You are the last Joker in the Red Queen's Deck. Obtain victory and prevail over the White Queen's army. Win or Die.]

Let's get to work.

…

"Ahhhhh Reill!"

"My babies?!!"

"Call the guards!!"

I walk out of another house watching as people return home to their murdered and bloodied loved ones.

Some I've seen before and others…Met their end here many dreams ago.

I picked up a shortsword from one of the nicer cottages.

I also killed all five of its inhabitants.

My footsteps fall silently as a grieving woman holds her husband and son close to her. I walk up to her silently placing my knife at her neck pausing as she looks up into my eyes.

"Do it."

She gurgles as I slide the blade across her neck, fresh blood pouring onto their bodies and into the ground. She sags forward laying on top of her family.

All over my hands. Drenched. So much blood.

I probably look like a nightmare. Dark black jeans tucked into bloodied leather black boots. And a dark black athletic long-sleeved shirt soaked in blood. And to top it off a black helmet only showed my dark most likely red eyes.

I look like a monster.

Aren't I? I'm dripping in blood.

It's not real.

Their blood.

Those children.

Their mothers and fathers.

Wives and husbands.

Not real.

Quest Information?

[The Queen's Quest]

(0/1) Defeat The White Queen(0/1) Kill the Jabberwocky (0/1) Seal Alice in Underland(49/50) Kill 50 Hatters

[You are the last Joker in the Red Queen's Deck. Obtain victory and prevail over the White Queen's army. Win or Die.]

One more to go.

Guards surround me as those still alive point at me and scream in anger and despair.

If I stop now I'll just be forced to do it over and over and over again until I do it right. Until I slay all of my targets the correct way like the good slave I am. 

They bring their weapons down as I pocket my knife and I grab the woman's body and use it as a shield. Then follow up on the action by rushing towards a guard's ax propping my hand on the handle and flipping over him.

I strike out at a man as he blocks his face with his arms and my knife sinks into his stomach.

He looks up at me in shock as I turn around switching places with him and rip out my weapon.

A guard in his pursuit to kill me accidentally sunk his long sword into the man's back.

And I made off like a bandit having stolen the lives of many in less than two hours.

My watch beeps furiously as I burst through the tree line.

I take out my lighter from the side pocket and set the leaves of a large tree on fire. It catches quickly moving towards the ground and eventually towards the first hut where Cheshire is or by now was tied up.

I run with all my might as I hear the clanking of armor behind me.

I probably have about five guards on my ass now.

I climb up a tree and start using the branches as a bridge once again. Running across them made my lungs burn as I pumped them madly.

Run.

Just run.

What have I done to escape my dreams once again?

The section of Madness isn't just a name.

Every single time I'm here. I lose pieces of my mind and my desperation pushes me to new lows.

This unfortunately isn't a new low.

I push myself and jump across a gap between the branches landing unsteadily as I feel something push me hard.

I'm falling until I again stab my knife into a tree.

Cheshire.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Cheshire is a tricky opponent but he's someone who values his life and holds little to no regard for others when he is in danger. 

And he's a talker.

"Cheshire, let's just pretend this mad world was just and fair. Let's pretend that you are in any position to judge others. Answer my questions and I'll march all the way back to the Hightoppers and let them take out their anguish on me. Did they matter?"

I could feel his breath on my neck as he put his paw around my throat, his claws digging into the skin.

"Yes."

"Did they matter to you?"

"Yes."

"Don't lie."

"If given the choice between life and death. You or them. Who would you choose to die?"

He pushes his claws into my neck, blood dribbling out of the punctures his claw left behind. This is so humiliating. He's a fucking cat holding me up like I don't weigh a good 120 pounds.

"They weren't going to hurt you."

"No, they weren't. They were going to die. Not by my hand."

"Who then?"

Just as the words leave him.

A shadow passes over us.

I can feel him look up.

And I can feel him swoop down.

Jabberwock.