8 They’re coming…!

"Hatter?" She let out a soft shriek and hastily clamped her mouth shut. Amidst the emergency lights and sirens blaring in the room, Jack gripped Alice's hand and pulled her back.

"Alice, we need to retreat farther back. Just in case. Elder, please lower the protective wall."

"Wait! I still have more questions…"

When Alice hurriedly spoke up, a circular wall rose up to enclose the pillar that contained the elder. And it isolated the outside world from the inner pillar.

"Hurry up, Alice!" Jack took her by the hand and Alice started running.

As she dashed along by his side, Raffi said. "Let's get out of here in the middle of it."

Looking at Alice, who stared down at him with a shocked expression, the black cat resumed speaking. "The original is coming. This sensation is definitely the Hatter. This shelter's no longer viable."

Raffi then jumped up on Alice's back and stuck to her right shoulder like a stuffed animal. Then he said indifferently in her ear. "All the people here are going to be killed. We need to escape from this territory before we are dragged into it."

"But where would we even flee to!" Alice let out a scream as she kept running. Then she realized what had happened and held her words. Jack seemed to assume that she was talking to him, so he turned and shot a small laugh as he continued running down the aisle.

"Everything will be fine. There is a defense room in the basement that has withstood the collapse. The Nightmare won't be able to penetrate there."

Slightly ahead, a lot of people were fleeing down the aisle. Then, as she was about to head further down the stairs…

"Alice, you have to stop!" Hearing Raffi's high-pitched voice in her ear, Alice halted in her tracks in a panic. Then Jack reached out to her and she fell forward, tripping over her own feet.

"Alice!"

It was the moment Jack shrieked and bent down when a brilliant crimson flame erupted from the bottom of the stairs. The surrounding walls were instantly engulfed in flames, each of which seemed to have a mind of its own, writhing around in a serpentine motion.

"What the hell…!" Jack said in a strained tone, embracing Alice's body as though to shield her from the flames. A beat later, another explosion landed. Although the place where they were was in a blind spot from the blast and the corner of the corridor, a tremendous amount of heat, smoke, and wind settled over their bodies.

"Damn it… they have infiltrated inside…!"

As she listened to Jack's venomous voice, Alice caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a… human-like black mass that was disintegrating into pieces with screams of desperation. Black masses of all sizes… of charred flesh, struggling and suffering in the flames, disintegrating with screeching wails.

Collapsing.

Disappearing.

The flames had engulfed them, and those who were attempting to escape downstairs were being incinerated alive.

"No… No…" Alice shut her eyes and exclaimed, clutching her head. "Noooooooo!"

"Oh, Happy….day…."

There, Alice stiffened when she heard the "song" rather distinctly behind her ears.

"Alice, run!" Raffi shouted again. Reflexively, she kicked the floor and rushed back the way she had just come, dragging Jack by the hand.

A curved scythe swung precisely where Alice's head had been, and impaled the wall with a crushing thud. As she cast her gaze backward, she spotted a stuffed rabbit peeking its upper body out of a ventilation duct in the ceiling, and when it made contact with her eyes, it regarded her.

"Alice! It's Alice!" The rabbit peeking its head out of the ventilation duct cackled in a shrill voice. "It's Alice, it's Alice, it's Alice."

The rabbit crashed to the floor with a sensual clatter. Following that, several more of them landed from there like slugs onto the pathway.

"Alice! We meet again!"

"It's our reunion anniversary! I'm so happy!"

"Happy day! Happy day!"

Not even able to enumerate the number of rabbits, Alice drew Jack's hand deathly tight, her face scrunched up in fear.

"Where are you going, Alice!" Jack exclaimed, dismayed.

"The rabbits…!" Letting out a scream, Alice made a dash through the facility. At her back, bouncing on their short legs, the rabbit creatures pursued her, brandishing their sickles.

Fast.

They were bizarrely swift.

Jack turned around and turned pale as he saw the blaze following them down the wall in a lapping motion.

"Is there a Nightmare out there? Can you see the Nightmare!"

"Jack, keep running! They'll kill us!" Alice screamed out. Jack finally grasped the gravity of the situation and hurriedly rushed into the elevator by the aisle, holding Alice in his arms. Then he pressed the button. Unfortunately, the doors were slow to close.

"Come on! Hurry!"

Alice squealed when she spotted the rabbits emerging from the corridor. Jack gritted his teeth and seized the elevator door, forcing it to shut. The elevator slowly began to rise.

"They're… they're coming…!" There was a grinding sound from Jack's teeth. Alice, who was peering up at him, let out a gasp in alarm. His face was so warped with abhorrence.