"Give me the gun. Now."
Shaky hands, all the way through her fingertips.  Yes, handing over the weapon was the logical way to go about it.  It’s not as if she had any experience with anything other than knives and blunt objects.  But on the other hand, pulling a trigger didn’t seem so complicated.  Aim, press, and release.  Alice had seen enough movies to get the general idea.
"And what do you intend to do with it, Crane?"  She had known a boy once who went by the name of Jonathan.  Nice kid; a little stubborn, but nice all the same.  Alice didn’t much care to refer to the man in front of her, blocking her path—blocking her freedom—by his first name.  Crane was more raw, edgy, dangerous.  That, and she didn’t particularly like the birds by the same name, either.  Damn things wanted to be flamingos but were too stupid to paint their feathers.  This one wanted to be human.  No, he wasn’t too stupid to blend in.  He was just stupid because human is what he wanted to be.  No, no no.  This man belonged in nightmares.  In Wonderland.
"Ah, you think I would hand this over as simply as that?  After everything.  No, no, I know.  I know things you show only at night, when the ones you follow disappear, leaving you alone with the beings under you.  I.  Know.  Things.  Crane.”
No, she wouldn’t hand over the gun.  Instead, she resolved to advance a few steps, closing the distance between her and him.  Between her and the door.












