“A….. A pigeon?” Rei screamed as her chair buzzed through her shaking body. Tears dripped from her eyes and she could smell her own flesh burning inside her.

She lost count on how many riddles she got wrong. She knew she wasn't good at answering riddles and the torture made it worse.

"You are losing, my Alice," said the Cheshire Cat's echoing voice. "Is this how far you will go?"

Rei licked her dry muzzle. "Please let me go!"

"One riddle then, and you can go."

"But I don't know any answer!"

"Fine! You can stay here forever, or I can kill you now! The real Alice would never give up! Her curiosity is her greatest motive in Wonderland! If you can't solve the Mad Hatter’s riddles, then you don't have a motive at all!"

Rei shook her tears off her face. "I do have a motive!"

"Then what is it?"

"To survive!”

"Then solve the damn riddle!" The voice shouted.

He sounded frustrated, or he thought shouting angrily would push Rei to answer harder. But if she wants to survive, she must answer the last riddle.

The Mad Hatter robot twitched his head. "Why is the raven like a writing desk?"

Rei dropped her jaw. "What?"

"Why is the raven like a writing desk?"

Rei’s mind burned as she thought harder. But it was no use. "I give up!"

Suddenly, the braces snapped open, releasing Rei. Seeing her chance, she jumped off the seat. “Mwolago yo?”

The Cheshire Cat giggled as his laughter grew louder. “Why, you answered correctly!”

Rei shivered. “I don’t understand…..”

“Why is the raven like a writing desk is the only riddle that is unanswerable because it is an illogical riddle. Hehehe. Alice gave up when the Mad Hatter told her the riddle. So basically not giving it the answer is the answer. You only need to give up, just like Alice in the book. HAHAHAHA!!!”

Rei sighed, relieved that the shock treatment torture ended. If she missed another riddle, the electric trap could have turned her into a skeleton.

“You still don’t have enough time to rest now. Move it!” The Cheshire Cat hollowed.

A black door with a red heart image, wearing a crown, appeared on the blue wall. Based on that symbol, Rei knew what the next room would be based on. The Queen of Hearts.

*****

Luna kicked the door open and entered the next blue. It has another house, shaped like a hut with cobblestone walls and a hay rooftop.

"That looks like a caveman house," she said under her breath.

The last house almost crushed her to death. She had to run up to the attic while the walls closed in on her. In the attic, she blasted her way out after she picked up the fan and gloves from the floor. The Cheshire Cat never complained or threatened her for destroying his traps. He probably could rebuild his attraction after he kills Rei and Luna. Well, not in her life!

“Hey, pussy!” Luna shouted at the ceiling. “What’s inside that house?”

From a speaker, the Cheshire Cat laughed. “That’s for me to know, and you to find out.”

Luna scowled and stumped toward the hut. She felt like she was wasting her time trying to solve the Cheshire Cat's stupid puzzles. The more she screwed around, the more chances her partner could be dead already. But stopping would only make things worse.

Luna stepped into the hut, pointing her gun around. The door slammed shut behind her, and a strange garlic smell clouded around.

She coughed until a knife flew toward her. She ducked and saw a robotic skeleton cook throwing kitchenware at her.

Luna blasted the robot’s head off from her railgun. It exploded and collapsed to the floor.

Her eyes watered, but she managed to see an old lady, spanking a crying baby on her lap. Obviously, it was another robot, shouting:

Speak roughly to your little boy

And beat him when he sneezes

He only does it to annoy

Because he knows it teases.

I speak severely to my boy

I beat him when he sneezes

For he can thoroughly enjoy

The pepper when he pleases.

Luna coughed and aimed her gun at the robot’s big head. "Fuck this!"

One energy shot shattered the robot's head, and the crying baby stopped. Luna pulled the cloth off the baby, seeing its odd pig head.

She struggled and sprinted to the backdoor. She kicked it open and exited the hut quickly.

Relief spread on her face as she caught her breath. She almost thought she was going to die inside the suffocating hut.

A growl echoed from the speaker. "You are supposed to grab the baby in there!"

"That pig baby?" Luna stared back at the open backdoor. "Okay."

It only took her seconds to grab the doll and race back outside. She held the pig doll up. "Happy now? You should have told me before, dumbass!"

The Cheshire Cat mumbled a frustrating tone Luna couldn’t understand. "Enter the door with the hat logo. Let's see if you can solve the next surprise. Hehehe."

Luna dropped the doll and holstered her railgun. "It better not waste my time, or else you'll spend more money repairing this crap fest!"

The Cheshire Cat growled. "You're no fun."

*****

Rei strolled through a network of passageways, covered by green bushes on the walls. It must be some kind of garden labyrinth, built to confuse the victim. At least the giant blue room has bright lights to simulate daylight for Rei to see her path.

Each time Rei entered another passage, she wasn't sure if she moved in circles or back. She hated walking through mazes.

"Is there a point to this?" Rei shouted.

"You are getting warmer!" The Cheshire Cat's announced.

Rei sighed for relief, believing she was almost done with this puzzle. If the room was supposed to have the Queen of Hearts, then where was the queen?

In a long passage, Rei approached a tall playing card with five hearts on it. It has one human head on top and two hands, holding two swords.

A card man? Rei remembered the card figures from the book. They were soldiers who obeyed the Queen of Hearts. Finding this card man could mean Rei was close.

The card man’s eyes opened and glanced down at Rei. With a grin, he swung his swords in circles like spinning blades.

“Run, my Alice!” The Cheshire Cat shouted. “Find the white roses!”

The contraption slid toward Rei on metal tracks on the ground. If Rei doesn’t want the trap to shred her into catnap pieces, she better run like hell.