"We will stick with 'Hiro' then," Alice replied, who found the name amusing considering the circumstances. "As for me, my name is Alice, Alice Liddell. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I do wish it were under better circumstances, but clearly that is beyond our control."

Now what should she do? Leaving him seemed cruel now, given he was clearly unsettled by the things he might have to do. Alice herself found them demeaning and purposeless: killing was not, after all, a taboo subject for the girl, given the right motivation. Self preservation clearly factored there.

"Now that we have met, Hiro, perhaps we ought to relocate. I do not give our chances much, sitting in one place in the dark."