Doctor Who: Battle for Reality
Characters: The Doctor, Daren Glover and Ben Jones, with James Cross.
Daren Glover and Ben Jones are two ordinary boys, who lead simple and normal lives. They have always been good, never been in trouble at school or with the police. In fact you could say that they are the two most normal boys in the entire universe, but to say that would be a lie because the day that is fast approaching them, will change their lives forever.
Chapter One:
A storm rages through a small town, the wind howls and rips through wooden fences and sends debris flying in different directions. A small house located near the end of the town is almost in darkness, except for a light coming from a bedroom window. Inside is a boy lying on his bed, gazing up at the ceiling, listening to the wind through the window. This boy, who is called Daren, has black hair and brown eyes. He listens to the windows as it rattles and wonders if it is going to shatter. But as the time passes the wind begins to die down and Daren starts to become more settled and slowly begins to drift off. A few minutes pass and Daren is nearly asleep, that is until his mobile begins to beep. Daren sits bolt upright and looks terrified for a few moments, before noticing his mobile is flashing. He picks his phone up from his bedside table to find he has one message from his best friend, Ben Jones. He opens the message and begins to read.
"Hi Daren! Sorry I'm texting so late, but I needed to remind you that we are meeting up in the morning around about 8. I'll be waiting at the bottom of your road. So make sure your up! Be there or be slapped! Bez"
Daren laughs as he forgot about his and Ben's plan to go into the woods and explore. He puts his mobile down and looks at his clock which reads 4.23am. He sighs and sets his alarm for 7.30am, switches off the light and lies back down, within a few moments Daren finally falls to sleep.
Daren awakes and looks at the clock which reads 7.20am. He then mumbles to himself, "As per usual, I wake up 10 minutes before my alarm goes off."
He gets out of his bed and goes over to the mirror and looks at his reflection, he looks at his hair then at his skinniness and sighs. He makes his way over to his wardrobe, opens the doors and grabs the nearest top and jeans he can find and slips into them. Then after spaying some deodorant he picks up his mobile, places it in his pocket, then makes his way downstairs.
On his way down the stairs, he stops and looks at a picture hanging on the wall, in the picture is his mum who passed away on Halloween. He smiles to himself after looking the picture for a few moments and then carries on walking down the stairs.
Once downstairs, Daren goes into the kitchen and makes something to eat. After finishing his toast, he picks up his keys, puts his trainers on and goes outside.
Daren makes his way down the road and soon starts to see a glimpse of his friend Ben. As Daren finally walks up to Ben, his appearance is more visible. Ben has blue eyes and ginger hair; he is quite tall and has a medium built body, whereas Daren is shorter and has a skinny body.
Ben and Daren both share a friendly hug before make their way towards the exit of the town.
As they cross they cross the road, neither of them notice an out of place phone box. The phone box is a 1950's style police box, which is odd as they were mainly located in London.
Daren and Ben slowly approach the outskirts of the forest, which is called Darkwood. Located just outside Darkwood forest is a manor called Dearthwood, which contains Daren and Ben's school, Blackwood Academy.
As they arrive at the entrance to the forest they stop and take a glance as the trees, some of which have been ripped up during the night's storm. The ones left standing look battered, they also seem to appear as though they are leaning over and watching the two boys.
After a few moments of standing on the spot, Ben and Daren advance into the forest, not knowing of the terrible and life changing events that would soon be happening.
The boys walk through the forest, climbing over broken branches and stumbling through muddy puddles. Soon they come to an open part of the forest, which has hardly any trees. They spot a medium sized pond. The boys walk up to the edge of the pond and take a glance. However something about the pond does not look right.
"Are ponds usually this clean looking after a storm, like the one last night?" Daren asked Ben.
Ben studies the pond and walks around it a few times, then stands back next to Daren.
"No mate, I'm pretty sure after that storm, the water would look foul. But it looks undisturbed." Ben says, looking as more confused than Daren.
The boys look at each other, bewildered and confused, something is not as it should be, but what could it be?
A few hours pass, Daren and Ben are sitting next to the pond, both are still confused about the pond. As more time passes, the boys decide to leave the pond and return tomorrow.
They make their way back through Darkwood, not noticing that all the trees are back the way they were before the storm hit. As they reach the exit, Daren and Ben start to realise that the forest has changed and everything is undamaged.
"Dude, something is seriously wrong about all of this." Daren says to Ben.
"I know mate, this is not good at all." Ben replies.
The boys continue walking and exit the forest, but what they see when they gaze upon the town ahead, shocks them to the core.
The town of Dearthwood has become old and broken, walls have crumpled and buildings in ruins.
Ben and Daren stare in horror as the town they grew up knowing and have long since loved stands in smouldering ruins.
"How can this have happened? I mean... I... I cannot believe what I am seeing." Ben says with a tear in his eye.
"I don't know. But we are going to find out." Daren says.
With that, Ben and Daren make their way towards the broken town, both feeling nervous of what they will find when they get the there.
The boys walk up to the once beautiful entrance to Dearthwood, on their first glance they see the Dearthwood signpost, which is covered in a red substance that is slowly dripping onto the ground.
The sight becomes even grimmer as the boys enter the town. Houses are almost demolished; signposts lay broken on the ground and as the boys turn the corner towards Blackwood Academy, their hearts are broken as they gaze upon the school, which now is just a pile of ash.
Further down the road, the boys come across something they feared more than anything, bodies lay motionless on ground. Some are covered in blood and others have been ripped apart.
"Who could have done this?" Daren asks, trying to hold back his tears.
The boys turn and take a long look at the town, they try to remember it as it was before, but the grim scene only fills their minds with death and destruction.
Ben looks at Daren, both are now almost crying.
"I wonder if it is just this place that has been destroyed. We need to go back to our town." Ben says.
Daren nods his head, "I agree."
Daren and Ben exit Dearthwood Manor and make their way down the long twisty road back to their hometown, not knowing of what they will see when they get there.
Daren and Ben arrive at their hometown, a place called Oakwood. But their worries are soon confirmed as they enter through the gates and stumble upon more destruction.
This is too much for the boys to handle and they begin to cry. Bodies of people they once knew are scattered around the town square, dead and mangled.
Neither of the boys have time to look at the bodies as a scream sounds from one of the building in the distance. The boys run towards the scream, taking quick glances at their own homes, which are now scattered and burning.
Daren and Ben come to a stop and look around for where the scream may have come from, but it is not long before another scream sounds. They look sharply around and look upon the house of their friend James Cross.
The front door to the house bursts open and reveals a tall terrified boy. The boy runs up to Daren and Ben, gasping for breath. His face looks tired; his crystal blue eyes are almost hidden by his long wavy hair.
"James? What's wrong, other than the obvious?" Ben asks.
James looks at Ben and Daren as if they should be dead.
"How are you two still alive?" James asks.
Ben and Daren both look confused.
"What do you mean?" Daren asks.
"I thought everyone was dead." James says.
All three of the boys look at each other. Then James speaks.
"My Mum and Dad... They are gone."
"You mean dead?" asks Ben.
"I don't know, but they are not here." James says.
Time passes as the boys sit on James's almost standing wall. The sky begins to darken as the night draws closer, the wind begins to get rough and rain starts to shower down on them.
"What do we do now then?" Daren says, looking up at the sky.
"I guess we should find some shelter for the night." Ben replies.
With that, Daren, Ben and James climb off the wall and search for shelter.
The boys search for no more than an hour and finally chance upon house that is still left standing. Once inside, the boys sit on some moth eaten armchairs and discuss the plans for the next day.
"First thing we should do tomorrow is go back to the pond, because I think that is where all this started." Daren says.
Ben and James nod and agree.
After a few more hours, the boys fall asleep, not knowing that in just a few hours time, one of their lives would end.
A loud bang wakes the boys; they all sit upright and study their surroundings. Nothing seems to have fallen over, but something went bang.
Daren gets up and walks over to the window and looks out. He spots something moving really fast through the rain.
"There is something out there." Daren says.
A flash of lightning, lights up the sky, just for a second. This is enough time for Daren to see which way the figure is heading.
"Whatever it was, it is heading for Dearthwood. I think we should follow it." Daren says.
Daren, Ben and James exit the house and head out into the storm.
Soon they reach the outskirts of Dearthwood; the entire manor is in darkness. They advance into the town. There is however no sign of whatever was in Oakwood.
"Right, lets split up." Daren says.
The three boys go off in different directions to search for the figure.
Daren makes his way up to ruined Blackwood Academy, the stench of burning flesh fills his nostrils. As he walks up to the gates surrounding the school, he notices something out of the corner of his eye. Daren turns sharply on the spot, making sure not to miss whatever he saw. His eyes land on an old crumbling house, the walls look like could collapse any second. But the strange thing that Daren notices, is a blue light coming from one of the top floor rooms.
Daren, curious about the light coming from the room, advances towards the front door of the house, he grasps the handle of the door, slowly pushes it down and opens the door. But as he advances into the house, a creak sounds behind him. Daren swings round, but before he can see anything, something hard hits him on the head. Daren lets out a ear peircing cry and then darkness engulfs him...
A few minutes earlier, Ben makes his way towards a row of shops, but is cut short by a scream. He looks round to see James running towards him.
"James? Whats wrong?" asks Ben.
"Sorry, thought I saw something run past me." James says.
"Maybe we should stay together." Ben decides.
Ben and James stand on the spot for a moment. Unsure of what to do next, but suddenly a loud cry sounds.
"Did that sound like Daren to you?" asks James.
"Yeah." replies Ben.
Ben and James run towards the direction Daren went and come across the house with the blue light coming from it.
They notice that the front door is open a fraction, they walk up to the front door and push it open.
"I don't like the look of this place." says James.
"Nor do I, but if Daren is in here and hurt, then we need to help him." Ben says.
They enter into the hallway and have to hold their breath as the stench is to much to handle. James and Ben both make their way to the bottom of the stairs, a luminious blue light flashes slowly and lights up the landing, but the boys are unable to see what is casting the light.
James and Ben begin to advance up the stairs, but stop as an engine type sound occurs. The sound becomes loud for a few moments, then becomes quiter and then stops, along with the blue flashing light.
"What was that?" James asks nervously.
Ben shakes his head, "I don't know."
They reach the top of the stairs and look around. But there is no sign of Daren.
Ben goes over to one of the windows and looks out, "Looks like the storm is getting worse." he says.
Suddenly, the floor begins to tremble and collapse. Walls start to crumble around James and Ben and one wall starts to fall on to Ben, but James is quick to react and runs and pushes Ben out of the way, but gets hit by the wall himself.
Ben, after being pushed out of the way, gets up from the ground and looks over at James, who is gasping for breath. A part of the wall has fallen on top of him.
Ben runs over to James and tries to move the chunk of wall off of him, but it does not budge.
"Just leave me Ben." says James, forcing the words out.
"I can't just leave you, your one of my best mates." Ben says, holding back the tears.
Ben tries to move the broken bit of wall again, but with no luck. At this point, Ben begins to cry in anger and knowing that he cannot help James. Ben sits down next to James, who is struggling with his last bit of breath.
"Please j... just go, I... I dont.. want you to be here when I..." James gasps.
"James, I'm staying with you till the end. Thats what friends do. I just don't want you to go." Ben crys. "Just relax James, I love you mate."
A few moments pass and James takes his last breath and then silence.
Ben stays sitting for a few minutes and then stands up. He takes a look at the lifeless James, who now is no longer in any pain. Ben leans over and places his hand on James's eyes and closes them.
"Rest in peace mate." Ben says with a tear drop slowly rolling down one side of his face.
To Be Continied...