Chapter Ten
The Doctor, Rory and the remaining Beatles stepped outside the studio. They had spent nearly a half hour drinking tea and chatting before John, George and Ringo finally decided to go home. When they got outside, they looked around for Amy and Paul and didn't see them.
"Musta already went home," John said. "He's been tired lately. He needs to rest, the poor bugger."
"Amy went with him, wanted to take a walk," the Doctor said. "If they left a half hour ago, she's probably back at our hotel now waiting for us."
"Well, can't keep her waiting. We'll see you day after tomorrow then?" John said.
The Doctor nodded. Everyone said their goodbyes and the Doctor and Rory waited until the Beatles had climbed into John's car and sped off before they walked towards the TARDIS.
Meanwhile, Paul groaned as he lay sprawled out on the roof of his car. He was in severe pain; especially his left side and he could taste blood in his mouth from where he had bit his tongue. He lifted his head and looked around groggily.
"Amy?" he said.
He saw her lying nearby. His heart nearly stopped when he noticed she wasn't moving. He tried to shift his legs around towards the back of the car and move towards her but the pain in his side was unbearable and he stopped himself.
"Amy? Amy, are you…awake?"
To his relief, he heard Amy let out a groan. He gritted his teeth as he tried to move towards her but his side hurt so badly, he couldn't do it.
"Damn, I think I cracked some ribs," he said, putting his hand on his left side. "At least I hope they're just cracked. Amy, can you move? Are you hurt badly?"
"I think I can move," Amy muttered as she slowly lifted her head. "I hurt all over."
"So do I. I think I cracked some ribs and I bit my tongue and my head hurts but other than that, I think I'm alright. I'm alive at least."
Amy turned her head to look at him and he winced when he saw a cut on the right side of her forehead. Dried blood trickled down the right side of her face and there was some bruising on her face and arms but to his relief, she looked relatively unharmed. He was so concerned for her safety that it took him a moment to remember the men in the car and he jerked his head around when he saw movement outside the car and saw two pairs of legs come up to the driver side window. The door was wrenched open and Mister Brown knelt down and smiled at him.
"Hello, Baby Face, have a little accident?" he said sweetly.
"Fuck you," Paul said.
"Nah, you're not my type," Brown said as Jones sniggered and squatted down beside him.
Paul turned his head when the other door was wrenched open and Mister Johnson squatted down and peered inside. Paul shot him a warning look when he saw him leering at Amy and reaching out to touch her legs. He was about to say something when suddenly Brown grabbed hold of his legs. Before he could do anything, Brown started jerking him out of the car and he let out a yell of agony as he was dragged out on his stomach.
"Paul!" Amy yelled as she watched him being pulled out his door.
She gasped when Mister Johnson grabbed her legs and did the same thing. She gritted her teeth, fighting the pain as he pulled her out. Once she was out of the car, Johnson turned her onto her back and for one heartstopping moment she thought he was going to rape her.
"Bring her over here, put her near Pretty Boy," Brown said to him.
Amy winced when Johnson gathered her into his arms. As they went around the car, she could see Paul sprawled out on his stomach between Brown and Jones. Her heart nearly stopped again when she noticed Jones had a knife in his hand, a knife with a blade that looked like it was nearly a foot long. On the end of the handle, Amy saw a carved demon's head. She gasped when Johnson dropped her onto her back a couple of feet from Paul. She looked at him and he gave her a brave smile as he watched her. Amy stared at the blade of the sword-like knife and looked at Jones.
"What are you going to do to us?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, we didn't reckon on you being here tonight but I s'pose the short answer is you and Baby Face here are about to lose your heads."
"No," Paul said, turning his head to look at him. "Let her go, please. Don't kill her."
"How noble," Brown said. "But you see, she's a witness and witnesses are bad. We can't have her telling everyone about us and what we did to you. See, we always planned to have you die in a car crash; make it look like an accident. Except you didn't die so we'll have to finish the job. Luckily we planned ahead and not only have this huge sacrificial knife but also two cans of petrol. So Paulie boy, you and the bird there are gonna be tragic victims of a fiery car crash where you both ended up being decapitated. So sad, but on the plus side, you won't be missed. In fact, no one will even know you're gone."
"What do you mean by that?" Paul said.
Amy swallowed hard, knowing exactly what he meant but Brown chuckled gleefully.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Baby Face. You won't be around to see what happens next," he said. "Now be a good boy, accept your fate and lie still and if you don't move it'll be a quick and painless death."
Amy knew she had to think fast before Paul's head was severed from his body. She raised her head fighting back a wave of nausea while Jones came forward and Brown put his foot on Paul's back.
"No, wait! Please don't do this!" Amy begged.
"Shut up, duckie. We'll make this quick and then it'll be your turn," Brown said to her.
"No. Please let him live. Let us both live. We're more valuable to you alive than dead," she implored.
That gave Jones pause. He stared down at Paul while Amy silently prayed he'd listen to her.
"We can't. We can't leave him alive. The master said he had to die," Brown said.
"But, that bird is correct; he could be valuable to us as a slave. Both of em. There's no reason why we can't have the master brainwash them, possibly work on their faces and make them unrecognizable so they'll become servants. Serve Mister Rock and Roll Star right if he went from being the most adored person on the planet to a lowly slave emptying chamber pots and waiting on us hand and foot. Perhaps we should spare their lives, at least for now. Once the plan is in place, no one will search for him and as for her…well, people go missing every year, don't they?"
Johnson came up beside them.
"But…he's supposed to lose his head and die in a car crash, how can that happen if we keep him alive?" he said to them as he pointed to Paul.
Jones considered that for a moment and then smirked as he looked at Brown.
"C'mere, need a meeting with ya," he said.
Johnson started to follow them when they walked away but Jones glared at him and pointed at Paul.
"Not you! Guard them!" he said.
Johnson nodded and stood near Paul while Jones and Brown walked for about ten feet, stopped and leaned in while Jones began whispering.
"I don't agree with this, you should die," Johnson said to Paul.
Paul smirked at him.
"Well, apparently that's not your decision to make, is it?" he said.
Johnson balled up his fist and Amy flinched, thinking he was gonna beat the crap outta Paul for that remark but instead he hesitated and looked back at Brown and Jones.
"See, you can't do anything unless your mates give you approval," Paul said to him. "You're as much a captive as we are."
Amy winced when Johnson smacked his face hard.
"I'm not as much of a captive as you are, Pretty Boy!" he snarled at him.
Amy's mind filled with rage when he spat on his cheek and kicked his arm before he straightened back up. He looked behind him when Jones and Brown finally got done with their meeting and walked back towards him.
"You gonna kill em now?" he said to them.
They didn't say anything. Amy gasped when they rolled Paul onto his back and grabbed him under the shoulders and grabbed his legs. She watched while they carried him over to the hill and laid him on his back on the side of it. Then they walked over to Amy and did the same thing, laying her beside Paul. Then they walked back to Johnson.
"Why did you do that? Are you gonna kill em?" Johnson asked.
"No, we have a new sacrifice in mind," Brown said.
Johnson managed to ask who before they grabbed him and forced him to his knees. Brown put his knee on Johnson's back and leaned all his weight on him when Johnson tried to get up. Johnson looked up in horror when Jones came up beside him and grabbed the handle of the sacrificial knife with both hands while he prepared to decapitate him.
"No, you can't do this!" Johnson said as Paul and Amy looked on in silent horror.
"We must have a sacrifice and I'm sorry but we're higher up on the totem pole than you, chappie," Brown said as Jones raised the knife over his head.
"Amy, don't look, close your eyes," Paul said when he saw Jones tense his muscles while he prepared to bring the knife down on Johnson's neck.
Amy shut her eyes and felt Paul's hand on her head. She heard Johnson scream in terror and then the scream abruptly ended. She opened her eyes and swallowed hard when she saw Johnson's head a foot away from his headless body. The body was now on its side and Jones was wiping the blood off of the blade on his t-shirt. They watched while Jones and Brown put first the body and then the head inside the car. Then Jones went to get the cans of petrol from the car while Brown walked over to Paul and Amy with a huge smirk on his face.
"Why are you doing this?" Paul asked as Brown sighed and lowered himself to his knees beside Paul.
"If you're going to be alive for the time being I believe I will let our master explain the entire plan to you. See, if you and your friends had just agreed to cooperate with us, none of this would have happened. But you chose to be difficult and here we are."
Paul stiffened when Brown began to stroke his hair.
"I told you we always planned for this to happen. Well, happen to one of you anyway. We made our choice just recently and you came up the lucky lottery winner. Now, poor Mister Johnson will be taking your place but sometimes one must make sacrifices, yes?"
He chuckled when both Paul and Amy glared at him.
"However, we need to make sure that they think it is you so I'm afraid you'll have to make a contribution to this accident."
Amy flinched as visions of them cutting off Paul's finger or hand floated through her mind. She watched while Brown came in close to Paul.
"You do know we've been busy writing songs for you lot, right? Well, we wrote a special song for your bereaved friends to sing about their tragic loss."
"I thought you said they'd never know I was gone," Paul said.
Brown laughed.
"Oh, they'll know all right but the public won't know you're gone."
"What's that s'posed to mean?" Paul said.
"It means they're gonna replace you, Paul, with a double that looks like you."
Both Paul and Brown looked at her in shock. Brown narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know that?" Brown said.
"I guessed," Amy said, trying to sound convincing.
Brown scrutinized her face and she tried to keep passive while he was doing it. Brown snorted and looked at Paul.
"Don't know how she knows that, s'pose she's a really good guesser but yes, she's right. You're about to be replaced by a double who will do everything we say."
"And you think my mates will go along with that?" Paul said.
"They will if they don't want to end up headless in three separate car accidents. Not to mention your precious Jane, her family, your family and everyone who's associated with you. After they learn what happened to you…or rather what they think happened to you, they'll cooperate or they'll die."
He chuckled at the look of horror on Paul's face.
"Naïve fool. You had no idea that almost for as long as you've been the Beatles; you've been watched by people who had plans of their own for you. We have uses for your band and it won't be standing in front of screaming crowds while you sing Michelle, my belle and look cute. Your band has a greater part to play in the scheme of things."
"And these songs you kept trying to dump on us is a part of it?" Paul asked.
"Yeah. Part of it, there's more to it than that but that's one of the things your mates will be required to do with your double."
He chuckled and stroked Paul's hair.
"Now as I was saying, a song we wrote for the Beatles to sing in their grief. One line goes like this…"
He leaned over and began to sing to Paul.
"I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair. You were in a car crash and you lost your…HAIR!"
He grabbed the fringe on Paul's hair and for one terrifying moment, Amy thought he was gonna jerk his hair and cause him pain. But to her surprise, Paul's hair came off in his hand and she stared at his real, finer hair underneath. Brown dangled the hairpiece in front of Paul's eyes.
"Tsk, tsk your hair flew off your head in the crash, how embarrassing. Vanity is a sin, Paulie boy. But then again, I can see why you had to cover up the fact that you were going bald at an early age. I s'pose it runs in your family, eh? Ah well, this is joining the corpse in the car."
He looked at Jones who was standing by the car and threw him the hairpiece.
"Add this to the pile," he said to Jones.
"With pleasure," Jones said, catching it and putting it in the car beside Johnson's head.
Brown feigned sadness as he looked back at Paul.
"Don't worry, where you're going, no one will give a shit about that bald spot on the back of your head. In fact, no one will give a shit about you, full stop."
"You're not gonna get away with this. Someone will figure it out and come to find us," Paul said.
"Yeah? Well, if they don't wanna end up in a flaming car with no head, I would advise against it and I would advise against you and the bird trying to escape. I'm an expert at torture and I can make you both scream for hours on end, maybe even days before I finally let you die. Just remember that."
He smirked while Jones started pouring petrol on top and inside the car, making sure to put a generous amount on Johnson's corpse.
"By the way, you're probably wondering how we found you so fast. We put a little tracking device under your car when you weren't looking. Again, how naive of you to live somewhere that wasn't secure and letting everyone know where you were at. Not a good idea, my little fool on the hill."
He giggled at that while Paul and Amy glared at him. He began to sing again.
"Day after day, alone on the hill, the man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still," he warbled as his captives glared at him.
He stood up when Jones finished pouring the petrol over and inside the car. He reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out a box of matches and lit one. He held it up for a second while Paul and Amy watched the flickering flame.
"Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him," Brown said before he threw the match on top of the car.
The petrol ignited the moment the match landed on it. Brown walked over, lit another and threw it on Johnson's body. It ignited and Brown lit three more matches, throwing them on top and in the car while Jones carried the petrol cans back to the car. The car became an inferno while Brown pocketed the matches and walked back over to his captives, whistling cheerfully.
"Sorry about your Aston Martin," Brown said to Paul. "Lovely car but you won't be needing a car anymore where you're going. Now…as much as I'd like to stay and watch your car burn, we need to get going. I'm sure someone will see the flames now and it'll look awkward if you're s'posed to be inside your car and you and your friend are lying here on the hill watching it. So…friendly warning, no tricks, no resistance or you and her will have your arms and legs broken. Jonesy, get the rope out of the boot and make room for two passengers in there. Now that we've finished our work here, we're all going for a little drive."