Defender of the Earth

By Lumendea

Chapter Twelve: Empty Earth: Silence on Earth

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

…..

Rose's alarm clock went off at eight, telling the teenager that it was time to face the sunny Sunday morning. She tossed off her turquoise duvet back and sat up in her bed. Rose pushed her long blonde wavy hair out of her face and looked over at the clock despite knowing exactly what the time should read. She stretched and grabbed her dressing gown before she headed across the hall to shower.

Rose had flipped on a CD as soon as she got out of the shower and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a smiling sun on it that read 'a day without fusion is a day without sunshine' that Rose had spent over an hour trying to explain to her Mum when she bought it last month to replace her destroyed periodic table t-shirt. She was certain that at some point her mother would just give up fighting Rose's science and math t-shirt obsession, but for now, it was a fun game between them. Rose just liked standing out in the sea of hoodies and standard t-shirts with something different, but Jackie had a preferred look that her daughter just didn't match up to.

"Mum," Rose called as she switched off her music and walked into the hallway. "What do you want for breakfast?"

Rose paused in the hall when her mother did not reply, everything was quiet in the flat, absolutely quiet. She called for her mother again and knocked on the bedroom door. After a moment she opened it, but her mother wasn't in her room. It only took Rose twenty seconds to check the entire flat with no sign of Jackie or a note. Grabbing her phone, Rose hit the speed dial for her mother's mobile and waited. Rose's phone beeped and she gasped as the message no signal flashed on the screen.

Then she heard it or more correctly didn't hear it. The Powell Estate was not the quietest place in London. First thing the morning you could hear the baby three doors down crying, the couple downstairs having another argument and kids running about. Right now Rose could not hear anything like that. She could hear the building creaking silently and the wind outside, but she didn't hear a single voice. Rose threw open the flat door and stepped out onto the landing, her eyes scanning the courtyard and the other buildings. There was no one and no movement that she could see.

"Hello!" Rose shouted. "Is anyone here?"

There was nothing and Rose darted to the next door. She pounded on it, crying out for the Jackson family to answer her. Rose moved on and found an open door. She darted inside the flat and noted the half-eaten breakfast on the table of the Brown family, the toys of their son on the floor and the total lack of any sign of a person. Running back outside, Rose shouted again and stood in shock as the silence around her became almost deafening.

She ran to Shareen's flat and pounded on the door, hoping that maybe her friend was still around, but she was only met with silence. Rose returned back to her flat, shouted for her mother one last time as turned on the telly. She frowned as only static appeared as she flipped through the channels. Absolutely nothing was getting through on the channels. Rose picked up her mother's landline phone and called 999, but got nothing. Hanging up, Rose tried to call the European 112 which was supposed to stay up no matter what, but again nothing.

She returned to her room and pulled out her laptop and plugged in her internet cable. Rose bit her lip nervously as she failed to connect to the internet. She hit the emergency button that connected to Malcolm via UNIT satellite, but even that failed to connect. Rose slumped back in her desk chair and forced herself to take in a deep breath.

"Please don't let me be the only one," Rose whispered softly as she looked up at the pictures of her family and friends.

She sat there only for a moment before she grabbed her canvas bag, her multitool, her laptop and after a moment she pulled out the leather journal the Doctor had given her and added it to her bag. From the kitchen, Rose grabbed a water bottle and a few packaged snacks which she added to her shoulder bag. Rose picked up her keys and took one last quick look around the flat before she stepped outside and locked the door. She tied her jacket around her waist and adjusted her bag as she walked down the stairs and headed for the street.

The silence was everywhere and Rose could not hear anything related to another human being. She could hear the wind blowing through the empty streets and birds chirping, but no people. Walking down the centre of the road, Rose frowned as she realised the absence of crashed cars. The middle of the street was empty and the only cars she could see were parked on the side of the road. She glanced up at the sky, searching for any sign of an airplane, but saw nothing. A sudden crash made Rose spin hopefully, but she sighed as a dog rushed past her barking.

"Animals are still here then," Rose muttered.

She waited for her heart to stop pounding and listened for anything else moving. A few blocks down Rose reached her target, a large parking garage that was higher than her home building. In the utter silence, Rose slowly walked up all the flights of stairs, not trusting the elevator right now. Once she reached the top level, Rose walked over the edge and looked out as far as she could see.

There was nothing, she could see for miles and there was no sign of any movement anywhere. She couldn't hear any cars, see any planes or hear anything except the wind. Rose had, of course, heard the joke that London closed down on Sundays, but this was beyond normal. She pulled out her phone again hoping that maybe she could get a signal here, even if she did doubt it. Rose snapped the phone shut when no signal appeared again.

"Okay," Rose said to herself. "One: It is not an evacuation. We would have been notified and Mum wouldn't have left me behind, plus there's no way they could evacuate London so fast." Rose took another breath, "Two: electricity is still working for now, but communication signals are not. Three: No moving vehicles." Rose bit her lip as she looked down at the roads. "If everyone vanished all at once then cars and planes should be crashed… unless whatever took them took the moving vehicles too." Rose sighed, "And the conclusion is aliens."

Rose reached up and rubbed the protective pendant the Doctor had given her for a moment before she glanced down at her ring. "I hope you're planning on showing up soon. This is beyond freaky." Rose stood up on the roof for a few more minutes, staring at the familiar, but now alien city of London. "Right then," Rose muttered. "Maybe there is someone else out there."

She just kept walking towards central London, Rose did not really have a destination in mind, but she wasn't willing to stand still. The silence was unlike anything she had ever lived with. Her whole life had been lived in Peckham where there were always people moving and the background noise of London had just been a fact of life. Seeing the huge city so silent and empty was shaking her much more than she would ever admit in the future.

Rose had been walking for over two hours when she suddenly heard a series of loud noises like doors being slammed. She stopped and looked around frantically as the sound of footfalls came neared. Then a young man, maybe a year or two older than her came running around the corner. He has dark brown hair and very cute, neither of which Rose noted at the moment. The young man and Rose stared at each other in shock for a moment before Rose grinned and rushed towards him. He scooped her up in a tight hug, spinning her around for a moment as they laughed. After a moment he set her down and stepped back as his face flushed.

"I'm sorry, I mean," he said.

"Don't worry," Rose told him. "I know." Grinning at him, Rose held out her hand, "I'm Rose Tyler."

The young man chuckled and took her hand in a warm handshake. "I'm Gavin Alexander and it was wonderful to meet you."

"Have you seen anyone else?" Rose asked.

"No," Gavin said. "You're the first person I've seen since six this morning." Gavin shook his head, "I was just on my way to the library when suddenly there was this weird flash and everyone around me was gone."

"You saw it happen then?" Rose asked with wide eyes. "They just vanished."

"Yeah," Gavin said. "All the moving cars vanished too."

"I'd noticed that," Rose told him. "That could be either good or bad."

"What do you mean?" Gavin asked.

"Well, it means that whatever took everyone didn't want to hurt anything," Rose said with a shrug as she looked around. "That could mean keeping everything in order for when they return everyone or it could be they want the cities in order to move in."

"You're talking about aliens," Gavin gaped at her. "You're actually suggesting aliens."

"The whole planet has been emptied," Rose snapped. "I think aliens is the rational conclusion."

"We don't know that this is global," Gavin said. "It might just be London."

"You said everyone vanished at six this morning," Rose said as she looked at her watch. "It's after ten now. If the rest of the world was still out there they would know about it and be investigating by now. There'd be jets overhead doing scans and satellite connections would still be working. London is not a city that can just go silent and not put the rest of the world on alert." Rose sighed, "Therefore I can only conclude that it is the whole world."

"I see your point," Gavin sighed as he looked around. "Then why are we still here?"

"I don't know," Rose said. She glanced around at the restaurants "Let's get something to eat. I think better when I'm not starving."

"Good idea," Gavin agreed as they started walking over to the nearest deli. "I'm glad you're here even if you did start talking about aliens as soon as we met." He told her with a smile, "I was sure I was going mad."

"Yeah," Rose said with a giggle. "Now we can go mad with company."

Rose smiled when Gavin held the door for her as they stepped into the small empty place. Spotting an empty table, Rose went over and set her things down. Gavin had walked back into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later.

"I put a kettle on." He glanced around at the food on the tables, "This lot has been here for a few hours so give me a bit and I'll cook up something new." Gavin pulled out his wallet and took out a twenty-pound note. "Do you think a twenty will cover it?"

Rose grinned at him, "Well, I'm pleased that at least I'm left on Earth with a gentleman and apparently one who can cook."

Gavin blushed a little and shrugged as he looked around, "Seems a bit early to start assuming that they'll never return."

"Yeah," Rose agreed and stood back up. "I'll give you hand in the kitchen. I don't fancy waiting out here alone."

"Right, of course," Gavin said as they headed back into the kitchen.

They worked in silence for a few minutes as Rose chopped up a few things for Gavin to toss into their eggs. It was simple, but neither was too interested in being elaborate right now.

"I'm a bit surprised that the electricity is still on," Gavin said after a moment.

"It holds with the whole not wanting to damage anything," Rose said. "They might be maintaining power to keep things functioning normally."

"You're very comfortable with the idea of aliens," Gavin observed.

"I've met aliens before," Rose held up a hand to stop Gavin's question. "I'll tell you later more about it when we eat." Rose paused, "The thing is if this was done by aliens where are they?"