XVI
Out of hand

The Island
Jack Gruntler's residence

The Doctor is first to get back onto his feet and run outside. He is very quickly followed by Aaron and then Rose. The Doctor stops at the road and looks directly up at the sky above him. Rose stands close to his side and also looks upwards.

The sky is still covered over with grey clouds, yet there is a slow moving shadow looming through the misty air.

"Jack!" The Doctor shouts and Jack Gruntler eventually steps out of the house with Joseph. Soon everyone comes out and joins the Doctor and Rose as they watch the new alien spaceship arrive to the Island.

The ship floats in the air like a large, black teardrop. It hangs in its oval shape, however the black exterior of the ship is so dense it is almost like looking into a black hole – like you are being sucked into it.

The ship hums as it glides effortlessly through the sky, creating shadows over the houses as it passes.

There is a silence around the Island, except from the humming of the ship. Everyone's attention is being drawn up to the large, black spaceship in the air.

Rose takes hold of the Doctor's hand, recognising the signs of his anger and nervous nature. She can just tell what he is possibly thinking just from the way his breaths are short and sharp. Neither the Doctor nor Rose has seen this spaceship on their travels before. And right now, Rose does not know what is more frightening: meeting past enemies, or meeting new ones.

The hum of the spaceship is low and rings deeply inside everyone's ears as it glides directly over Jack Gruntler's house. They can feel the ground beneath their feet tremble, but they remain silent as the ship continues to swiftly move further away.

The ship seems to be heading towards the hills of Ebernie.

The Doctor's attention is immediately drawn away from the spaceship when havoc starts to erupt on the streets. And he already knows that this is completely out of his hands.

Aaron clears his throat. "I suppose this is the last thing the Major would want." He mocks as he stares at the havoc in the neighbourhood: people screaming and running.

"It is the last thing any of us need," Jack snaps. "All of you, inside NOW!"

From the sharp tone to Jack's voice, everyone does exactly what he says and scuttles back into the house. Jack slams the front door behind him and ushers everyone back into the living room.

"Right, this has gone far enough." Jack hisses under his breath.

"I bet Rodger Barratt is getting himself in a right old state about this." Alic says.

"That is beside the point, Grange," Jack snaps. "There is a spaceship making its way towards Heat Miles and no less that ninety-nine per cent of the population here on this Island will have seen it. And you can hear the disruption and mayhem it is already causing on this Island," Jack momentarily closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. "This was not how the battle was going to turn out."

"How was is supposed to turn out then?" Aaron angrily presses on.

"The visitors were supposed to show up for the Battle without the whole Island knowing. The prophecy always said that the Battle would remain on the Day of Destruction. Not before."

"So our prophecy is changing." Max states flatly as he nods his head slowly.

"It's adapting. And because the visitors are making their appearance now, it means that this battle is already starting."

The Doctor frowns. "I am lost here. The Battle of the Cytracik started over eight years ago. You said that this Battle never ended, it's still happening."

"Do you ever listen to me?" Jack shouts. "The Battle will be happening for as long as that Cytracik still exists! There are battles within battles. It started when the Daleks got involved eight years ago. The Battle continues but will adapt for the twins prophecy to be fulfilled. But if the Daleks are the next to open the Cytracik then there will be another prophecy about them to lead to the next battle. How many times to I have to explain myself?"

There is a moment of silence as everyone stares at Jack, never having seen him this angry before.

"Is our prophecy to be fulfilled or are we to stop it?" April asks quietly.

"You are to stop it." The Doctor replies.

"Fantastic," April replies sarcastically. "You let me go and sort this out myself and yet I still don't know what it is I'm stopping. We're here to destroy the Cytracik," she looks at the Doctor. "You're here because my father asked you to look after me because he knew that Max was taken back in time. You talk about my prophecy all the time but you've never actually said much about it other than it's there to kill us. The prophecy gave Max his illness to kill him off. And it gave me this nightmare so I'm supposed to be killed off by the Daleks or something."

The Doctor and Jack exchange glances and Jack nods.

"April..." The Doctor starts but then stops instantly when Martha's mobile phone rings.

Everyone watches Martha as she picks up her phone and answers it. They can see the look on her face drop as she speaks to the other person down the other end of the line.

"Okay I'll be right there," she says and then she turns to Aaron. "That was Will. One of the volunteers has just been attacked by the new aliens."

Without further ado, Martha and Aaron run out of the house.

"Terry come with me." The Doctor orders and runs after them. Terry does the same and disappears through the doorway.

April hesitates for a moment before she looks at her brother and then to Joseph.

Joseph looks down his nose at her and then nods. "Maxwell will be needed."

Then Max and April runs out the door.

Sarah-Jane sighs. "Who's up for finding a way into the Heat Miles base?"


The screams echo around the barn. It is nightfall. His screams could be heard anywhere.

Orion carries a screaming and bloodied Joshua over his shoulders, rushing him to the nearest bench in the barn. Will quickly ends his call to Martha and looks out to the dark field around the barn. Seconds later Martha appears.

"Where is he?" She asks. Will points to Joshua on the table and she rushes over to him.

Then unexpectedly Aaron appears out of nowhere and stops abruptly when he sees his son. For a moment they both look a little lost as they just stare at each other. But then Aaron glances down to Will's bloody neck.

"Get yourself cleaned up." Aaron grumbles before joining the others around the table.

Will quickly holds his hand to the side of his neck and notices for the first time the gash oozing blood. He turns into the spare room at the back of the barn to clean himself up just as the Doctor and Terry appears.

Joshua, now lying flat on his back on the table, whimpers as Martha gently prieses open one of his eyes and shines a small torch.

"You're going to be okay, Josh," Martha says softly. "Just keep looking into the light for me."

"I don't want to die." Joshua cries.

"We're not going to let that happen," Martha says, ignoring the large gash in his stomach Orion is trying his best to put pressure on to stop the bleeding. "Can you tell me what happened?" Martha then examines the scars all over his battered body.

"We were on our way to the arena they've built on this Island," Billie says. "But on the way we were attacked by these invisible creatures. We only saw them in reflections but they looked like fur-less monkeys. Joshua got it bad."

"I can see that. Pass me my tools."

Joshua screams in agony and Martha starts to work on him. And that's when April and Max show up. Max immediately goes over to his table and starts to make his own analysis.

The volunteers around them all exchange glances warily, but recognising the twins they say nothing.

Martha and Max work together as a team to try and keep Joshua alive as he continues to scream out in agony. April hangs back and observes the scene. But all she can see is the kitchen to Ireen's and Harry Summerland's house, and Will lying naked on the table after being attacked by a Cyberman three years previously.

But that is not the real scene in front of her, Instead she is in a large barn. It is dark outside and there are a handful of people here she briefly remembers seeing on the stage at Rodger Barratt's party last night. A young man she does not know screams out in a razor blade agony that he doesn't want to die. A very large black man tries to hold him down as Martha and Max work on him.

To one side the Doctor and Terry whisper amongst each other. Terry taps away at her handheld device, probably trying to figure out what happened. Ellis goes over to a young man, a little older than Joshua, who looks unnaturally pale. Ellis walks him over to a seat before he feints. Aaron stands at the head of the table, looking down at Joshua and trying to speak to him. But Joshua only screams.

And that is when Will storms back into the barn. He holds a thick bandage to his neck, the blood still seeping through.

April's heart leaps up into her throat as she stands there motionless, staring at the man she fell in love with. The man she wanted to be with and love for the rest of her life, but she backed away. The man who now looks so different. Will is still as tall and muscular as he used to be, if not more, but his blond hair is no longer short and perfectly trimmed. Instead it is long and falls into his blue eyes in perfect ringlets.

The noise in the barn is loud, April cannot distinguish one voice from another as she slowly makes her way towards the table. But just from the way Joshua's screams are getting weaker and weaker, they all know that he is about to die.

"Joshua stay with us!" Martha shouts and she does her best to clean his wound on his stomach but his eyes slowly flutter.

Orion holds his head firmly in his large hands. "Come on, Joshua, hang in there. Josh!"

But then Joshua lets out his final breath.