XXI
The first trigger
The Island
The Woods
3 days and 8 hours earlier
1600 hours
The fire starts at the top of one tree, burning its leaves, before rapidly spreading downwards and across to the neighbouring trees. For a split moment, April is thankful that it is not a bomb she has set off, as she and Jason stand there staring at the spreading fire, almost stunned as to what to do.
Both April and Jason remain rooted to the spot, seeming somewhat stunned at the sight of all this fire. They know that the most sensible thing will be to do is to run away from the scene and hope that the fire will only spread so far in the woods. But another thought lingers in both their minds. They have just set off a trap that is meant to be used for the Day of Destruction. They have definitely raised the flag in letting Heat Miles know that they are here.
However it isn't until one of the chasers emerges from the trees that makes April and Jason desperately run away. Especially now that the fire is only getting worse and stronger. The chaser is then followed by a few others who are panicked by the fire. But the one who Jason felt rather suspicious of, looks more concerned about April and Jason rather than the fire that is spreading rapidly.
Jason pushes April and they start to run at a panic, trying to get as far away from the fire. April tries not to think too much about the amount of times she has been running from something these past twenty-four hours, as she attempts to not trip over any of the roots.
The fire, however, seems to spread faster, the heat hot on their tails. Soon enough screams can be heard not far behind as chasers get caught in the fire.
April dares to turn back to see the manic fire burning down the trees. The smoke is so heavy her eyes start to water. And despite this being man-made fire, the burning sensation in her throat seems ever so real.
Jason starts to splutter with coughs as the thick, black smoke catches up with them. April does her best to push Jason forward, knowing that they have to get away from this scene as quickly as possible. If anything – she refuses to have anything made from Heat Miles be the death of her.
April and Jason start to become ever so weak the more they inhale the smoke which has now completely overcome them. They both try their best to help each other, but their mouths are parched. April takes one last glance backwards and instantly sees one last chaser appear from the smoke. He limps; his right leg badly burnt, but he holds something sharp and heavy in his hand.
April, suddenly afraid of this chaser, uses all her might she has left to push Jason forward, desperate to get away from the chaser. However, she shoves him harder than she expected. Jason's knees buckle under his weight as he falls. He disappears in the smoke beneath her and there is a horrible crack of a bone breaking as Jason hits the ground. Jason cries out in agony just as April's knees also give in. She falls heavily onto the ground just as the fire catches up with the last chaser. His shattering screams rings in April's ears as he is engulfed by the flames.
Hearing Jason's painful cries next to her, April rolls onto her back and takes her hand in his, who is shaking vigorously. Then she looks through the black smoke at the fire in the near distance, licking the trees only meters away from them. She has to get up, she has to help Jason to move on, but she is too weak to move. Instead she remains lying there watching the flames.
The minutes that pass seem like hours to both April and Jason as they lay there. They expect the heat to become increasingly worse as the fire comes closer.
But it never does.
The fire continues to burn where the last chaser was. But eventually the flames die down. And before they know it, the flames have completely evaporated, only leaving scorch marks all over the trees and the leaves underneath them.
April looks at the black, charcoaled area in the woods where the fire was only seconds ago. But now the smoke rises in the air, leaving a thin white mist in the air around them. The ground they are now lying on is completely clean of fire and there is a perfect divide between this area of the woods and the newly burnt part of the woods. Maybe the trap was only meant to go so far.
April remains lying on her back as she closes her eyes, aware of how quiet Jason is. Yet she keeps her eyes closed as she breathes in and out deeply, hoping that the air is clean. But there is a constant burning sensation in her throat which does not seem to be going away. It seems as if it is only getting worse the more she breathes.
The next thing she is aware of is a sound in the distance. At first it is quiet and somewhere in the distance. But seconds later, the sound is around them within the trees, almost deafening. The sound repeats itself over and over again. The familiar warning sound April remembers hearing when she fell through the dustbin into the wartime London.
April's eyes flicker open as the air raid rings out around them, a warning call to everyone. Chills run down April's spine as she frantically rolls over and scrambles to her feet.
And that is when she notices Jason lying on his front, his left shoulder sitting in a strange angle, dislocated out of place. Jason looks up at her with his eyes and opens his mouth to speak but he only groans in pain.
"Fuck!" April gasps, revolted at the sight of Jason's dislocated shoulder.
The air raid only gets increasingly louder, echoing across the whole Island. And it can only mean one thing: they are about to be ambushed. April crouches down to Jason's right side and flings his arm over her shoulders, helping him onto his feet.
The trees start to blow in a sudden gust of wind and the leaves dance around their feet as something in the air above them hums. April struggles to carry Jason away from the scene as quickly as she can. But Jason is in so much pain he can barely stay conscious.
April finds herself crying as she drags Jason through the woods, but the burnt trees from the fire are still not too far behind them. In April's ears, the air raid only means death and coming from this Island, she knows that something is going to be after them.
"Please, Jay, you have to help me!" April cries over the siren.
Then, feeling weak from the fire and the running, April's knees buckle under her own and Jason's weight as they fall to the ground. Jason yelps in pain and grips onto his arm. For a moment they lay there, too weak to move just as a hovercraft flies over them.
The ground underneath them vibrates as the hovercraft lightly brushes the tops of the trees. April can hear it slow down and knows that it must be hovering over where the fire was.
April lifts her head, feeling the muscles in her neck tremble as she does so. She then notices a dip in the ground, almost right under her nose. Just from the sound of the hovercraft, April can guess that the hovercraft is trying to land in the open. Probably Heat Miles workers will come off and if they are seen they'll no doubt be killed.
The dip in the ground goes low enough just for them to take cover.
The siren eventually drowns out until it is no longer ringing. April reaches for Jason and starts rolling him over. He groans in pain as he rolls over his dislocated shoulder, but luckily his groans are faded away from the buzz of the hovercraft.
"I'm sorry." April whispers every time Jason groans painfully. But soon April gives him one last push and he slides down the dip. When she hears him slide to a halt, April glances over her shoulder and sees the hovercraft sat in the open in the woods, just next to the burnt trees. Then without any hesitation, April slides forward on her front and topples down the dip. She halts by Jason's side and for a moment they lie there.
"My fucking shoulder." Jason puffs through gritted teeth.
"I know," April replies as she exhales. "Just hang in there, okay." With that April starts to climb back up the dip. When she reaches the top, she peers over the edge, looking over to where the hovercraft is. However seeing a large group of shape shifters in their blue and white fencing suits pace around the space, examining the burnt trees, is something April didn't expect to see.
The shape shifters speak to each other in low, gruff voices, trying to distinguish how the timer was triggered. They scan the burnt trees with mini handheld scanning devices.
April cranes her neck to try and listen to what they are saying, but their voices are so strange and inhuman, it is hard to distinguish everything that is being said. She manages to catch the odd word or phrase here and there, but there are moments where it sounds like they are talking in a different language, almost as if they are fluctuating between speaking English and something incoherent. Surely the Tardis is supposed to translate everything into English?
Yet what catches April's attention the most is the mention of the trap which triggers the fire. The trap is placed there every year for the Day of Destruction. There is supposed to be a tripwire around that area where the timer is, and every year a volunteer always falls for the trap. They end up tripping over the wire during the race and inevitably burn to death in the spreading fire. Just like the catchers.
But April listens to the angry voices of the shape shifters as they talk about this trap. The timer was set off to cause the fire but the tripwire has been unharmed.
A shape shifter appears through the trees and holds up the damaged timer. Damaged because April shot it. And so damaged that it cannot be used again.
This enrages all shape shifters. They are a trap down for the Day of Destruction.
But because the fire started because of the timer being damaged and not from the tripwire, they know that there is someone, or something here unannounced.
With that the shape shifters start to speak angry incoherent words to each other before they disappear back into the hovercraft. The wind blows in April's direction as the hovercraft pushes away from the ground and disappears into the dark sky above them. But as the hovercraft flies away, the scorch marks on the trees and leaves slowly disappear.
Minutes later as the woods are back to normal as if the fire never happened.
And then there is silence, except from the quiet rustle of leaves in the breeze. April looks up at the starry sky above them. They are another day down to complete this mission.
April releases her grip from the edge of the dip and slides down again where she joins Jason again, who is slowly gaining more and more consciousness. Knowing that they are now completely alone, she isn't afraid to speak aloud.
"Jason, you have to let me help you," she says as she lightly touches his back. "I need to fix you."
Jason splutters a few angry swear words, almost objecting her from doing anything, but April only rolls her eyes.
"Jason, I may not be a qualified UNIT solder like you are, but I did pass my training with flying colours. Please just let me help you!"
Jason looks at April for a moment and then relaxes, the anger and frustration in his eyes vanishing.
April tries to drag Jason over to the bottom of the dip as carefully as she can. Jason makes no sound, but the pain is evident across his face as he squeezes his eyes shut and bites down hard on his bottom lip. April eventually manages to prop his back up against the dip.
Sweat pours down Jason's face as he stares at her.
"Just get it over with." He growls.
This angry side of Jason scares April. A side she has never seen until they started this mission. April realises how much pain he is in right now but she desperately wants the happy Jason back.
April kneels down by Jason's side and looks at his left shoulder. It is very lucky that she was taught how to handle injuries like this while training with UNIT. But never did April think that she would be in the position she is in now.
April reaches out for Jason's dislocated shoulder with shaking hands and feels around where the socket it. She can see the way Jason winces in pain as she feels around. But eventually April finds the ball and socket to his shoulder.
Jason sucks in a sharp breath. "Just do it." He hisses.
April takes in a slow and steady breath before she tugs at his shoulder. There is a dull thump followed by Jason's scream in agony. But the job is done. His shoulder is no longer dislocated, but whether or not she has done it safely or correctly, she does not know. She needs her brother or Martha to help her.
Jason eventually stops screaming and looks over to his left shoulder. His whole arm shakes vigorously.
"Times like this when you really need Martha," April says, trying to keep her voice light, but Jason doesn't respond. "We have to stay here for the night. You need to rest your shoulder."
"I can't fucking move my arm." Jason snaps as he still stares down at his shaking, limp arm.
April flinches slightly at his anger. "I'm sorry for failing you."
Jason hesitates briefly. "Don't be fucking stupid."
April has already lost count over the amount of times he has sworn, but realises that he must do this often when he is angry. Martha is no doubt used to it.
"Here," April says as she scoots over to Jason's right side and sits with her back up against the dip and her legs stretched out in front of her. "Lie down."
Jason is silent but does as he is told. He lies down on his right side and rests his head in April's lap. There April gently massages his arms muscles, trying to bring back his senses.
"What are we going to do now?" Jason asks, calmer.
"Make sure your shoulder recovers." April replies softly.
"No, what are we going to do?"
April pauses momentarily. "I'll think of something. Just go to sleep. I'll keep watch."
At first Jason is hesitant but eventually he cannot keep is eyes open for much longer and soon enough, his eyes flutter shut.
April breathes out heavily as she looks at the dark trees in front of her. At first she starts to think about how she managed to destroy a trap for the Day of Destruction and how she could try and destroy any other traps in these woods.
Suddenly her thoughts are interrupted as there is a burning pain in her head, right across her forehead. April's ears start to ring, slightly deafened from the air raid siren. The pain in April's head is almost unbearable, but so similar to the pain she feels in her chest after waking up from her nightmare.
But soon the view of the dark woods around her vanishes and Rodger Barratt comes into view.
Rodger Barratt is sat behind a desk in his office with plenty of shape shifters standing around him. Rodger Barratt is speaking into a microphone which is being broadcast everywhere across the Island.
He mentions that the fire in the woods was only an accident. But the next words sends chills right through April.
"The intruders have already arrived to this Island. The Doctor is here. Please take precaution."
The Doctor's and her own arrival has been announced twenty-four hours before they actually do. And April knows that she has just brought this on herself.
For she may have just changed the future for the worst.
