XXXVII
The Day of Destruction

The Island
Outside the woods

The field in which the festival was looks larger now that all the stalls have been taken down. But the field is surrounded by every single villager on this Island. Yet the worst part of the whole situation is seeing the excited and happy looks on everyone's faces as they await the start of the Day of Destruction. There is excitement in everyone's voices as they talk amongst each other.

The walk through the energetic crowd isn't half as difficult as April expected. Everyone's attention is drawn to her but they all move out the way, creating a path for the shape shifters to guide April through.

April can tell that there is a little less excitement around the crowd as they all see April: the girl that no one really knows. She can hear whispers amongst different people but she just keeps her eyes ahead at the trees.

Right at the other end of the festival the wooden fence that separates the festival from the woods has been taken down. There is an open gap to allow the volunteers to run in.

April can feel the shape shifter's tighten their grip on her as they step out into the opening. And there they all are. All of the nine other volunteers: Ellis, Zane, Orion, Buddy, Kace, Kathyrn, Billie, Blake and Joshua. They stand in a line, each on a black number that has been spray painted on the grass.

The shape shifters take April to the gap just between Buddy and Kace, both of which are wearing full black clothes. There is a black number five spray painted on the grass. The shape shifters release her the moment she is standing on the number.

When they leave her side, April takes in a quick glance at her surroundings. Each volunteer is completely dressed in black. They wear black trousers and long-sleeved black tops. Yet there is a bright red line tracing down the arms of the tops and their trouser legs. It is the exact same shade of red as the t-shirt Aprils is wearing. She cannot help but feel like she is standing out against the volunteers in her red t-shirt and black jeans. Just this little factor will cause some riot with Heat Miles.

April then looks at the woods directly ahead of her. It is near on impossible to see anything through the trees as it is all overcome with darkness. April looks to her left and there she finds three people she is not expecting to see amongst the crowd: the Doctor, Max and Martha. All three of them watching her. Martha's face is rather passive. Max manages to smile weakly at her as if to give her some encouragement. But the Doctor looks terrified out of his wits.

But where is everyone else? Aaron said that they all had plans to take part in the battle. So why is the Doctor, Max and Martha there to see her off into the race? April stares at them and raises her eyebrows as if asking them. But when neither of them make any movement or recognition as to whether or not they know what she is thinking, April reaches for her belt. There she feels the weapons she managed to grab before the shape shifters arrived to pick her up. And she hopes that she has enough to help her. April then turns to look back at the rest of the revolution. And that is when she catches Ellis' eye. And he shakes his head at her. April can only guess that Ellis is warning her not to give too much away before they even get into the woods.

April sighs and then focuses all of her attention to the woods in front of them.

Silence soon fills the area around them. Everyone's voices hushes to the point that all anyone can hear is the blowing wind. April clenches her fists and leans forward on her right leg a little, ready to run as soon as they start.

During this silence a plan suddenly springs to April's mind. She wants to save the revolution from being killed – despite their best efforts to also want to fight in this battle. But no one else is going to die while she is alive. The woods are full of different species across the universe fighting for the Cytracik. If she can draw enough attention to herself, she might be able to save the rest of the revolution.

And then something happens that April has not been expecting at all. She is on the verge of running forward into the woods, but far behind her is the sound of a marching band playing an eerily happy tune. It is a marching band made up of all brass instruments: horns, trumpets, trombones, euphoniums and tubas of the like.

For a second April is utterly dumbfounded. Is she hearing this correctly?

April slowly turns to look over her shoulder. Nope. She is definitely hearing correctly. There is a marching band coming her way. They are all dressed remotely similar to the guards that keep guard of Buckingham Palace.

Of all the things April has witnessed in her life, she cannot believe what she is seeing right now. Why is there a marching band walking through the crowd and playing a happy-go-lucky piece of music, right before the battle is going to begin?

This angers April as she watches the musicians march into the opening of the festival. They cover the view of the woods, standing directly in front of the ten volunteers, blaring their instruments directly at them. April glances back towards Ellis' rather amused facial expression. She shrugs her shoulders as if asking why.

Ellis, however, chuckles and mouths the words: it's a celebration.

April suddenly feels deflated at the reminder that this is a celebration for the Island. She crosses her arms across her chest and glares at the marching band standing before her. The trombonist stands directly in front of her and April hates every second of the music.

They play music for a little while longer and it seems to stretch out further and further. After a minute or so, the band start to repeat the motif that introduced the music. Here, April knows that they must be nearing the end of their playing. However, she still glares at the trombonist in front of her.

April lets out a sigh and glances back in the direction to where the Doctor is standing amongst the crowd. Rex has joined them and is whispering something to the Doctor, Martha and Max. And then simultaneously, they turn their attention to something in the distance behind April. Their faces dawn fear, realisation and anger. The Doctor then turns to Martha, says something to her. She nods and then follows Rex who disappears through the crowd. The Doctor and Max then stand there, saying something to each other while subtly pointing to something behind April.

Everyone else around them seem utterly distracted by the marching band and the forcefully cheerful music.

April then turns around to look at what Rex was informing the others on. And just from the expression on their faces, April knows that what she is about to see isn't good news. She looks over her shoulder and at first she scans the crowd in the festival. All of them with a glazed expression as they smile gleefully at the marching band.

But there is thick, dark smoke in the sky above them.

And then April is suddenly chocked by the horrific fumes that burns in the air around them.

April can see the smoke rising from the hills of Ebernie in the distance. The putrid smell of burning corpses fills the air but everyone else seems utterly oblivious to it. Everyone except the ten volunteers.

The marching band is only being used as a means of distraction while Heat Miles begins the process of burning the bodies of the last Day of Destruction victims. It is as if the villagers are trapped under a spell from the music.

April glances over to Ellis who looks unhealthily pale. However he only glares down at the grass beneath his feet. She can just about see his jaw grinding. The body of his dead wife will be burning in the furnace right now. April then glances back to where the Doctor is but both him and Max have now disappeared amongst the crowd.

"No!" April gasps as she steps off her spray painted number.

This is a cruel trick. Heat Miles cannot get away with doing something as inhumane as this. April starts to walk across the opening, heading in the direction of the smoke. She wants to snap the villagers out of their trance and let them see what Heat Miles are doing. The villagers have the right to know the truth.

However, April only gets so far away from her spray painted number before something grabs onto her and hauls her to the ground. April falls onto the damp grass with a thump. But before she has the chance to even get back on her feet, a shape shifter grabs onto her hair at the back of her head and forces her to look up. April finds herself looking into the blue fencing helmet of the shape shifter for a second before the shape shifter hits her across her face with its white gloved hand.

April can taste blood in her mouth, but she manages to calm her anger as the shape shifter hauls her up to her feet and drags her back to her spray painted number. April has no choice but to do as she is supposed to. She spits out blood before trying to regain herself.

The music has stopped and the countdown has already started.

The countdown started thirty seconds ago and there are only another ten seconds to go.

Another ten seconds until the start of the Day of Destruction. Another ten seconds until the Black Lighthouse flashes for the fifth time and the Cytracik can fulfil her prophecy by letting the Daleks kill her.

April is not ready. She finds herself shaking from the blow of the shape shifter and her face aches dully. She looks at Ellis who is still shaking his head at her.

But then there is bell ringing.

And the race has begun.