XXXVIII
Quick decisions

The Island
The Woods
The start of the Day of Destruction

April has missed the start of the race. The sound of the dong startles her and the rest of the volunteers are already running into the woods. She has hesitated for too long, but something stops her. She falters as she watches the other nine volunteers run into the woods; running into battle.

She catches glimpses of the villagers expectantly watching her and very quickly, reality hits her, almost like a smack in the face. What is she doing? Why is she falling back? Why is she not running into battle as well? All previous plans she was trying to conjure before the marching band interrupted her thoughts, have now leaked from her mind. And April does not have the faintest clue as to what she is going to do now.

So she runs.

Within seconds, she can feel herself running through some kind of invisible barrier just as she passes through the first few trees of the woods. And as soon as she is in the woods, everything suddenly seems darker than it was seconds ago. The life outside the woods is no longer there.

April is entirely alone. It is the Day of Destruction. And the whole universe is hiding in these woods, desperate for one thing.

April keeps running, weaving in and out around different trees and leaping over large roots that are there to trip her. The woods this time around seem so different to how she saw it with Jason. Everything seems darker and the ground beneath her seems different. It does not quite feel like ground beneath her. More like sprung floorboards camouflaged to look like dirt, grass and leaves.

When she knows that she has been running for long enough that there are no dangers nearby, April eventually stops to rest up against a large tree. She leans her full body against the trunk of a tree and she tries to catch her breath, breathing in and out deeply and heavily. She closes her eyes, shutting out the view of the gloomy woods around her, fully aware of how dry her throat is. The desperation for a drink slowly starts to sink in.

And then she hears it. A voice she thought she would never hear again. The male's voice which is steady but firm, with a hint of playfulness to it.

Keep your eyes on the game, buttercup.

April's eyes flickers open and she scans the trees around her, hoping to find where the familiar, friendly voice is coming from. But as April moves away from the tree she looks in every direction, trying to find a figure or a silhouette of a human. April knows that she is being too hopeful, but the voice was so close to her...almost too close, like it was inside her head.

April then stops looking for any sign of Jason being there with her. She only imagined Jason's voice. She lets out a shaky breath as she reminds herself that he is dead. And she is here alone.

Just at the sound of a twig snapping, April is instantly brought back to the present.

Slowly reaching for her belt, April grabs onto her gun, praying that she has enough ammo to attack whatever is around the corner. And she hopes that it is Rodger Barratt because she will not think twice before killing him. She scans the woods. The mist in the air makes it rather difficult to see much in the distance. And yet April cannot shake the feeling that she is being watched.

Then there are whispers amongst the trees. Inhumane whispers that are not audible, and April is certain that some alien species is approaching her. Yet she cannot see anything through the gloomy mist. April strains her ears to see if she can understand the whispers. Usually the Tardis can translate different languages to help them understand. But right now, April cannot understand these whispers.

April keeps her grip on her gun firmly as she stays rooted to the spot. She will not move until these aliens show any threat. For all she knows they might not be able to see her like she can't see them.

But then through the mist, somewhere between the trees, April sees a flicker of movement in the shadows. April can't help but draw in a sharp breath. As she does so, she takes a step backwards but unintentionally stumbles over a root she swears was not there seconds ago.

And then all falls silent.

April holds onto her breath. But there is no sound. Not even a flutter in the breeze. The shadows around her in the trees move and April can see a few dozen silhouettes amongst the trees. The aliens have a human form, but their heads are rather triangular shaped with, what looks like, three spears erupting from the top of their heads.

Eventually one slowly steps out of the trees and looks at April. The creature looks like it is wearing a murky green morph suit. It's head is concealed with a helmet and the three spears erupting from the top are in fact weapons. There are two black triangles April can only guess is its eyes.

April holds out her hand as the alien surveys her.

"I'm not going to hurt you if you mean no harm." April says carefully.

The alien slowly tilts its head to the side but says nothing.

"What are you?" April then asks firmly.

"We are the Zoracha," the alien replies sternly, its voice sounding like it is bubbling under water. "We are here for the Cytracik."

April inwardly groans. "Of course you are." She mutters to herself.

"What are you?" The Zoracha asks.

"A human being." April replies rather spitefully, suddenly remembering when Ellis asked her this question the first time they met. She swears in all her travels with the Doctor, she has never been asked this question before.

"And what is your purpose here, human being?"

April's grip on her gun tightens. "I'm here to stop you from getting to the Cytracik."

Immediately weapons are drawn and aimed at April. Including the Zoracha standing a few feet away from her. It holds up what she supposes is a gun. But then April very quickly realises that she is completely surrounded for there are many Zoracha's hiding in the circle of trees around her, aiming their weapons at her.

April, however, remains rooted to the spot.

"I said I will not hurt you if you mean no harm." April repeats.

"You mean harm to us! We will behold the Cytracik. We know of it's power."

"You know nothing of it!" April snaps, suddenly angry. "Your wish for power is just as inhumane as the Cytracik is. You don't even know what it can do!"

"It will give us the power to complete our duties!" The Zoracha in front of April shouts.

"And what is your duty?"

The Zoracha hesitates for a second as if contemplating its answer. "To get our revenge on the shape shifters."

April narrows her eyes. "Go on." She encourages the Zoracha to explain itself.

"When word came across the universe, informing us of the glory of the Cytracik, the shape shifters caused war. Not quite like this current battle, but a battle with my people. They came to our planet and disguised themselves as the Zoracha. Of course we believed them. They did this to find out our plans for the Battle of the Cytracik. They wanted to take us down. To destroy us so we would not have a chance in survival. They thought that by destroying us, we would not be able to get to the Cytracik. But the shape shifters know very little of our kind. They know very little of the universe and what we can do. They thought they could kill us. They tried to banish us into another dimension. But we were too strong. We banished them from our world so that they could never return. But as they made life on this Island to disguise it for the Battle of the Cytracik, they clearly were not expecting us to come unprepared."

"I don't think that shape shifters are that foolish. The shape shifters knew that the whole universe would come here on this very day to fight for the Cytracik and kill the twins while they're at it. They would have made preparations just for you."

"The twins will die. And the moment they do, the Cytracik will be ours. And once we have the Cytracik, then we can finally kill the Doctor for once and for all!"

"You've come across the Doctor then?" April's voice falters a little.

"We have come across him many times. And he is just the same naive and trusting man now as he was before. It will be the death of him."

"Well," April says slowly. "I'm sure that you are going to have a fun time trying to get to him." Immediately April aims her gun at the Zoracha and shoots without a second thought. However as she does this, the other Zoracha's react in an instant and shoot in her direction. April quickly manages to dodge the fire from their weapons which fly over her head and end up hitting the other Zoracha's opposite them.

April is ready for an attack. But before she has the chance to stand up and fight the rest of the Zoracha's, she is suddenly forced down to the ground. April struggles for a second, but the recognisable dark voice of Orion as he growls in her ear.

"Just stay down!" He then pushes away from her and April remains lying there for a few moments, listening to the fight around her. Bullets fly everywhere and there is the distinct sound of hand-to-hand combat too.

April rolls over onto her back and sees the fire arms flying overhead. She turns her head to the side and is suddenly met with a Zoracha running in her direction. April does not think twice before she scrambles back onto her feet. Her gun, which is on the ground beside where she fell, is kicked away by a silver, steel boot of the Zoracha.

Then the alien starts to fight her. She will not be beaten by this race of aliens she has never encountered before. So April fights back. Using all the tricks and attacks she learnt from UNIT, April uses all her might against this Zoracha. She can feel herself as the stronger opponent.

Soon enough with one last kick, April has the Zoracha down on the ground unconscious.

The fighting has stopped and the rest of the Zoracha's start to flea

"Well," Billie says, breathing heavily once the remaining Zoracha's disappear into the mist of the woods. "They were more coward than I hoped."

Then there is a long silence as if no one knows what to do or even say next. April looks at who is with her: Billie, Orion, Kace and Buddy. So clearly the revolution made it look like they were running into the woods separately, but their main goal was to get back together once they are hidden from the rest of the Island. But are they currently searching for the rest of the revolution? April is certain that teaming up with the other volunteers would be strictly forbidden during the past Day of Destruction's, but would it count the same here? They couldn't be any more subtle while wearing the exact same black clothing and Heat Miles must be watching their every move, especially with their implanted trackers.

April scowls at the leaves on the ground. Right now the rules of the Day of Destruction should be the least of her concerns. The Day of Destruction is something she shouldn't even care about. This is the Battle of the Cytracik. She has to focus on getting them all to safety while they destroy the Cytracik. No doubt they'll have to fight against more alien species other than the Zoracha's.

"You knew what that smoke was, didn't you? Just before the race started." Kace asks, breaking the silence and squaring on April.

April looks up at Kace's grey eyes. "The stench made it hard to deny."

"But what bodies are they burning?" Buddy asks, folding his arms. "We could all smell exactly what it was. That band were clearly there to distract the rest of the villagers away from what Heat Miles are doing. But who have they got to burn?"

April opens her mouth to reply but Orion sharply cuts across her. "The past victims of this godforsaken race," his voice is low and dark, sending shivers down April's spine. "And if we're not careful, we're going to end up being burnt in that furnace too."

April opens her mouth to speak again, wanting to ask Orion how he knows this as this piece of news hasn't yet been informed to the revolution. Kace, Billie and Buddy look rather shocked at Orion's words, clearly not knowing everything, especially what was discovered in the walls in Ellis' house. However Billie quickly cuts across April before she has the chance to question Orion.

"We'd better get a move on," she says, walking forward. "There's plenty more traps around these woods we must disengage."

"You're destroying all the traps?" April asks.

"Honey, someone has to," Billie says and then exchanges glances with the others. "The plan for us was to split into two groups. Us lot are disengaging all the traps so that is one less obstacle for us. One less stupid game Heat Miles wants us to play. So far we have managed to take down three out of ten. I believe you," she points at April. "And that Captain managed to trigger one which destroyed itself in its own fire. So that's four down. As you probably guessed, setting off one of the traps alerts Heat Miles. So obviously Heat Miles knows that four out of their traps to kill us have been destroyed. So the more we destroy, we can lure Heat Miles into the battle. And we're sure that at least every species in these woods will happily kill Heat Miles for the Cytracik."

April nods, knowing that it is a good plan, but she can't help to think to herself of the major flaw. Rodger Barratt is not so prone to falling for tricks and therefore Heat Miles will be the same. Most likely Heat Miles will join the battle here to kill the revolution.

"So what are the others are doing?" April asks, keeping her thoughts to herself.

"Doing that Doctor's fucking duty and trying to keep you alive." Orion snaps, advancing on April.

"Orion." Buddy warns.

April narrows her eyes. "I don't need saving. I can save myself." She hisses through gritted teeth, wondering if everyone knows about her father's dying wish to the Doctor.

"Well Ellis promised your Doctor that he would do whatever it takes to make sure that you come out of these woods alive. I for one don't want anything to do with it."

"I wouldn't expect you to," April takes a step away from Orion as he towers over her. "You may have willingly stepped up for this revolution but I don't trust you and I don't think your heart is in this. Definitely not after I saw you getting that man to cause a riot in the festival."

Orion steps closer to April again and points a large finger in her face. "You don't know what you are saying, Ice Girl. Not all of us are doing this for you. Maybe I'm doing this for myself."

"I said I wouldn't expect anything of you." April bares her teeth.

"None of us deserve to die for you and I'm certainly not willing to."

"What do you want?" April hisses.

"My family's freedom! If that son of a bitch father of yours didn't open the Cytracik in the first place, we wouldn't be here! It's just lucky that he is dead!"

April then suddenly loses control as she attacks Orion. At first she hits him square in the face, but he doesn't even flinch. She then uses all of her strength to push him away.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT!" April screams thrashing at Orion, but she is very quickly pulled away.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Buddy snaps at Orion as he pulls him to the side.

"Fighting each other will not solve anything!" Kace shouts as she and Billie hold onto the wriggling April who eventually stops after a while, breathing heavily.

However, April stops struggling in their grip not because she has given up on the fight. But because there is a sound overhead. A low rumbling of some sort of air plane or space craft. Then everything suddenly seems darker than it was before. Everyone stops what they are doing and remain silent as they look up at the twilight sky above them. Something is coming their way and they have to make a quick decision as to what to do.

"Buddy?" Kace asks wearily.

"I don't know what it is," Buddy hisses. "I lost my tracking device to one of those Zygons."

The sound is getting closer, the spacecraft is not too far away from them.

And then there is the sound of a bomb soaring through the sky.

"GET DOWN! GET DOWN!" Orion yells.

Instantly they all fall to the ground, holding their hands over their heads in protection

A series of bombs are being dropped somewhere in the distance. One after the other and each one is getting closer to them. The ground trembles with each bomb. Is this another trap in the woods that someone has set off elsewhere?

Another bomb falls not too far away from them. The ground shakes and ash and debris coats them. Everyone holds their breath for the next.

But then there is nothing. The bombs have stopped falling and the aircraft above them is no longer there.

April is the first to get up. "All okay?" She asks, slightly panicked. Just as everyone starts to get back on their feet, there is the sound of running footsteps behind them. In an instant, April spins around and points her gun in the direction of the running footsteps.

"Fuck sake it's me!" Comes a voice. "Don't shoot!" Then Ellis Lustworve, with his arms raised above his head steps out from the shadows of the trees. He holds a gun in one hand. A quiver full of metal arrows is slung over his back. A recurve bow hangs over his shoulder. Then Billie, Kace, Orion and Buddy all suddenly point their guns at Ellis.

"Just a precaution," Buddy says. "He might be a shape shifter."

"What was the last thing the Doctor said to us before we started this race?" Kace asks, her voice sharp.

Ellis, who looks rather worn for wear, reminding April of what he looked like in her nightmare, breathes out steadily, keeping his hands above his head. "He said that the twins are the only hope that we have."

"Clear." Billie states without hesitation.

As everyone lowers their guns, April scowls at Ellis. Did the Doctor really say that?

But then Ellis raises his gun before she has time for this thought to linger for another second. April quickly realises Ellis is not pointing the gun at the others. But at her.

"Are you April Hollerford?" Ellis orders.

"At least I think so." April mumbles, suddenly taken aback at Ellis as he slowly approaches her, his gun aimed to her head.

"If you're not a shape shifter, then tell me this. When you said that this race is a celebration of your nightmare, what was my response?"

April falters for a moment. How is she supposed to remember this? This happened days ago. This happened the day she first came here to this Island. April tries to think hard about their first meeting. She followed Amelia to their house and Ellis dragged her inside. Here he explained everything she needed to know about the Island, the Day of Destruction and the revolution.

"ANSWER ME!" Ellis yells, his eyes wide.

Then it suddenly comes back to April. "It's a risk more than anything."

For a second Ellis hesitates, not lowering his gun.

"Ellis this is ridiculous. This is April!" Billie insists.

April knows that Ellis is not quite convinced, so she continues. "I told you about my nightmare. I knew about you because you appeared in my nightmare. A future you. But I didn't tell you what it was about. Because I cannot risk that future from happening. How do you think a shape shifter can know that?"

"Perhaps you should ask Rodger Barratt as he is so alike the real man."

April nods. "But I suppose time heals."

Ellis sighs and eventually lowers his gun. "All clear," he then looks back at April, a little warmth in his eyes. "I had to be sure."

April nods. "Understood."

"What's the news?" Buddy asks.

"We were in a fight," Ellis says slowly. "A fight against these tall green aliens with large claws. The ones who came to Rodger Barratt's party."

"The Slitheen." April says, cutting across him. Everyone stares at April as if expecting her to explain herself. "They're the Slitheen. I've come across them before."

Ellis stares at April for a moment before continuing. "I lost the others in the fight. We must have been right at the edge of the woods because Joshua ran into an invisible barrier. That set off another trap."

"What was the trap?" Billie asks.

Ellis shudders. "Zombies I guess you could say. Just these human like creatures that came out from the ground. It was useless trying to shoot them because nothing affected them. So instead Blake started a fire and they burnt to the ground. Then the Slitheen started to chase after us. I had one on my tail and I just lost track of the others as I was running. So I don't know where they are."

"Where's that Slitheen that was following you?" Buddy asks.

"It was shot by something else not far from here."

Then there is silence.

Orion is the first to speak. "I'm not hanging around here for a second longer. I think it's time we should move. Let's stick together."

No one disagrees with Orion. Instead they silently agree and start moving through the trees. April, however, is reluctant. There is something about Orion that seems completely untrusting. It's like he's always plotting something in his mind but proceeds to keep these ideas to himself. He never takes part in group discussions. Ellis glances at April sideways as they walk on.

However they only get so far before they can see something in the distance. Immediately, Billie, who is leading the group with Orion not far behind her, stops walking. In the distance there is a bright white light. Almost as bright as the Black Lighthouse beam.

"What is that?" Kace says aloud, squinting her eyes as if trying to get a better look at the light.

Eventually as their eyes adjust to this bright light in the distance, they notice that it is not one beam of light but at least three balls of light floating in the air. It only takes a matter of seconds before these balls of light start to multiply.

"I don't think that's just light." Buddy says, stating the obvious, but everyone is thinking the same thing. They are starting to see that this is another alien species.

Ellis lays a firm hand on April's shoulder. "Let's just move slowly. We don't know if they can see us," he says in a low voice, but when no one makes a move, Ellis glances at Billie. "Let's go."

Billie inhales a shaky breath before taking a step to her left.

A twig snaps under her foot and immediately these balls of light react to it. With a loud roaring sound, the balls of light soar through the air at a fast pace directly at them.

Right on cue, everyone falls to the ground as the balls of light come into attack. Jets of blue light shoot at them from the balls of white light, and the others have no choice but to shoot back. The balls of white lights fly over their heads, circling them, getting closer and trying to dodge their firearms by hiding behind trees.

However, before April has the chance to fight these strange creatures, Ellis pulls back her elbow as she reaches for her gun. April looks at him, scowling harshly. He only shakes his head.

"Trust me." Ellis says, his dark brown eyes pleading.

April nods and follows Ellis, still crouched down. It is amazing how they both easily slip away from the others and the strange aliens so easily. But once they are out of reach from the aliens, Ellis stops crouching and starts sprinting forward. April follows. She follows him through the trees, running in the most direct route as possible away from the rest of the revolution. The others are nowhere to be seen or heard.

They run for a long time and to April's surprise, they do not come across any other alien species. Let alone any traps. They just jump over many roots and pass countless of trees. Everything here in the woods still seem so much more different to how it was was when April was here with Jason.

For a moment it feels like they might not ever stop running. But just as April thinks this, Ellis does. He stops at the nearest tree and holds out an arm to stop April too. And before she has the chance to say anything, Ellis pushes his whole body up against the tree as much as possible, as if trying to hide. April does the same as she listens to the footsteps grazing the leaves on the other side of the tree.

Whatever alien is passing them, it says nothing. All they can hear is heavy hooves scraping their way through the leaves. There is also the sound of grunts, almost as if this alien is struggling to breathe with every step.

Both April and Ellis hold onto their breaths as this alien gets closer to them. But not knowing where they are, the alien casually walks past the tree and continues down through the woods.

When April is sure that the alien is in no threat to them, she peers around the tree. However, a large Minotaur walking on its hind legs like a human, with a stone trident clutched in one of its hooves, is not something April is expecting. She watches it in mild fascination. But as soon as the Minotaur disappears in the fog, she immediately rounds on Ellis, who looks like he's trying to busy himself with polishing his arrows.

"You lost the group on purpose." April says firmly. It isn't a question or an accusation, but a statement.

Ellis raises his eyebrows but keeps his eyes focused on polishing his arrows. "Am I that predictable?"

"I suppose so," April mutters. "You weren't that convincing when you said how you lost the others. Well not to me anyway."

"Yes well there's not much that can convince you," Ellis says, looking up at April. "What do you want to know?"

"Why does the Doctor think that myself and Max is the only hope you have?"

"Because you are the Ice Girl and he the Lost Brother," Ellis sighs when April only silently glares back at him. "You are the Cytracik's victims and he knows that only you and your brother can destroy it before it can get to something else. Or kill you. He knows that you are plotting something we don't know, that's why you are here," he gestures to the trees around them. "But how you how to destroy the Cytracik is beyond any of us. If you can give us a hint then perhaps we can help you."

"I've got it covered." April says sternly.

"You don't have to do this alone."

"If it means keeping the Doctor alive. Keeping UNIT safe and giving my brother the chance to live the rest of his life then yes, I choose to do this alone."

"And what do you mean by this?" Ellis said, almost laughing in exasperation.

"I'm not disclosing this with you." April mutters, folding her arms self-consciously.

"Alright, I'll tell you my secret then," Ellis pushes himself away from the tree. "I can split myself in two."

April stares at Ellis as he waits for her to respond but she doesn't.

Ellis sighs. "I have this ability to be in two places at one time. And that's what I am currently doing. Right now I am here with you. But I am also away in another part of the woods with Blake, Joshua, Zane and Katheryn. Right now we have bypassed the Slitheen and are hunting down the Daleks as they are the biggest threats right now," Ellis quickly raises his hand to stop April from interrupting him. "We volunteered for this. We know what we are doing."

"The Daleks will kill you without fault!"

"They won't if they can't see us."

April scowls at Ellis for a little while longer before folding her arms. "You did this before," she says. "You split yourself in two when we first met so that the Doctor and I could meet you at the exact same time but in different places."

Ellis nods.

"But how do you do it?"

Ellis holds up his left hand, flashing the silver ring on his little finger. "I took it from my father when he died because I knew what it could do. I didn't realise that once I've put the ring on it'll never come off."

"Is there anything else it can do?" April asks, looking at the plan silver ring.

"It can turn me invisible if I want it to. It became quite useful when I wanted to sneak around the Heat Miles base and listen to the conferences about the Day of Destruction. After I handed in my resignation to Heat Miles five months ago, I turned invisible just to stand back in the office to listen to a discussion between the Major and Lucien."

April nods. "And so the you that is currently searching for the Daleks is going to make himself invisible. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Only my daughter did, up until the Doctor, the Brigadier and Jack Gruntler somehow found out," Ellis exhales. "So what's your secret?"

"I'm the Ice Girl and this Island is orbiting around a cold star. Why did the Doctor ask you to keep me alive? Because I'm to be used for this battle?"

"Because no one can stand the thought of losing April Hollerford."

April shakes her head. "I can't let you do this. You'll die in these woods. UNIT is going back into battle because of me. I don't want this to happen."

"Let it happen."

"Ellis, you've got a life!" April snaps. "You have a daughter who is struggling enough as it is. You have a full life to lead away from this battle."

"And you don't?"

There is a horrible silence as April and Ellis stare at each other. April is momentarily lost as Ellis' last words hit a nerve.

"Fine," Ellis says after a long while. "Let's try to keep everyone in these woods alive. What is the plan? We don't have much time so we need to make this quick."

Jack Gruntler's words ring in her ears from when he reminded her of what she has to do. "Then we have to bring as much attention to ourselves as we can. Let the aliens think that we have found the Cytracik. They'll come to us and it'll give the rest of the revolution to take down the traps."

Ellis nods in agreement. "And how do you think we'll be able to find the Cytracik?"

"Heat Miles took the Cytracik from the Tardis and they'll never let it out their sight. But I'm sure that the Cytracik will make itself seen to the one that needs it the most."