Nancy rushes down the hallway and shuts and bolts the door before the child can get in. She backs away, looking at the shadow of the child outside the door, terrified. The Doctor stands behind her.
"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor says to Nancy
"i suppose you'd know."
"I do actually, yes"
He smiles pleasantly at her.
"It's not exactly a child."
"Muuum-my?"
Nancy pushes past the Doctor and goes back into the dining room. Nancy addresses the children still sitting around the table.
"Right, everybody out, across the back garden and under the fence."
They just look at her.
"Now! Go! Move!"
They all jump out of their seats and run out of the door while Nancy puts her coat on, apart from one little girl.
"Come on, baby. You've got to go. Okay? It's just like a game. Just like chasing"
The little girl jumps out of her seat.
"Take your coat, go on."
The little girl runs after the other children. The Doctor watches them pass, slightly confused.
"Mummy? "
The Doctor takes a few steps towards the door.
"Please let me in, mummy"
He sticks his hand through the letterbox. He has a scar on the back of his perfectly ordinary little hand.
"Please let me in, mummy."
"Are you all right?"
"Please let me in.
Nancy suddenly throws something against the door, which smashes.
The child withdraws his hand.
"You mustn't let him touch ya!"
"What happens if he touches me?"
"He'll make you like him."
Abby now tired walks along the street to her left she could see a little boy standing out a front door shouting for his mummy. Abby walks towards him.
Meanwhile inside.
"Stay if you want to."
Nancy leaves quickly through the back door.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy..." the child says through the toy monkey
The child sticks his hand through the letterbox again.
"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy..."
The Doctor kneels in front of the door, looking at the scarred little hand with a look of concern on his face.
"PLEASE let me in.i'm scared."
"Why are those other child frightened of you?"
" Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."
The Doctor thinks for a moment. the doctor see a second shadown appear what looks be behind the child.
"Hey sweetie you okay?"
Abby crouches down to the level of the little boy and touches his shoulder.
"So you need help"
The Doctor recognises the voice and tries to quickly opening the door shouting
"Abby stop"
As the doctor opens the door Abby stands up quickly removing her hand from the boys shoulder.
"Doctor the little boy was..."
Abby and the Doctor look to where the boy was but there was noone there.
"Did u touch him" The Doctor asks sounding concerned
"Just his shoulder why"
The Doctor starts to panic and notices a couple of the children running toward the railway track and decides to follow. He needed answers. When he arrives he finds Nancy
"Nancy. There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?"
Nancy turns back to him.
"The thing I'm looking for. The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station. "
"Take me there."
"There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire... you'll never get through."
"Try me!"
"You sure you wanna know what's going on in there?"
"I really wanna know."
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor."
"Doctor sorry to interupt, but my hand and i really dont feel to good" Abby advises rhe Doctor. When the Doctor looks at Abby he notices her very pale complexion. Abby shows the Doctor the scar on her hand
"You touched him" Nancy asks
"On the shoulder" Abby replies.
"She needs to see the doctor" Nancy says
‐--
The Doctor stands on some steps a good distance away from the bomb site. He looks at it using his binoculars. Nancy stands behind him with abby a couple more step behind to make sure she is not too close to anyone to be able to touch the.
Abby is now looking extremely pale and coughing every so off and her usual headaches are back not as bad as usual but still pounding in her head.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital." Nancy points too a tall dark building in the distance
The Doctor looks over to where she indicates over the top of the binoculars.
"What about it?"
"That's where the doctor is."
The Doctor zooms in on the hospital.
"You should talk to him."
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there. "He points back at the bomb site.
"Talk to the doctor first."
"Why?"
"'Cos then maybe you won't wanna get inside. "
Nancy begins to go back up the steps.
"Where're you going?"
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."
"Thank you Nancy" Abby says in between coughs
"Dont thank me yet" she replies
"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?"
"What?"
"The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cos you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."
"My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, told him it was dangerous, but he just... he just didn't like being on his own."
"What happened?"
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"
The Doctor nods, then smiles.
"Amazing."
"What is?"
"1941."
There are planes dropping bombs in the distance. A barrage balloon hovers above them. Small explosions in the air.
"Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says "no". 'No'. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then... do what you've gotta do. Save the world. "
"Thank you again Nancy" Abby says as she follows the Doctor who has started going down the rest of the steps. Nancy turns and walks up them.
They reach the tall dark building, the Doctor walks on whilst Abby follows behing to scared to get close to the doctor. She starts to stumble a
due to the constant couging fit and the pain in her head.
The Doctor quickly turns around and start to rush towards her.
"Stop! Stop. Not too close please"
"Abby your getting worse. You need help"
"Im fine just give me a sec" Abby takes a deep intake of breath then stand up. She looks at the Doctor.
"Lets go"
The Doctor followed by Abby enters a dark ward, where rows and rows of people are lying on beds, wearing gas masks, completely lifeless. He looks around at them all, brow furrowed, and they leave.
They enter another ward, which is lighter but still has rows of the gas mask people lying on the beds. He turns quickly upon hearing a slight sound behind him, and an old man, Doctor Constantine enters.
"You'll find them everywhere. Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not. Who are you both?"
" I'm, uh... are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine. And you are?"
"Nancy sent us"
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes."
"What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why I was asking. What do you know?"
"Only what it's done"
"These people, were they all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were."
He laughs slightly, but it turns into a nasty cough. He sits down in a chair just behind him. The Doctor takes a few steps towards him whilst Abby find and empty bed to sit on as she grabs at her forehead the pain in her head was getting worse. she started to feel sick.
"You're very sick."
"Dying, I should think, I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"
"I have my moments."
"Have you examined any of them, yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh"
"Which one?"
"Any one."
The Doctor, raising his eyebrows, takes his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and approaches the nearest bed. He runs the screwdriver over the mask covered face of the body
" Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side... (Runs screwdriver over the chest). Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."
"Examine another one."
The Doctor goes over to another body and does the scan again. The gas mask is fused to the flesh and the body bears the same scar on the back of the hand. He turns off his sonic screwdriver and turns to Doctor Constantine.
"This isn't possible."
"Examine another."
The Doctor hurries to another bed and does so.
"This isn't possible!"
"No."
"They've all got the same injuries!"
"Yes. "
"Exactly the same."
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand."
Doctor Constantine looks at his own hand, it has the scar. Abby could feel panic starting to stir as she heard about the scars on the hand. The doctor looks at Abby, she could see the panic in his eyes, he quickly turned back to doctor Constantine
"How did this happen? How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
"Dead?"
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma."
"No."
"Asphyxiation."
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity..."
"No."
"All right. What was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one."
The Doctor looks at him, brow furrowed.
"They're not dead."
He raps his stick against a tin bin, and all the patients suddenly sit up Abby jumps straight to her feet and take 1 step closer to the Doctor. The Doctor looks alarmed.
"It's all right. They're harmless. They just... sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die."
"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?"
The bodies lie down again.
"I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?"
"Just you? You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor."
"Yeah. Know the feeling."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."
"Probably too late.",
"No. They are isolated cases, but... isolated cases breaking out all over London... "
He coughs again. His speech starts to break up. The Doctor starts towards him.
"Stay back, stay back. (Coughs). Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim - the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Doctor, the little boy, its got be him. but if it is then...ill be...ohh god"
Yhe doctor turn quickly towards Abby. abby has another coughing fit and her legs buckle beneath her but she luckily lands on the bed.
"No, stop it. Thats not going to happen"
"Doctor look around you. These people all came into contaxt with that little boy and this is what happened."
"No we will find a way and we will stop it."
Abby breaks into another coughing fit that only last a few seconds.
"Please doctor listen to me. Im scared, but i know this wil happen and so do you. when it does find Rose, find out what happened to that little boy, do what ever you need to do and get out of here ok. if you see my mum..."
"Stop it..."
"If you see my mum... tell her ... tell her im sorry. Tell Rose i love her and your not bad bad too" Abby says with a little chuckle and wink to the Doctor as a another coughing fit begins.
This time it doesnt seem to be stopping and Abby collapses backwards on the bed.
The dDoctor runs the sonic over her body.
"No! no! no! no! you cant do this, you cant leave me no"
The Doctor quickly turns back to Doctor Constantine.
"Why do i need to find Nancy again"
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi... mi... (He gags and clutches his neck). M... mu... mee..."
The Doctor watches him concernedly. Speech is a huge effort for Constantine.
"Are... you... my... mum-my?"
As the Doctor watches, a gas mask protrudes horribly out of Constantine's mouth. His eyes become the gas mask, and it fuses onto his face, and he goes limp. The doctor looks back at Abby there is now a mask where her face used to be. He walks over to her.
"Im sorry"
The Doctor hears voices in the distance.
The Doctor leaves the ward. The Doctor emerges into the corridor. He meets Rose and Jack coming the other way.
"Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting, Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
"He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."
The Doctor nods.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock."
He pats the Doctor heartily on the shoulder, and walks off, leaving the Doctor looking rather bemused.
"Mr Spock?"
"What was I supposed to say, you don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of "Doctor"? Doctor who?"
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid. Hang on where Abby thought she would be with you
The doctor stumbles over his words slightly. Unsure whether to tell Tose the truth yet or not.
"Shes um.. back on the ship, not feeling well. Headache"
"Oohh right okay, her loss. Listen, what's a Chula warship?"
"Chula?"
The doctor leads them towards a ward, making sure to avoid the one with Abby as he is not ready for Rose to find out what happened just yet.
Jack scans one of the bodies.
"This just isn't possible. How could this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?"
"He said it was a warship. He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it - unless WE make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?"
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!"
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" the Doctor says angrily
"An ambulance! Look."
A hologram of the warship appears above the device.
"That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait..."
"Bait?"
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk
"You said it was a war ship."
"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"
"Just a couple more free-lancers."
"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour, I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain? God knows what your other companion is like."
Both Rose and the Doctor look uncomfortably at their clothes.
"Anyway... Whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship"
Rose looks around the room, concern showing on her face
"What is happening here, Doctor?"
"Human DNA's being rewritten... by an idiot."
"What d'you mean?"
" I dunno, some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"
Rose bends over one of the bodies, examining it, when suddenly, it sits up. All the others do the same. Rose jumps backwards. They all start saying "mummy?" repeatedly.
"What's happening?"Rose asks
"I don't know."
The gas-mask people all get out of bed.
The gas-mask people begin to enclose the Doctor, Rose and Jack.
"Don't let them touch you."
"What happens if they touch us? "
"You're looking at it."the doctor says as an image off abby quickly come to his mind.
They still chant, 'mummy' as they back the three of them against a wall.
the Doctor stares sternly around at them.
"Go to your room."
The gasmask people hesitate.
"I mean it! I am very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go... to... your... ROOM!"
He points violently in no particular direction, and miraculously, all the gas-mask people turn meekly away.
The Doctor sighs with relief.
"I'm really glad that worked. Those would've been TERRIBLE last words."