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At the end of the alleyway was another door, and the Doctor wasted no time sonicking it open. He stepped through with Martha and they were greeted with a thick fog that threatened to choke them.

They were standing on a small platform overlooking thousands of hovering combie van's like the one that had taken Rose, the sound of car horns beeping and the hum of engines surrounding them.

"What is this stuff?" Martha coughed, covering her mouth with the collar of her jacket.

The Doctor copied her, his coat muffling his answer. "Smells like exhaust fumes."

He was about to tell Martha to go back to the alley when the door to the van at the end of their platform opened and a man appeared from inside. His face was concealed by goggles and a large scarf, and he was wrapped in a leather jacket, long pants, and gloves..

"Hey! You daft street struts," he called. "What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!"

The Doctor grabbed Martha's hand and towed her to the van. As soon as they were both inside the doors shut behind them.

"Did you ever see the like?" The man exclaimed while a woman in the front seat passed them oxygen masks.

"Here you go," she said pleasantly, helping Martha to put hers on.

"Just standing there," said the man incredulously. "Breathing it in!"

He took off his scarf and goggles to reveal fine fur and cat-like features. Martha jumped back slightly in shock but thankfully neither of their hosts seemed to notice. She shot the Doctor a wide-eyed look and he nodded to tell her that they were fine.

"There's this story," the cat-man continued, unaware of the exchange. "Says back in the old days, on junction forty-seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet."

"Oh, you're making it up," the woman protested as the cat-man shuffled around the two new passengers to reach the driver's seat.

"A fifty-foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose."

"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting."

"What, did you never pick your nose?"

If he wasn't so worried about Rose, the Doctor could have laughed at Martha's bewildered expression. The van in front of them moved forward about a metre and the woman jumped, tapping the cat-man's arm urgently.

"Bran, we're moving!"

"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." He pushed down what appeared to be a handbrake and they drove forward for a second before stopping behind the other car again.

"Twenty yards! We're having a good day. And who might you two be? Very well-dressed for hitchhikers."

"Thanks," the Doctor said, taking off his oxygen mask. "Sorry, this is Martha Jones and I'm the Doctor."

"Medical man!" The cat-man exclaimed delightly. "Haha! My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."

"Nice to meet you," Valerie smiled.

"And that's the rest of the family behind you," Brannigan added.

The Doctor drew aside the curtain that blocked off the back half of the van to reveal a basket of small kittens with bows around their necks.

"Ah, that's nice. Hello," the Doctor cooed as he and Martha gently picked up one each.

"They're adorable," Martha grinned, stroking the fur of a grey and white kitten with a yellow ribbon. "How old are they?"

"Just two months," Valerie said adoringly.

"Poor little souls," Brannigan remarked. "They've never known the ground beneath their paws - children of the motorway," he added, at the Doctor's confused glance.

"What, they were born in here?"

"We couldn't stop," Valerie admitted. "We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance."

"What, you've been driving for two months?" The Doctor questioned, wondering how they'd managed to keep themselves sane. If he'd been locked in the TARDIS for two months he might have had a mental breakdown, and the TARDIS was huge! This place barely had enough room to fit the four adults and the tiny litter of kittens.

"Do I look like a teenager?" Brannigan chuckled. "We've been driving for twelve years now."

"What?!" Martha cried, her jaw dropping.

"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds. Feels like yesterday."

"Feels like twelve years to me," Valerie teased.

"Ah, sweetheart, but ya still love me." He tickled his wife and she swatted him off, laughing.

"Twelve years?" The Doctor interrupted. "How far did you come? Where did you start?"

"Battery Park. It's five miles back."

"Hang on," Martha said. "You've only moved five miles in twelve years?"

"I think they're a bit slow," Brannigan commented and the Doctor placed the kitten he was holding back with the rest of the litter.

"Where are you from?" Asked Valerie kindly.

"A long way away," Martha answered vaguely.

The Doctor was getting impatient again. Rose was out there somewhere, lost, possibly hurt, probably scared, and they were talking about trivial things like where they'd come from!

"I've got to get out. My –"

He broke himself off, unsure how to finish that sentence. His friend? His best friend? Wasn't she more than that though? He ended up saying: "Rose in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. We should get back to the TARDIS."

He reached over and opened the car door again, momentarily forgetting that the platform was behind them now.

"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by," Brannigan informed him.

He slid the door shut again, coughing from the smog.

"You're passengers now!"

"Well how long until the next lay-by?" Martha inquired, once again asking all the right questions.

"Oh… six months?"

x

"There must be an awful lot of people on the motorway to cause a six year traffic jam," Rose concluded after Cheen had told her a bit about the situation for the citizens of New, New York.

"I don't think anyone knows the exact amount. Must be hundreds of us," the girl answered, rummaging around and pulling out a bag of what seemed to be thin, dry biscuits. "Here we go. Hungry?"

"Ta," Rose said, accepting the proffered food. "So what makes this fast lane so much quicker anyway?"

"Not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there. It's right at the bottom, underneath the traffic jam. Rumour has it you can reach up to thirty miles per hour."

Rose pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows, pretending to be impressed. She looked around the tiny space, noting with despair that it was too small for the TARDIS to appear. She couldn't imagine being trapped in here for six years, no matter how nice Cheen and Milo were.

"So how are you going to survive in here without stopping?" She asked, wondering if she could maybe sneak away when they bought the supplies they'd eventually need.

She took a large bite of her biscuit as Cheen said, "Oh, we stocked up. Got self-replicating fuel, muscle stimulants for exercise, and there's a chemical toilet at the back. And all waste products are recycled as food."

Rose nearly choked on her mouthful of biscuit.

"Thanks for the warning," she mumbled sarcastically.

"Oh 'nother gap," Milo said. "This is brilliant!"

"Fast lane access," an automated voice responded.

Milo picked up the radio communicator and signed in. "Car four six five diamond six on descent to fast lane, thank you very much."

"Please drive safely," replied the computer.

x

The Doctor was busy trying to hack into the onboard computer.

"I need to talk to the police," he requested through the communicator.

"Thank you for your call," a programmed male voice answered. "You have been placed on hold."

"But you're the police!" The Doctor protested, disbelievingly.

"Thank you for your call," repeated the computer. "You have been placed on hold."

He gave up on the system and turned back to Brannigan and Valerie. He couldn't be stuck here for six months, Rose could be in danger. Even if she was okay, there was still Martha to think about. He'd brought her here. If they were trapped in this place for half a year it would be his fault.

"Is there anyone else?" The Doctor asked the couple, racking his brain for a solution, or for someone he could contact to help them. "I once met the Duke of Manhattan. Is there any way of getting through to him?"

"Oh now, ain't you lordly?" Brannigan scoffed.

"I've got to find Rose!" He practically shouted back.

Valerie shook her head. "You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed."

"Can you talk to the other cars?" Martha asked, evidently thinking along the same lines as the Doctor.

"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list," Brannigan informed them. He twisted in his seat so that he was once again facing the front, and poked at a screen until a picture of two elderly women popped up. "Now, let's see. Who's nearby? Ah, the Cassini sisters!"

He picked up the radio communicator and spoke into it jovially. "Be still your hearts my handsome girls, it's Brannigan here!"

"Get off the line, Brannigan," replied an annoyed voice belonging to an older woman. "You're a pest and a menace."

"Oh, come on, now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

"You know full well we're not sisters," the woman said crossly. "We're married."

"Ooo, stop that modern talk, I'm an old-fashioned cat." Brannigan rebuffed. "Now, I've got a pair of hitchhikers here, one calls himself the Doctor."

The Doctor grabbed the speaker off Brannigan impatiently. "Hello. Sorry. I'm looking for someone called Rose Tyler. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles, but I dunno which one."

"Wait a minute," a second elderly woman's voice chimed in. "Could I ask, what entrance did they use?"

"Where were we?" The Doctor asked Brannigan quietly.

"Pharmacy Town."

"Pharmacy Town," the Doctor repeated into the communicator so the couple could hear. "About twenty minutes ago."

"Let's have a look."

"Just my luck to marry a car-spotter," grumbled the first woman good-naturedly.

"In the last half hour, fifty-three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction," reported the second lady after a moment.

"Anything more specific?" The Doctor asked, a little desperately.

"All in good time," placated Mrs. Cassini. "Was she car-jacked by two people?"

"Yes, she was, yeah."

"There we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four six five diamond six."

"That's it!" The Doctor exclaimed, hearts pounding double time at the thought of being able to contact Rose, or at the very least her kidnappers. Who the Doctor knew he would tear apart if they'd so much as scratched Rose.

"So how do we find them?"

"Ah," the voice said regretfully. "Now there I'm afraid I can't help."

"Can we call them on this thing?" The Doctor directed to Brannigan. "We've got their number. Diamond six."

"Not if they're designated fast lane," he shook his head. "It's a different class."

"Any chance we could trace them?" Martha proposed. "Track their car even though we can't call them?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Valerie apologetically.

"You could try the police," one of the Cassini's suggested.

"They put me on hold."

"You'll have to keep trying," was the grave reply. "There's no one else."

x

"You see?" Milo smiled at them, pointing to a small screen where their car number was descending through a bunch of lines that Rose took to represent the other cars. "Another ten layers to go. We're scorching."

An ominous roar reverberated through the air from below the van. Rose craned her neck to look over Milo and Cheen's heads, but all she could see through the dashboard window was a dense layer of smog. She could almost imagine the foreboding roars belonged to some huge creature was just waiting for them to sink down close enough to devour them.

"What is that?" She asked the young couple.

"But it's that noise, isn't it?" Cheen said apprehensively, speaking to Milo. "It's like Kate said - the stories, they're true."

"Stories?" Rose cut in quickly, having been with the Doctor long enough to know she was probably about to end up facing a monster that the locals thought was only a myth.

"It's the sound of the air vents," reasoned Milo. "That's all. The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel they got air vents."

Cheen shook her head and grinned. "No, but the stories are much better. They say people go missing on the motorway. Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again, 'cause there's something living down there in the smoke. Something huge, and hungry. And if you get lost on the road… it's waiting for you."

All three passengers paused as another bellow rose from the smog, Cheen's eerie tale raising the hair on the back of their necks. Rose rubbed the top her arms to get rid of the goosebumps that had erupted there.

"But like I said," Milo told them after a moment, sounding a lot less confident. "Air vents. Going down to the next layer."

He picked up the radio walkie-talkie again. "Car four six five diamond six, on descent."

x

"We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down!" The Doctor demanded.

"Not in a million years," refused Brannigan.

"You've got three passengers," the Time Lord pointed out.

"I'm still not going."

Martha glanced back and forth between the two men, both of whom were refusing point blank to surrender their positions.

Brannigan was glaring stubbornly at the Doctor, and the Time Lord looked almost desperate with worry.

"She's alone, and she's lost," he said in a low voice full of fear and guilt. "She doesn't belong on this planet, and it's all my fault. I'm asking you, Brannigan, I'm begging you, take me down."

Martha honestly wasn't sure how Brannigan could object after that – she certainly wouldn't have been able to – but to everyone's surprise it was Valerie who cut in, her voice sharp.

"That's a no. And that's final." The Doctor pulled back from Brannigan to stare at her, and she added: "I'm not risking the children down there."

"Why not?" He latched on to the new information, probably analyzing all the possible meanings behind the statement. "What's the risk? What happens down there?"

"We're not discussing it," Valerie stated firmly. "The conversation is closed."

"But surely you could just tell us why?" Martha pressed. Neither Valerie nor Brannigan answered her.

She was really worried for Rose. Not quite to the extent the Doctor was, of course, but she truly liked the other girl and considered her a friend despite the fact they'd only known each other for three days. But with the owners of the vehicle vehemently against going down to find her, Martha felt useless. The least she could do was help the Doctor figure out why the other pair wouldn't move to the Fast Lane.

"So we keep on driving," the Doctor said with a trace of bitterness.

"Yes, we do."

"Until when?" Martha wondered.

"'Til the journey's end."

The Doctor was clearly fed up by this point. He reached past Brannigan and snatched the radio communicator from where it rested. "Mrs. Cassini, this is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?"

"Oh, we were amongst the first," the lady replied. "It's been twenty-three years now."

"But, in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?"

There was a stunned silence as everyone exchanged troubled glances.

"I'm not sure," the second Mrs. Cassini replied slowly.

"Look at your notes," the Doctor insisted. "Any police?"

"Not as such."

"Or an ambulance? Rescue service?" He questioned, keeping his gaze steady on Brannigan. "Anything official? Ever?"

Valerie's hand jumped nervously to her mouth as Mrs. Cassini said, "I can't keep a note of everything," somewhat shakily.

"What if there's no one out there?"

"There's no point scaring them," Martha interrupted as Brannigan yanked the communicator out of his hand, knowing that there was nothing the Cassinis could do if that was the truth.

"Someone's got to ask," the Doctor asserted. "Because this lot might not talk about it, but it's there, in their eyes. What if the traffic jam never stops?"

"There's a whole city above us," Brannigan defended anxiously. "The mighty city state of New, New York. They wouldn't just leave us."

"In that case, where are they, hmm?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. Martha bit her lip. He couldn't be right, could he? But why else would the Cassinis have to travel for 23 years if they were only going a few miles?

The Doctor continued his unsettling speech. "What if there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing? Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round and round, never stopping. Forever."

"Shut up!" Valerie cried. "Just shut up!"

There was a crackle of electricity and the dashboard screen lit up with the image of the same woman that Martha, Rose, and the Doctor had seen back in Pharmacy Town.

"This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic; the perfect setting for the daily contemplation."

"You think you know us so well, Doctor," Brannigan affirmed. "But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other."

"This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe."

A hymn filtered through the radio and Valerie and Brannigan began to sing softly along.

On a hill, far away, stood an old, rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.

Martha recognised it, her family had gone to church every Sunday when she was little, but it was the first time she'd ever been moved by it.

And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.

By some intuition she just knew that every passenger, in every car on the motorway, thousands of them, were all brought together in this one moment by the symbol of their suffering. Sharing the burden the only way they could, by pouring their heart into the song, and her eyes filled with tears at the thought.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, 'til my trophies at last I lay down.

The Doctor was silent, face unreadable. Martha wondered if he was thinking about Rose, then imagined Rose herself, probably listening to this very song. The music swelled and Martha couldn't stop the tear that escaped her as she joined in, murmuring the last few words of the hymn.

I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.

The last haunting chords echoed away. Martha wiped away her tears and breathed deeply, knowing that she would never, ever, forget that moment.

The Doctor was the one who broke the silence.

"If you won't take me, I'll go down on my own," he said, determined. He strode past Martha to a sealed hatch on the floor and buzzed the outline with his sonic screwdriver.

"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan demanded.

"Finding my own way," the Doctor answered. "I usually do."

"Capsule open," said an automatic voice as the Doctor pulled the hatch open. Martha could see hundreds of cars hovering below them through the haze of exhaust fumes. Was he really going to jump?

"Here we go," he said passing his coat to Martha. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat."

"I'm coming with you," Martha decided, handing the beloved coat to Valerie. There was no way she was letting him do this alone.

"Martha, you can't," he said softly. "Rose is already in danger, I can't risk your safety too. If anything happens to either of you, it's on me."

"No, it's not. I'm making a choice here, one that you didn't force me into. If anything happens to me it'll be because I made this decision. But Rose is my friend too, even if I've only just met her, and if I have the chance to help her then I have to take it."

The Doctor stared at her.

"Oh, Martha Jones," he said after a minute, a smile pulling up the sides of his lips. "We definitely made the right choice with you."

Martha felt heat rise to her cheeks at the compliment and returned his grin, proud that she was proving herself.

"Come on then," he said, once again peering into the hole to the car directly below them.

"But you can't jump!" Valerie exclaimed.

"If it's any consolation Valerie, right now I'm having kittens," the Doctor informed her. Martha knew the feeling. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest and her mouth was dry at the thought of what she was about to do.

"This Rose," Brannigan said suddenly. "She must mean an awful lot to you."

The Doctor's head shot up.

"She… she's everything," he said hoarsely. "And the last time I saw her… I was avoiding her."

Martha remembered how upset Rose had seemed, back when they first saw Sally Calypso on the screen in Pharmacy Town. She'd insisted nothing was wrong but Martha could tell she wasn't, and now she knew why.

The Doctor raised his eyes to meet Martha's, and her blood ran cold at his next words. "Because I lied. Couldn't help it, just lied. And I'm so sorry, Martha."

Before she could question him he broke his gaze and said to Brannigan and Valerie in an overly cheerful voice, "Bye then!"

He dropped through the hole onto the roof of the car below.

"He's completely insane!" Valerie cried, as Martha prepared herself to follow.

"That," Brannigan agreed. "And a bit magnificent!"

"Tell me about it," Martha snorted, giving them a small wave goodbye. She lowered herself down, still gripping the edge of the hole tightly, and decided that letting go without thinking too much would be the easiest way to go.

As soon as she fell the Doctor caught her, having already opened the hatch to the car they were on top of. The hazy air burned at Martha's lungs and the Doctor coughed violently as he helped her to get into the new vehicle first.

"Who the hell are you?" Said the driver, a pale man with white hair. Glancing around, Martha realised that the entire car's interior was devoid of colour.

"Sorry," the Doctor told him. "Motorway Foot Patrol. We're doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?"

"Well, not very much," the man complained. "Junction Five's been closed for three years."

The Doctor sonicked the hatch on the ground and they once again heard a programmed voice say, "Capsule open."

"Thank you. Your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!"

He swung from the hatch until another car stopped beneath him.

"Thank you! Sorry!" Martha called as she followed him. He caught her once again and they made their way into a third car, this one containing two young Asian women and a lime green floor.

The Doctor repeated his cover story and the driver told him they could do with a new brake system.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Your comments have been noted. Do you mind if I borrow this?" He asked, picking up a purple bandana and tying it over his mouth. "Not my colour, but thank you very much. Martha, you might want one too."

"Sorry," Martha apologized as one of the women wordlessly handed her a second bandana, this one blue.

The next carriage contained a pair of nudists, and the one after that a red-skinned man.

The Doctor abandoned his story quickly, and Martha soon lost count of the number of cars they'd entered, leaving behind a trail of "excuse me", "sorry", "thank you"'s as they jumped from van to van.

Martha had never had more fun.

I'm actually really excited for the next chapter. Because Rose and Martha are obviously very different people, Rose is going to have a very different idea of how to get out of danger from the Macra... I wonder if it will work...

Please review!