The next morning, I bolted up with a gasp. In my half awake state, I had assumed that someone had found me and taken me to the aliens. I wasn't fully awake to comprehend what actually was going on.

"Oh no!" I said in fear. "They've captured me!"

Just then, as I was still trying to figure out how to escape, there was a knock on my door.

"Cass?" A concerned female voice called through the door. "You alright, love?"

I kept quite, grabbing the top of my comforter. Maybe whoever it was, would go away soon and I'd be able to concentrate on getting out of here. I didn't want to be brainwashed, or even possibly killed.

My body tensed as I heard another knock. Suddenly, the door opened slowly. My eyes widened in fear as it opened fully and Donna popped her head in. immediately, the events from last night hit me and my body started to relax.

"Just checkin' on ya." She said. "I could hear you screaming something from my room."

"Yeah." I said, swallowing. "I'm fine. For a second, I thought that they'd found me and had captured me."

Even though I was fine now, my heart was still pounding. I wasn't sure why I was still scared. There wasn't any reason for me to be. The Doctor and Donna had made sure of that, but there was still that small fear that someone (whether it was one of the aliens or one of their brainwashed minions) would find me and take me away.

Donna must have noticed my trepidation, because she walked over and put an arm around my shoulders. It was a comforting feeling.

"Blimey, you've had a tough go of things, haven't you?" She asked sympathetically.

I nodded my head. "Like I said last night. It's been hard for me. I've had to be extra vigilant that no one catches me. I've just been on high alert. Every sound I hear puts me on edge. I'm constantly afraid that they're going to find me and brainwash me."

I looked down at my hand and started to feel myself start cry again. "Not to mention that everyone I love is brainwashed too. Every time I chanced going out during the day, I'd sneak over to see them. And every time I did, my heart would break because they're not them anymore. They're mindless and obedient to someone else."

I stopped for a second to take a breath while Donna kept making small noises of empathy. Honestly, I was glad to tell someone this. Keeping it all in was hurting me more than I knew.

"I can't stand seeing them like this. I can't stand seeing my older sister be a part of the aliens' security team. Every time I went out at night, I risked being caught by her. I know she wouldn't hesitate to turn me in. I don't even know if I could fight her. I can't stand seeing anyone like this. I just need to have my city back."

I finally stopped talking and turned to look at Donna, who was looking at me with such compassion that I felt like I could start crying again. "Anyways, I'm sorry to burden you with this. I just needed someone to talk to."

"Well I'd expect you would have a lot to say after keeping all of that in and not being able to talk to anyone about that." Donna said. "But the good thing is that you're still toughing this out. Plus, I think that the only reason you haven't turned yourself in or given up is because somewhere deep inside, you know that you'll get through this and that everything will get back to normal."

I smiled a little. "That's pretty much what the Doctor told me last night." I said.

"The Doctor may be a bit dense at times, but trust me when I tell you that he'll do everything in his power to stop them and save your town." Donna said seriously.

"Ah, heard my name there." The Doctor said, grinning as he stood in the doorway. He looked wide awake and was already dressed in his pinstriped suit.

"Oi, you shoo." Donna said, giving him a slight glare. "We're having a girl's moment."

"Alright. Alright. I'm going." He said, putting his hands up. "Meet me in the console room when you're finished." He walked away with his hands in his pockets, whistling.

"Anyways." Donna started, shaking her head. "You've just gotta keep up that hope. It'll get better soon." She said, kindly. "Now, why don't you get dressed. I suspect the Doctor's gonna get antsy soon."

I laughed as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. After getting out of the bed, I walked over to the closet and managed to put together an outfit. After dressing, I walked out of the room.

While looking for the console room, I got lost a few times. I managed to find a huge library with one of the biggest fireplaces I'd ever seen, a swimming pool, and what looked to be a garden with all different types of flowers and plants growing there. I wasn't sure how long I'd been, but I finally found myself at the right place.

"Well that took a while." The Doctor commented dryly when I walked in. "Ow!" He said, after Donna had smacked him on the back of the head.

"Well it would've been nice if someone had given me directions." I grumbled. "I got lost about 3 times before I finally found it."

"Well now that you're finally here, we can get started." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"What exactly do you mean by get started?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you figure out how to defeat them?"

"I think I might've." The Doctor replied. He turned to me. "You said they were able to brainwash everyone through sound transmission, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. They were sending some type of subliminal message through the radio waves and TV waves. At least that what it seemed like to me."

"No. That would make absolute sense." The Doctor said thoughtfully. "They would have needed a way to take control of everyone without anyone suspecting. As well as not doing it too quickly."

I nodded my head. That made sense to me. It would have had to be subtle. They were smart, I had to give them that. Smart and calculating. There was one thing, though that I needed answers to and apparently Donna did too, because she voiced the same question that was in my head.

"So then, if that's the case, why wasn't Cass affected?" She asked the Doctor.

"Certainly can't be because I have some type of superhuman ability to resist mind control. I'm not that special." I muttered.

"Well no." He admitted. "You're 100% human." He said. "But that doesn't mean you're not special. See, most humans either completely accept certain notions or ideas with completely blind faith. Or, they're suspicious of anything that's just a little bit out of the realm of possibilities." He paused a bit as I waited for him to continue. "But you. You have that rare ability to have both. You accepted that they were real, but you picked up on the fact that they had a more sinister plan. So that's why you weren't affected." He said.

I sighed. "I just wish I weren't the only human who thought like this. It would've made things a whole lot easier."

"Well, you can dwell about that later." The Doctor said, striding to the door. "Right now, I believe we have a town to save."

He opened the door, only for us to see another man standing there. He looked to be around my age, with chin length sandy blonde hair. I was about to scream i.n fear, but there was something about him that made me stop. His hazel eyes were filled with surprise, as well as almost looking weary He also had the slightly raggedy look I'd had before I'd had a night of uninterrupted sleep.

"Oh, I uh, wasn't expecting anyone in here." He stammered a bit. "I was um, actually planning on resting up against it."

"That seems to be a common theme." The Doctor said meaningfully, looking at me.

"Hey, the only reason I ended up here was because I twisted my ankle and it was the closest thing I could see to lean on." I said, trying to defend myself.

"Wait, you're not affected?" The guy asked me, in surprised.

I shook my head. "Nope." I said.

"I thought I was the only one." He said in relief.

"I thought I was the only person too." I said.

We stood looking at each other for a while. For me, it really was a relief. Sure, it was a good thing I'd run into the Doctor and Donna when I had, because I needed to talk to someone, but they hadn't been dealing with a year of not talking to anyone. Neither of them had been the one who had thought they were the only one who was thinking clearly. Who was depressed because she thought she was alone.

Until now. I somehow felt a connection to him. Maybe it was because we were the only two who hadn't been affected. Maybe it was something deeper than that. Either way, I wasn't alone.

"So uh, what's your name?" He asked.

"Cass." I said. "Cass Newman."

"Well, Cass Newman. It's really great to meet you." He said. "I'm Jake Martin."

"Nice to meet you, Jake Martin." I said.

Clearly, after a year of not being social, both of us were a little bit rusty on our people skills. The Doctor cleared his throat loudly.

"Well, I'm glad you two introuced yourselves, but we do need to get going if we're going to stop the Mrusukas." He said, sounding impatient.

Donna elbowed him and gave him a look. "Oi, spaceman." She said. "They just found out that they're the only two in this city not brainwashed. Give them a moment."

The Doctor started to say something, but went silent at the look she was still giving him.

"Alright. Fine." He said in defeat. "But we do need to hurry."

"You look really familiar, though." Jake said

"I do?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I feel like I've seen you somewhere." He replied.

"Well, I do work at the Lavender cafe." I said. "Or, I should say, did work there."

"That's where I've seen you!" He said. "You make a mean Chai tea latte."

I blushed. "Thanks." I sobered up. "I miss making drinks." I said.

"I miss designing buildings." He said in a nostalgic tone. "But I'm glad I found another survivor." He smiled at me.

"Me too." I said. "I've gone through a year in hiding and not talking to anyone until I met these two." I said, pointing to the Doctor and Donna.

"Wait, you said something eariler about twisting your ankle. It looks fine to me." He said, looking down at both of my ankles.

"Yeah, Um that's actually because he healed it." I pointed to the Doctor.

"How could he have fixed it that quickly?" Jake asked, confused.

"Um, well he actually gave me a shot of some type of sap from um, another planet." I said, awkwardly.

Jake's eyes went wide in surprise. "Wait, you mean to tell me that he healed you with something from another planet?" I nodded. "So does that mean that he's not human either?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"That would be correct." I said. "But he's on our side. He actually has a plan to stop the aliens.' I said.

"Right, and in order to put this plan into action, we actually have to go do it." The Doctor said, sounding impatient again.

"Ok, Ok. We're going." I grumbled. Jake still looked confused. "Don't worry. I'll explain on the way." I said as we started walking.

Donna just sighed and rolled her eyes. Clearly, she was used to the Doctor's impatient nature.