"What the bloody hell does that mean, 'count the shadows?'" yelled an exasperated Mickey. Rose looked at the tall tree where Fawn's body was lying. There was one shadow cast where it should be, but adjacent to it was another shadow that wasn't where it ought to be.
"That tree has got two shadows," Martha bleating, having realised the same thing.
"Is it even remotely possible that extra shadow is what killed her?" Rory speculated.
"Well, it would certainly explain the note. And it wouldn't be the most far fetched thing the Gamemakers have ever done," added Rose, remembering the patches of Abzorbaloff skin dotting the ground of last year's arena.
"But," protested Mickey, "it's a shadow!"
"Yes," started Jack, "except now it's moved." In all the commotion, no one had really noticed.
They were suddenly interrupted by the familiar hum of a hovercraft circulating through the arena. Down reached a large metal claw, which picked up Fawn's lifeless skeleton, forever trapped in a permanent smirk. Her skull jerked back, and through what was left of her nose, Rose noticed the brain still lodged inside. A bit odd, thought Rose, for her body to be completely stripped of any soft parts except for her brain. The hovercraft flew off, shrinking into nothing but as small blip in the sky as it carried her away, eventually pulling her remains inside of the ship.
Rose shrieked and jumped away once she looked down and noticed the extra shadow inching toward her feet. Mickey kept on gnawing a hunk of badger meat.
"Mickey, the badger meat," directed Rory.
"What if I don't want to hand it over?" Martha glares, and Mickey immediately hands over the thigh.
"One, two, three," Rory said, and then he threw it into the shadow, which immediately was stripped of everything, just the bone left. As you can imagine, this caused quite a stir among the group, with a lot of shrieking, mostly by Mickey.
"How could a shadow do that?" Martha bubbled.
Rose looked at Jack, as if to say "what do we do?" Jack gave a small but concerned shrug. Mickey suddenly became very self-conscious as he glanced down and noticed he was standing on a shadow. This one didn't seem to be contaminated, but you can never be too careful.
"What are we going to do?" wailed Martha.
"Typically with things like this we just need to wait it out," pointed out Rory, "like with the Angels."
"We don't have time to wait that long," Jack countered, "we need a plan of attack."
"You can't attack a shadow," Rose chimed in.
Rose felt something pulling at her. Not physically pulling, but some other force that she could not explain. She looked up, and standing a few metres away, was the same man. The man in the brown trenchcoat. He was mouthing something, but she couldn't quite make it out.
His expression grew more agitated and desperate. His lips puckered out, then pulled back. That's when it hit her. "Run." He was telling her to run.
"We need to run," she said blatantly, still staring at the mysterious man. The man nodded, and pointed at Jack. Rose turned her head, but when she looked back where he had been standing, but the man had vanished. "Jack, we need to run," she said, still in a daze.
Jack trusted Rose unconditionally. If Rose said they needed to run, he was going to run. "We're running."
"But what about our stuff? It's still back at camp," asked Martha, "shouldn't we go and get it?"
"We should send a rescue party to go get our stuff," suggested Rose, "while the rest of us stay here."
"Yes, but who's going to go?" Jack countered.
"I will," volunteered Rory.
"I'll go too," offered Rose. Jack tried to protest.
"Rose, it's too dangerous. You can't go," he argued.
"Jack," she grabbed his hands, "I'm going with him, and that's that." Jack, realising there was nothing he could say or do to change her mind, sighed and wish her luck. "Thank you, Jack," Rose said, smiling warmly.
Seeing Rose with either Rory or Jack made Mickey want to vomit. What was he going to do? Murder them? That wouldn't work because one, both Jack and Rory could easily overpower him, and two, that wouldn't make Rose fancy him. It was starting to seem like a lost cause.
Mickey Smith was hopelessly in love with Rose Tyler. And for what? It's not like it would matter anyway. They're both going to be dead in a matter of days. Not that it softened the blow, of course. For Mickey it didn't matter. He wanted to be with Rose for however long he could. He wanted to run his fingers through her long, blonde hair. He wanted to brush his lips across hers. He wanted to pull her next to him and to hold her tight. He wanted to comfort her and tell her everything is going to be okay. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and keep her warm. He wanted to protect her from the demons that plagued her. He desperately wanted for her to love him.
He buried his face in his hands, and sighed. Martha, sensing his distress, came down and sat next to him. "She'll be back soon," she comforted.
"Is it really that obvious?" Mickey groaned.
"Sorry," she admitted.
"I didn't realise I was that transparent," he crowed.
"In the meantime, I'm here," Martha chimed, "I can keep you company while we wait for Miss Rose."
"I'd like that," Mickey smiled. Martha pulled him into a tight hug. And for once, Mickey didn't resist.
"Watch your step," warned Rory.
"Oi! I'll be careful," said Rose, exasperated.
"We've ought to be almost there," Rory concluded.
"Let's hope we don't step on any shadows in the meantime," Rose bleated. Rose tugged on her backpack strings and hopped along, carefully stepping around any shadows. They came over the edge of a hill, and suddenly, Jack, Mickey, and Martha came into view. Rose seemed to have forgotten about the contaminated shadows, and had let her guard down. "Jack!" she exclaimed, and broke into a run.
Mickey noticed a rogue shadow in Rose's path. His fight or flight instantly kicked in, and he bursted toward Rose, bolting toward her at an incredible pace. Mickey and Rose came closer together, between them a single shadow, and Rose was headed straight for it. "ROSE, NO," he screamed and pushed her out of the way, falling into the grasp of the shadow. He gave one final scream as some invisible force tore him apart. His skin melted away, his muscles vanished, his tendons, his veins, leaving only the brain and his skeleton. BOOM!
Rose fell down onto her knees and broke down. Jack, mouth agape, ran over to the sobbing Tyler. Hot, briny tears poured down her face, staining it with pain and loss. She looked up at Jack, who had on a solemn expression. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He walked around the shadow, and sat down next to Rose, pulling her into his arms, tightly holding her, running his hands through her long, blonde hair. "Everything is going to be okay," Jack comorted.
Martha, who had momentarily stepped away from camp, ran back as soon as she heard the cannon shot. Her line of vision coloured with the painful image of Jack holding Rose, with Rory standing close behind, shocked, in front of a skeleton was too much for her to handle. She ran over to the scene, as quick as she could, and leaned down on the other side of the shadow, which had now pulled away, opposite where Rose was kidding. Martha put her hand into where the shadow had been only moments before, but it was now seemingly safe, as her hand remained intact.
Suddenly, the shadow lurched out, and before Martha had time to react, it swarmed up her hand, tearing apart her flesh. The shadow was traveling up her arm and through her body. Rose, Jack, and Rory could only watch in horror as their second traveling companion in minutes was torn apart in front of their already tear-stained eyes. Martha's screams shook the entire valley, and in only a matter of a seconds, her skeleton fell against Mickey's. BOOM! Rose was hysterical at this point, as was Rory. Jack held Rose tightly, and she buried her face in his arms. Rory simply turned away, too horrified to look at the scene. "Come on, let's get out of here," Jack whispered. He helped Rose up, and walked her off, and along with Rory, who had grabbed their stuff, walked off.
The familiar hum of the hovercraft filled the air, and it descended, bearing it's giant, metal claw to retrieve the dead from the arena. It lurched for Mickey and Martha's skeletons in one foul swoop. Together, they were pulled up into the hovercraft, which whisked their remains away. Rose watched the hovercraft vanish as it flew up in the sky. The craft leaked out exhaust fumes, that almost seemed to form some sort of shape. Not a shape, words actually. Certain words that Rose was becoming all too familiar with by now: Bad Wolf.