Chapter 3 – Finding the others……

The Doctor scooped up Lily in his arms and ran with her all the way to the TARDIS; Rose was slightly in front with her key in her right hand. After the door had been opened, the Doctor rushed inside with Lily and carried her to the bedroom. He laid her on the bed as Rose pulled back the covers. The Doctor could see the pain in Lily's eyes as she squirmed in agony. He got Rose to get the medical kit from the medical suite and then he started to clean the stab wound. Bile clung to the lining of the Doctor's throat as he thought of what had happened to this child. How could she have survived for this long? She must have been lying there for at least ten minutes before he came. He could tell the timings from the amount of blood she had lost because he was clever, but now he felt like it was a curse to know so much. The Doctor forced the bile down and continued working while Rose stood next to them holding the Lily's hand and trying to comfort her.

She had never been in so much pain before. Focusing had never been harder as she felt like she was being stabbed over and over in the same spot. Agony twisted through her as she gripped Rose's hand. That was her name, wasn't it? She thought as her mind began to crack under the strain of trying to stay awake. Every time she wanted to embrace the cool, refreshing darkness, Rose would tell her to fight it, try to stay awake. But could she? How could she survive any longer? No painkillers or anaesthetics, just pain and sadness.

The Doctor stitched up Lily's wound within 5 minutes but he could sense that it had felt much longer to her. The minutes would have dragged out for eternity. He should know; it had happened to him before; twice. The Doctor worried that she had lost too much blood to survive but her determination (and Rose's encouragement to stay awake) had helped her pull through. He perched down on the bed next to Lily, just as Rose had to answer her phone. The Doctor stroked the hair out of her face and watched her fall into an uneasy sleep. He knew it would be the hardest for her during the next few hours, but he couldn't help worrying about her.

"Who was it on the phone?" The Doctor called to Rose once she had finished her call.

"My mum, she's got to this world, she wants to see me. Mum didn't sound right, like something was wrong."

"She's probably fine Rose. Don't worry!"

"I'd better go see her, is that OK with you?"

"Course it is. I'll be here when you get back."

"Thanks, Doctor" Rose said as she left the TARDIS.

Sunlight streamed onto Lily's face as she awoke with a start. It was agony to move and she felt dizzy even lifting her head. As she laid her head down again, Lily tried to remember what had happened. Had she been drunk or something? No, that didn't sound right. That's when the memories came flooding back to her. She wept for a while as she remembered the knife, protruded from her stomach after it pierced through her flesh. Screams, her screams, sounded in her head as she tried to move once more. After 20 agonizing minutes, Lily managed to stand up but the dizziness overcame her and she collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

The Doctor came running after he heard a THUMP from the bedroom. He skidded to a halt in the doorframe of the bedroom and looked down at Lily in a heap on the floor. He was with her in a flash and crouched down beside, lifting her head to look into her eyes.

"Thank God she's only unconscious!" The Doctor thought as he carried her back over to the bed.

Laying her in bed, the Doctor checked to see that she hadn't hurt herself and was relieved when he found she hadn't. He pulled the covers over her and decided to stay with her until she awoke. The Doctor settled himself into an armchair in the corner of the room and rested his head on his right hand.

In the lab technicians room, unknown to anyone else (except Lily), tanks containing students lined the walls. A scientist wondered lazily down the walkway in between the tanks and thought of how the experiment had gone so terribly wrong. Not that it mattered to him; he would just dispose of them and use some more students to take their place in the laboratories. He felt it had been a shame to waste these children like that, but progress was progress and it didn't matter if some died. So long as they could save others in the future.

One of the students, another 15 year old girl with shoulder length brown hair, sat huddled in the corner of one of the tanks. She had been in pain for so long that she didn't notice, until five minutes afterwards, that the air had become thin and she was starting to choke.

The Doctor sat in one of the TARDIS bedrooms, shocked at what he had heard. Lily had briefly explained, in between flinching in pain, about how she had spotted students being taken into the science corridor.

"You've got to save them. My friend Emma is in there."

The Doctor bounced up from his seat and rushed out of the TARDIS. As he ran towards the school, the time lord could here a car driving out of the gates behind him and turned round to see three scientists speeding off into the distance. Worried of what had happened to the students, the doctor ran as quickly as he could to the fire escape that led to the science corridor. Running through the open fire escape and down the science corridor, the Doctor frantically searched for signs of the students who had been taken captive. He opened the door of the lab technicians' room and gasped. The whole lab was covered in clear tanks across the walls and the lights shone an eerie, green glow that reflected off the metallic pipes, snaking around the room.

The Doctor froze at the sight before him. In every tank lay a child, stone cold dead. The scientists had murdered the students in the lab and a group of 3 science teachers lay dead in the middle of the room. Stepping over them, the Doctor approached each tank in turn, looking at every person who had been killed. A tear ran down his cheek as he passed an 11 year old girl with long, blonde hair and glasses who was curled in the front right-hand corner of the tank where there should have been a gap to breathe. Her head was pressed against the glass and tears had run down the front of the tank. The Doctor, choked with emotions, stepped away from the child and continued down the passageway.

He stopped suddenly as he noticed the tank at the end, on the right-hand side of the passageway, contained a 15 year old girl that was still alive. Her eyes had nearly closed completely and she barely moved. The Doctor bounded forward, clutching onto his sonic screwdriver and opened the tank in a flash of electric blue light. The teenager tumbled out of the tank, choking on the fresh air as she lied on the floor. The Doctor knelt beside her, noticing that there was a sheet of paper on top of her cell. He scraped it of the top of the tank and noticed that the name read "Emma." He shoved the paper in his pocket and carried Emma out through the school as fast as he could.

Inside the TARDIS, Lily sat on the TARDIS seat, clutching her stomach. Where was the Doctor? Was everyone OK? She thought of the people she had seen being dragged down the corridor, her friends, people she had seen walk pass her in the corridors. Kia, a year seven girl with long, blonde hair and glasses, had been pulled along with Emma. Lily could still record vividly the sadness in her eyes. Would the Doctor get there in time to save them all?

As she thought of her friends, the Doctor rushed through the door, holding a girl in his arms. It was Emma. Lily ran forwards, ignoring the agonizing pain of doing so and knelt down next to Emma as the Doctor laid her on the TARDIS floor. The Doctor put on his glasses and started to examine her…