Chapter Five
St James's Park Station
The group arrived at the station next on the line from Westminster. As they entered the dimly lit station, they observed a large sign that read 'St James's Park' in big white writing across the familiar logo of the London Underground.
The station seemed rather dingy with the cracked, black and white tiled flooring that had a slightly mouldy and rotten look to them. There were advertisements flickering on screens across the marble walls of the station and a discrete sign hung from the ceiling reading 'Way Out' in luminous yellow lettering.
"That must be the way out" Andrew said rather stupidly.
"You don't say," Rachel said sarcastically shortly before looking to the Doctor, in hopes to impress him.
"Its very quiet" José stated
"Too quiet" Rachel wandered over to the Doctor, who currently was observing his surroundings "what now?"
"Well..." the Doctor began "we should probably take the way out"
The group cautiously walked over to the Doctor as he seemed to be the natural leader in this scenario. José had noticed that he was looked very young but seemed to have an endless expansion of knowledge and experience in tricky situations. Although one thing he had noticed in particular was that his eyes looked ancient and almost didn't fit the rest of his body in a way that confused José to the point in which he ignored it.
The Doctor waved his sonic screwdriver around like a wizard would do with a magic wand casting spells amongst the old abandoned station.
"Apparently there a densely populated life signals coming from above station"
"You mean the mothership right?" Rachel concluded
The Doctor smiled "I like you Rachel" his face turned thoughtful suddenly "perhaps you're right, but we have to be cautious"
"We can't just bloody walk up there and expect to be welcomed with open arms. I, for one, am not going up there" Andrew stamped his foot down in anger as a look of disgust flooded his face.
José stood by Andrew "I'm gonna stay here too. There's no way I'm going up there".
Rachel and the Doctor looked at the group and then turned to look at each other. The Doctor studied Rachel with his aged brown eyes in interest. She had the ember of light in her eyes that the Doctor always searched for in an associate. It was the burning light of adventure that only a few humans were capable of being in possession of.
Rachel grinned cheekily "just me and you then Doc,"
"No," he said in disappointment as she merrily walked away "no don't call me that" he shook his head slightly "just don't" he followed Rachel gingerly.
The two of them made their way up the stairs towards the barriers so that they could leave the station. The Doctor thought he'd spark a conversation.
"So what's your story?" He asked curiously
"What do you mean?" She looked confused
"Well, how did you get here?" He questioned
Rachel thought to herself as she continued walking towards the barriers. Flashbacks flashed before of her parents, her dad was a sensitive man, always smartly dressed with a huge grin on his face that could light up a room as he entered it. Her mum was the most beautiful woman she had met to this date. Flowing brown hair hung from her head in beautiful locks and her rosey cheeks and humble attitude were the first things you'd notice when you met her, although she was a fighter and didn't take shit from anybody.
"Well my Dad was a car salesman, my mum - a teacher'
"A car salesman? Eek" the Doctor joked
Rachel hit him on the arm before continuing.
"I was living with them when this all started. They left the house as soon as it all kicked off, claiming to look for my Grandmother... haven't seen them since really" she suddenly became quiet.
"We'll find them Rachel" the Doctor said kindly "but first we have to find the people behind this"
The two of them reached the barriers, all of which were rather conveniently open, leading out towards the foggy streets of London.
"How convenient" the Doctor said.
They exited the station and accessed their surroundings, a few zombies waddled around in the distant, only just in their field of view. The huge recognisable logo of the London underground stood behind them, with a large sign above that read '55 Broadway'.
"Of course!" The Doctor shouted in frustration "I'm so thick, too thick to have noticed the obvious" he repeatedly slammed his hand into his forehead.
"And what is the obvious?" Rachel asked patiently.
"The fog works as a perception filter"
"Yes, we know that already"
"But look around you" the Doctor shouted as the pieces of a puzzle were fitting together in his head.
"There's nothing here. Just a few empty cars, some zombies over there" she shrugged.
"In the corner of your eye, Rachel. Its the only way to penetrate the perception filter" the Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder.
She slowly moved her eyeball to the right whilst maintaining her head in a fixed position. As if my magic, a large metallic object seemed to appear in her field of vision. The construction had been there the whole time but it seemed that only now, she hsd noticed it.
The construction was silver in colour with four long prongs coming from each corner, elevating it from thd ground slightly. The overall shape seemed odd and slightly like a 3D rhombus but with additional aerials the stuck out at random areas of the ship. There was a wide door with a keypad to the right of it, presumably an entrance.
"The mothership," Rachel gasped.
"Nah, the mothership would be much larger" the Doctor smacked his glasses onto his face thoughtfully "this seems to be some kind of shuttle pod, the mothership will probably be orbiting Earth right now"
"Right" Rachel understood without struggle
"See" the Doctor pointed towards the aerials "collecting information and orders from another ship"
The door opened vertically and slammed onto the ground to reveal a stairway on the inside face of the door. Nothing stood in the way of the doorway, it was as if they were being summoned.
"Well," the Doctor glanced at a worried looking Rachel "Looks like we're expected".
The Doctor walked towards the door as Rachel followed, eager to find out what was happening but also filled with an increasing apprehension.
