Survivors
I'm going to be pretty busy for the rest of the weekend, so this probably won't be updated until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Okay, here's something I will apologize for. This story is much longer than I originally intended. Thank you all for being patient. The chapter after the next one will start sloping towards the end. And we'll have the most exciting revelation party. I'll bring biscuits, who'll bring tea?
owning nothing
If a London Underground station could be described as bustling, this place was completely packed. People, all dirty and scrawny, all wearing the same expression of complete and utter exhaustion, were crammed from one tiled wall to the Other. They milled slowly across the platforms and the tracks, listless as zombies. Gwen let out a quiet gasp of horror.
Juliette heard. The eight of them stood at the top step of the stairs leading down into the station. "This is all that's left of London."
"How many?" asked the Doctor.
"Not done a proper census," replied Juliette. "Last guess was something like seven or eight hundred. An' every single one of them's broken."
"How do you mean broken?" said the Doctor, raking the crowd with his dark calculating eyes.
Juliette turned to him. "Have you ever lost someone, Doctor? Someone you love more than anything else in the world? Have them just ripped away for no reason, and it hurts so much your body won't function?"
The Doctor waited before answering, "Yes."
"It's happened to every single person down there. See, before the massacres began," Juliette brushed a strand of caramel colored hair out of her eyes, "there was the Disappearance. Half the population of the world vanished-" she snapped her fingers "-into thin air. "Just like that. No pattern, no science, no ransom. Nothing. And then the Toclafane started killing."
"When you say 'disappeared'," said Owen, "do you mean…"
"I mean one morning we woke up and they were gone. Like they'd never even existed. We've been trying to get them back, trying to capture a Toclafane to get some answers, but when they come, they come in their hundreds. It's proven nearly impossible." She sighed. "And now there's you four. Still alive, unarmed, traumatized by the looks of it, but aren't we all."
"Ma'am," said the tallest soldier, leaning close, "protocol is to take all newcomers to-"
"Yes, I know, thank you Ryan." Juliette started down the stairs and beckoned for them to follow her. "You've got to meet the boss lady."
The despondency of the dull-eyed masses took on new meaning as the four of them were led down the stairs and through the thick of them, and barely looked at once the Doctor accidentally trod on a woman's foot, but she didn't even look up. He was beginning to fear that their situation had not improved in the slightest.
After a trek of wending their way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd which seemed to take no time at all, they reached the public toilet. Juliette rapped four times on the door, and it creaked open, revealing a rather unusual sight: the floor was completely obscured by piles and stacks of paper and photographs in the midst of which sat a petite woman with thick, dark blonde hair tied up in a loose ponytail. She stared at a piece of paper, her eyes flicking so rapidly from left to right that they appeared blurred. (Juliette had explained earlier that her friend, the de facto leader of the refugee camp, had taken it upon herself to memorize everything about anything even remotely relating to the Toclafane. "She remembers everything," she'd said). She didn't notice them until Juliette cleared her throat ostentatiously.
Immediately, the woman got to her feet. She was quite small, barely over five feet. She had understated, blue-green eyes and a small pointed chin which made her face look narrower than it was..
"Hello, there," she said, brushing off her combat jacket, which was several sizes too big, and standing up. "Welcome to the Survivors, my name is-"
"Katie," Owen breathed.
The woman, Katie, looked at him for a split second, then flung her arms and around him and squeezed so tight the Doctor was sure Owen's lungs would burst. Owen returned the hug, lifting the tiny woman off her feet, burying his face in her shoulder and- was that sobbing?
Tosh and Gwen frowned at each other, then looked back at Owen, who was now kissing the woman passionately. The Doctor averted his eyes and scratched the back of his neck. His gaze met Juliette's and he could tell she was equally as surprised.
She cleared her throat again. "Um, Kate?"
Owen and the woman broke apart. The woman coughed sheepishly. "Sorry, um…" her eyes drifted back to Owen and immediately she seemed to tune out of the conversation. "You're alive…"
"'Course I'm alive," said Owen, in a far gentler tone than any of them had ever heard before.
"Katie," said Juliette, more emphatically. "We have four strangers in the camp. We found them wandering the streets. On the streets and alive."
"If they're with Owen, I trust them," Katie shot back without looking at her. She brushed a hand against Owen's cheek and kissed him again. "Find them somewhere to stay."
"Who are they? Who is he?" Juliette nodded to Owen.
Katie smiled. "He's my husband."
oOo
Juliette had explained, with a note of annoyance in her voice, that Katie had ushered the panicked masses into the underground, saving them. She'd started research operations, desperately searching for any clue as to the whereabouts of the disappeared. They'd found a whole stockpile of useful information in a warehouse near Downing Street, but upon the Doctor's urgent questioning, Juliette informed them that the building had been deserted.
The Doctor let out a long deep breath, and a silent promise to Martha, I'll find you.
"Doctor, I don't understand," Gwen said looking around at the crush of people. "We couldn't have been inside for six months. It didn't feel like more than a couple days."
"That's the other thing about Deterrent Gas," said the Doctor in a low voice so Juliette didn't hear. "It messes with your body's timeline, makes things feel shorter than they are. Intergalactic extradition and all that. Lots of long trips."
Gwen had nodded, looking reassured. The Doctor's stomach squirmed at the lie, but he knew the value of retaining certain details, and there was no point in alarming the others just yet.
He and Juliette stood at the top of the stairs, both leaning forward with their forearms resting on the grimy railing, watching the molasses-like people.
"So, what about you?" the Doctor asked.
Juliette cocked her head to look at him. "About me what?"
The Doctor waved his hand over the station. "You said everyone here lost someone. Who did you lose?"
The silence was filled with a low thunderous rustling, the sound of hundreds of people shuffling their feet with their heads hung. Positively hopeless.
"My son," said Juliette. "Daniel Arthur Rêve." Her eyes fixated on a broken schedule board across the tracks, but the Doctor could tell she wasn't really seeing it.
"Tell me about him."
"He's seven years old. Eight next Wednesday. He's got his dad's black hair. He's the scrawniest kid in the neighborhood, and the fastest." Juliette laughed, a weak, sad sound. Her eyes glimmered in the dimming light. "He's going to be an Olympic sprinter. He's promised to take me with him to the 2020 Olympics." She gave a shuddering gasp.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said with a wince. His hackneyed refrain felt even emptier than usual. He could invent a new language comprised entirely of apologies, and even that wouldn't be enough.
"Everyone's in the same boat, though," said Juliette, shaking her head and blinking rapidly, regaining composure. "They've all lost family, friends. I'm sure you have."
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably, but to his acute relief, Juliette didn't ask.
oOo
Gwen and Tosh were led through the sluggish chaos to the very remotest corner of the station, down near the tracks. From this vantage point, they could see that the tunnels were blocked up with bricks and debris, scraps of metal, wooden blocks.
"It's the same at the other end," said the man who was escorting them, one of the soldiers who had brought them in. "It's the fastest I've ever seen these people move. They finished filling in the tunnels in forty hours, after the Toclafane came and murdered half the refugees. We had more than a thousand to start."
Gwen covered her mouth with her hand. It wasn't possible. And yet already the horror of it was beginning to sink in. Only a few hundred people were left of the near ten million in the greater London area. All they had now was the Doctor. And what could he do?
oOo
"Anyways," Juliette was saying, "not much point now. We don't have anything to go on. We've barely got anyone left. We're as good as dead."
At these words, the Doctor frowned at her. "What? Why are you saying that?"
"Because it's true," said Juliette with a grim shrug.
"No…" The Doctor took a hearty sniff. "Oh, no he didn't, how did he…?" he pushed himself away from the railing. "Juliette, where's your ventilation?"
Nonplussed, Juliette led him up the stairs and through a claustrophobic tunnel to a vent grate. The Doctor held out his hand.
"May I have my screwdriver back please?"
"Why?"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "Because it's a screwdriver."
Juliette huffed, but handed it over, and a second later the Doctor pried the grate from the wall and inspected the inside shaft. "Aha!" He reached his arm in and pulled out a small grey canister. "Gotcha!" He held it out for Juliette to see.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's Deterrent Gas," the Doctor explained. "Use by the Shado- erm - police to calm their more aggressive criminals. Basically, it makes you sad. Well, it makes your brain think you're sad. Well, I guess that means you are sad. But now," he waved the screwdriver over it, and the canister clicked and whirred, "it is off."
"No wonder everyone was so quiet," said Juliette. Eagerly she climbed back out of the tunnel and crossed to the railing. Already they could hear more activity in the camp, and the volume of conversation was noticeably higher.
"Oh my God," Juliette murmured. "You did it!" Without warning, she stood on her toes and kissed the Doctor on the cheek. She blushed when he gaped at her, but grabbed his hand at the same time. "Come on, we've got to tell Katie!"
oOo
The change was immediately noticeable. People who minutes before had been practically comatose now moved about, conversed with each other. Children scampered around, chasing and playing games. Juliette actually laughed.
"Katie!" she cried, hammering on the door. "Katie!"
The door was opened by Owen, who was grinning like an idiot. "We know where the vanished people are."
Together, using pieces from the collection of papers scattered on the floor, Owen and Katie explained the evidence proving that a time shift had taken place, dividing the Earth into two separate times, with half the people in each.
"We think everyone's still here, just a step out of time," Katie finished, her face positively radiant.
"And now all that's left is to locate the epicenter and disable it!"
The Doctor gaped at the pair of them. "But…how did you figure that out?"
Owen shrugged, still grinning. "It was weird. Just…suddenly it all made sense." He squeezed Katie's hand. "Right inspiration, I guess. And I bet…" he looked at the Doctor, "that you can help us find the source."
The Doctor slipped on his glasses. "I can try. You have to understand-" he began sifting through the papers, and buzzing around the general area with the screwdriver. He inspected the reading "-that the signal…" he looked around at them, "is coming from Ten Downing Street."
oOo
The Doctor found the DS boy sitting against the rough brick wall at the top of the steps, just inside the mouth of the underground entrance. He held the DS loosely in his hands - rough and scarred, callused like Jack's - and he was once again watching the screen with the same single-minded intensity.
"Hello, there," said the Doctor, plopping down beside him. "What's your name?"
"Alex," the boy mumbled without looking up.
The Doctor leaned sideways so that he could peek over Alex's shoulder at the screen of the DS, but the light of the setting sun reflected off it, making it unreadable.
"What's that you've got?"
"It reads electrical fluctuations," said Alex, speaking to his hands. "Lets me know when the Toclafane are close."
The Doctor waved his screwdriver over the little device. "Ah, that's brilliant. Where'd you get that?"
"A friend." He really wasn't much of a talker. But then, the Doctor supposed that wasn't entirely out of place.
"Who is he?" Alex asked abruptly.
The Doctor looked at him in mild surprise. "Who is who?"
"The man controlling the Toclafane. I think you know."
Intrigued, the Doctor asked, "How do you know a man is controlling them?"
"I've heard him speak." The boy took a breath, and the Doctor wondered if he was nervous to be talking to him. "I saw a Toclafane up close, just after the disappearance. But I heard a man's voice coming from inside it. Who is he?"
The Doctor hid a small smile. He liked an intuitive youngster. "He's an alien," he said simply. "An alien determined to wipe out the human race."
"Then why hasn't he?" said Alex.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. He gestured around at the glum station. "He's done a pretty thorough job so far, don't you think?"
Alex shook his head. "He's letting us live. If he wanted to, it wouldn't be exactly hard to send the Toclafane in to kill us."
The Doctor found himself at a loss for words. The kid was right. And that was rather frightening. Ianto could send in an army at any time, and they would be almost completely helpless. So why was he letting them live? The Doctor was so deep in thought he didn't even realize that Alex had gotten to his feet and walked away.
So in case you didn't get it, that was Alex Rider, from the series of the same name by Anthony Horowitz.
Also, apologies if you saw the name Melody anywhere. Juliette's name was originally Melody Smith, but I realized that might cause some confusion what with Melody Pond and all, so I went through and changed the names, but apologies if I missed one.