Time wasn't on their side. The Doctor knew that, and because of that he didn't pull the sonic out of his pocket. He dropped it back in, with a small sigh. He ran his fingers over the torch, wishing he could light their way, but left that as well.
They were bacteria in the system, the TARDIS was beacon enough, which is why they had left it behind when they set out. He hoped it would be passed over, decided not to be a threat, but he couldn't be sure.
They were going to be found out though, and when the light blinked back on...when the world was brought back to life, he hurried forward once more. He had to figure out more, had to be certain of what he thought he knew. What he had seen once before.
Donna's hand was tucked into his again. Small and warm, and it felt like the only thing keeping him going, keeping him focused. He wished he had the words to tell her.
"Doctor," she whispered, trying to slow him down. "What's going on? Are we moving...like the TARDIS said?"
"Not exactly," he said, shaking his head. He glanced at her. He could see the worry etched by her eyes, the tight line of her lips. It broke him, but there was a bigger picture still. "No...not really."
He wanted to break down and explain, he really did. Because she deserved that much, but it wasn't going to ease her fears. And it wasn't going to give her the strength to keep going. No, this was better.
They stepped onto a dusty path, he could make out the particles they kicked up in the only light within his eye range. The porch light. The house was small, and he thought it was the sort of small that might be cozy in the right circumstances. Perhaps if the world wasn't ending around you.
There was a single window, letting out dim light from the inside. Next to the window was a worn door, separating them from the point where he couldn't walk away anymore.
The place didn't smell dead, but it was dying. If you could call it that. Fading, was a more honest expression. Yet the chill in the air felt sharp, and his hearts were beating quickly inside his chest. He was real. Donna was real. That's what mattered, in the end.
He didn't need to hold her hand quite so tightly, but he couldn't seem to make himself let go of her. Not like this, not when she could slip away from too easily.
He took in a deep breath, stepping over by the door. Once he knocked, once they stepped into that house, that were going to be a part of these events, and the only thing he could hope for, was that the tears would be few when it all came down around them.
DW
Dray would normally be in the fields by now, planting this late in the season was dangerous enough, but now...it didn't look like there was going to be any planting at all. Which led to a lack of food he didn't know how to combat.
The twins would eat before him, until things settled- if they did. It left his stomach a little less full, but eased the guilt of being impotent.
Essy climbed up into his lap, her dark curls messy around her pale face. She looked tired, but he knew that they all were. No amount of sleep could erase the sort of tired that had settled over his world.
He forced a smile, brushing her hair back from her cheeks. If she would speak to him, maybe he could find the words. Any words. He looked to Evan, playing with his little wooden tractor, everything silent but the fire. He didn't know how to come up with the strength to explain this. Or why he had to. It wasn't fair to have to make them see why their parents would never wake up, and it wasn't fair to have to tell them the world was ending, while they looked on helplessly.
He'd give anything to not have to.
"Someone is outside," Essy whispered, just as he heard a knock on the door.
He shifted his little sister off his lap, motioning for her to join Evan. He wiped his palms against his faded shirt, heading away from small table, to the door.
Dray couldn't imagine who it could be. He had seen nothing of his neighbors in the last couple weeks, even before the darkness had come. But perhaps it was the eldest Stone, coming to explain this in a way that could finally calm his fear. Maybe someone to give him hope, because he sure couldn't find it all alone, in the dark.
He opened it, to a man and a woman. The man was tall, with dark hair sticking up somewhat wildly. The woman shorter, pretty, with her hair a shade of red he hadn't seen in anyone but Evan.
The man was holding her hand tightly, protectively, and Dray wondered if it was him and his little family that caused this fear.
Evan was quick to the door, looking up at them, with Essy just behind.
"I'm the Doctor," the man said, flashing a smile down at Dray's siblings. The woman smiled as well, more gentle, less forced. "This is Donna...we were wondering if we could have a little chat."
Some part of Dray was terrified, and the other was relieved. And if the end of the world was really coming, at least now he didn't have to feel like he was standing still and waiting.
DW
Donna followed the Doctor into the house, looking around slowly. There was a fire going in the small fireplace, and a single lamp on a counter in the kitchen. There were two chairs at the table, though she could see marks where others had once been dragged across the floor.
A loss, perhaps. A memory they were trying to forget.
There were blankets, thick but worn, laid out near the fire place- an effort to fight off the chill she would guess.
And the inhabitants...the boy looked to be a teenager-though with traveling she knew that things, including age, weren't always what they seemed. He was being tailed by two smaller children. A little boy, with bright blue eyes -to the point they almost seemed to glow- and hair that matched hers in shade.
And a little girl, with dark little curls, held tightly to her head. She had dark brown eyes, and she seemed to watch the entire room at once, seeing more than Donna imagined was obvious to them.
She saw no parents, no sign of parents, and she knew better than to ask. Their faces, the marks without chairs, said it all.
"When did the darkness start?" the Doctor said, jumping right into the conversation.
"I'm Dray," the boy said, standing up straighter. "This is Essy, and Evan."
The Doctor glanced at Donna, who nodded at him, before he smiled at the three of them again.
"Right, sorry," he said, nodding. "Very nice to meet you..."
She could tell he was itching to jump into the details. And she knew that it wasn't because he didn't care about these kids or their names or stories, but because he did care all too much.
She had a lingering feeing, that time wasn't their friend right now- if it ever was- and that seconds were costly.
The boy nodded, and walked over to the only chair by the fire place. He sat down slowly, looking exhausted. The boy and girl were up in his lap at once, and he didn't look annoyed at all. He simply held them, and sighed.
"The darkness started days ago," he said. "But things haven't been normal for much longer than that."
The Doctor leaned against the wall, glancing at her, and then back at them.
"Go on," he encouraged, gently. "Tell me all about it."