What's this? I've updated two weeks in a row? :O Le gasp!

Let's face it, our dynamic duo need a bit of a break.

By the end of the second week of July, Rose and Martha were nearly to the tip of Indiana, en route for Chicago. They'd spent too long in the Appalachians, and they didn't have time for many stops in Tennessee or Kentucky. They were lucky enough to encounter a group in Tennessee that was a part of a larger network in the Midwest, and they arranged for travel between their groups during the night. They'd met with a total of five survivor groups and only stayed until the dead of night when it was safe to move again.

Their next stop was a group somewhere in the vicinity of Evansville, Indiana. They were in the back of a black pickup with no hood. The ride was bumpy and uncomfortable, and Rose and Martha had to keep themselves from flying out. Rose wondered if her bum would ever recover.

The closer they got to the city, the more Rose became aware of a strange sensation in her head. A sort of tapping. If she knew better, she'd call it probing. But it was far too light and broad to be a direct assault, more like a search. She briefly entertained the idea of responding before dismissing it. It wasn't the Doctor, it couldn't be. She'd know his mental touch anywhere. It felt benign but she couldn't take the risk. For all she knew, the Master might've found a way to use the Archangel Network against her, if he even knew about her telepathy.

They'd crossed the Ohio River about half an hour before, and they were circling back towards the city. Their driver knocked on the back window to warn them that they were five miles from the drop spot. She couldn't take them directly to the camp in case she was being followed. She had warned them that she could only slow down for a few seconds, so they would be able to jump out of the bed of the truck, and then she would have to speed back up to avoid suspicion. An escort would be there to meet them. Hopefully.

Another knock. One-mile mark.

Rose rolled to her knees and slid her pack onto her back. She gripped the edge of the truck bed. Beside her, Martha was struggling to get her pack on, and Rose risked letting go with one hand to help her. She felt the truck begin to slow and returned her hand to the cool metal. Any second now…

The driver rapped sharply on the window. Rose vaulted up and over the side of the truck, hitting the ground without an ounce of grace. She heard Martha land a half a second later. Pain raced up her arms and legs and her palms sparked with sharp pain. With a gasp, she yanked her hands away from the ground and brushed them together, removing the rocks. The truck accelerated, and within a minute it had disappeared, the sound of its engine slowly fading away.

Rose felt the familiar tingle in her hands as her body repaired itself and, aware of Martha's quiet grunts beside her, sent a thought in her direction.

You okay?

"Cut my palms," she muttered in reply. "There's some rocks here."

Me too. Give 'em here.

Martha held out her hands and Rose closed hers over them. They shined with golden light, and Martha sighed in relief.

Rose suddenly became aware that the rumble of the truck's engine wasn't getting quieter anymore. With a start, she realized what she was hearing the sound of a different engine getting closer. She jerked back stuffing her palms under her sleeves until they stopped glowing. In the distance, they saw a pair of headlights on the road, travelling at high speed.

Martha leapt to her feet, grabbed Rose by the arm, and they hauled ass away from the road. When the vehicle had nearly reached them, they dropped to the ground again and waited. They saw what looked like a black Humvee racing down the road. It didn't stop, but continued on in the direction their truck had gone.

Rose felt sick. No one but Unified Containment Force members drove with headlights on these days.

"Oh God," Martha whispered. "Someone was following us. …Oh, God, what about the camp? Beth, Karrie, Micah, Eduardo—"

"We just gotta hope they're okay," Rose replied quietly. "Come on. We don't want to keep them waiting."

Their rendezvous point was a copse of trees half a mile from the road. Each group had a code word they'd have to exchange to confirm identities, and Rose would brush through minds to search for any hostility or malicious intent.

There it was, that probing again. It was even stronger now, more direct.

When they neared the copse, Rose left her jacket partially unzipped so that she could get to her gun. She thought she might've heard a voice up ahead but she wasn't quite sure.

"Did you hear that?" Martha muttered.

"Yeah. I think they're here."

The copse itself was only about a hundred meters in diameter. Even still, they wouldn't have known where their escorts were if one of them hadn't laughed quietly.

Rose swiveled around and spotted two figures standing just out of the moonlight near a tree.

"I see you," said a childish voice from within the darkness.

"God dammit, kid!" the taller figure, a man from the sound of him, smacked the smaller one across the head. "The one time I want you quiet is when you decide to start opening your trap."

"Because it's them!" the smaller figure, a boy, retorted.

"We'll see about that." Rose heard him mutter as he stalked towards them. "Where you passin' through?"

"The Crossroads," Martha answered.

The man stopped about three feet away from them and held something up. There was a quiet click and suddenly a propane lantern was illuminating a smiling, heavily lined face. He nodded his head at them. "Hey there. You must be Rose and Martha."

"Told you," the younger boy said merrily as he approached. The closer he got to the light, the more Rose could make out. He was small, barely into puberty from the sound of him, and had floppy blonde hair that really needed to be cut. And she knew without a doubt that they'd met before.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled back pleasantly. "I know you," she said.

"I do, too," Martha realized.

He nodded and cocked his head to one side. "It'll come to you, Miss James."

A beat.

Martha's hand flew to her mouth to muffle a gasp. It took Rose a few seconds longer. It had been years after all. But the face, the scrawny frame, the big blue eyes, and the way he was grinning up at her—she remembered everything about that night, including him.

"Elliot?" she exclaimed.

Elliot Hunter beamed cheerfully. "Hi again."

They'd met Elliot during their forced sabbatical on Earth while hiding from the Family of Blood. The Doctor, as John Smith, had been a pediatrician working in the hospital where Elliot was being treated for cancer. He'd never, in all the time they'd known him, uttered a single word other than a scream of pain. But he was quite the artist, and psychic to boot. He'd used his abilities to lead Rose to John that night and he'd been able to utilize the psychic paper to communicate with her.

The man stared down at him, dumbfounded. "You know 'em?"

"Yep. We saved the world together. Didn't we?" he glanced at Rose slyly.

"You're talking," Martha blurted out.

"Hasn't shut up in the last two hours," the man groused. "Any other day it's a miracle to get a full sentence out of them."

"You knew we were coming," Rose guessed.

Elliot nodded. "When the messenger told us about you, I saw your faces."

"You haven't been tapping at my mind by any chance, have you?" Rose asked.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't know it was you until just a bit ago. I wasn't sure what I was feeling."

"Me neither. I thought it might've been the Master or Archangel."

"Archangel?" the man interrupted. "Ain't that the old cell phone network?"

"It's also a psychic network that's been manipulating the entire human race."

Elliot's nose wrinkled in disgust. He was the one of the only physic humans she'd ever met, and the only one that was naturally telepathic. He must've been aware of something off very early into the game. She wondered what it felt like to him, having the entire human race linked on a psychic level. Her telepathic abilities had come around long after Archangel had begun broadcasting so she didn't know any different.

"So how old are you now?" Rose asked him as they walked.

"Nearly fifteen. You?"

"Not entirely sure. But it's been a bit longer for me than it has for Martha."

"You got separated," he said. "You were with Torchwood."

She glanced down at him. "You reading my mind?"

"No. Not yours."

"Oi!" Martha exclaimed a second later. "Don't do that!"

Elliot smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I can't help what I pick up on."

The man shook his head and let out an annoyed scoff. Rose frowned at his back. "Problem?"

"He's always saying that. 'I can't help it,'" he mocked. "I say he's just a nosy eavesdropper."

Elliot nudged Rose's arm. "Don't mind Ty. He just doesn't like it that I know he smuggles alcohol in. And that he totally has the hots for Marley," he added with a sly look in Ty's direction.

Rose pressed her lips together to stifle a snicker. "So you pick up on a lot, then?"

"Mmhmm. For a while now. It's like those walls the Doctor helped me make hardly work. I wanna keep 'em all the way up but then I feel blind. So I just deal. What about you?"

"What about me?" Rose asked.

"Your mind's different. I can't get a thing from you. Are you all closed up?"

So, he couldn't get a read on her. That was surprising. She had been an open book to him the last time they'd met. "I have to be," she told him stiffly.

"But you're not like me," said Elliot. He glanced up at her unsurely.

"We're more alike than you think, actually." She murmured after a moment.

Elliot cocked his head to one side and she saw him staring at her out of the corner of his eye. The rest of their two-mile trek was completed in silence though she noticed he kept looking up at her every so often.

Their group was living on an abandoned horse farm. The horses themselves were long gone along with the original owners. When they arrived, Ty warned them that most of the people were asleep for the night. A bald man was there to greet them. While he exchanged a few quiet words with Ty, Elliot tapped Rose on the arm.

"There's a stall for you two to sleep in."

"Stall?" Martha looked around the barn. It was dark except for a small patch of light near the door they'd entered through. There were about ten stalls in total, all closed tight. The entire place was silent except for the hum of a generator and, faintly, several snores. "You're living in here?"

He nodded and motioned for them to follow. Rose glanced back at Ty and the bald man before following Elliot down the dark row of stalls. He led them to the opposite end of the barn and unlatched the door to a stall on the right. He stepped inside and leaned down to pick something up from the floor. There was a creaking sound, and then the lantern he was holding lit up, illuminating the stall.

There were two cots in the corner, each with a pillow and a blanket. There was little space to maneuver, and a single crate was wedged between the two cots for storage.

"Don't use the lantern for longer than you have to," he advised as handed Martha the lantern. "We're gettin' short on batteries."

"Got it," Martha said.

He stood in the doorway as they shucked their packs and jackets. Rose removed the gun holster rom around her shoulder and set it down as well. Elliot sniffed once. "I'll make sure they save you some breakfast."

Rose smiled. "Thank you."

Elliot gave her a tiny smile in return then pulled the stall door shut. They listened to the sound of his footsteps receding then they heard the quiet scraping of another stall being rolled slowly open and then shut.

Rose sank down into the cot on the left and pulled her boots off.

Martha set the lantern down between their cots and sighed, drumming her fingers against the edge. "I wasn't expecting to see him again," she murmured.

Rose chuckled. "Me neither."

"His cancer's gone."

"The Doctor didn't tell you?" asked Rose.

Martha shook her head.

She glanced around. Places where there should be holes and viewing windows had been mostly boarded over but she figured they were far from soundproof and, even now, this wasn't something that should get around. "He offered Elliot the cure for leukemia right before we left," she whispered. "He took it."

Martha nodded slowly and licked her lips.

Rose lifted off the cot enough to pull the blanket back then stretched out on it. The pillow smelled like it'd been in storage for a while, and it had a few lumps, but considering some of their usual sleeping arrangements, she wasn't going to complain. The blanket didn't quite feel like enough for the cool summer evening so she unzipped her blanket roll and pulled out the quilt she'd found in a house in the Carolinas and draped it over the blanket. Martha followed her lead before snuggling down into the cot.

"Dunno, Rose. I think I'd give this place four stars."

Rose smiled. "At least three. I'll wait 'til breakfast before handing out that next star."

"You mind if I…?" Martha reached for the switch on the lantern.

"Go ahead."

Martha shut the lantern off and they were engulfed in complete darkness. For a few seconds, the whole place was eerily quiet. Then a horrifyingly loud snore ripped through the silence and someone cursed in surprise. A feminine laugh trickled through the air.

"Someone needs to sew his fuckin' mouth shut," a man groused.

Martha snickered quietly.

"You two ladies better not snore!" the same man added just a little louder. "I don't care who y'are, I'll come over there and stuff a sock in your mouth."

"Oh, will you shut yours, Kenny," a woman snapped. "You're makin' more noise than anyone."

"Why don't y'all come over here and make me?" the first man challenged.

The snoring cut off quite abruptly. "Whosawhat?"

"Great, now he's awake, too," another woman complained.

"Not my fault!"

"Damn well is!"

"Thefucksgoinon?"

"Shut uuuuupppp!" a child moaned.

"Alright, next one who talks gets latrine duty," the bald man barked. No one uttered a single peep after that.

Rose had to press her hand to her mouth to as her shoulders shook with laughter, but she couldn't quite hold back a little sputtering laugh.

"ALRIGHT. Who was that?!"

"S-sorry!" Rose managed to call out. "That was me."

The bald man sighed loudly but didn't deliver her sentence so she figured she was probably off the hook.

The next morning, Rose was awoken by a knock on the door.

"C'min…" she said around a yawn.

The door slid open, revealing a shapely woman with thick brown hair and a warm smile. "Good morning," she greeted. She held two bowls in her hands. "I'm Erica. So, Rose and Martha. Who's who?"

Martha raised her head blearily. "'m Martha. What time is it?" she mumbled.

"Around nine-thirty. Your little guard dog wouldn't let us wake you up until now."

Rose sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her sleepy mind took a few moments to process the woman's words. "Mmm…guard dog?"

"Elliot," Erica said, entering the stall. "Never seen that boy take a shine to anyone so quickly." She handed them each a bowl with a spoon. "Must've taken him near a week before he even would look any of us in the eye when he first showed up."

"We—" Martha yawned loudly. "Ah, sorry. We already knew him."

Erica raised her eyebrows but didn't comment.

Rose looked down at the contents of her bowl. Scrambled eggs and beef jerky. Not bad, considering. She spooned the eggs into her mouth and was only slightly disappointed, but not surprised, to find they had no cheese in them. Eggs would be hard enough to come by, never mind cheese.

"Do you have chickens around here?" Martha asked, mirroring Rose's train of thought.

"Yep. Brought 'em from one of the neighboring farms about a month ago. Good protein."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Rose said. "Oh, that reminds me. Is anyone here injured?"

Erica shifted her weight, putting one hand on her hip. "You talkin' cuts and bruises or serious stuff?"

"Both."

"Well, ain't a body here without some damage. Nothing life threatening, though. Why, you a doctor?"

"I am," Martha said. "Any infections, broken bones, sprains, burns?"

"I'll ask around. Though as far as I know, no one's got anything broken." Erica turned to go. "I'll leave you to your breakfast. We have a shower set up around the corner if you'd like one after, and we'll see if we can't find you some new clothes as well."

Now that it was daytime, they could see that the barn was bigger than they'd originally thought. This row of stalls seemed to be the living quarters but the other row of stalls that ran perpendicular to the other was used for storage, cooking, a playroom, and for the showers.

These days you were lucky to find running water that didn't come from a well so at least having a cold shower was better was better than the alternative. They'd already had to bathe in a lake, a spring, and a river. The spring, at least, got them decently clean. Nothing like a shower, though.

As it turned out, it wasn't a real shower. They'd hung up shower curtains, dividing the stall into two parts. Each area had a garden hose with a nozzle that sprayed water out much like a shower. The handle on the nozzle was held permanently down by duct tape, and it hung on a hook by rubber bands. To operate, all one had to do was pull on a cord hanging near it, and water sprayed out for ten seconds. Not the most advanced setup but definitely ingenious.

After they were done with their showers, they returned to their stall and each of them found a small container of mouthwash, a hairbrush, and a pair of jeans and a tank top waiting for them on their cots. They dressed in their fresh clothes and took turns with the brush. Rose's jeans fit well enough but they were way too long and she had to roll them several times before she could slip her shoes on.

They found Elliot sitting against the stall door across from theirs when they emerged, doodling on a pad of paper.

"Good to see that hasn't changed," Martha said.

Elliot glanced up and smiled at her. "Yeah."

He stood up, tucking the pad of paper under his arm. "Can I talk to you, Rose?"

"Sure."

"Lemme go put this away."

Elliot headed down the row of stalls towards the one he stayed in. Martha cleared her throat quietly. "I'm gonna go find that bald guy and find out a bit more about this area. See if we can make ourselves useful in the usual way. You mind if I start story time without you?"

Rose nodded. "If you need to."

"See you in a bit."

Martha passed Elliot as he reemerged from his stall and he paused to watch her go before turning to Rose. He motioned for her to follow him and he led her out a back door.

The property was huge and surrounded mostly by woods. Several large fenced-in pastures stretched out behind the barn. There was a yard with a large oak and a tire swing dangling from it that a group of children were playing around. A man sat nearby, keeping a close eye on them. The farmhouse itself looked completely ransacked. Windows were broken, their drapes hanging outside and fluttering in the wind. The screen door had been completely yanked off its hinges, but the front door remained the same.

"We did that," Elliot said, following her gaze. "If anyone comes across this place, we want it to look abandoned and raided. We don't even try to keep the barn lookin' nice. Well, on the outside."

They were heading towards the pastures.

"Smart. …So how's it work around here? Do you all have chores? Are you self-sustaining or do you have to go scavenging? Is there an escape plan? How many people are here?" Rose asked, peppering him with questions.

Elliot didn't miss a beat. "Yes. Scavenging. Yes. 32. 34 now," he added.

"You know we're not staying, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah. But you'll at least stay a few days, right?"

"We're here until we can get a ride to the next camp," she answered honestly.

"Oh."

Rose glanced down. His head was ducked and his body seemed to have deflated. Better change the subject. "This… pretty far from Bridgeton. How did you end up here?"

Elliot shrugged. "I just…knew where to go."

"What do you mean?"

"Something—instinct, maybe my mojo—was guiding me. I always had this sense of which direction to travel in. We've been in with other survivor groups but nothing ever felt right. So I told 'em I was gonna keep going, with or without them. They followed each time. Eventually we wound up here. I still don't feel like it's time to leave."

"They? Your parents?" she asked. He nodded. "So, do they know you're psychic?"

"They do now. It was the only way to get them to listen."

They were nearing the fence to the pasture. Inside the grass was tall and wild, having been left unattended for weeks. Elliot heaved himself up, swinging his legs through the space between the top and middle rails, and dropped to the other side. Rose opted to simply climb up and over. Her feet hit the ground with a soft thud and they kept walking. He led her clear to the other side of the pasture, and then sat down against a fence post.

She turned around and looked at the barn. The children were still with their chaperone by the tree. She could see Martha and the bald man sitting on the house porch. She spotted a few other adults near the barn but didn't recognize any of them.

"This is my favorite spot." Elliot told her quietly. "The distance muffles the noise."

Rose eased herself down to the ground. "What's it like?"

"It's like…" He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the words to describe it. "It's like standing in the middle of a crowded room with ear buds in my ears playing quiet music. I hearwhat's going on around but there's always that second layer of noise. And it's not even always noise. Faces, images, sometimes sounds or smells, or even emotions."

"Sounds like a pain."

He sighed, his head bobbing up and down.

"Elliot…last night, when I told you we were more alike than you realize… I… I'm not exactly…the same as I was before."

"I know. Your mind is weird. It's so big and bright but it's silent. I'm not getting anything from you at all."

"I have some pretty good defenses up."

He shook his head. "No, it's not that. I remember how the Doctor's mind was once he was out of the watch. He had his own barriers up good an' tight, I could barely tell he was there. But with you, it's there and it's so obvious but it's silent." He scowled. "I don't like it."

Rose arched her eyebrows and stretched her mind towards his. It connected with his, like when she spoke mentally with the Doctor, rather than slipping into it.

He jumped in surprise. "Whoa!"

How about now? Hear anything?

"How'd you do that?"

You can do it, too. You're telepathic after all. All you have to do is think at me.

He was quiet for a full fifteen seconds. "Anything?"

She shook her head. Your mind is right up against mine. Feel it? He nodded. You have to direct your thoughts there. I can't really explain it any other way.

Nodding again, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips firmly together. The seconds flowed by in silence. And then…

Testing, testing. Helloooo…

There! She thought, grinning at him when he opened his eyes.

I think I got it now.

Good.

"Can I do that with anyone?" he asked aloud.

"I don't know." She withdrew her mind, gently severing their connection. "I can talk to Martha but I have to actually go into her mind. Yours I just connected with, like the Doctor's. I guess that's 'cos you're telepathic."

Elliot twisted his mouth thoughtfully. "How do you connect?"

"Took me ages to figure out, lemme tell you. I can sense minds, telepathic fields, stuff like that."

"I can, too," Elliot said.

"Right. And I reach for them with my mind, sort of…" She raised her hands and mimed grabbing onto something in front of her. "First thing you gotta do, though, is reach out."

He cocked his head to the side. "How?"

"I dunno. Um. How do you pick up information from people?"

"Usually it's random. But if I focus on someone in particular, I can get more from them."

"Focus on me then," she instructed, rotating so she faced him.

He twisted around so he was facing her and his eyes bore intently into hers. They sat that way for thirty seconds, Elliot with a look concentration on his face that grew more intense with every second, and Rose trying not to fidget, before he finally exhaled in a loud rush of air. He shook his head. "I can't do it."

"Weird. The Doctor has to be touching people to get into their minds but he can initiate distant contact with another telepath."

Elliot sighed and shifted so his back was against the post again. He stretched his legs out in front of him, drumming his fingers on his leg. "Y'know," he said after a moment. "Now that I think about it, the Doctor only told me I was telepathically receptive. He said my projection was…limited. Yeah, that was it. I can pick up on loads of stuff but I can't really send anything."

"Except for when I initiated the contact," Rose pointed out. "You could communicate while I had the channel open. No other human I've spoken to telepathically can do that. It's all one way unless I actually go deep enough into their minds to access their thoughts."

"So I won't be able to talk with anyone other than you. Well, dang." He twisted his mouth again. "That could've been useful, y'know?"

"Oh, I know."

He laughed. "Yeah."

They lapsed into silence. Rose lifted her head to the sky, shielding her eyes from the mid-morning sun with her hand. Martha would probably start worrying soon if she didn't come back. "So, Elliot. Why did you really bring me out here?"

Elliot sighed. She looked down at him. He fiddled with his fingers in his lap and said nothing for a minute. "Where's the Doctor?" he whispered. "I saw the broadcast that day and I saw him…"

"Aged."

"Yeah."

Rose sighed, ducking her head, and her heart ached.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "Didn't mean to make you sad."

"Don't worry about it," she mumbled. "He's…he's still on the Valiant. He's a prisoner. But don't—don't worry. He's got a plan. That's why me an' Martha are traveling. We're helping him."

Elliot fixed her with an owlish look. "I want to help."

"The first thing we have to do is convince your people that the Doctor's real and that he can save us."

"How?"

Rose grinned. "We tell stories about him. You can definitely help him with that."

He considered this. "Well. My folks have always wondered how I became cancer-free."

"So, let me get this straight. You two are time travelers that go all around time and space with an alien that's nearly a thousand years old on a ship that's bigger on the inside. Five years ago, that ship disguised your alien so he was a human pediatrician at the hospital where my son was a patient, to hide from those terrorists who wanted to kill him, and you two were in disguise there as well. As a human, he had dreams about his real self, which he read to my son, and my son illustrated. His mind was trapped inside that watch, you left it behind accidentally, Elliot found it and put two and two together. When you went back for it, you found Elliot, and broke him out of the hospital so he could lead you to the human version of the alien. And after he was back to normal, the alien gave my son the cure for cancer as a thank you gift and explained the psychic stuff to him." Mrs. Hunter looked between Rose, Elliot, and Martha. "Am I right so far?"

The three of them nodded.

"And now you're an agent for Britain's version of Men in Black and you've got psychic powers. Your alien's psychotic arch-nemesis has taken over the world and is holding him prisoner up on the flying ship. But he's sent you two on a mission around the world to recruit the entire human race for an asinine plot that's more of a long shot than Papua New Guinea ever winning a medal in the Olympics."

Elliot nodded. "Yeah."

"Pretty much," Martha added.

"Except I don't have psychic powers." Rose corrected.

Mrs. Hunter gave her a withering look.

She, her husband, and every single other member of the group were sitting in the hallway outside the living stalls. Martha, Rose, and Elliot stood in front of all of them near the stall where the two women were staying. The boy had John Smith's journal in one hand and the fob watch in the other. They'd spent the better part of an hour explaining their shared history to everyone and it had gone well, for the most part. His mother looked like she seriously needed an aspirin. Maybe a drink.

"Why did you never tell us?" his father demanded.

"Tell you what? That an alien gave me a magic pill from the future? You'd have put me in the nut house. Assuming you even listened to me," he added spitefully.

His father frowned disapprovingly at him. "Anything else you haven't told us?"

"Duh," he muttered in a tone that said he didn't plan to.

One of the men in the group raised his hand. "So—this Doctor guy really gave you the cure for cancer?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. All it took was one little pill and my cancer was completely gone within weeks. Hasn't been back since."

"And he defeated the Cyberman invasion last year," Rose added. "And the aliens at Christmas. And so many other aliens, monsters, and people too that have threatened Earth in the past and the future."

"What about the Master?" asked a woman. "Can he stop him?"

"Oh, yes. But he can't do it alone and me an' Martha—it's our job to get him what he needs."

"And that's why we're here." Martha finished the story telling.

One of the little children raised her hand in the air, waving it around to get their attention. Martha pointed at her. "I wanna help! That big jerk took my sister!"

"Then you gotta tell everyone about the Doctor. Give them hope to last the coming months. And then when the time is right, everyone has to believe he can."

"Like in Peter Pan?" laughed one of the older women. "What? Have none of you read the book? Tinker Bell was dying and Peter called on all the world's children to proclaim their faith in fairies, which gave her the strength she needed."

"Actually—" Rose glanced at Martha "—that's not far off."

The woman stared at her, dumbfounded.

Rose waved her hand. "Don't worry about that part. This is what you need to know. In a little under a year, the time will come that the Master is going to set out to conquer the galaxy. All those labor camps are for building the warships. The Doctor's fought against the Master before—he's always been very grand and dramatic. When it comes time, there will be a big spectacle. He'll use a countdown, we're certain of it. That's when you have to be ready. And when the clock hits zero, you have to believe. Think of him, only of him, and believe in him. If every single person does that the exact same time, the psychic power it releases will be…" She paused, searching for the right word.

"Unfathomable," Martha finished. "And since the Doctor's expecting it, he'll be able to harness it. It will give him the strength the Master took from him and then we can win."

Most of the she small crowd exchanged glances, muttering to one another, though a few of them kept their eyes riveted on the trio standing up front. While they talked, Rose took the opportunity to slip her mind up against Elliot's. The next part of their routine was important and she didn't want to risk their psychic getting wind of the lie and having it show on his face.

Elliot, listen, she thought. This next part is not entirely true but it's very important. So if you see anything from Martha about it, don't react.

…Alright, he agreed after a moment.

She looked at Martha and nodded once. Martha held up her hand. "But there's more."

Rose waited until everyone had quieted and was paying attention before going on. "There's this organization called UNIT. You might've heard of them. They knew that certain members of the Doctor's species, like the Master, could pose a serious threat to the world's safety. So they came up with a weapon that can kill them."

"Why not just use a normal gun?" Elliot asked curiously.

"Because they can recover from that," Rose replied. Nice timing. "But this will kill him stone dead. The Doctor's always shown him mercy in the past but this time he went too far. The Master has to be put down once and for all. So he sent us after the weapon."

"Yeah!" a few people the crowd shouted in agreement.

"And remember, because this is very important, the Master can never find out about the belief and faith part of the plan. If he does, we're ruined. You have to stress that. He already thinks we're looking for a way to kill him. So make sure you always tell people that we're looking for a weapon to do it with."

"What kind of weapon?" asked one of the men.

Martha shook her head. "Can't tell you that. We can't risk that getting out."

The man nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

After dinner, Lawrence informed Rose and Martha that they had a truck ready to take them to the next drop off point that night. Martha agreed to pack their things while Rose went to go break the news to Elliot. Her quick search around the barn proved unsuccessful so she headed out to the pasture. Sure enough, when she got close enough, she spotted Elliot's sitting in the flattened area of grass, doodling away.

He didn't look up as she approached. Or when she sat down next to him.

He was drawing her and the Doctor, she realized after a moment. She recognized the dress—based off yellow hollyhock, if she remembered right—and the sash around the Doctor's torso. They were sitting together on a log. He had a box on his lap and she was touching the necklace around her neck.

Rose reached up to finger the thin chain before pulling it out from under her shirt. "Elliot."

He glanced up then did a double take. A smile spread slowly across his face as he recognized it. "So, did he pop the question?"

She shook her head. "No. But that's alright. We love each other. I'm never gonna leave him, he'll never leave me. That's enough."

Elliot made a quiet 'hmm' and returned to his drawing. She watched his pencil travel across the paper for a few minutes while silently arguing with herself.

"We're leaving," she finally blurted out. His pencil stilled. "Tonight. Lawrence says the truck's all ready to go."

"I want to go with you."

"Elliot…"

"Please!" he begged. "I want to! I can help you!"

"No. You can't. Me and Martha have to go on by ourselves. If you come with us, you'll just get yourself caught our killed—us too."

"No I won't. I'm psychic remember? I can sense a UCF a mile away."

"Elliot, no. Besides, your parents would stop you. Or try to come with us. And five is way too many."

He exhaled through his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground. "Last time I was too young and too sick. This time I'm just a burden!"

"It's not that. We have a way of staying under the radar that won't work for you. We can literally stand in a crowded room and no one will see us. Except you, maybe," she added thoughtfully. Elliot still looked upset so she put her hand over his. "But you can still go and tell the stories. You've got a whole journal of them in there. Use your skills for avoiding the UCFs and travel from group to group if that's what you want. We didn't get to go to Ohio; we'll miss most of Indiana and Michigan as well. The people there need to know. You can tell them, Elliot."

"But I want to go with you."

"You want to save the world."

His answering nod was almost imperceptible.

Rose sighed. "And you will. Just like last time. You'll be helping the Doctor get what he needs. …Me an' Martha have got a long way to go. We have to keep heading west until we reach Britain again. There is every chance we won't make it. So we need as many people along the way to receive the message. You can do that, Elliot."

"I—"

His voice died abruptly. The color drained from his face, leaving him deathly pale, and his eyes flipped wide. A second later, he screamed loudly.

"Elliot?!"

Elliot scrambled to his feet, abandoning his sketchpad, and raced for the barn. Rose was only half a second behind him. She shouted after him, demanding to know what was wrong, but he seemed incapable of forming coherent words.

Then suddenly the peaceful afternoon was shattered by the unmistakable sound of gunfire.

"NO!" Elliot cried.

Rose lunged forward and slammed into Elliot. They both fell to the ground and she heard the air rush out of his lungs. While he struggled to recover, she pinned his arms to the ground and used the weight of her torso to pin his back to the ground.

"Get off me!" he yelled.

More gunfire and shouting filled the air.

"No! It's too late! If you go back now you'll only get yourself killed!"

"My parents are in there!"

"It's too late. I can't let you die, too."

"Please, please—"

"You can't help them," she hissed. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head in denial and continued to struggle against her hold. Rose hissed between her teeth angrily. She needed to get her necklace around him as well but in order to do that she'd have to let go of his arms. The second she did that he'd throw her off and be gone.

"Elliot, listen to me. I can hide you but I have to let go of you for a moment in order to do it. But you can't run. If you do, they'll just kill you. You're no help to anyone dead."

"Rose, please… What about Martha?"

Martha! She gasped and immediately her mind was racing out, seeking her friend's familiar one among the others. It took her roughly ten seconds to locate it and she slipped right in. But she didn't stop at the outer level. She pushed deeper into the area of Martha's mind where here thoughts were.

Martha felt the intrusion. Rose is that you!?

Yeah it's me. I can hear you. Where are you?

You're in my mind?! You said you'd never—oh what am I—never mind. I'm behind the barn behind some bins. I ran out the back the moment I heard the gunfire. They've got this place surrounded, I don't know if I can get past the men.

Try. Get out of here—into the woods. Hide. I'll find you as soon as I can.

Got it.

Rose realized Elliot was talking and she withdrew her mind from Martha's to focus on him.

"No, no, no, no, no," he whimpered. "They're—they're…no they're…rounding them up. Into the barn."

"Elliot, listen to me. They're probably going to search out here soon. We need to go right now or we're both going to die. But you have to stay with me. Do you understand?"

She waited for a tense moment and then he nodded his head. She shifted off him and grasped his hand. Tearing her necklace open, she fed it under his wrist then up and around once more, then looped it around her own and sealed it shut.

"Keep quiet," she hissed, pulling their linked wrists close to their bodies. "This is a perception filter—it's what keeps people from noticing the TARDIS. We're not invisible so if you do anything to attract attention, they'll see us."

"Okay," he whimpered.

She rose to her feet, but kept low, scanning the property quickly. From what she could tell, there were maybe twenty UCFs surrounding the barn with their guns trained on every single possible exit. But they weren't looking out to the pastures. She and Elliot could probably make it unseen to the woods but they'd have to go over the fence to get there and that could be their undoing.

Rose swallowed. They'd have to try. If nothing else, she could dissolve part of the bottom rail and they could slip out. "Let's go. But keep low and don't move too fast."

He let her pull him along through the pasture to the edge of the woods. Rose alternated between watching the UCFs and scanning the woods. When they reached the end of the pasture, Rose pulled him back down to the ground. They twisted around so they could see the barn. Elliot let out a single cry just before three gunshots went off and Rose could hear the horrified screaming from all the way out there. Elliot's breaths were coming in quick, shallow pants.

"What happened? Can you tell?"

"They're—they're asking…for you. They know you came here."

Rose froze. That vehicle last night! But how? There was no way they'd been seen. Between the cover of night, the grass, and their perception filters, there was no way… Unless, of course, they'd caught up with their driver and she'd betrayed them. Or figured out where they'd come from and the people there had betrayed them.

"But no one's telling them anything. So they—they killed the little kids…Hailey, Jake, Willie…"

"What about now?"

"…No. But they found the stall you were staying in. And my dad just…" Elliot fell silent, focusing on something he was seeing. "He told them that you'd already left."

"Did they buy it?"

The answering gunshot seemed to knock Elliot's breath clean from his chest. For a moment, he stared at the barn, and Rose could feel the shock rolling off him in waves.

Then he sobbed, fisting his hands in his hair, and gritted his teeth against a scream.

Over the next five minutes, the gun fired periodically, and they had to sit there and listen, knowing that with each shot, another life inside the barn was ended. And with each shot, Elliot flinched, curling in on himself even more. She wondered if he could see it happening in his mind of if he'd completely blocked his abilities. Rose, usually the first to offer comfort, was hesitant to even squeeze the hand bound to hers by the necklace. Surely he blamed her. She was, after all, one of the reason's they'd come here. But when she curled her fingers around his hand, he locked them in a vice grip and curled into her side, very much the scared little boy she'd known long ago. She put her free arm around him and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

Eventually the gun stopped firing. The silence afterwards was almost worse.

You know, the original idea was to have them all burned alive in the barn. If that makes anyone feel better. Probably not.