(guess what. still not dead. throwing this into ff and running away in shame. sorry. oh and if you actually are still there, thank you. thank you thank you. seriously guys)
chapter 15
The sound the Tardis makes is like a tin can thrown into a metallic garbage bin, which is unusual, since the Tardis should materialize instead of, you know, park. Usually with the Doctor piloting, that results in crashing, but I've never heard this sound before. Nor have the Doctor, Donna or Martha, judging by their faces.
Something itches in my jacket. I pull the laser screwdriver, and its green light is blinking.
Which is weird, because, ok, I didn't build the damned thing, but sure I didn't put in a blinking setting. The blinking becomes faster. And I'm still wondering what it means.
I look up to the Doctor, who's as puzzled as me as he watches his sonic screwdriver blink as fast as the thing in my hands. We exchange a glance, then the blinking stops.
And the Tardis switches off.
"What-", Martha says as the lights go dark.
"Where are the stairs?" Donna asks as the room actually becomes smaller, as if the Tardis size is reduced to the single console room.
I stand up - as always, I've been pushed to the floor in the landing, and I walk to the console, beside the Doctor. The screens are blank.
The Doctor looks at the console, scratching his head, then tentatively pushes a button. Nothing happens.
He runs a hand down his face, frustrated.
"Tardis is on a strike", he sighs. "Sorry".
"Do we know where we are, at least?", Martha groans.
"Only one way to find out, I'm afraid", he answers.
Donna looks at me. I just nod.
The Doctor takes another look at the dark console and shrugs. "Sorry", he repeats.
We all take a lazy look around. It's not like we were exactly in the mood for any adventures. Well apart from Donna, she's all in and already walking to the wooden doors.
"Is this okay?" I ask. The only time I've seen the Tardis turned off was when the Doctor and Martha escaped from the Family of Blood. "How come it just switched off?". I ask, running my fingers over the console.
The Doctor sighs. "Safety procedure. Probably means there's something out there she needs hiding from".
"Then why bring us here in the first place?", Martha asks.
"Well we were probably just... dragged here. Not her decision". He shivers in his shoulder, memories running through his head. "Happened before".
I instinctively secure the laser screwdriver back in my jacket pocket.
The Doctor rolls his eyes to the ceiling.
Yeah, whatever, I know it's not his fault.
"Great. So we're without the Tardis in an unknown place, only thing we know about is it's probably very, very dangerous", Martha sums up.
"They sure don't look very dangerous to me", Donna says from outside.
It's like she's getting us into action. Nobody even noticed her going outside, where she's, in fact, surrounded.
By children.
They're speechless. They just look at us like they've never seen grown ups in their life.
I move past the doors, looking around. The Tardis is at the end of a dark and noisy metallic room, with pipes and cogs running on the ceiling. The walls are crammed with small bunk beds, with clothes and things spread around on top. That's what overcrowded looks like.
Everything looks very old and dirty. One of the kids in raggedy clothes is holding a makeshift ball made of fabric and canvas thread.
The kids look at each other then back at us, astonished.
An old crippled man crutches his way past them until he's in front of the Doctor, who stepped ahead of Donna, and I realize: it's not that they haven't ever seen grown ups before, they probably have never seen anyone clean.
I'm prepared for the usual who-are-you-and-how-did-you-get-here questionnaire, but the old man looks into the Doctor's eyes, takes a deep breath and he doesn't have the time to talk, because a curtain at the opposite end of the room swings open and two blokes appear, wearing heavy dirty clothes.
"Gilliam", one of them says, "I've got th-". He interrupts, speechless, just like the kids.
They quickly scramble, climbing over each other, trying to get past the beds and into the other side of the room, that from what we can see looks just like this one, emptier in furniture but crowded with people.
The two men keep watching us as they come closer, silently. The younger one checks us out, heads to toes. The other, a tall built up man, gives the Tardis a puzzled look. He's holding something in his hands.
Young boy locks eyes with me and walks menacingly towards us. He's shorter than the Doctor, almost shorter than me, but still, just before we're facing each other, the Doctor steps in front of me, stealing my spot under his threathening look.
"What are you doing here?", he shouts, clenching his fists. The taller bloke tries to pull his shoulder for him to take a step back, but he just yanks his hand away.
His face is so aggressive it's pretty clear that if he was armed, he would be holding us at gunpoint.
"We just arrived", the Doctor says. Which, I know doesn't really explain anything, but, you know.
"Bullshit", young guy says, loudly, gripping the Doctor's lapel. The Doctor doesn't take his eyes off his, brushing his hands away.
"The box just showed up", the kid with the ragged ball says.
The old man and the tall man are looking at the Tardis. "What do you mean the box just showed up, Timmy?", he says, searching the room with his eyes. His gaze lingers on me as he knocks on the blue wood.
"Well it just showed up, and they came out of it", another kid with asian stuck up hair repeats.
"Please, Chan", the tall man insists, bewildered.
"Is this some kind of trick from Wilford? What do you want?", the younger guy asks the Doctor, with the same angered look.
The Doctor's patience is wearing thin. He calmly places a hand on the man's chest as to push him away, taking a step back instead. We all take a step back. "I don't know any Wilf-", he starts, but the other young man interrupts him.
"You arrived... from where?".
The Doctor's attention switches to him, and he just moves past the menacing man, calmly walking towards the other and the older man, who sits down on the nearest bed.
"You don't get many visitors here, hm?", he asks them.
"Visitors from where?", the man repeats, unbelievingly. "You're-".
"Clean" snarls the other young man. "I'm not having it. You're from the front".
"Front?", Donna asks. "Front of what?".
The tall guy walks towards me, amazed. "No way", he says, pulling his cap off and scratching his head. "You're... outsiders?".
Something in his eyes is so desperate, so genuinely hoping that's true.
I nod, slowly.
"So there's life outside?", he asks, his voice shaking.
"Outside of what?" the Doctor asks, without answering.
A bell rings and everybody moves around. The tall man keeps looking at me, clenching his fist, hiding something. The young man rushes past us towards him.
"Curtis, what are you going on about? If there are outsiders why would they ever come to this fucking rattling ark?", I hear him whisper.
"Maybe they're here to help", he says, looking expectantly at us. The Doctor and I exchange a look. He raises his eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? Do you really think-", the younger one protests, but he's interrupted.
"Edgar", Gilliam stops him. "Later". He stammers back, nodding to walk us to the other room, which is possibly louder with noise than the dormitory we just left. He gestures to a group of other crippled people and they throw some dirty old blankets at us. "Best you lot stay hidden for now". His tone is cold. I sense he's not sure to trust us either, but it looks like he's the authority here.
"How many injured people are here?", Martha whispers in my ear as we're instructed to cover ourselves. It's actually very cold in here, despite the crowd, so it's not that bad.
"Zoe" the Doctor leans in. "don't lose those guys". I'm the only one wearing black among us so I'm easily disguised as one of the crowd.
I nod and slide through the people until I'm just beside those two guys. The younger one, Edgar, spots me and elbows Curtis, who turns to look at me.
I said look? More like, stare.
He's about to say something when at the end of the room, a metallic gate slides open and two men in uniform with rifles enter. They're clean and their hair are neatly combed back. A woman in a bright yellow coat with a rounded collar follows them.
"Just a health inspection", one of the guards say. "Kids! All the kids here, please", he says.
I turn to look at the Doctor, Donna and Martha who are a few steps behind me, hidden under the blankets. The Doctor nods for me to look ahead and the scene is pretty creepy. The bright coated woman is checking the height of the kids with a rigid measuring tape, surrounded by guards and a couple of men in suits. Officers?
Parents cry. Curtis is angry, I can sense it, but he puts a restraining hand on Edgar's arm to keep him in check.
Everytime she finishes measuring a kid, the tape goes thwwack, rolling itself back up. Whatever she's looking for, she's not satisfied. She nods measuring a boy's arm, while the boy father's screams. "Andy! No!".
I instinctively try to step ahead and Curtis stops me, the same way he's keeping Edgar on his other side. The woman's eye catches something on the periphery, and I'm afraid she noticed me, but she's stepping to a black big woman in the front row. They stare at each other. It's a terrifying contrast between Yellow Coat and her pale clean skin and that taller, black woman in ragged clothes.
Yellow Coat pulls out the tape again and uses it as a pointer to gently lift the woman's bulging skirt. She looks down nervously. I can't really see if she's hiding anything but Yellow Coat glances again at the woman, then turns to walk away. She breathes relieved, but I notice immediately the officer nodding.
And hell breaks loose.
Two soldiers run to the woman as she taps her skirts as quick as she can. "Run, Timmy!", she screams, and the boy who spoke before lets go of his ball and starts running to the end of the room. His mum manages to block the first soldier, but misses the other one who rushes after Timmy.
I could stop him with my foot but Curtis grips my shoulder. "Don't you dare", he hisses.
Speechless, I watch as the woman and the soldier wrestle as people nearby get tangled up in the scuffle. As screams break out, the other soldier drags Timmy forward.
"No... Tim!" the woman whispers. Her eyes are wide in fear. She's like paralyzed as Yellow Coat measures the boy. Curtis' grip on my shoulder tightens.
The tape doesn't thwwack this time. Yellow Coat uses it to point at Timmy and Andy.
"These two", she coldly instructs the soldiers, who drag off Tim and Andy while she turns to follow.
The woman regains her bearings and, in a wild frenzy, breaks through the line of shields with herculean strength. She chases after her son. "Timmy! Mommy's coming..." she calls, before the guards surround her and begin to club her mercilessly.
"No!" screams Curtis. I shake. I turn to find the Doctor, Donna and Martha are being held back from fighting just like me. We're not allowed to take part in the action. But why aren't Curtis and Edgar doing anything? The Doctor gives me a worried look.
Between the clubs flying around beating the woman I spot Andy's father, quickly cutting the line like an arrow. The guards look so surprised it takes them a beat to stop him, and before they do he manages to throw a shoe at Yellow Coat.
A shoe.
"Give me back my son, you fucking bitch!", he screams.
Yellow Coat turns at the insult. The heel goes smacking right on her forehead. She doesn't bat an eye, while the officer beside her cries out in shock. The guards are literally kicking Andrew's to the ground, while Yellow Coat, firmly looking at him, slowly brushes a drop of blood from her forehead. She just looks at it for an instant and sucks the blood off before clicking away on her heels.
I exchange a look with the Doctor again, then with Edgar, who's still being held back by Curtis at his other side. Curtis closes his eyes, sighing.
I don't like where this is going.
A minute later, Andrew, bruised and bleeding, is forced to kneel, with the shoe in his mouth. He looks ridiculous. And weak. His face looks delirious. The mix of losing a child and getting almost beaten to death does that. But I'm about to learn he's not been punished enough.
I study the room. On one side, the raggedy people stand as audience. I don't think they'd be allowed to leave. Soldiers, armed Policemen and high-ranking Officers surround Andrew to watch two gigantic men snip off the sleeve of his shirt with scissors.
"The Franco Brothers", Curtis whispers in my ear. "Bastards". They look like a strange, well-oiled machine of torture. They grease up Andrew's arm with gel like a piece of dead meat, while the officer, a big man with a Japanese face, is checking a big book.
I turn to Curtis again, but he's cringing. Not likely that he's going to tell me what happens next.
The Franco brothers clip a heavy metal ring at the base of Andrew's arm, and push him to the wall, while the officer checks his watch, mumbling between himself. I notice a metal plate on the wall that looks the same size as the ring around Andrew's arm.
"At this high elevation, we need only 7 minutes", the Japanese man says.
The crowd around us grimace in anger, pain and sympathy. A few people turn around to regard Curtis, whose face also screams pain and rage. I take a look around. Edgar, looking stiff. The Doctor, same face as Curtis. Gilliam, the old man, is close behind him.
The officer looks at Andrew, with a fake sorry look before putting a hefty clock on Andrew's neck then he activates the timer. He then turns around and bows politely to a well-dressed, well-groomed middle-aged woman coming forward.
Just like Yellow Coat before, her outfit screams superiority to everyone in the room. She's wearing a thick fur coat over a bright purple wool tailleur.
"Who-?" I try to ask whispering, but Edgar shushes me before I even finish the question.
The woman has the worst teeth I've seen in a while. Her glasses are so thick she must be almost blind without them. She would look almost comic if the air in the room didn't turn even colder when she walked in.
"Seven minutes allotted for your speech, ma'am".
She takes a wireless microphone and inhales theatrically. Really, she looks just out of a comic book.
What's not comic, at all, is that I'm beginning to understand what's happening.
"This is so disappointing", the woman says.
Cold air breezes thrugh the hole in the wall.
Freezing air.
Freezing air that comes in fast.
We're moving. We're on a train.
Andrew's arm is pushed through the hole and the ring clicks, sealing it out.
"This is so disappointing", the officers repeat a couple times.
They're going to fucking freeze Andrew's arm.