Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

The Stolen Earth (Part 3)

"ALL HUMANS WILL LEAVE THEIR HOMES. THE MALES. THE FEMALES. THE DESCENDANTS. YOU WILL COME WITH US. RESISTANCE IS USELESS."

"Where are you taking us?" someone called.

"DALEKS DO NOT ANSWER HUMAN QUESTIONS. STAND IN LINE."

"Dad, please," Sylvia said, peering around the corner as Daleks ushered people into groups. "They're leaving our street alone!"

"Yeah, I've got a weapon," Wilf said, lifting it.

"It's a paint gun," she hissed.

"Exactly. Them Dalek things, they've only got one eye. A good splodge of paint, they'd be blinded!"

"We're not going!" a man on the street said. "D'you hear me? Laura, get back inside the house," he told his wife, then turned to his son. "Simon, get inside. Go!" As he back toward his house, he bent down and grabbed a brick from the ground, lobbing it toward one of the Daleks. "Get back in the sky!" he yelled as it harmlessly bounced off the bronze casing. "Get back where you came from and leave us alone!"

He darted back inside.

"DALEK ATTACK FORMATION SEVEN," one of the Daleks said, then three of them lined up in front of the house.

"MAXIMUM EXTERMINATION."

Their beams lit up the sky. The brick house exploded outward, sending the prisoners gathered ducking for cover as several car alarms began to blare.

"They're monsters," Wilf murmured.

"Please, Dad, come home," Sylvia begged, tugging on his arm. He got to his feet and followed her around the corner.

"HALT! YOU WILL COME WITH ME."

"Will I 'eck!" Wilf told the lone Dalek that had spotted them, aiming his paint gun and shooting a yellow splodge at the Dalek's eyestalk.

A beat passed, then with a small rush of steam, the Dalek melted away the paint. "MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED."

"I warned you, Dad!" Sylvia shrieked.

"HOSTILITY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTER—"

In mid-sentence, the Dalek exploded.

Rose stood framed by the pieces of flaming Dalek casing falling to the ground, and with a click of her gun she lowered it and stepped toward Wilf and Sylvia. A beat passed before anyone spoke.

"D'you wanna swap?" Wilf asked, gesturing with his paint gun.

"You're Donna Noble's family, right?" Rose asked. At Wilf's nod, she continued, "I'm Rose Tyler, and I need you."

~~~

The wailing came again, this time so soft it took Mallory a moment to recognize it. "Matt," she said softly. "There's that sound again."

"Everyone's screaming, Mal," he responded dully.

Before she could respond, a gunshot—not Dalek in nature but so terribly human—sounded right by her ear. She jumped in the air, scanning the area, and for a moment all she could see was darkness and blood and the Master's laughing face—

"Mal?"

She spun toward him, expecting to see a scene that she would never forget for the rest of her life. Instead of bleeding and dying, though, Matt was simply staring at her quizzically.