Apocalypse Rising (Book One)

Stories To Tell

About two months later after he'd started traveling with the two sisters, Jack was walking back from the kitchen, a bottle of wine in his hand, when he heard a sharp staccato sound coming from further down the hallway. He slowed, tilting his head to the side as he considered the noise. A few seconds later, he started down the hallway, wondering if he was really hearing what he thought he was.

When he opened the door at the end, he realized in surprise that it had indeed been what he thought it was.

Bullets.

The Apocalypse was standing at the far end of a makeshift firing range in a simple white tank top and jeans, firing her gun at a rapid fire speed that made him blink in surprise. No one's that good of a shooter! Then he looked at the other end and did a double take.

The dummies were peppered with bullets already, each one of them a perfect kill shot. The Apocalypse finished her round and lowered her gun, taking a few breaths before turning to him. "Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No," Jack managed to say as he nodded at the targets. "That's impressive."

"I've woken Rose up before," she said, picking at some invisible speck on her gun. "I didn't know if I did it to you."

"I wouldn't have taken you for a gun kind of woman."

"No, neither would I," the Apocalypse admitted before flicking the safety on and sliding the gun in a holster on her thigh. "Until the Time War."

Jack took a deep breath, walking up to her. "In the fifty first century, the Time Agents were told all the time about the Time Lords. Two of them stuck out to me the most. The Earth Shaker and the Oncoming Storm."

"The Apocalypse and the Doctor," the Apocalypse said softly before sitting down on a bench nearby, brushing her long hair out of her face. "Yeah. That's me." She waved a little. "Hello!"

"What they say, about how you could split the Earth if you wanted to," Jack told her, sitting next to her, putting the bottle down. "Could you really do it?"

"Like that," she confirmed, snapping her fingers.

"Wow," Jack breathed, staring at her. "To be honest, I never thought you existed."

She smiled. "Well, I try to keep out of the way as much as I can," she said. "It never seems to work, though. I get noticed all the time."

The door to the firing range opened again, and Rose poked her head in. "I thought you'd be in here," she said softly, padding in.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jack asked.

"Did I wake you up?" the Apocalypse asked at the same time.

"Yes, and yes," Rose replied, sitting on the other side of the Apocalypse. "Then I heard Jack in here, so I thought I'd join you both." She quirked an eyebrow. "The Earth Shaker, huh?"

"The Earth Splitter, more like it," Jack said. "The Doctor, the Master, and the Apocalypse. They're legends."

"The man who heals, the man who dominates, and the woman who destroys," the Apocalypse recited, leaning back and folding her arms and crossing her ankles. "Sums the three of us up rather nicely."

"What happened?" Jack asked, looking at her. "If you don't mind me asking, that is. I would have thought they'd have come with you, all around."

"They can't," the Apocalypse whispered.

"That's what we were talking about, when you picked us up," Rose told him. "Of the Time Lords, and Gallifrey."

"Gone now," the Apocalypse told him. "Gone forever. I'm the last of them. The last of the Time Lords, wandering around the stars in a police public call box with four more lives to live."