Prologue
“Number 9! Cheese burger and chips; haddock and chips!” The fat man bellowed as he held the plates of food up high for everyone to see. “Number 9! Anyone?”
Just then, the fat man saw someone raise a hand. He went over to a table where two people sat and plonked the plates before them.
“There,” he said. “Enjoy!”
With that, the fat man walked off. The two people that sat at the table included a forty-year old woman with blonde hair. She wore jeans and a denim jacket. The other was a young black man in his early twenties. He wore an anorak and scruffy jeans. They didn’t say much to each other before their meals arrived. They were sitting in their local fish and chip restaurant.
“So you’ve heard nothing from her,” the woman said. “Rose hasn’t sent you a text.”
Jackie Tyler had been worried about her daughter lately. There was a time when she thought her daughter died in that one year she went missing. But her daughter turned out to be alive and was travelling with a man who went out among the stars. Jackie didn’t like it when she and her daughter were so far apart from each other.
“Well, hasn’t she?” Jackie prompted the young man, prodding him whilst he sat opposite her in the fish and chip restaurant.
Mickey Smith sulked. He was getting fed up of Jackie raising the subject. “I told you!” he said. “Last time I saw her was in Cardiff. I haven’t seen or heard from her since.”
“It’s not like her,” Jackie said. “She always used to leave me messages on her mobile to let me know where she is. To tell me that she’s alright.”
“That was before she met him,” Mickey reminded her. “The Doctor. This whole space and time travel nonsense has taken over for her.”
“What did happen in Cardiff?” Jackie wanted to know. “What did she say to you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mickey answered.
“You two had a fight, didn’t you?” Jackie realised. “Tell me about it. I need to know.”
“She doesn’t want to be around me anymore,” Mickey told her. “She’s always going off with that Doctor of hers. Now it’s him and that Captain Jack Flash.”
“Jack who?”
“Don’t let it bother ya.”
“Oh come on, Mickey!” Jackie persisted. “She must’ve told you when she’d be coming back. She must’ve said…”
“Just eat your chips and haddock!” Mickey bluntly told her. “That’s what we came here for, isn’t it?!”
Mickey’s outburst kept Jackie quiet. Silence ensued between them. They didn’t look at each other and they picked at their food whilst they sat at their table.
“Why did she have to go like this?” Jackie quietly complained. “Why did she have to change? I don’t want her going off and doing this anymore. It smells of danger. You know it and I know it. With Big Ben; Downing Street; the Slitheen and everything…”
“She’ll come back, Jackie,” Mickey reassured her. “I know she will.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked.
“Trust me,” he said. “Something’s bound to happen here again. Something dangerous. The Doctor will come back and he’ll bring Rose back too.” Pausing for a moment, he said, “Now let’s eat this lot before it gets cold. We can go home then.”
Jackie didn’t feel like eating whilst Mickey tucked into his meal.
“Next time something terrible happens,” she said, “it’ll be like two or twenty five years late. Must I wait that long for Rose to come back?”
“It won’t happen like that again,” Mickey tried to reassure Jackie. “She came back six months later last time I saw her in Cardiff. That must mean she and the Doctor are…”
Just then, loud screams and shouts echoed from outside. Jackie got up to her feet. Mickey got up too. Everyone in the fish and chip restaurant got up and looked outside to see what was happening. People were running to and fro in the streets as i they were trying to escape from something. Loud bangs and explosions occurred. Jackie hadn’t seen anything like it. Not since…well…since that previous bizarre time when shop window dummies charged out of show windows and….
“Come on, Jackie!” Mickey interrupted her thoughts. “There’s got to be trouble! We have to get out of here! I’ve got to take you home!”
“Rose maybe out there,” Jackie said. “That could be it! The Doctor and Rose could’ve come back to sort out whatever disaster’s happening out there!”
“We don’t want to get involved,” Mickey said. “It’s not our scene. We’re getting out of here…”
“No!” Jackie persisted. “I must go out there! I have to find out whether Rose has come back!”
With that, Jackie got out from the table and made her way to exit the fish and chip restaurant.
“Jackie!” Mickey shouted. “No!”
But it was too late. Jackie was already out through the doors. After a moment’s hesitation, Mickey went after her. The fat man became disappointed that the two people who had left his restaurant left their meals cold. He eventually however went over to the table and first gulped down the cheese burger from Mickey’s abandoned plate.
Out in the London streets, Jackie ran through the chaos of people that were scattering and running about. She found it difficult to see what was causing the chaos. But Jackie’s mind was focused on one thing. The whereabouts of her daughter. Rose must be here, she thought. The pandemonium seemed to be the Doctor’s scene. Jackie hoped the Doctor was here as well as with Rose.
“Rose!” she cried. “Rose, are you here? Where are you, Rose? Rose!”
Eventually, Jackie saw something. Up ahead in the crowds, there was a little boy marching through the streets. He had a blank expression on his face. The little boy was pale-skinned and had fair hair. He was about five years old. Once Jackie saw him, she began to shudder. She’d seen the little boy recently on the news. It hadn’t been good.
“Oh no,” Jackie moaned. “Not this. Not here now please!”
The little boy gradually raised his left hand. Out from it came a deadly energy ray. It shot somebody nearby who was running away. The person, who was a man, shrieked and cried out in pain once he’d been hit. He then collapsed to the ground, dead. The little boy kept on firing energy blasts as he shot and electrocuted people to death. People were being killed off left; right and centre. There seemed to be no chance of an escape. Relentless, the boy was killing everyone. Jackie became terrified as the scene of death ensued. She didn’t know what to do as she stood still and watched the little boy killing everyone.
“Jackie!” Mickey shouted nearby. “Jackie, get away!”
Jackie turned to see Mickey coming towards her from the other side of the street. He managed to catch up with her.
“Jackie, we have to get away from here,” he said. “That boy will kill you! He’ll kill you!”
Jackie hesitated before she started to join Mickey and run away. It was then that Jackie tripped and ended up falling onto the ground. She gave a sharp cry of pain once she injured herself.
“No!” Mickey shouted, as he came back and tried to help her up.
Jackie tried to get herself up from the floor with Mickey helping her, but it was then that they sensed a presence nearby. They turned to the little boy standing over them. He looked down at Jackie and Mickey with cold, unfeeling eyes. Jackie trembled as the boy came closer to her. The little boy raised his left hand, ready to open fire upon her.
“Power shall be mine!” the little boy shouted out loud. Jackie quivered as the boy spoke. Mickey clung to Jackie by the shoulders whilst the little boy terrified them. “I shall have the power! The power shall be mine! I shall have you all! I SHALL KILL YOU ALL!!!!!!!”
© Tim Bradley, 2020
| Go back to | Go next to |
| Return to The Child of Death (Z) | |
| Return to Zorbius | |
| Return to The Ninth Doctor by Tim Bradley | |
| Return to Doctor Who by Tim Bradley | |
| Return to Doctor Who | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |