Caroline and Danny emerged from the time machine. Danny held his hand to his forehead and looked about him, unsure of what had just happened.
“Feeling okay?” asked Caroline.
“This is just…mad,” he said, looking back at the TARDIS and shaking his head in disbelief, his mouth open and his eyes unmoving.
They had spent the last fifteen minutes explaining to Danny what had been going on with the Apparites, and then they had explained what exactly the TARDIS was. Or at least the Doctor had. Caroline was still unsure exactly what was going on with that, but she’d seen so much over the last few hours that she was willing to accept the unbelievable now.
Danny had taken it quite well, staying calm and collected as he was taken into the TARDIS and shown around the main console room. He had listened quietly and not bothered to ask too many questions.
But now he was outside the ship he was starting to show signs of panic.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” asked Caroline as Danny placed his hand against the wooden outside frame of the TARDIS.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, not quite believing it himself. “I’m good. I’ll be fine.” He ran his hand down the box. “It’s just…”
“I know,” said Caroline, not waiting for his answer.
“How can you just stay so calm?” asked Danny, crossing over to her and looking at her as if she was talking nonsense.
“I don’t know,” she said, turning and folding her arms. She looked down the passage and to the swirling snow beyond. “Maybe I want to believe in it. Maybe I believe in it too much because there’s nothing else.”
Danny crossed over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Caz, you shouldn’t feel like this.”
She rounded on him, her face full of thunder. “And why shouldn’t I?”
“I…I don’t understand,” he said, taken aback by her.
“I thought Steve and I had something together. I felt happy with him.” She turned from him and walked a few paces away, her back still turned to Danny. “It felt perfect. When I fell pregnant. Well…it just made me feel complete.”
“Caroline, I’m so sorry.”
“I was going to ask him to marry me. We’d only know each for a few months, but everything just felt so right. You know, when you meet that perfect person,” she said, turning to face him, waiting for a response.
“I don’t know, myself,” he said, smiling sadly. “I’m still waiting for that perfect person.”
“Two months carrying a life inside you. I know it wasn’t there for that long, but I felt different. Complete. And then nothing.”
Danny crossed over to her. “I didn’t realise you cared so much about this Steve.”
“I try and hide it these days. I try and pretend it never existed because it’s too painful to remember.”
Danny edged around to her front and lowered himself to her eye line. He looked her right in the eyes and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m here for you,” he said slowly.
Caroline smiled and nodded. “I know you want to be,” she said, sadly, “but I don’t think anyone can help me now.”
Danny continued to look at her, not knowing whether to be upset or hurt or angry. She refused to meet his gaze. He had really shaken her up earlier on, although he couldn’t exactly remember it. He wondered if their friendship would ever be the same again.
The two of them jumped when the door of the TARDIS creaked open and the Doctor stepped out.
“How’re you feeling Mr Lennon?” asked the Doctor as he jammed a woolly hat onto his head and squeezed past them in the passage. “I knew a Mr Lennon once. Nice bloke. Very nice glasses.”
“I’m as well as can be expected,” he said with a nervous laugh.
“Look,” said Caroline, brushing past Danny and following the Doctor out into the street, “are you sure this is the right thing to do?”
“Absolutely sure,” said the Doctor. “We have Danny here as a weapon to use against them. We have to take that opportunity.”
“A weapon,” said Danny, raising his eyebrows and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his long, grey coat. “I’ve never been called a weapon before.”
“There’s risk,” said the Doctor, “and normally I wouldn’t ever ask anyone to do this, but if we don’t we’re going to have to risk the TARDIS, and that, my friends, is something I cannot afford to do. Here,” he tossed Caroline a walkie-talkie which she just managed to catch, “radio those two back at the church.”
“Yes sir!” she said sarcastically. She switched on the walkie-talkie and at first all she could hear was static. She spoke into it. “Anyone there? This is Caroline. Is there anyone there?” Nothing but static. “Hey, England to the USA. England to the USA. Is anyone there?” Still nothing.
The Doctor, getting frustrated, grabbed the walkie from Caroline. “Hello, hello. This is the Doctor. Is there anybody there? Please pick up, you fools.”
A cracked voice came across the radio. “This is Margot. Keep calm. We’re here.”
“Excellent,” he said, looking up and down the street. “We’re making our way to the church now.”
“Yes, okay. Good.”
The Doctor couldn’t be certain, but he was sure he could here a third voice coming over the speaker. Ben, Margot and someone else.
“I think they know we’re up to something,” said Ben over the radio. “They’ve been circling the church for the past hour or so. The ghosts.”
“But they haven’t attacked yet?” asked the Doctor.
“Not yet,” said Ben. “It’s like they’re waiting for something.”
“Us,” said the Doctor grimly.
The radio hissed and let out a high-pitched whine. Then a growling, crackling voice came over the other end, through the static. “Poor little people.”
“That’s them!” said Caroline, crossing over and looking at the radio as if expecting to see something come out of it. “Have they got Ben and Margot?”
“No,” said the Doctor, also looking down at the walkie. “They’re just using the radio waves to communicate.”
“Come and play,” hissed the voice. “Bring Caroline Parker.”
“They want me,” said Caroline blankly. “But why?”
“I have no idea,” said the Doctor. He pressed the TALK button and brought the radio up close to his mouth. “Now listen to me. This is your last chance. We have a way to defeat you, but I’d much rather help you out. Try and get you home. What do you say?”
“We want Caroline Parker,” came the same, twisted voice.
“Is that your final answer?” asked the Doctor.
“Caroline Parker,” said the Apparite, as if to confirm the answer to the Doctor’s question.
“Right. You were warned.” He switched the radio off and threw it into the snow. “Come on, let’s go.”
Ben and Margot emerged from the staircase leading down to the crypt and Ben let our a long sigh.
“What now?” asked Margot, getting a little fed up with Ben’s attitude.
“I’m just wondering how we ended up here,” he said glumly. “We had a life, you know?”
“I know,” said Margot, looking up at the windows. Thankfully the ghosts had left them alone. They were far more interested in wrecking the town centre.
“Don’t you ever miss it? Don’t you ever miss Harry?”
Margot turned and looked at Ben. “You know the answer to that one,” she said.
“I miss my brother and sister,” he said, sitting down on one of the pews. “I always miss them.”
“But we promised Jayne we’d do everything we could do contain this situation,” said Margot, as if repeating something she had been taught to learn. “Whether we like it or not, this is our job now.”
Ben shook his head. “Dressing up as a vicar though…I’m not exactly the right person for the part.”
“It’s worked these last few years. I’m sure you can keep up the illusion.”
“You’re not the one who has to give sermons. I’m not even an religious man.” He ran his hand through his dark hair and then rubbed his face. “I need a shave. I feel like I haven’t had a shower in weeks.”
Margot crossed over to him and patted him on his shoulder. “Come on,” she said, attempting a smile, “it’s not all that bad. Eventually we’ll work out a way to put an end to it all.”
“You hope,” he said quietly, staring into space.
Caroline was out of breath and she was sure that her feet were no longer touching the ground. She was running so fast that she felt like she was flying and, to be fair, this was the first time she’d ever attempted to run in snow. It had actually started out quite easy, but now she was struggling. She constantly felt like she was falling forward and when her feet did eventually touch they ground they didn’t hit anything solid.
She turned back to look behind her and there was Danny and the Doctor following up the rear. They’d emerged into the shopping street and were cautiously making their way towards the church when one of the Apparites had appeared down the side street. At first it hadn’t noticed them as the Doctor motioned for them to back up into a shop doorway. It was only when an already-leaning lamp post came crashing to the ground that the ghost had looked up and spotted them.
The Doctor hadn’t hesitated and told them all to run, make their way for the church and not to look back.
But now Caroline was looking back. She could see the Apparite floating above the snow right behind the Doctor. It’s hand kept grasping out in an effort to grab him, but the Doctor was always one step ahead of the ghost. Just.
It was then that she lost her concentration and found herself slipping and falling face-first into the deep drifts. The cold on her face almost sent her into shock. But then she could feel herself being grabbed by the back of her coat and hauled to her feet.
She automatically started to run once again and realised it was Danny who had grabbed her.
“Doctor!” she shouted out.
“Just keep running!” came his voice in the distance.
They passed the frozen-over fountains and ran past the Wilkinson’s situated in what was once the town’s main open-air market. They could see the church and rounded the corner to see Ben and Margot standing in the doorway and beckoning them onwards.
“Round the side!” came the Doctor’s voice again.
“What?” shouted Margot.
“To the crack! There’s no time like the present!”
Caroline rolled her eyes, skidded on an icy patch in front of the church door and, grabbing hold of Danny, continued running down the side of the church to where the crack was.
When they rounded the corner, however, they found their route blocked. Standing right in front of the opening to the Apparites dimensions was the ghostly image of Caroline’s transformed landlord - Mr Cope.
To be continued...
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