After a while the Doctor leapt up. ‘Right, there’s only one thing for it. We have to go into the town, past the woods, and get us some help.’
‘This has turned into a disaster,’ said Tom quietly. ‘I’ve lost my van, Joanne’s been knocked out and Alex’s girlfriend has been killed.’
Alex glared at Tom. ‘Glad you put the van at the top of the list.’
‘Danny, you’re being very quiet on the subject,’ said Caroline, turning her head to her friend.
‘Yes I am,’ he said. ‘I’ve just got a lot on my mind at the moment.’
‘Like what?’ asked Caroline, eager to get some answers out of Danny, such as how he got the prisons generator working.
‘To be honest, I don’t want to leave here,’ he said, looking at the Doctor and Caroline. ‘I feel there’s a mystery to be solved and I want to be a part of it.’
‘That’s very interesting, Danny,’ said the Doctor, eyeing him up and down.
Danny shifted uncomfortably. ‘I just feel some kind of connection to the place, that’s all.’
A light, flickering in the distance, made Alex turn his head. The flicker was fairly dim and it was coming from the direction of the chapel.
‘Doctor, look!’ shouted Alex, his hand pointing towards the chapels window. ‘It must be Kate,’ said Alex excitedly. ‘She’s still alive! Perhaps you were wrong.’
‘Alex, calm down,’ said Mark. ‘I saw her dead as well.’
The light flicked off and Alex made a run for the chapel.
‘Alex, come back!’ shouted the Doctor. He turned to the others. ‘I want you all to get out of these grounds immediately. Whatever’s in the chapel isn’t going to make Alex feel any better. I need to get him out as well.’
‘Right,’ said Caroline. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
The Doctor had followed Alex and had arrived outside the chapel. He knew what was waiting in there. The lights had grown dim once again and the door was shut. There was no sign of Alex, but the Doctor could sense that not everything was how he had seen it previously.
A shadow flickered past the window. ‘Alex?’ whispered the Doctor. ‘Alex, is that you?’
There was no reply. A gust of wind blew up the Doctor’s coat and made him shiver. He gathered up his nerves and walked up to the door.
‘Is there anybody in there?’ he asked as he knocked on the wood. Again, no reply. The Doctor thought for a moment, straightened himself up and then said: ‘Kate? Kate, if you’re in there then open this door and show yourself.’ Silence. ‘If you don’t then I’ll have to come in.’
The door creaked open a little and the Doctor stepped back.
‘Doctor?’
The Doctor turned around. Standing behind him was Alex. His eyes were red and he’d obviously been crying.
‘Alex,’ said the Doctor quietly, ‘where did you go?’
‘I wanted to go in and see Kate,’ he said, his voice faltering, ‘but I just hung around here. I just couldn’t bare the thought of seeing her like that.’
‘And you don’t have to see her like that,’ said the Doctor, putting a comforting arm around the young man. ‘We’re all getting out of here. We can get Kate out of here tomorrow morning when I have some help.’
‘I heard you ask if it was her on the other side of the door,’ said Alex.
‘I don’t know why I asked it, Alex. Perhaps I was just hoping, like you.’
‘But you said that she was dead.’
‘She is dead, Alex.’ The Doctor looked back at the chapel and then back to Alex. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Alex nodded and fought back more tears as the Doctor led him away.
Caroline, Tom, Mark, Danny and the still-unconscious Joanne were waiting on the other side of the gates. The Doctor and Alex walked through the gateway and then closed the iron doors behind them. ‘Where are we gonna go?’ asked Danny. ‘We don’t have any transport, Tom’s vans gone and now the TARDIS. What do we do?’
‘There’s Little Newtown,’ suggested Tom.
‘That’s gonna be at least a three hour walk,’ said Mark. ‘There’s gotta be somewhere closer. I don’t fancy walking through those woods at this time of night.’
‘There’s a few holiday cabins in the woods,’ said Alex, sniffing away his last few tears. ‘Perhaps someone there can help us.’
‘Well, to be honest, I’d like to get into the town,’ said the Doctor, looking down the road.
‘Why?’ asked Danny.
‘I want to have a word with that man that went mad. The one that was visiting here with his partner and the estate agent.’
Tom laughed and kicked at the prison wall. ‘From what I’ve heard he’s turned into a nutcase. They’re thinking of moving him to the city. To a mental asylum.’
‘Then we have to go to him as soon as possible.’
‘Doctor,’ sighed Caroline, ‘we’re all tired and want some rest. Let’s just find one of those cabins. Then, in the morning, you can go for a trip to the town and see this bloke.’
‘Yes, but-’
Caroline stopped him. ‘One night won’t make any difference.’
The Doctor gave in and smiled. ‘I suppose you’re right. We’ve all had a tough time up here. It’s time to freshen up and get our bearings back.’
As they headed away from the prison, the gate slowly opened. From the darkness two eyes watched the group heading away. They would return. They would return.
Caroline opened her eyes, sniffed in the air and then closed her eyes again in delight. It was the smell of bacon and eggs. It was a smell she hadn’t had the pleasure of in such a long time. When she was little her grandma would always do her bacon and eggs. Her parents found it too unhealthy for her, but when they were away and she was staying at her grandma’s, she would break their rules and give her what she wanted. That was what a grandma was supposed to do, she thought. She missed her grandma. She was starting to miss Thornsby as well.
As she let herself be wrapped up in memories of bacon, the truth dawned on her again. She was in a strange place, in the middle of the woods with a group of teenagers, one of which had just been brutally murdered, and they had been terrorised by what she believed was a ghost. Life with the Doctor was never going to be simple, she thought to herself.
She turned her head. Lying next to her in the same bed was Joanne. She had slept all through the night and hadn’t woken since her fit the night before. Heavy sleeper? she thought to herself. Perhaps not.
On the other side of the cabin, things were a little more cramped. In the second bedroom lay Tom on the floor. Next to him was Mark and in the bed was Danny and Alex.
Whereas Caroline had awoken to pleasant thoughts, Danny was busy having nightmares of horses in Thornsby. Voices in his head told him what to do and more and more he felt that his mind was being taken over - controlled - by something that had crawled inside his mind back in Thornsby.
Caroline tidied up her hair in the mirror and then walked from the bedroom and into the main living area of the cabin. Standing at the cooker was the Doctor. He was wearing an apron complete with a chef’s hat. He smiled as Caroline entered the room.
‘How’d you know I like bacon and eggs?’ asked Caroline, as she pulled out a chair at the wooden dining table and sat down.
‘Everybody likes bacon and eggs!’ grinned the Doctor. ‘The bacon was in the freezer. It must have been left by the previous holidaymakers.’
‘You do realise that we’re breaking the law?’ said Caroline, leaning on her elbows.
‘Perhaps,’ said the Doctor,’ but it was either break the law or spend a night camped out in the cold.’
‘And what if the owner of the cabin comes around?’
‘Then we just explain to them what happened. We’ll be fine,’ he said as he shovelled an egg onto a plate.
‘So how are we going about everything today?’ asked Caroline.
‘Well, you lot are staying here,’ he said, placing the plate on the table in front of Caroline, ‘whilst I go into the town and chat to this Mr Feathers.’
‘Can’t I come with you?’
‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’d rather you all stayed here where I know you can’t get into trouble.’
‘Doctor, I’m not a teenager, you know. I’m a grown woman and I can make my own choices.’
The Doctor smiled. ‘Alright, alright,’ he laughed, ‘you can come with me. I’ll need the company on the long walk.’
Alex walked into the room, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. ‘That smells nice,’ he said.
‘Yes, just hang on and I’ll have some more,’ said the Doctor.
‘How are you feeling today?’ asked Caroline. She hadn’t wanted to ask about Kate, but felt it was best that he didn’t clam it all up.
‘Not too good,’ said Alex weakly. He looked at the Doctor and then leaned in closer to Caroline. ‘I feel like I’m falling to bits.’
Caroline took his hand and gripped it tightly. ‘It’s understandable.’
‘Kate and I had drifted apart over the last few months, but I still loved her.’ He tried to fight back the tears again. ‘I can’t live without her.’
Before Caroline could say anything else, a plate of bacon and eggs was thrust in front of Alex. ‘There we go, young man. Have to keep up your energy.’ The Doctor grinned.
‘Thanks, Doc,’ said Alex weakly.
‘Caroline, you better eat up and get ready to go.’
‘Where are you going?’ asked Alex.
‘We’re off to see Mr Feathers,’ said the Doctor as he returned to his cooking.
‘He’s crazy though,’ said Alex.
‘Some people say I’m crazy.’ The Doctor turned and grinned. ‘I trust you can keep the others here, Alex?’
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘At the moment I really don’t fancy venturing back to the prison.’
‘I understand,’ replied the Doctor.
Outside somebody had been watching the cabin all night, waiting to make their move. A little while longer, just be sure the Doctor had gone, and she would make her presence known.
Kate shifted uncomfortably amongst the trees. She wasn’t sure what she was doing here, but she was certain that she had died last night.
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