Chapter 9 (A New Dawn)
Holly was stood beside the TARDIS in the middle of Waterloo Close as she stared up at the sun. She blinked in the afternoon daylight and shielded her eyes against it.
“I was looking at the same sky only a few hours ago when I thought you were dead,” said Lilly as she locked up the TARDIS.
“I have a headache,” said Holly.
“Yeah, they said that’d be a side effect, but if that’s the only side effect of pretending to be dead then it’s a good thing.”
“Yeah,” said Holly, managing a weak smile.
“What do you remember?” asked Lilly, guiding her away from the box to sit on the curb.
“Just…that thing coming at me from the darkness. Then pain. Then…” She looked at Lilly and smiled again. “Thank you.”
“For what?” said Lilly.
“For rescuing me.”
“Don’t go all damsel in distress on me now, Dangerfield.”
Holly laughed and put her arm around her. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For dying,” said Holly. She started to cry.
“Hey,” said Lilly, “you’re here now. That’s all that maters.”
“I know,” she said, managing to laugh again. “I know.” She sniffed and then got up, looking around the close. “So they are all aliens, yeah?”
“That’s what Arnold says, yeah,” said Lilly, nodding at the madness of it all.
Holly turned back to Lilly. “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah, but can it wait,” said Lilly. “I don’t trust those aliens with the Doctor. We need to get to Arnold’s house and make sure he’s safe.”
“Yeah of course,” said Holly, nodding.
“You sure it can wait?” said Lilly.
“It’ll wait,” smiled Holly.
Lilly grabbed her hand and they both started running, Holly a little unsteadily at first, but then she soon picked up the pace. “Let’s go, Dangerfield!”
The Doctor was leaning against the outer wall of Arnold’s house when the old man stepped outside the front door and stood next to the Time Lord, looking ahead at nothing in particular.
“Are you okay, Doctor?” said Arnold.
“I…don’t know.”
“You had no idea one of your kind was down here?”
“No,” said the Doctor quietly. “What happened to him?”
Arnold shrugged. “He helped us install the equipment and then left after he’d made sure we were all safe.”
The Doctor scratched his chin. “What could he possibly be doing?”
“Do you know who he is?”
“Indeed I do,” said the Doctor. He turned to Arnold, “But that’s the least of our problems now. The real question is: what do I now do with your people.”
Arnold closed his eyes. “Please, Doctor, we are innocents. We will not harm anyone.”
“And how can you be sure the Lanix won’t find you? I detected you.”
“There is a slim, slim chance,” said Arnold, “but what other choice do we have? If we uproot ourselves now, you doom us.”
“I doom you,” said the Doctor, gently. “And I can’t doom you, Arnold.”
Arnold smiled. “So you’ll let us stay?”
The doctor sighed. “You need to keep Charlie Twemlow under control.”
“I will,” said Arnold, nodding vigorously.
“And you need to call me the moment you get any kind of inkling that the Lanix are on your trail.”
“So you’re going to help us? You’re going to protect us?”
The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and nodded. “It’s what I do, Arnold. I protect the innocents.”
Arnold threw his arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”
The Doctor broke free and stepped back from the old man. “But there will come a time, Arnold, when you will have to embrace what you used to be. You will have to become the Yaros again.”
“Get away from him you freak!” yelled Lilly from down the street as she ran towards Arnold with a half-brick.
“Lilly! No, no!” said the Doctor, almost rugby tackling her to the ground. “It’s fine. It’s all okay. We’ve worked it all out.”
“They killed Holly!” said Lilly.
“I’m still here, Lilly,” said Holly.
The Doctor looked over Lilly’s head at Holly as she stood there in her muddied, dark clothes, her face pale and her lips dry and sore. “Miss Dangerfield.”
“Holly,” said Arnold quietly. “I’m so sorry. It was Charlie Twemlow…”
“Arnold, it doesn’t matter now,” said Holly. “I’m fine. I’m alive. No matter what crap’s gone down here, I’m alive. We’re all alive.”
Day 16
The following night the Doctor invited a number of the Runswick estate to a BBQ he was throwing in Waterloo Close. They were due to leave the next morning, but the Doctor felt that he needed to cement their friendship after all the difficulties they had gone through.
He still didn’t feel easy with letting the Yaros stay hidden on the Runswick estate, but he couldn’t fault Arnold’s logic. They needed to stay hidden from their enemies, and at least he’d be on hand to fly in and deal with the situation should it ever arise.
He made a mental note to visit Yaros and Lanix at some point in the future.
And then there was the Matthew mystery…what was he doing here…?
“Hot dog, Doctor,” said Holly, handing him a hot dog which had been overly lathered in tomato ketchup.
“Oh, thank you, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor, taking it off her and taking a bite. “Nice to see you looking more like your old self.”
“I feel much better.”
“You slept most of last night and most of today!” said Lilly, sidling up to them with a glass of wine.
“Is that alcohol, young Lilly?” said the Doctor.
“Indeed it is,” said Lilly.
“Now, Lilly-”
“I need alcohol. We need alcohol,” said Lilly, winking at Holly. “Isn’t that right, Holly?”
“Don’t call me Holly,” said Holly.
Lilly looked confused.
“I’ve got used to you calling me Dangerfield.”
The three of them burst into laughter when Arnold appeared. “Fantastic barbeque here, Doctor!”
“Glad you approve,” he said politely. He still wasn’t willing to accept Arnold as a friend, but there was nothing wrong with being civil.
“Where’s Mr Twemlow?” said Holly.
“Staying at home,” said Arnold. “I think it’s for the best.”
“Agreed,” said the Doctor.
Lilly just looked at Arnold angrily.
“You know, Holly, you can stay if you want. Run the shop.”
Holly smiled but shook her head. “Thank you, Arnold, but I’ve already lived through the 90’s once. Besides, I’ve got my home life to think about.”
Arnold nodded. “Fair enough, young lady. Fair enough.”
Holly wandered off towards the picnic bench on the grass and sat down. Lilly slowly walked over to her and sat down opposite her. She took a swig of her whine and then smiled at Holly.
“You okay?” said Holly.
“Yeah,” said Lilly. “You said about your home life. Are you planning on going home?”
Holly looked past Lilly to the darkening sky, the stars just starting to appear in the blue sky. “Do you want me to go?”
“Yeah,” said Lilly. And then she wrinkled her nose. “No. Not yet at least.”
“Well, Lilly, I’m not going anywhere until we’re ready to face to Kro’Tenk back at home.”
Lilly smiled a wide smile. And then she had a thought. “You said you had something to tell me earlier on.”
But before Holly could respond there was a raucous strum of acoustic guitar strings. The Doctor emerged from the kitchen to cheers from the residents.
“Oh, god,” said Lilly, her head in her hands.
“We could do with a bit of music here.”
“You can’t sing,” said Lilly.
“I used to able to,” said the Doctor, strumming a chord. “This is a little song I sung back in the 80’s. A lovely song by a man with dazzling blue eyes.”
“This should be fun,” said Holly.
“And now, the end is near…” began the Doctor.
And they partied on through the night.
It was early in the morning when the Doctor, Lilly and Holly loaded their belongings into the TARDIS. They had said their goodbyes to the residents the night before, but Arnold had come back to wave them off.
The trio took one last look around the now-empty house.
“In some ways,” said Lilly, “I’ll miss this place.”
“I know what you mean,” said Holly. “It was…fun. For a while I mean. Being dead wasn’t fun,” she added quickly.
“I’ve never been one to stick around for long,” said the Doctor, ushering them out of the front door and locking it up.
Arnold wandered over, his panama hat back on his head and the Doctor handed the keys over to him.
“I’ll make sure I get these back to the estate agent, Doctor,” he said.
“Thank you, Arnold.” He held out a hand. “Remember, any sign of your noisy neighbours and you come running, yeah?”
“Yes, Doctor,” said Arnold, shaking his hand.
“Come on, you two,” said the Doctor, unlocking the TARDIS.
Lilly held back whilst Holly wandered up to Arnold.
“I am truly sorry for Charlie’s actions,” said Arnold. “It was never our intention to hurt you.”
“I know,” said Holly. She gave him a hug,
“It was a true delight working with you, Miss Dangerfield.” He pulled away from her and held up his finger. “But I know what that poison does do people. You know what must be done.” He turned to Lilly he was stood in the TARDIS door waiting. “You have to talk to her.”
“I will,” said Holly. “I will.”
They gave each other another hug and then Holly joined Lilly and the Doctor in the TARDIS.
Arnold watched as the sound of the TARDIS engines filled the air and with a rush of wind the blue box dematerialised from Waterloo Close for the final time.
Across the other side of town, on the Carnforth Estate, a man called Elliot Nation stared out of his front window.
A young woman with blonde hair walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “What’s wrong, Elliot?”
“I’m just tired. Just tired of wearing these stupid disguises.”
“You know what Matthew said,” said the woman. “The only way for us to track them down is to remain in hiding. To remain hidden.”
“But we can’t find them. They’re nowhere to be seen. They may not even be on this planet, Carmen.”
Carmen turned him to face her and then draped her arms over his shoulders. “We will find them, Elliot, and then the Lanix will wipe out the Yaros forever.”
Epilogue
The TARDIS doors opened and the Doctor pushed Lilly and Holly out. They were standing on a beach, the gentle waves crashing against the shore and the sun high in the sky.
“What’s going on?” said Holly.
“You two need to talk,” said the Doctor.
“What? About what?” said Lilly.
“Holly can start off,” said the Doctor. He went back into the TARDIS and closed the doors. A few seconds later he opened them again. “It’s quiet here. You can both get yourselves into order and get everything out in the open. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He closed the doors and with a rush of wind the TARDIS disappeared.
Holly and Lilly stood opposite each other in silence.
“So you wanted to tell me something,” said Lilly.
Holly nodded. “Yes.” She guided Lilly over to a dune and sat down on it, staring out to sea. “When I…died, so to speak, I wasn’t completely unconscious.”
“What do you mean?” said Lilly, looking a little sheepish.
“It’s hard to explain, but it was like an out of body experience. I was floating around the room. My consciousness. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
“Okay,” said Lilly slowly.
“And I heard everything you told me. About you and the Doctor and what happened to your brother. And I’m sorry that I took the diary.”
“It’s okay,” said Lilly, putting her hand on Holly’s.
“But I heard everything. How you feel and your emotions. Everything.”
“Not quite everything,” said Lilly, looking away.
“Meaning?” said Holly.
“Meaning that I didn’t tell you everything about my past and about what happened to my brother, and you’ll hate me.”
“I won’t hate you,” said Holly.
“You will hate me. You’ll hate me because…because it was me that killed my brother.”
The Doctor stood in front of a simple, curved gravestone, his hands deep in his pockets, his beard looking thicker than ever. His face was stern and serious, but there was a tear forming in the corner of his eye.
“I’m sorry,” he said to the gravestone. “I tried to keep her safe, but he’s out there somewhere. I’ve felt him for some time now.”
He closed his eyes and then knelt down at the grave.
“He’s still after Lilly. The Master is back.”
The End
Resurrection continues on Saturday with "The Fires That Burned Blue" where a number of revelations are made.
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