Chapter 4 (Back To The Day Of The Dead)
Holly felt like she was being ripped apart. She felt like she was at a thousand and one different places all at the same time. She couldn’t see anything, just blackness and fading light from somewhere. She could hear screams and cries and echoes of people that had come before her.
She caught a glimpse of something – something silver slithering through the darkness – but she closed her eyes and kept them screwed tightly shut.
There came another scream – close to her face this time. It made her scream back. But the scream that screamed at her was more of a threatening cry. It terrified her.
She tried to claw out at whatever was in front of her, but her hands felt nothing. She wasn’t even sure she had hands anymore.
And then there was nothing. Just silence. She opened her eyes. She was floating through a white void. She couldn’t see India anywhere, but she soon became aware of an object floating in the void. The closer she came to it she realised it was a large, oak table. Two figures were sat drinking tea. She couldn’t make out much, but one looked male and the other female.
Holly tried to say hello but no words came out. But they must have somehow heard her as the people turned their faces.
Holly screamed as she recognised the melted, deformed faces of her Doctor and her Lilly.
“Concentrate, Miss Dangerfield,” came the distant voice of the Keeper. “Concentrate. You are close now. So very close.”
Holly closed her eyes again. She could hear something. It sounded like gentle falling rain and birds twittering somewhere in tree tops. She could hear cars driving on gravel and then she felt her bare feet touching wet grass.
She dared to open her eyes.
They had arrived. She was behind a large row of bushes that lined the gravel driveway leading to the crematorium. She frowned as she watched the cavalcade of black cars pull up and one by one her family got out.
“Hey,” came India’s voice from her sound.
Holly looked across to the red-head and almost did a double take. India was completely naked, crouched down and covering herself as best she could with her hands. To Holly’s horror she realised that she, herself, was also totally starker’s.
“What the hell, Keeper!” hissed Holly. “It’s the middle of frigging autumn!”
There was no response.
“Holly, look,” said India.
Holly momentarily forgot her nakedness and watched from behind the bushes as her past self exited the black car looking sad and lonely.
“This is weird,” said Holly.
She saw her father and her uncle remove their large coats and throw them onto the car seats. Her father gave her past self a gentle hug and then made his way towards the main doors. Her past self stood there waiting for the rest of the family to head inside.
And then a familiar voice was heard from behind her.
“Holly Dangerfield?” said the Master.
“It’s him,” said India. Holly noted the fear in her voice.
“Yes?” said her past self, turning to face the newcomer.
“We need to stop him now,” said Holly.
“You are totally naked,” said India. “You can’t just run out there.”
Holly had a terrible thought for a moment and her hand went to her wrist. She breathed a sigh of relief – the wrist band was still there. Still locked into her flesh like it was becoming a part of her.
“Yes, you are, aren’t you?” said the Master.
“What do you want?” asked her past self. “Who are you?”
The Master went to his pocket and pulled out a revolver, aiming it at her chest.
“What the hell…!”
“No!” said Holly, getting to her feet. She didn’t care if the whole world saw her in her birthday suit. She broke cover from the bushes and ran. And then realized she couldn’t run anymore. She was frozen in place. All she could do was watch as the Master shot her past self full-on in the chest.
“Remember who I am. Remember me as the Master. And remember that now Lilly will always be mine,” said the Master as her past self fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, the life draining out of her.
“No,” said Holly, her eyes streaming with tears. “Not like this. Not like this.”
With a flash the murderous Master disappeared. Time unfroze and Holly found herself breaking free and falling to the ground in a heap.
“Holly,” said India, also emerging from the bushes and dropping down to Holly.
“Am I okay? Am I okay?” asked Holly, not daring to look up.
“Look, there are people coming out of the building,” said India. “We need to get back undercover.”
India looked around her, stayed crouched down and crawled over to the car. She opened the back door and grabbed the two large overcoats. She crossed back to Holly and helped her up.
“Put this on,” said India. “You’ll catch your death.”
All Holly could do was kneel on the ground as India wrapped the coat around her and then herself. She knew the Master had stopped her from meeting Lilly, but she never could have imagined this. No wonder the Keeper said she was like a ticking time bomb.
“They’re coming,” said India, as she grabbed Holly and half-dragged, half-walked her to the line of bushes.
“We’re too late,” said Holly. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to wait for the Keeper to find us again and then we’re going to sort this out,” said India. She narrowed her eyes. She was almost speaking to herself. “You know, I remember reading something about a young woman getting killed in this cemetery. I thought it was weird at the time. They never caught the killer.”
Holly and India waited behind the bushes as the rain began to fall again. An ambulance was called – her parents and sister were distraught – and her dead body was loaded into the back of the vehicle. The police arrived and still they waited.
The sun began to set and finally – finally – the area cleared.
“Now what?” asked Holly, managing to recompose herself a little more.
“Do you have any friends?”
“Yeah but they’re gonna think I’m dead.”
India rubbed her eyes. “Where the hell is that damn Keeper?”
“Right here, ladies,” came his voice.
The two of them jumped. The Keeper was standing in a black suit, white shirt and red tie right behind them, but he looked different – he looked transparent like a ghost.
“What the hell’s going on?” asked Holly, getting to her feet and pulling the coat closed. “You send us back in time – totally naked – and then we can’t even stop the Master from killing me!”
“I do apologise about the lack of clothing,” said the Keeper, looking away from Holly, his face going red, “but – just like your escape pod – your clothes were also beginning to disintegrate from the Zero Point. As far you not being able to stop the Master…well, time has a funny way of controlling things.”
“No shit,” said India.
“Is that all you can say?” asked Holly, fighting back the tears and anger. “What are we meant to do now?”
“I suggest that you head into your town and find your friends. I shall consult the timelines and return when I can.”
“This is crazy,” said Holly, running her hands through her damp hair. “There has to be another way.”
“I shall consult the timelines,” he said again before fading away.
“So, your friends?”
“They may not have heard yet,” said Holly. “Let’s get to Roxy before anyone else does.”
Roxy screamed. Holly held her ears. India fell back against the hallway wall.
“Calm down!” said Holly.
“You’re dead, Holly. You’re dead. Julie Foster text me to tell me.”
“Yeah, well it’s all a little more complicated than that,” said Holly. “Can I come in?”
“No,” said Roxy. “You’re dead.”
“Please,” said Holly. “Let me come in. And we need some dry clothes as well.”
Twenty minutes later India and Holly had changed into some or Roxy’s clothes. Holly wore a yellow top with blue jeans and India wore a black skirt with a red jumper. India was a little more petite and compact then Roxy and the clothes were slightly baggy on her.
“So, let me get this straight,” said Roxy, holding her vodka and lemonade in her slightly trembling hand, “you are from a timeline where you never died. A timeline that no longer exists?”
“That’s right,” said Holly.
“Can’t be,” said Roxy.
“Oh, come on, Roxanne,” said Holly. “We’ve both watched Star Trek before.”
“That’s TV. This is reality.”
“And if you hang around town for a bit then in a few weeks we’ll have zombies walking the town as well.”
Roxy shook her head and laughed at the absurdity of it all. “This is crazy.”
“Look,” said Holly, getting up off the kitchen chair and sitting next to her on the sofa, “I don’t have time to try and convince you. Surely me standing here alive is enough proof?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” She looked at India who had remained calm and quiet so far. “And where’s the redhead from?”
“This timeline,” said Holly. “She’s kind of helping me.”
“Yeah, helping her to repair her timeline by erasing my own,” said India.
“Right,” said Roxy. “Right.”
“I know how crazy this all sounds, but you have to believe me. I met a guy called the Doctor who’s actually a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. We travelled in a time machine disguised as a police box and went from planet to planet helping alien races and fighting monsters. Then I fell in love with a girl called Lilly, the daughter of a psychopath called the Master, who then decided to erase me from history to stop his daughter from turning into a good girl.”
Roxy frowned at Holly. “Wait, you fell in love with a girl?”
“Is that all you can say? What about the time travel?”
“What about Alfie. I didn’t know you fancied woman. Do you fancy me?”
“What?!” spat Holly. “No. I don’t fancy women. Well, maybe I do. I don’t know. Look, I don’t fancy other woman. Or you. I fell for Lilly.”
“Is she cute?” asked Roxy.
Holly frowned. “Yeah. I guess. She’s blonde.”
“Oh,” smiled Roxy. “Tell me all about it. Did you kiss?”
“You met her in the other timeline. She punched you.”
Roxy arched her eyebrows. “Lovely.”
“I feel like punching you now, Roxanne.”
“Look,” said India, “we’re getting nowhere here. Can you just agree to believe her?”
Roxy downed the last of her drink and then relaxed back on the sofa. She shook her head and looked at her friend. “Damn, Holly, life was always a bit wacky when we were kids, but this is taking it to a whole other level.”
The three of them nearly jumped out of their skin when there came a loud hammering on the door followed by an awful, guttural, female scream.
“What the hell is that!?” shouted Roxy, dropping her empty glass.
“That’ll be the Nightmare,” said India.
“Oh yeah,” said Holly. “I forgot to tell you about the time-eating monster that’s also coming for me.”
To be continued...
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