Bad World Prologue
Rose pressed her back into the hard, wooden crate and screwed her eyes shut, trying desperately to control her heavy breathing. They were coming… she knew they were. But whether they would find her in the storm, or just wander straight past… how could she know?
The wind was picking up again, sending a shiver up the woman’s spine. Rose took a shuddered gulp of icy air and tried to push her sodden hair out of her face. But the freezing rain being pummeled into the side of her head sent her blond hair whipping back into her eyes.
Rose gritted her teeth against the cold and wondered if she should take a risk and peek over the top of the crates. She couldn’t hear them, but even now, after all this time, she was still unsure of how sharp their hearing was... what if they knew exactly where she was? And if they caught her…
Thunder rolled across empty, black skies, screaming out to the grey world cowering beneath its wrath. For a split second, Rose’s world was alive with searing white lines, and her eyes flew open as the oil bins and crates seemed to twitch and jump in the light. Then she was plummeted into darkness once more.
Above the gale of wind and onslaught of rain, the rapid pounding of Rose’s heart seemed to drown out her senses. She tried to shuffle further back into the crates as fear threatened to take over. If anyone had been watching, they would have seen a bedraggled creature, bambi eyed and pale, almost swallowed up by the shadows that surrounded her. They would have seen her press herself back against the crates as the lighting roared above, as though longing for them to swallow her up in her fear. But, they would have also seen her raise a trembling hand to her chest and squeeze it around the breast pocket of her coat… they would have seen her eyes grow cold, and fierce, and her jaw clench in steely determination.
They would have seen Rose Tyler in all her fortitude, in all her power… just as the Doctor had always seen her.
The lightning crackled again, but this time Rose did not blink. Pulling her hair once more from her face, she shifted her stiff body onto her knees, and cautiously peered over the crates. She squinted, but saw only blackness. Using her numb hand to shelter her face, she sniffed and stared into the gloom, trying to pick out something… anything that could send her a ray of hope, a chance of escape.
But even as she stared, a cold, sickening feeling began sliding itself over her. She could see something nestled within the dark of the night. Once she had cleared her eyes of the rain, she became aware of a small, but incredibly bright blue light hovering in the blackness. Watching her.
‘Oh… god.’
A giant booming sound erupted above Rose’s head and a thin slice of lighting cut its way powerfully through the rain. Once again, the scene in front of her was illuminated with a blinding radiance, and the demonic, hulking shape of a Dalek seared its way into her vision.
And for a split second, as the world was lit around them, Rose looked into the eyes of an oppressor and it looked back…
‘EXTERMIN–!’
Rose twisted around and flung herself sideways as the crate she had been hiding behind exploded in a whirlwind of wooden shards. She landed heavily; the breath knocked out of her, and scrabbled within the large black bag that had previously nestled by her side. From the other side of the crates came the unmistakable noise of the Dalek as it glided serenely towards her, never slowing, never faltering, and drawing painstakingly closer.
With her hand buried in the bag, Rose struggled to her feet and let out a gasping sob in fear and frustration. Trying desperately to stay calm, Rose took a heaving breath just as her searching fingers located the cold lump of elongated metal from within the bag’s folds. Her shaking fingers gripped it, and with a new grim look etched into her face, she flailed her body round in the mud so that she lay on her back, blinking in the onslaught of rain that ravished her face.
Even above the constant drumming of raindrops, the sound of the approaching Dalek pounded into Rose’s eardrums. It jarred to a stop above her, blotting out the rain and spotlighting her face with its glowing blue elevation pads. For a perfect moment, everything was still in the world.
Rose snarled.
Just as the bulky shape above began to bare down upon her, she brought her arms around, forcing the muzzle of the metal weapon up. The heavy golden colour glinted in the luminous blue light of the Dalek, looking briefly pretty and out of place. But Rose’s deadened fingers had already found the underbelly of the device, and with a final wrench of her hand, she thrust her finger hard against the switch and send a torrent of white light shooting upwards.
The beam screamed through the frozen air and cannoned into the underside of the Dalek. Sparks leaped off the impaired casing and the monster let out a lurching, bellowing noise as the power of the weapon sliced through it.
Rose hugged the golden cylinder to her chest and rolled sideways as the creature above began to smoke and wail. With hardly a pause to catch her breath, Rose rolled again, skidding over the icy gravel in an attempt to distance herself from the burning Dalek. The blue light at the end of its eye stalk fizzed, and was extinguished as power was lost, and with a sickening crunch, the creature fell through the air and smacked against the hard ground.
Grabbing the black bag and staggering to her feet, Rose collapsed against the wire mesh of the fence that was keeping her prisoner, and watched as the Dalek was cooked alive in its own metal casing, screaming its death cry into the night.
She took several steadying breaths as the noises died away, and wondered how many others had heard their sentry boil and wail. From a two second estimate, Rose figured no less than seven… Not even her gun, let alone herself, would outlast that many Daleks. Once again, her hand involuntarily moved to clutch at her breast pocket, as though this simple movement gave her strength.
Then she was blinded by a scolding white light.
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