𝔏𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔫, 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡, 𝔈𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔥
𝔍𝔞𝔫𝔲𝔞𝔯𝔶 1941
There is a natural instinct which comes to parents mere moments after their first baby is born. From the moment they see their child, they just know what to do. It's so far ingrained into their minds that it even stays with Alzheimer's patients to keep them calm.
When Josh was born, EJ had been terrified. He didn't have a good paternal role model, so being a father was the worst possible thing for him. While Zoë was suffering a traumatic labour, he was cradling and comforting himself in the waiting room. It was horrific, until he held Josh in his arms. The minute he could feel the weight of his son, a tiny person who was half of him, he felt like he was going to be okay.
Whenever EJ needed to feel better, he remembered that moment. He remembered Josh, and the worries just melted away.
However, not everyone had this. People like Rose, who'd never reared a child, didn't have that easy love. They didn't know how to hold a baby without thinking. It didn't apply to them, but Nancy was different. She wasn't a mother, she was too young, but the way she cared for all of the homeless children made her different. It was confusing.
Nancy thought she was more sly than she was. Her sleuthing skills were interesting, but nothing in comparison to the determination of the Doctor and EJ. As she ran across the abandoned train lines, they followed her with ease. Perhaps it wasn't what they were supposed to be doing, but it was they needed to do if they wanted to find out more.
They watched as she snuck into the engine carriage of the train, and opened the coal compartment. She dropped food in there, some of the things she'd taken from the house. It was an interesting process to say the least. However, when she looked up, she saw them, and jumped, clearly startled.
"How'd you follow me here?"
The Doctor beamed. "I'm good at following, me."
"He is." EJ nodded. "It's creepy."
"Got the nose for it."
Nancy shook her head, and downturned her eyes. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."
"My nose has special powers." He grinned, and it seemed odd that it was yet to rub off on her.
"Yeah?" Her eyebrows raised as she glanced at the Doctor. "Is that why it's so..."
Unaware, he queried. "What?"
EJ fought to hold back his laughter as Nancy shook her head. "Nothin'."
"What?" He pressed.
"Nothin'." Was her response until she too was smiling along with them. "Do your ears have special powers too?"
The Doctor scoffed, then. "What are you trying to say?"
She just turned to leave, politely. "Goodnight, mister."
"Nancy..." He sighed, catching her attention once more. "There's something chasing you and the other kids. It looks like a boy and it isn't a boy. And it started about a month ago. Right?"
For a moment, they were unsure whether she was going to leave or not. Her attention seemed to be elsewhere for quite some time, until she finally turned back to them. Uncertainty was hidden in her eyes. She didn't understand how they knew what they did, and she didn't want to. Nancy was putting it all behind her.
"The thing I'm looking for..." The Doctor informed. "The thing that fell from the sky. That's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
Eventually, she choked. "There was a bomb." EJ wanted to hold her hand and tell her it was okay, but she didn't want that. "A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"Take us there."
"No." She whispered. "There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'd never get through."
"Try me!" He repeated.
"Likes a challenge." EJ shrugged, nonchalantly, the weight of the situation not fully getting to him. "It's freaky."
Nancy took a deep breath, before snapping at the two men. "Sure, you wanna know what's going on in there?"
"I really wanna know." The Doctor beamed.
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
He raised his eyebrows, not believing that there might be a higher authority. "And who might that be?"
With her reply, only came more confusion. "The Doctor."
Though she wasn't much of a sleuth, and her bluntness was hardly refreshing, Nancy did know things that they didn't. It was the reason they kept her around. That, and 1940's London was much different to the 2000's. EJ was terrible with directions at the best of times. If this was why they kept Nancy around, then it was a miracle to why the Doctor wanted to keep him around.
When Nancy brought them to the station, which took only a few minutes as they were conscious of the time, the Doctor took some retractable binoculars out of his pocket. First, he looked through them and at the multitude of soldiers on the train tracks, and then he passed them to EJ so he could see it properly too.
"The bombs under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight." Nancy gestured to it, and then to the space behind it in the distance. "See that building? The hospital?"
"What about it?"
"That's where the Doctor is." She nodded. "You should talk to him."
Through the binoculars, EJ couldn't see the name, only a sign plastered to the gates. Keep Out. "Looks welcoming." He grunted.
"For now, I'm interested in getting in there." The Doctor looked to the bomb site, glee in his eyes.
She completely blanked him, and said it only once. "Talk to the Doctor first."
"Why?"
"Because then maybe you won't wanna get inside."
Nancy didn't say a word as she turned on her heels and left them behind. Only the Doctor calling to her gave them clarity. "Where you going?"
"There was a lot of food in that house." She said as though it were obvious. "I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."
"Can I ask you a question?" The Doctor asked as her ears pricked. She was just as curious as EJ. "Who did you lose?"
"What?"
He looked at her sincerely. "The way you look after all those kids. It's cos you lost somebody isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."
"My little brother." She choked out. "Jamie."
"I'm so sorry." EJ replied without a second thought.
"One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. Told him not to follow me. I told him it was dangerous, but... he just... he just didn't like being on his own."
"What happened?" The Doctor pressed, lightly.
"In the middle of an air raid?" Nancy scoffed. "What d'you think happened?"
For once, he took the cue that it was enough. Perhaps his more recent conversations with EJ had prepared him. The Thompson boy knew that he couldn't talk about his sister for too long without becoming upset, and he barely knew her, never mind a younger sibling, if he'd had one. It must have been so much worse for Nancy.
So, the Doctor looked up to the black skies with a smile on his face. There, they could only see the planes, and the bombs, and the explosions. It felt like hell. It was hell.
"Amazing!" He whispered, beaming.
Nancy shook her head, unimpressed. "What?"
"1941." The Doctor said it like it surprised him every time. "Right now, not very far from here, the German war-machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing."
"Oh, you're a cheery one tonight, aren't you?" EJ huffed, folding his arms. "Jesus Christ."
"Until one tiny damp little island says no, no, not here." He could do nothing but laugh to himself, in some sense of disbelief. "A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler. You frighten the hell out of me!" Then, he raised an eyebrow at Nancy, who's scarcely moved. "Off you go, then! Do what you've got to do. Save the world."
She complied, easily. Whilst she wanted to know more about the Doctor and EJ, she felt her obligation to the children was greater. For now, at least.
"You're mental." EJ sighed, leaning into her arm slightly as they began their walk to the hosptial. "I think you're actually insane."
"I'd be no fun if I was sane, would I?" The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I'm fantastic."
"Sure you are."
"I am." He reiterated with a smile, which meant it had to be real. "I'm brilliant."
The hospital in question was a little further away than EJ had thought, and he was beginning to wonder how much of the night was left. It seemed like everything was moving so slowly that nothing had happened. As they walked, he and the Doctor nattered, allowing their thoughts to come to them freely as they speculated.
When they arrived, EJ almost laughed. Instead, it came out as an odd sort of snort. The Doctor just looked at him. He didn't understand why until the boy pointed it out himself. Across the opening gates was written the name.
Albion Hospital.
"This is where we met. Remember?" A grin spread across EJ's face. "In, like, sixty years."
The Doctor nodded, his face beginning to mirror the blonde's as he equipped his sonic to break their way in. "Pig alien."
"Pig alien." He nodded, relieved, before squirming uncomfortably. "I hate hospitals."
"Why?" It was hard to know whether he really cared, or he was just asking out of courtesy. Either way, EJ replied.
"Only ever went to them when my father's experiments went wrong." EJ gulped. "Like, the verge of dying, when he couldn't help."
The buzzing began. It filled the air more consistently than their voices. "Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He brushed it off. It was easier. "Same hospital, though. Can you believe it?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Yeah, I can actually."
When the lock broke, they were able to set into the hospital, but EJ was reluctant. His body seemed to reject the idea, so he held onto the Doctor's hand so he didn't feel so alone.
The whole building felt empty and abandoned, but they soon learned otherwise. All of the lights had been switched off, and there was no under-floor heating or radiators at all. It was like Antarctica had stepped into a person, and dwelled with them in the space, because EJ was practically shivering.
And then they stepped into the first ward. It was the first room they found which held patients, and immediately, EJ wanted to run back out again. On every single bed, no matter their gender, shape, or size, was a person above the covers, wearing a gas mask. They were completely unmoving, almost like they were dead. But they didn't have that smell; that dead person smell which would have to linger.
Something was churning inside of his stomach as they gently walked around. They didn't stray too far from the door, thank God, because he needed an easy escape route. There needed to be a way out.
His voice more sickly now, EJ gulped. "I hate gas masks."
The Doctor was just full of interesting questions today. "Why? Was that your father n'all?"
"Yeah. Sometimes" He nodded. "When the worst happened. You knew it would be bad if there was a gas mask."
"Oh." He repeated like a broken record. "I'm sorry."
"Don't. It's fine." EJ pushed it away. He wanted to forget about it, even if he couldn't with all the reminders. "It happened. Let's move on."
The Doctor decided to keep looking, but not just in that one room. They checked three before they could be certain of what they'd find next. Every one of them was filled with people on the beds wearing gas masks. It turned out that the corridors were better lit than the rooms themselves.
EJ understood morbid fascination. He was probably the only person he knew, besides Angel, who wouldn't bat an eyelid at it. But the Doctor was at a whole other level. He just wanted to keep looking. He wanted to find the cause, the issue, the problem so he could fix it. So as he loomed at the end of the bed frames, he hardly noticed the door squeaking at the other edge of the room, but the blonde did.
A man entered the room. He wore a white lab coat. His head was bald, and he walked with a limp, cane in his hands. He was a Doctor. Perhaps he was the one they were looking for.
"You'll find them everywhere." He drawled, sighing. "In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes, I saw." The Doctor agreed. "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"It's creepy." EJ gulped, rubbing his palms together.
"They're not." The new Doctor said, swiftly. "Who are you?"
"I'm... are you the Doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine. And you are?"
"Nancy sent me." EJ cleared his throat. "Sent us."
"Nancy?" He hummed as he walked to his chair into the middle of the room. "That means you must have been asking about the bomb."
"Yes."
His voice was old, and shaky. Perhaps it was just the war. "What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why I was asking." It was almost defensive. "What do you know?"
Doctor Constantine didn't do much, but he did grimace. "Only what it's done."
"These people," The Doctor observed them. "They were all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were."
"What do you mean?" EJ queried, his brows furrowed, because something wasn't making sense to him. "They look immobilised."
Constantine coughed, loudly, and yet none of them stirred. He stumbled back onto his chair and sat down. With the intention to help, the Doctor stepped forwards, but was quickly shooed away. They knew they weren't wanted, but that seemed very out of place and rude.
"You're very sick." The Doctor observed.
"Dying, I should think." He wheezed without concern. "I just haven't been able to find the time! Are you a Doctor?"
"I have my moments." He smiled, modestly.
"Yes," EJ interrupted. "He is."
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No."
The new Doctor warned, dully. "Don't touch the flesh."
Cautiously, he then questioned. "Which one?"
"Any one."
The Doctor stepped forwards, reaching into his pocket for the sonic. A sickly feeling rose in EJ's stomach and he held onto the Doctor's hand tighter than before.
"Don't-" The Thompson boy whispered as he let go, his chest tightening further. The Doctor approached the patient closest to him, allowing EJ to stand there alone. "Let go."
He had barely scanned them for a moment when Doctor Constantine half-demanded an answer. "Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma. Mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity to the right. Scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."
There was hardly a reaction as EJ tapped his foot impatiently. "Examine another one."
He did as was asked of him, and allowed his sonic to trace over the bodies. "This isn't possible." He exclaimed in disbelief.
"And examine another."
The actions repeated again. "This isn't possible!"
"No." Doctor Constantine agreed.
"What isn't?" EJ queried, sort of hurried: he didn't like being kept in the dark. "What isn't possible?"
The Doctor mumbled the answer beneath his breath. "They've all got the same injuries."
"Yes."
"Exactly the same!"
"Yes."
"Identical." He marvelled, attempting to think over everything he'd ever learnt. "All of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand."
EJ's eyes scanned the room from his spot, because he was far too frightened to move. But he could see the scars, he could see them everywhere, even on Doctor Constantine. His head titled, slightly. It was happening to him too, whatever it was.
"How did this happen? How did it start?"
Doctor Constantine spoke in an elongated sort of way, where every word was double the length it should have been. It must have been old age. It could be nothing else. "When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
"Dead?"
"At first." He nodded in agreement. "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient on the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries... as plague."
"Plague?" EJ felt sick before, but now it was worse. "That's extinct. Isn't it? Doctor?"
"Can you explain that?" Doctor Constantine ignored the boy. "What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma." He decided.
"No."
His next option was just as feasible. "Asphyxiation?"
"No."
He was becoming severely frustrated now. "The collapse of the chest cavity."
"No."
"Alright..." The Doctor gave in with a precocious look on his face; he was never going to find the answer on his own. It was that sort of question which didn't have a simple answer. "What was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one. They're not dead."
A shiver ran down EJ's spine. All of those bodies, all of the unmoving people, were living. They didn't breathe, and their chest was collapsed, but they were alive. It was like a horror movie, only he was slap bang in the middle of it.
Doctor Constantine used his cane to knock over a waste basket, the metal falling to the ground echoed around the room. Within half a second, every patient was sitting up straight. Their heads turned to them, and didn't move. Their gaze was trained, eyes hidden and distorted beneath the gas mask, but they didn't move.
"It's alright, they're harmless." He brushed it off like it was nothing to be sat in a room full of zombie-like people. "They just sort of sit there. There's no heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die."
"And they've just been left here?" It infuriated the Doctor in the same way it terrified EJ. "Nobody's doing anything?"
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?" He said, and they lay back down, dead-looking once again.
"Just you? You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather." He mulled, melancholically. "Now, I'm neither. But I'm still a good Doctor."
"Yeah." The Doctor replied in much the same way. "Know the feeling."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."
"Probably too late."
"I know. There are isolated cases..." He spluttered. "Isolated cases breaking out... all over... London."
The Doctor stepped forwards, EJ in tow, but he was forced backwards with the power in Constantine's voice. His hand outstretched. It was the scarred hand. It seemed the Doctor noticed it too.
"Stay back! Stay back! Listen to me! Top floor. Room 802. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?" The Doctor asked, taken aback.
"She needs to be alone." EJ gulped. "She's been through enough."
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she m-" The word was caught in his throat, shoving its way up like he was going to be sick. It was like it was choking him. "M-m- mum...my? Are... you... my... mummy?"
Before they could say a thing to try and save him, Doctor Constantine coughed up the nose of a gas mask. It was green, and leather like, and spread up his face, until it looked the same as the others. His eyes grew, bug-eyed, until they were the same as the goggles provided. It fused to his skin.
Truly, it was the most disgusting thing EJ had ever seen. Just being there, watching his body fall limp like the rest, felt like a crime. It felt... wrong.
"What do we do?" EJ whispered, grabbing the Doctor's hand, trying to regulate his breathing just a little longer. "Doctor? What do we do?"
"I don't know." He replied, softly, squeezing EJ's hand. "I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"Hello?" They heard a man's voice call through the hallway. Curious, they began to follow it.
Soon after, they heard a woman say the same. "Hello?" Only this time, they recognised hers.
"Hello?"
It took them a moment to follow the noise accurately, but when they did, they found Rose and a rather handsome man dressed in the RAF military uniform. EJ wasted no time in engulfing Rose in a hug. He'd been more worried than he'd say; it was an air raid after all. Although, it did beg the question to why this man wasn't doing something about it.
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting." He said, and EJ internally groaned. An American. "Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
Enthusiastically, he shook the Doctor's hand. Rose commented. "He knows. I had to tell him... about us being Time Agents."
He only nodded in response as the man, Jack, grinned. "And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock."
Involuntarily drawing attention to himself, EJ snorted. Clearly, Rose had been watching far too much Star Trek on the Tardis. Though, the Doctor's masked fury was entertainment enough.
"And, hello." Jack turned to face EJ, a confidence to his tone with has hardly there before. It was quite attractive; a real shame he was from the 1940s, really. "Who are you?"
The blonde just smiled, assured. "EJ Thompson."
"Well, it is very nice to meet you, EJ Thompson." He took his hand and kissed it, like he might a lady at a dance. "Captain Jack Harkness."
It didn't take long at all for EJ to start thinking he might have it a little wrong. Time Agent. Jack wasn't going to be from the 1940s with a title like that. Maybe, there would be time for a little more fun than he'd expected. After all, there was nothing stopping them now but the capsule they'd been following.
Now confident, EJ smirked. "I'm sure it is."
"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Jack laughed with a dazzling smile. There was something about him that EJ found endearing. Perhaps American wasn't bad this time, just different. "Like a... firework."
"I am, am I?"
"Yeah, well, I like it."
"Says you." EJ smiled. He didn't know how he wasn't as red as tomato. "RAF. I mean, nice jacket."
"Well, nice tattoos." Jack leant up against the wall like he was the protagonist in some cheesy 90s movie. "But, uh, you don't fit in very well, do you?"
"It's not my prerogative."
His eyes seemed to scan over EJ like he was the most beautiful thing, "Then what is?"
"Mmh." EJ stepped towards the Doctor, brushing his side against Jack's as he went. "You'll just have to find out."
As he walked back towards Rose, who was off to the side with the Doctor, Jack cleared his throat, loudly. "Excuse me a minute."
Just when he was out of earshot, the Doctor scoffed and shook his head. "Mr Spock?"
"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name." Rose shrugged. "Don't you ever get tired of Doctor, Doctor who?"
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping." He sighed, shaking it off. "Where have you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling?" She hummed with a smirk on her face. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
EJ beamed. "Badass."
"What?" The Doctor circled back.
"Listen, what's a Chula Warship?"
He paused, the name only vaguely familiar. "Chula?"
They'd left their new stranger on his own for too long, it seemed, because they found themselves following him. Jack was in a ward by himself, staring at and scanning the bodies with a device strapped to his wrist, not daring to get too close.
It pained EJ to say, but he was vaguely infatuated with Jack. He was both handsome and capable. There was nothing more attractive in a person. In fact, Jack was almost the complete epitome of attractiveness. He was just missing a small amount of softness.
"This just isn't possible." Jack stated in complete disbelief. "How did this happen?"
"They're side affects of the not-bomb-bomb. It sounds like a song." EJ chuckled to himself.
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked, standing near to the doorway.
"What?"
"He said it was a warship." Rose said, absently, not seeing the issue. "He stole it, parked it somewhere, somewhere a bombs gonna fall on it. Unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" He pressed.
"Does it matter?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "It's got nothing to do with this."
"This started at the bomb site." The Doctor replied, angrily. "It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"
"An ambulance!" He exclaimed, and a silence followed. Jack was embarrassed. "Look, that's what you chased through the time vortex."
He pressed a few buttons on his watch, which had been scanning the patients, to bring up a hologram. It was the capsule, only a better visualisation than the dodgy drawing the Doctor had conjured up earlier in the night.
"It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you, saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait-"
Rose queried. "Bait?"
"I wanted to sell it to you, then destroy it before you found out it was junk." He switched off the hologram.
"You said it was a warship!" The girl exclaimed, rather upset that she'd been lied to.
"They have ambulances in wars." Jack retorted. "It's a con. I was conning you. That's what I am. I'm a con man! Though you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"
"Just a couple more freelancers." Rose spat back his way.
"Uh, I should've known, the way you guys are blending in with the local colour! I mean, flag girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?"
"I think I'm in love with you." EJ mumbled beneath his breath, so no one could hear him.
"Don't get me started on pyjama central!" He scoffed.
"Hey." The boy responded. "It's tartan. Stylish."
"Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked, curiously.
EJ could feel himself getting impatient. He didn't like being in this room. There were too many bodies. Too many gas masks. It felt like he was going to die.
"Human DNA is being rewritten." The Doctor gritted his teeth. "By an idiot."
"And it's terrifying." EJ gulped in response.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know." He admitted, looking at Jack like he was the most disgusting thing. "Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"
Rose decided that she wanted to look at the people for herself. Perhaps she had to see them to fully understand the issue- but EJ could go the rest of his life without seeing them ever again. As she did, they sat up. It was sudden, the same way it was with Doctor Constantine before he... changed.
She jumped back, frightened. A shriek escaped her lips, and their heads snapped towards her. One by one, turning into a chorus of voices, began to say mummy like the child.
"What's happening?" Rose worried, her breath quickening.
The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know."
"This is the worst day of my life." EJ grimaced, bile beginning to rise in his throat as Jack backed towards them.
Then, the patients swung their legs over the side of the bed, completely in time, and stood up. They stepped towards them, looking at them like they were prey.
"Don't let 'em touch you!" The Doctor directed, panicked as EJ grabbed onto his hand.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose gulped as her back hit the wall.
There was no easy way to say it. "You're looking at it."
There was no way to look at their situation lightly. All four of them were cornered in the back of the room, surrounded by gas masked zombies, who's only thought was to touch them. EJ could feel his heart pounding like the clackers. It felt like he was going to die, and maybe he was.
They were stuck in a hospital, and there was no way out.
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Disclaimer!!!
I do not own Doctor Who, it's characters and original storylines. The only things I do own are my own characters, my addition to the series and my own storylines. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidental.