Wanderer of Time: Silence Begins (doctor who)

Chapter 38: Not Yet

Baines and Jenny had arrived to the front of the school sometime later. The Headmaster and his secretary, Mr. Phillips, tried to reason with the two. Both thinking along the same lines as John that Baines and Jenny were simply delusional or drunk. But Baines merely killed Mr. Phillips as a show of what heights the Family would go to. Simply to get what they wanted, to which Baines said was John. He demanded the Headmaster send John out, or else the Family would unleash a war upon the school. The Headmaster ran back in fright upon seeing Mr. Philips turned to dust.

Both John and Alice had been watching the scene unfold. Both worried and frightened beyond anything. John gazed out the window on a lower floor, staring at the sight in horror. Alice gazed from the second floor window, looking down sadly. She knew there was no stopping the deaths tonight. Just as her nightmares had been telling her all this time. Death had been coming for this night, and now it was here. And there was no end to it unless John and she did something about it. No . . . not John and Alice. The Doctor and the Wanderer. Only they could put an end to the tragedies.

Alice gazed at the fob watch in her hand, gripping it tightly in a shaking hand.

Not yet.

"You keep saying that," Alice said angrily. She huffed in irritation, wishing for a better answer than that. Why always the same reply? Why? "Can't you put a stop to this, now? Can't we end this madness before it goes too far?"

Not yet.

"You're useless, you know that?" Alice retorted, stuffing the watch away into hiding underneath her dress. She had changed out of her evening gown and into her more day clothing, wearing her lilac dress with a dark coat on her. The night was getting very cold and she knew she would be running through the darkness very soon.

Alice watched down at the courtyard of the school as the boys set up sandbags for a barrier and the guns for defense. John directed the boys and gave them instructions as they all quickly set up for a fight. She knew it was pointless. There would be no stopping the Family and their army of scarecrows. She needed to think of something that might actually stop them. The Doctor and the Wanderer seemed to be out of commission at the moment, so she must think up her own plan. But what? The only thing she had on her was the strange sonic screwdriver but she could scarcely comprehend on what to do with such a device. She only knew how to use it in the dance hall because of the Wanderer. But now there was no more insight to the device, so . . .

Perhaps she should find Tim. She knew the boy had made it out of the dance hall with the rest of them. He must be within the school somewhere. Finding him was the only thing she could think to do. So, Alice turned and began to search for the boy, hoping that he still had the Doctor's watch safe with him.

She walked swiftly down the hall, wondering where the boy could possibly be. She bumped into Joan who happened to be walking out of John's office. The Matron appeared to be rather upset, with her eyes watering up greatly.

"Joan, are you all right?" Alice asked, immediately concerned for the woman's wellbeing. Alice blinked, realizing how stupid that question sounded during this time. "Of course you're not all right. None of us are." She sighed heavily, wishing there was something she could do.

"You lied," Joan said, staring at Alice with eyes having a gaze of betrayal. "You said there was nothing between the two of you. But you lied. Martha told me how this Doctor and you are . . . together." Alice stared at her for a moment, wondering what could have possibly brought this on.

"No, I did not lie to you," Alice spoke evenly. "You asked me if there was anything between John and I, and there isn't. There was never anything between the two of us."