Thorn Bush (Doctor Who Story)

Chapter 15: The Eleventh Hour Part Two

A young boy runs down the road with a toy helicopter. The Doctor, Kathy and Amy are walking fast in the opposite direction.

"What is this place? Where am I?" The Doctor asks Amy.

"Leadworth." Amy answers.

"Where's the rest of it?" He continues to ask.

Amy rolls her eyes. "This is it." She says curtly.

"Not much except a post office that's shut. Oh, and a duck pond." Kathy states, coming to a halt when seeing the small pond they had been walking past.

"Why aren't there any ducks?" The Doctor questions.

Amy stares at them in disbelief, scoffing even louder. "Will you two just focus?" She barks. "It doesn't, okay? There's never any ducks."

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" Kathy points out.

"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?" Amy retorts.

The Doctor has another regeneration tremor. "I don't know. Why would I know?" Kathy catches him, holding him up as he clutches his chest and twitches. "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

The sky darkens and they both look up. The trio gaze up at the sky that has a strange shimmer covering it. The sun itself appears grey and flickering before becoming an odd shade of yellow and red.

"And there's the force field." Kathy mutters. "Great. Just great."

"The what?" Amy questions, squinting at the sky. "What's happening? What's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing." The Doctor states. "You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet." Amy looks at them sharply, Kathy knows the freakout is coming. The Doctor stands and looks at the green where the villagers are taking photos of the sun. "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to- down a video phone!"

Kathy turns and pulls out the apple from the Doctor's pocket. The Time Lord jumps at the intrusion.

"Before you freak out, take a look at this." Kathy states, tossing Amy the apple.

Amy catches it and turns it around to find the smiley face carved on there. She gasps before looking back up at Kathy and the Doctor. "This-this isn't real, is it? It can't be real. You told me you had a time machine and you said you knew the future."

"Technically not everything." Kathy corrects.

"And you believed us." The Doctor adds.

"Then I grew up." Amy retorts still staring at the fresh apple.

The Doctor groans. "Oh, you never want to do that."

Amy stares at the two, looking uncertain and seems to be having an internal debate on whether to stay put and stand her ground or run. "Who are you two? Really, who are you?"

"I'm Kathy, short for Katherine." Kathy says gently, trying to ease the girl into believing them.

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor says evenly. "We're time travellers. Everything we told you twelve years ago is true. We're real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if we don't do something now, everything you've ever known is over."

Amy shakes her head. "B-but, how can Kathy see the future?"

"I'm originally from a different universe Amy, where all of this is a TV show and I don't always see the Doctor in order." Kathy explains, she gently cups the young girl's hands and gives her a reassuring smile. "I know it's insane and trust me I thought that too at the beginning, but right now we need you for 20 minutes, just 20."