THE RUN FOR ROSE
CHAPTER 7: Long-distance Call
For a moment, Rose and Jane’s eyes met. Rose’s eyes were wide with apprehension, while Jane’s eyes became focused, a soldier preparing to engage the enemy. Moments later, a tremendous boom reverberated through the entire house, rattling the windows and knocking bric-a-brac of of tables. With a frightened yowl, Doc ran from the kitchen and dashed under the sofa. After the noise died away, there was utter silence.
It began again as the sound of horses, whinnying with terror, came across to the two of them. “The horses!” Jane cried. She started to bolt into the kitchen, then paused a second. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a small key. Hurriedly, she unlocked a gun cabinet that stood in the corner of the living room, and grabbed her Winchester Rimfire rifle and a box of ammo. Rose wasn’t sure she liked the looks of that. Standing beside here, she asked, “What’s that for?” Rose eyed the rifle worriedly. “That noise could have been anything. You said yourself that trees and roofs collapse in this weather. Besides,” she addded, “the Doctor doesn’t like guns–and neither do I.” Jane grabbed her coat from the coat rack in the kitchen and shrugged into it. “Well the Doctor isn’t here, Rose. I am.”
Rose handed Jane her torch and said nothing more. Going out the door, Jane paused long enough to say “Believe it or not, I don’t like guns either. But, that said, I’m not about to let anyone or anything hurt the horses. They’re my life now–they’re all I’ve got. Literally, outside of this farm, all I have. Now stay here and keep warm. I’ll be back. I promise.” Closing the door behind her, Jane picked her way carefully over the icy ground to the darkened barn.
Rose paced up and down in the kitchen. She opened the back door and looked out. Everything was encased in a crystalline sheen of ice. The world glistened as if it were made of glass. The horses had stopped their noise, but Rose could hear another sound now. A strange crackling noise: like ten thousand newspapers being crumbled into a ball all at once. She looked up at the tree in the yard and noticed that the wind had picked up. The sound Rose heard was hundreds ice-smothered branches in the nearby woodlot, bowing up and down with the wind.
Rose shivered. Part of her wanted to be out there, in the barn with Jane and part of her wanted to stay in the warm comfort of the house. Rubbing her arms, she bit her lip, trying to decide what to do. Just then, the cell phone in her jeans pocket rang. She’d forgotten she’d even had it, with all that had been happening. She answered it eagerly. “Hello? Is that you Doctor?” She was greeted with that same evil laugh. A harsh voice said, “Your Doctor is coming, Rose Tyler–coming to his doom.”
Trembling slightly, Rose nearly dropped the phone. Screwing up her courage, she asked “Who is this? What do you want with me?” The voice merely chuckled in response. That only made Rose mad. “Oh yeah, well just you wait ‘till the Doctor gets here. You won’t be laughin’ then!” The Voice stopped laughing. “He is coming, Rose Tyler. But you will never know that.” An bright green electrical charge came out of the phone. It enveloped Rose. She shrieked in pain and stiffened, falling to the floor.
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