Part 41 (2/2)

'Sad?'

'None of us need much encouragement to do evil,' said the Doctor. 'Even so, it was difficult to leave the city behind. I knew I had to confront Hatch in London, and Jack in Hexen Bridge. But I can't help but feel guilty at what's happened in my absence.'

'So that's why we're going up there?' asked Ace, but the Doctor did not answer.

'Say goodbye, Ace,' he said as they pa.s.sed the little sign that said HEXEN BRIDGE: PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY THROUGH OUR VILLAGE. 'I don't expect you'll ever come here again.'

'Oh, I dunno,' said Ace. 'Looks like the perfect place for a holiday. Not.' She helped the Doctor over a stile, and they set off across the fields, the gra.s.s glossy with rain. 'I would like to have said a proper goodbye to everyone, though. Especially Rebecca.'

'Grief and departures do not sit well together,' said the Doctor. He pointed to an indistinct hillside in the gloom.

'Look, nearly there.'

'You said I wouldn't come back,' said Ace. 'What about you?'

The Doctor came to a sudden halt. There were droplets of water on his face, but Ace guessed that it must have been splashes of rain falling from the trees that edged the field. 'I always have unfinished business, Ace,' he said.

Some hours later, Steven Chen and Rebecca Baber were sitting side by side on the wall overlooking the graveyard. In the circ.u.mstances it was a morbid place to be, but it seemed just about the only part of the village that wasn't swarming with policemen and soldiers.

Neither knew the other especially well, but their shared grief was beyond words and understanding. Weak with crying, they had lapsed into hushed silence, thinking only of their dead parents, and wondering if life could ever be the same again.

'I'm sorry we didn't tell you about your father in the restaurant,' said Steven suddenly, making Rebecca jump. 'It's just... Well, you know.'

'I understand,' said Rebecca, her voice a hoa.r.s.e whisper.

'We had to survive. At that point in time, that's all that mattered.' She wiped a hand across her face. 'Look at me,'

she said. 'Snot everywhere. Have you got a tissue?'

Steven pa.s.sed her a handkerchief. 'I suppose we should be grateful we made it,' he said, his voice weak with doubt.

Rebecca blew her nose. 'My beliefs in a cause nearly killed me,' she said. 'But it's no consolation, is it?'

Steven shook his head. 'No.' He paused, trying to control his emotions.

'That's what you get for sleeping with the enemy, I suppose.'

'I can't believe they're dead,' Steven said at last, the tears p.r.i.c.kling at his eyes again.

Rebecca shook her head. 'I lost my mum years ago, and I still miss her.' She sighed. 'You'll never get over that.'

'But life goes on? Is that what you're going to tell me?'

'Yes,' said Rebecca defiantly, despite the tears that coursed down her cheeks. 'My father always used to say that life is more important than death.'

The sun rose over Liverpool, forcing its heat through the thin covering of cloud. It was going to be another hot day in the city.

Denman turned to the Doctor. 'Thanks for the trip,' he said. 'It was certainly different.'

'My pleasure.' The Doctor stood framed in the TARDIS doorway. It had landed inside a subway, its battered sh.e.l.l not out of place against the graffiti. Perhaps he ought to move it before it, too, became daubed with spray paint. After all, it wouldn't be the first time.

'You think the village will be OK?' asked Denman.

'It'll be fine,' said the Doctor. 'More than enough survivors to keep a place like that ticking over. Still, it won't be easy, but at least they won't have Jack to worry about.'

Denman nodded. 'Oh, they're tough enough, I think.' He looked around him, at the familiar streets, still wrapped in the cottonwood coc.o.o.n of early morning. 'For all our faults,'

he continued, 'we know what's what. And I know when it's time to face the consequences of my actions.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Yes. We all must learn to do that.'

Joanna Matson spent the next few days at Trevor Winstone's parents' house, as her own home was rubble at the bottom of a pit. The Winstones had always organised the pub skittles team, and were keen to offer Joanna shelter. Of Trevor himself, however, there had been no sign. Tony Winstone had not been unduly worried, as his son had a habit of disappearing whenever the police or armed forces were nearby. 'I think it all goes back to when he was caught smoking dope in the school toilets,' Tony had said. 'He's always considered himself persona non grata persona non grata where the constabulary are concerned.' where the constabulary are concerned.'

'Oh yes,' chimed in Christiana, with a false optimism that Joanna had found somewhat annoying. 'I expect we'll get a postcard from him soon. It's usually Kenya or Indonesia or somewhere exotic like that.'

A week pa.s.sed, and still she had not heard from Bob.

Joanna was becoming increasingly worried, but the police had so many missing people to investigate that they couldn't give any one case special priority. It was only when she had given up all hope of ever seeing him again that he finally turned up.

Joanna was in the Winstones' garden, weeding their rose bed, when she heard the scrunch of feet on the gravel path.

Bob was trudging towards her, looking like - well, there was no other way of describing it, a tramp. 'Someone told me I'd find you here,' he said with a grin.

'Bob!' Joanna ran towards her husband, embracing him warmly. 'Where the h.e.l.l have you been?'

'Staying out of trouble,' said Bob.

Joanna took an instinctive step backward. 'Sorry, Bob, but... You stink!'

'I've been sleeping rough.' Bob sighed. 'Living with b.l.o.o.d.y gypsies. You won't believe what I've been through. I was...' He paused, searching for the right word. 'I was expelled, I suppose.'

'I said you'd get in trouble if you carried on like that.'

'I was lucky not to be killed. Jack deals harshly with those who draw attention to him.' Bob looked around him. The swifts were arcing overhead as if nothing had happened in the village. 'Is it safe to come back?'

'Oh yes,' said Joanna. 'Safer than ever.' She paused. 'But only if you have a wash.'

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