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This morning, things were okay. The birds were chirping, public transport was moving on schedule, students were in school, people were walking their dogs, and many people were in the shops browsing through their selections. Tourists, mainly American and French, were using Google Maps on the phones and holding up brochures looking for things to do.
But soon, things would change. And go down a dark turn.
**
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!!" the Daleks yell. No one knows how and when they arrived to Earth, and most don't even know what they are, except for UNIT.
Multiple bodies fall to the floor. People scream in agony as they're hit with the blast guns of the Daleks. Bystanders watch in horror. Some run, but it is no use as they are quickly shot by the energy beams.
And the Prime Minister is dead. No one will mourn him. Either way, there is no one to guide the citizens of the UK through this.
Thousands are being exterminated. The news on the TV is grim. Fire is everywhere. It's not looking good for the United Kingdom, even though the climate and the people of the UK are bad enough.
At UNIT, things are worse. The troops are outnumbered tenfold due to the Daleks, with many of the troops wiped out. Several alarms go off. Many things are on fire due to the Daleks blast guns. People are screaming and are either running for their lives, fighting back, or hiding.
Alex is one of the ones who are hiding. Today was his first day at UNIT, as just an underpaid receptionist who needed any job he could get. He was just working per usual when the alarms went off.
'Code Grey! Code GREY!!' the alarms had yelled, very loudly really, but yelling isn't supposed to be quiet, you idiot.
Alex saw the Daleks as the alarms had started blaring this annoying sound. He had originally hidden under the reception desk, but after they had detected him, and almost killed him with their energy beams, he ran to any room he could find.
Now, he is stuck. The room he is hiding in, a random closet full of UNIT gear, has little ventilation. However, if he leaves the room, he would most likely be exterminated, as the trash can looking aliens keep saying, as if it was the only english word they knew.
Alex hears someone, or something, getting closer.
Is this the end? Is this how he dies, inside of a bloody closet??? He would pray, because that's what the people do in the movies, but he doesn't even know if there even IS a God.
He closes his eyes and braces for impact.
The door opens, and Alex tenses up and prepares to be blasted by pure radiation. Instead, he feels a strong hand grab him by his arm and pull him out. Alex opens his eyes to see a random man.
'Nice to meet you,' the man looks at Alex's metal name tag that UNIT made him wear, '..Alex.., I'm the Doctor, but this isn't the time for introductions, so we need to run, NOW.'
The man, now known as "the Doctor" to Alex, starts running while still holding onto Alex's arm, while Alex struggles to catch up with him. The Doctor drags him and Alex down to a hall that is seemingly empty.
Well, empty if you don't count the many bodies that are on the floor and against the wall.
Alex tries to catch his breath. He was never good at running, even during a life and death situation like this.
'Who the hell are you, and what in the bloody HELL is going on?!' Alex yells at him, but his mouth is quickly covered.
'Quiet down. Can't let them hear. And I've already told you, I'm the Doctor.' The Doctor says again.
'Yeah, well, Doctor WHAT?'
'No, that's just my name. "The Doctor".'
'That's freaking stupi- THAT'S NOT THE BLOODY POINT. What is going on right now, why are there random.. TRASH CAN LOOKING THINGS killing people left and right?' Alex snaps back.
'Those 'trash can looking things' are called the Daleks. They hate everyone who aren't Dalekkind, and kill anyone they see who aren't a Dalek. The Daleks have ended many civilizations over millions of galaxies, and have killed billions. They're invading Earth right now because of me.' The Doctor explains to Alex.
He stares at the Doctor in disbelief.
'What do you mean, because of you? You're just a man with stupid looking hair and shite clothing! Why would xenophobic and genocidal trash can looking aliens want to invade Earth because of you?!'
The Doctor facepalms, like this is something a toddler should know.
'There's no time for that, Alex! I need to find a way to get the Daleks back on their ship, or whatever they used to get here this time-'
'THIS TIME? YOU MEAN THEY'VE DONE THIS BEFORE?' Alex interrupts.
The Doctor looks annoyed at him. 'Yes, they have invaded the earth before this, several times actually. However, I need to find how they got here and how to get them out.'
'I-' Alex starts to say something, but the Doctor interrupts him.
'You stay here while I go find out how to stop this mess. And I mean it. Don't go wondering off.' The Doctor walks away and leaves Alex stunned.
Alex just stands there as he sees the Doctor's brown pinstriped trench coat flow behind him, moving further and further away until Alex cannot see him anymore. Alex slides down the wall, all alone and terrified that he was going to get killed by the Daleks.
'Daleks. What a stupid name for an alien', Alex thinks to himself as he sits on the floor. He looks over and sees a dead older man next to him, killed because of the Daleks. Freaky.
***
It's been about thirty-five minutes since he's last seen the Doctor, and something doesn't feel right. Alex knows that the Doctor is just a random man who just so happened to save his bloody life, but he just feels an attachment to the Doctor already, as the Doctor had saved his life after all.
'EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!'
Alex looks over to see one lone Dalek moving down the hall. Usually, there being only one of something makes it unlikely for much damage to happen. However, he's seen many Daleks here at UNIT today who were alone and had caused many lives lost.
The lone Dalek comes closer, still yelling 'EXTERMINATE!' with its robotic voice.
Alex makes the split second choice to play dead.
Very stupid, yes, but he didn't have any other ideas, did he? Idiot.
Alex knew guns didn't work on the Daleks, as he had seen a few UNIT soldiers use them, and as a result getting killed. He leans against the dead man beside him and tries his best to look lifeless, holding his breath and laying motionless, but keeping one eye very slightly open.
The Dalek slides over many of the bodies, and it stops at where Alex and the dead man are. Its eye socket moves up and down as it's either looking for anything suspicious, or maybe any survivors. Who knows. It's like that for a good three minutes before the Dalek moves on down the hall, away from Alex.
Alex lays there for another moment.
'Thank god for those acting classes in high school,' Alex thinks to himself.
He gets up, dusts his uniform off, and runs from the scene to look for the Doctor. The scene he sees before him as he gets to the entrance is devastating.
There are about thirty dead bodies scattered around, both men and women, big and small, many skin colors, most older, but Alex sees some people his age. Some of their eyes are open, some are half closed. Their limbs are positioned in ways that arms and legs should not be positioned in. But thankfully, or, maybe not so thankfully, there is no blood.
Alex stands there looking at one specific person. He saw the young woman who showed him around UNIT just five and a half hours ago, when things were peaceful. She was flat on the ground, dead of course, or at least playing dead really well. Her hair was surrounding her like a halo, with her legs bent in places Alex didn't know legs could be bent in. But that wasn't the point right now.
Alex needed to find the Doctor.
It didn't take him long to find out though, since he just saw a whole bunch of Daleks sliding down yelling 'FIND THE DOC-TOR!'.
'..Huh. Guess those bastards CAN say anything other than "exterminate".' Alex said to himself, and he followed close behind the Daleks.
**
Ten minutes go by, and he's still walking behind them. Jesus Christ, where was this guy? And why are the Daleks so god damn slow?! Thankfully though, Alex was still undetected by the Daleks..
..Until he tripped on a piece of paper and fell down. Really? A bloody piece of paper? Just his luck.
The Daleks stopped in their tracks and and slowly turned their eye sockets around to see Alex.
Oh.
Oh fuck.
***
The Daleks have trapped Alex in a room, and are now interrogating him.
'Who are you? ' one Dalek says in its stupid robotic voice.
'Why do you need to know?' Alex answers.
'You will be EXTERMINATED if you do not answer us!'
Alex scoffs. 'Really? You do that to EVERYONE. Pick something new buddy, like maybe something like.. juggling? No, no, not with those arms- well, LACK of arms-'
The Daleks aim their blasters at Alex, and Alex panics.
'Okay, okay! I'll answer anything you want! Just don't kill me!-'
The sound of whirring stops him from finishing. Both Alex and the Daleks look over at the door as it opens and shows the trenchcoated Doctor.
The Doctor is holding a screwdriver looking thing, and he steps in.
'Really? You wondered off even after I told you not to do that??'
Alex stares at the Doctor.
'Yeah buddy, we have bigger fish to fry right now, just LOOK!' Alex jesters to the Daleks surrounding the both of them.
The Doctor mumbles something about 'stupid Earth people' underneath his breath, and he grabs Alex and places Alex behind him.
'I found how you lot got here. Hitchhiking on a friendly alien's ship? Really? You could've caused a bloody WAR! Then again, I'll admit, that was a pretty smart idea, but why? You have ships of your own!'
The Doctor bickers with the Daleks about that for a while, but suddenly, Alex hears ticking. Not like a clock, but like a bomb.
'Uh.. Doctor?' Alex says.
The Doctor doesn't hear him.
'Uhh.... DOCTOR?'
Still hasn't heard him.
Alex gets annoyed and he just grabs the Doctor by his shoulders and yanks him away.
'YOU IDIOT! THERE IS TICKING GOING OFF AND YOU'RE TOO BUSY BITCHING WITH SOME TRASH CANS WITH A WHISK AND A PLUNGER FOR HANDS! IT COULD BE A BLOODY BOMB!' Alex yells at him.
The Doctor then walks over to the ticking, uses the screwdriver looking gadget, and opens the panel with the ticking in it.
It's a bomb. A bloody bomb. Alex was right. Great.
'Doctor? That's a-'
'It goes off in five min-utes, Doc-tor! When it goes off, it will destory Lon-don!' one of the Daleks say.
'There is no way for you to save them in five minutes, Doc-tor!' another says.
'What happens if it goes off?' Alex asks.
'It will destory Lon-don and allow Dalekkind to rebuild!'
'That's bloody stupid! Why can't you just go to a planet with no one there??'
The Daleks leave the room without answering the ginger, seemingly to either not deal with him anymore, or to escape.
It's unsure, really.
Alex looks over at the Doctor to see him looking panicked, and he seems to be rubbing the back of his head a lot.
'Doctor?'
The Doctor looks over at Alex, very panicked.
'Doctor, can you fix this?'
The Doctor looks over at the bomb.
'Doctor?'
'I need a rectangular piece of metal, like 18 centimeters long! But there's no way I can find one in the little time we have until this goes off.' the Doctor responds.
The bomb has 20 seconds left on the timer.
Alex looks around the room for anything metal.
10 seconds.
'Doctor, there's nothing metal in here. I don't see anything-'
The Doctor grabs Alex's name tag.
'This is 18 centimeters, right?' the Doctor asks.
7 seconds.
'How am I supposed to know? I'm American, Doctor! We use inches and feet, not centimeters!'
The Doctor puts the name tag in the bomb.
'Wha- What are you doing?!' Alex yells.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
And..
Nothing. The bomb had been stopped. No more ticking.
Alex looks over at the Doctor in awe, and the Doctor hugs him randomly.
'Jesus christ Alex, you saved the day.' The Doctor moves from the hug. 'We were this close to London blowing up, and if it weren't for your name tag, I couldn't have stopped the bomb.' the Doctor puts his fingers close together to show how close it was.
'But- But you were the one who stopped the bomb, Doctor.'
'True. But if you hadn't interrupted my bickering with the Daleks, we would've all blown up into little tiny pieces.'
Alex looks around. 'Hey, where did the Daleks go anyway?'
The Doctor scans the room with his screwdriver looking gadget. 'They're gone. Probably went back to Skaro, or wherever they're staying now.'
'Skaro?'
'The Daleks' home planet. Simple really, you need to catch up.'
'Rude. Anyways, what is that gadget in your hand?'
The Doctor looks at the gadget. 'Oh this? This is a sonic screwdriver, It can be used on anything, well, except for wood.'
'Why wood?' Alex asks.
'Ah, who knows. This thing was pretty much busted before I fixed it when I was 400 years old.'
Alex nods at that.
Wait. How old did he say he was?
'FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OLD?'
***
It was now night. The Daleks had gone who knows where. A UNIT bomb squad had come and dismantled the bomb from where the Daleks had put it.
Alex and the Doctor are outside now, with Alex mostly shellshocked with a blanket around him. Him and the Doctor are watching the ambulances taking away the many dead bodies on the street, with some of the bodies looking worse than others, with some having busted in teeth.
Alex still has so many questions, though.
'So. Why did the Daleks want to invade Earth because of you?' Alex finally asks.
The Doctor looks at him, with his hair somehow still up after all of this.
'Because I'm the last of my kind.'
Alex looks confused. 'Why? That doesn't make sense. There's 8 billion humans on Earth right now. Wait. You ARE a human, right?'
'There was a war. The Time War. My kind, the Time Lords, and the Daleks had this big battle. And it was my choice to push the button to destroy the ship they were all in. And I pressed it. Thankfully, I destroyed the ship they were all in, and I thought I ended all of them. But as a result.. the Time Lords were wiped out. I've been alone all this time. And the Daleks? They're still around. But it's a long story really.'
'So basically revenge.'
The Doctor nods.
'Petty as hell if you ask me.'
The two sit in quiet, well, quiet in the way they didn't say a word, as the ambulances were loud and the people around them were yelling and crying.
They stayed like that for a while, until the Doctor got up and held his hand to Alex.
'Follow me. I want to show you something.'
Alex follows behind the Doctor and they stop at a blue police box in an alleyway. Seems like it was from when his grandparents were his age, and that was a long time ago.
'Why are you here to show me a police box? These haven't been around since before my parents were born.' Alex points out.
The Doctor smiles and unlocks the doors with a key.
'Go inside and see.' the Doctor winked.
Alex walks inside and stops. It's bigger than his apartment in just the console room. The console itself, oh my goodness. It has all sorts of buttons and gadgets, and the walls are a tan color but with futuristic designs on them. Alex runs to the other rooms and it's like the inside is a bloody mansion.
He walks back to the console room to see the Doctor there, smiling.
'What is this?' Alex asks.
'This here, is the Tardis.'
'Tardis?'
'Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Pretty cool right?'
'You must have so many people with you in this, right? It could probably hold a few hundred people!' Alex smiles and he walks around the room again for the 5th or 6th time.
The Doctor frowns. 'I've had people in the past. Men, women, and other genders. Many alien species too.'
'Really? That's cool!'
'..However, not at the moment, no. No one is with me. Just me.'
Alex frowns also. 'Why?'
'Every person who comes into the TARDIS either leaves traumatized or in a casket, if even that. I can't keep having that happen.' he explains.
'I can join you, Doctor!' Alex responds.
The Doctor looks over with a stoic look on his face. 'Why? Don't you have a life on Earth? A family? A job- well nevermind about that, knowing after what happened today.'
Alex considers going in depth with his answer, telling him about him immigrating to UK, but he just shakes his head.
'No, but even if I did, why not have at least one adventure?'
The Doctor considers it. 'Fine. But only one.' He hits some buttons and puts his hand on the lever. The Doctor smiles.
"Hold on tight!"