Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [19]
‘He’s not here,’ repeated Martha; and then she felt the cold metal of a gun barrel press against the back of her skull.
‘I beg to differ,’ said Sheriff Blaine in a tight, furious voice. He moved out of the shadows from behind her, his face red with anger.
‘What in the name of hell do you think you’re doing to my son?’
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor, glancing at Jenny. ‘Nathan, as in Nathan Blaine, would that be?’
The teacher gave a weak, sheepish smile. ‘Oh yes. I apologise. That detail slipped my mind. I’m so sorry.’
‘Not as sorry as I am,’ managed Martha, trying very hard not to move.
‘Pa, it ain’t what you think,’ began Nathan, but his father glared at the youth, silencing him.
‘Coming home and I saw the light in the kitchen,’ he growled, ‘and after all that’s been and gone I snuck myself in the back way. And lookie here what I find. You again, Doc.’ He pulled back the hammer on his pistol. ‘You got a breath or two to explain yourself, before I put down this pretty painted cat of yours!’
The Doctor held up his hands. ‘Wait, wait! Don’t do anything hasty!’
‘Hasty, now?’ said Blaine. ‘Breakin’ into a man’s property? For that alone I ought to sling you in the jail and let you rot there! And no judge would doubt me fair to put a bullet in you if I chose to!’
‘He’s trying to help your son, you stupid man!’ Jenny shouted suddenly. The normally well-spoken teacher’s outburst was a surprise to all of them.
‘I don’t mean any harm,’ said the Doctor.
48
Martha heard the emotions shifting in the man’s voice. ‘He’s all I got, you understand? I got no family left, nothing but the boy.’ She felt the pistol move away. ‘He’s my responsibility. I promised my wife I’d keep him safe. Do you know what that’s like, huh? Being the last one in your family, strugglin’ to keep it alive?’
‘Yes,’ replied the Doctor, with quiet, honest sadness. ‘I do.’
Martha turned and saw the look on Blaine’s face. His bluster and anger were gone, and he looked sombre and fearful. ‘We can help,’
she told him. ‘But you have to level with us. You must have seen what’s going on around here. The sickness and the dreams.’
‘It’ll pass,’ he insisted, but without real conviction. ‘It has to.’
‘I know what you’re trying to do,’ said the Doctor, ‘you’re just trying to keep the townspeople from being afraid. But there’s more to this than meets the eye. And I have to get to the bottom of it.’
The white flash came from nowhere, a brilliant blast of actinic light that flared through the windows of the house; a heartbeat later a crashing screech of sound rolled over them, with screams following in its wake.
‘Gunfire!’ cried Jenny, her hand flying to her mouth.
Blaine shook his head, his face creasing in concern. ‘That ain’t like no gun I ever heard!’ He scrambled towards the door, with Martha, the Doctor and the others following behind.
They came out into the street in time to witness a second blast of light and noise. Streets away, a plume of fire shot into the air, curling up into the evening sky. ‘What is that?’ said Martha.
‘The lightning!’ said Nathan. ‘The lightning has come!’
Blaine broke into a run, throwing a shout over his shoulder. ‘You stay here!’
Martha eyed the fire that was rapidly spreading across a far building. ‘Not bloody likely!’
‘Then just keep back!’ The Doctor pounded after the sheriff.
She followed him, rounding the corner onto Redwater’s main street.
There were a handful of men, some with pistols and others with rifles, all of them in shocked silence. They had formed a ring around two riders on ragged-looking horses; and Martha’s stomach tightened 49
when she caught the horribly familiar sickly sweet scent of seared human flesh. On the wind there was a faint noise, like the buzzing of flies.
There, lying before the horsemen, was a burned body in a smoking heap. She saw the huge pistols in the hands of the mounted riders and had no doubt who had killed the unfortunate soul.
‘The guns!’ Nathan hissed. ‘It’s them!’
‘Wait, sheriff!’ The Doctor grabbed him by the shoulder, but Blaine shrugged him