Doctor Who_ The Hollow Men - Keith Topping [82]
„It‟s because we‟re all damned,‟ said Winstone, shaking his head. „No hope of redemption.‟
„Everyone has that,‟ said the Doctor. „It‟s what characterises humanity. You are born, you live, you are terrified by death, and obsessed with guilt and the desire for rationality. And you are redeemed by...‟ He paused and turned to look at Denman who, he noticed, was crying. „Love,‟
he said at last. „It‟s all you need.‟
„Has anybody ever told you that you sound like a hippie?‟
said Winstone cynically.
„Yes,‟ said the Doctor. Again he turned to Denman. „Stop the car,‟ he said. „Now.‟
„What?‟
„Stop the car.‟
Denman pressed his foot down on the brake pedal.
„Give me a five-pound coin,‟ the Doctor added, looking back and forth between Denman and Winstone. After a momentary pause, both men produced handfuls of loose change. The Doctor took a bright brass-coloured coin from Trevor, and opened the car door. „Wait here,‟ he said.
Thomas Baber didn‟t even cry out as the scarecrows dragged him towards the village green. He knew that the grassy area would be writhing with tendrils and roots, and that they were waiting for him. Jack i‟ the Green was notoriously intolerant of disobedience, and his limbs twitched in the glorious moonlight.
The Doctor returned to the car and handed the coin back to Trevor.
„What was all that about?‟ asked Denman.
„I wanted to talk to Ace,‟ said the Doctor sadly. „But there‟s no reply at the Green Man. I suppose it‟s very late, but I‟m worried.‟
„I‟ll never get used to that name,‟ said Denman, angrily.
„Why does everything have to change? Why can‟t anything stay the same?‟
„An inevitable process,‟ said the Doctor, before fully catching the meaning of Denman‟s words. „What did it used to be called?‟ he asked. But he already knew the answer, just as he had always known. It had been right before his eyes, every time he had been in Hexen Bridge.
„Jack in the Green,‟ said Denman and Trevor simultaneously.
„And they altered the name recently?‟
„Last year,‟ replied Trevor. „Bob Matson said they wanted to reflect a change in the village.‟ He looked at the Doctor curiously. „Does it mean anything?‟
„It reminds me,‟ said the Doctor, „that it‟s later than I thought. I have to talk to Hatch. Urgently.‟
Ace felt bad about smacking Joanna in the face, but it seemed to have done the trick. Natural colour was returning to her cheeks, and her eyes were less fixed than before.
„Sorry,‟ said Ace, „but no one calls me “common” and gets away with it.‟
Joanna nodded heroically, trying to hold back the tears. „I just thought... You and him... I saw you both together and I lost it.‟
Steven Chen knelt at her side. „What the hell are you playing at, Jo? I thought we‟d sorted everything out. Ace and I aren‟t going out or anything.‟ He smashed his fist into the side of the written-off car in frustration. „You could have killed us!‟
„I know. I can‟t explain it. It was like this anger surged up inside me, and I just couldn‟t do anything to stop it. I was so... jealous.‟
Ace took a few steps away from the car, in case she lost her temper again. She stared up at the night sky and breathed deeply. She‟d heard of road rage, but this was ridiculous.
She glanced back at the car. Joanna and Steven were talking in hushed, lovey-dovey tones, his arm around her shoulder. Ace pushed her fingers at her throat and made gagging noises, for the benefit of no one in particular.
Something stepped out on to the lane, a mass of dark shadows, twisted into vaguely human form. It turned in the direction of the wrecked car.
A stuffed scarecrow face stared implacably back at Ace.
Ace turned back to Joanna and Steven. „We‟ve got compan
-‟
The windscreen shattered, spraying glass like water droplets.
A second stickman had forced its way through the hedge and on to the bonnet of the car.
Joanna screamed, cleaving the still night air, then lapsed into choking. Its hands already around the woman‟s throat,