Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner Page B

‘Tell me what, Dilys? Who was supposed to tell me what? Please, tell me!’
    And poor Dilys, nervous and stuttering, began to tell her. ‘I’m so sorry, Rose, love. I’ve got bad news . . .’
    The Doctor had made it through the newsagent’s cellar and into the shop without hearing any more from the Quevvils, save a few shouts and thuds. The newsagent had a big promotional Percy Porcupine poster on the wall, and the Doctor let out a few feelings by ripping it down and shredding it to bits. What the newsagent would think in the morning, he didn’t really care. The door to the street was locked, but this presented few problems to someone who’d picked as many locks as the Doctor had. It was also alarmed, but the sonic screwdriver took care of that.
    The street was fairly quiet when he stepped out of the shop – a few youths hanging around, drinking cheap lager out of cans; an occasional shop worker heading home. The booth where the Quevvils handed out their deadly prizes seemed deserted – whatever had caused the noise obviously long gone. The Doctor decided to leg it before they thought to pop out that way to pursue him. He ran off down the high street, heading back towards Rose’s flat.

TEN
    R ose looked at all the tubes and things leading into her mum, and felt sick again. Her mum was so protective of her, always had been. If Rose scraped her knee, Jackie’d be there to pick her up. She’d be down the school if anyone had had a go at Rose, have a word with whoever, not let Rose be left out or upset or picked on. It’d been embarrassing at times, but your mum protected you, that’s what mums did.
    But looking at her mum lying on the hospital trolley, black eye and purple cheek and dried blood under her nose, knowing that her mum was just a fragile human being, not a superhero, that was the worst feeling in the world.
    And on top of that, now Rose was the one who was trying to save the world, and part of the world that had to be saved was her mum. That was so wrong.
    Jackie’s eyes flickered open. She smiled when she saw Rose. ‘Oh, Christ, you’re all right. My darling, you’re all right.’
    Rose stared. ‘I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’ Because why should her mum be worried about Rose, when she was in that state?
    Jackie obviously saw that in her face. ‘He said he was going to get you,’ she said.
    Rose leaned down, got closer to her. ‘Who did? Mum, what happened to you? Was it the aliens? Did they find my phone? Did they think you were in league with the Doctor or something?’
    Now it was Jackie’s turn to stare. ‘What are you going on about? It was that Neanderthal Darren Pye.’
    Rose couldn’t help herself, she almost felt a twinge of relief. Not aliens! Not her phone, not her fault!
    But then she looked back at her mother, and the relief didn’t last.
    â€˜They just told me you were in here, that you’d been hurt. What happened?’
    Jackie looked reluctant. ‘You’ll only blame yourself . . .’
    â€˜Mum!’ Now Rose really had to know.
    â€˜Oh, all right then.’ Jackie propped herself up on the pillows. ‘I was trying to find you. I’d called Mickey’s but no one answered, but I thought I’d pop round, just on the off chance, on my way to meet Dilys. But I saw him. That Darren Pye. He was carrying a telly and I was willing to bet it wasn’t his, and I might’ve said something. And he . . . he said . . . he said things about you. And I couldn’t let him do that, so I gave him a piece of my mind.’
    Rose closed her eyes, reluctantly picturing it, thinking of the sirens they’d heard, wondering if they’d been coming for her mum. If only she’d gone to investigate, if only . . .
    â€˜And he said that he owed you one for hitting him or something – you