Free Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch, Nicholas Briggs, Terry Molloy Page A

zone, easily evading the squaddies who manned the checkpoints, and made her way to the school.
    Outside a big Bedford truck sat untended; it was very quiet. Ace checked the cab: it was empty and the engine hood was cool and smelled of petrol. She assumed the soldiers were out patrolling or whatever it was that soldiers did when they were not saluting or shooting. She looked in the back just to be certain that they hadn’t left any goodies behind, but was disappointed to find it empty. There wasn’t even a whiff of explosives.
    Ace found the tape deck where she had left it, on a bench in the chemistry lab. just on the off-chance she flicked the selector to FM and switched on.
    There was nothing but static at first. Then she heard a ghost of a metallic sound on the fringes of reception. Ace adjusted the frequency.
    ‘Attack squad in position,’ grated the unmistakable voice of a Dalek.
    Ace froze. If the reception was that clear then the Daleks were close, possibly within the school itself.
    Leaving the tape deck on, Ace ran for the stairs.
    ‘Lower area clear,’ the tapedeck broadcasted.
    Ace collided with a wall and stopped, staring stupidly down the staircase. There was a movement on the landing below — a shadow.
    A cream-coloured Dalek came round the corner.
    Ace threw herself backwards just in time. An energy bolt carved a track through the space she had occupied and drilled a hole in the wall.
    As she banged back into the lab, Ace heard the whine of the Dalek’s motor unit as the creature prepared to ascend the stairs. She needed a plan and she needed it yesterday.
    A distraction, she quickly thought.
    Ace slammed a cassette into the tape deck, hit the play button, and twisted the volume to maximum.
    A weapon.
    Ace heard the Dalek’s engine go into overdrive as it started up the stairs. She reached over her shoulder and felt the cool handle of the baseball hat. Ace slowly drew it out and backed behind the door.
    The whine of the Dalek’s engine was abruptly blotted out by two hundred watts of percussion.
    Ace remained poised, bat upraised. A single trickle of sweat ran down her cheek; she could feel her heartbeat battering at her ribs. There was fear, but mixed in with that was anger, exhilaration and the absolute conviction of the young that they will live forever.
    A Dalek forced its way through the doors. It was close enough for Ace to see her distorted reflection in the burnished gold of’ the creature’s sensor pods. Even this close the Dalek made no noise as it zeroed in on the tape deck. Energy sprouted from its gunstick.
    The tape deck exploded; a bench tap ruptured and water spewed out in a long arc.
    The Dalek’s eyestalk swivelled to scan the room.
    ‘Small human female on level three.’
    ‘Who are you calling small?’ Ace brought the baseball bat clown on the smooth dome. Neon blue tendrils of energy crackled as the bat hit, eating into the laminated surface. Slivers of armour exploded off the surface.
    Ace struck the Dalek again before it could react – a glancing blow off the side.
    The Dalek began to turn, describing a circle that would bring its weapon to bear.
    Ace desperately swung the bat at the vulnerable eyestalk: there was a shower of sparks and the whole assembly parted from the dome and bounced away across the floor.
    The Dalek screamed but kept turning. Ace threw herself under a bench; a stool bounced off her shoulder. Glass flasks exploded as the Dalek shot at Ace, tracking her by sound. A plume of flame shot upwards as a gas-tap was blown away.
    Instinct told her to keep moving, but she was running out of classroom. She vaulted on to a bench, hoping to run past the Dalek and through the door. The Dalek fired again; the cabinet behind Ace exploded.
    The Dalek blocked the doorway.
    Ace pounded along the bench, the partition window rushing towards her. At the last moment she flung her arms in front of her face, screamed and jumped.
    There was an agonizing moment of stillness.
    Her