School Exterior Grounds

The school's exterior grounds are a compact but exposed area of cracked asphalt and muddy patches, hemmed in by the brick walls of the school building and a sagging wrought-iron fence. Outdoor floodlights cast uneven pools of sickly yellow across the terrain, highlighting the mud where boots have churned the earth. The scent of damp earth and ozone lingers from the recent arrival, thickened by the acrid bite of cordite as the machine gun nest erupts under Dalek fire. Shouts from soldiers mix with the mechanical shriek of Dalek weaponry, their muzzle flashes painting brief arcs of white across the grounds. The school’s side door stands ajar, a rectangle of warmer light spilling onto the scene, the only barrier between the chaos outside and the fragile safety within.