Self pity will get you nowhere, she said to herself. Nowhere at all. Be brave. Greet it as an old friend.
Imogen Keegan was dying a slow death. The physicians had left her with no hope. The end could come at any time. They had given her no more than a year. She cried at the news, knowing her fate was sealed. In a year, she would be nothing but a memory, a cold and distant memory. She ended things with Lyle, neglecting to tell him of her impending demise.
She sat on the bed in her empty room, alone.
Take a walk, she ordered herself. A walk will be good for you.
She laced her boots and opened her bedroom door. Mrs. Kensington, the landlord's wife, stood there, her fist poised to knock on the door.
"There you are, dearie," the elderly woman smiled sweetly. "Will you be joining us for afternoon tea?"
"No, thank you, mum," Imogen replied. "I'm off to take a stroll through town, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, dearie," Mrs. Kensington replied. "Enjoy yourself."
"Thank you, mum," Imogen smiled halfheartedly. She wondered if the other boarders would notice her absence when she died. She doubted it. Imogen had always tended to keep to herself.
Had she not been brooding, she may have noticed the abnormal mood surrounding her. The small town, usually so cheerful and filled with laughter, was eerily quiet and void of life. Had she been paying attention, she would have noticed the shutters drawn tight on every building. But, as she was preoccupied with her thoughts, she did not notice anything out of the ordinary. She strolled solemnly down the abandoned main street.
So strange, she thought. Nothing is going to change without me. Everything will continue as it always has. Life will go on. I just won't be here to see it.
"Get out of the way!" a voice shouted. Something grabbed her arm and pulled her into the nearest alleyway. She felt her back against a wall and a large something pressed against her. Opening her eyes, she saw a man with dark hair and beautiful gray eyes.
"Are you insane?" he half-whispered frantically.
"Get off of me," Imogen said evenly.
"Oh, right," he smiled, seemingly realizing for the first time the intimacy of their position. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
The man wiggled his eyebrows and smiled. Imogen smirked and retorted, "Oh, you think you're being perfectly charming, don't you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," he chuckled, turning to stand against the wall beside her. "Captain Jack Harkness."
"Captain?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Jack Harkness," he repeated, nodding.
Before she could think better of it, she replied, "Imogen Keegan. Now, if you don't mind, good-bye."
As she made to walk away, Jack grabbed her by the wrist.
"As a matter of fact, I do mind," he said.
"Let go of me," Imogen gave him a glare that would have made a lesser man cower. "Now."
"Feisty," he laughed. "I like it. No. I'm not going to hurt you, but to go back out there would be suicide."
He pulled two guns out. "Sonic blaster. How good a shot are you?"
"Are you insane?" she almost shouted. Jack put his hand over her mouth and evenly replied, "There are Cybermen out there. You kill them, or they kill you. So I ask again, how good a shot are you?"
There was a sound of metal clunking against cobblestones, and a terrifying metallic voice called out, "You will be upgraded."
Once the clunking passed, Jack removed his hand from Imogen's mouth.
"What the hell was that?" Imogen whispered frantically, finally understanding how important it was to keep quiet.
"Cyberman," Jack repeated. "Stay here. Hide. Don't die."
The Captain turned to leave the alley, but Imogen stopped him. She said, "Give me the gun."
"Sonic blaster," he corrected.
"I don't give a damn what you want to call it," she retorted. "You are not leaving me unarmed against those...those...things."
"Fine," Jack shoved he sonic blaster into her hand. "Don't shoot yourself in the foot."
"Very funny," she muttered and took the blaster.
"Be careful, Jenny," he winked and left.
"My name is not Jenny!" she yelled after him. She crouched down against the wall. Surely Jack would come back for her? She pondered the thought without coming to a conclusion. She didn't know the man, and she couldn't tell if she cared to or not. But there was a real and present danger in the village. Get your head in the game! she scolded herself. Those...Cybermen I think he called them...will be back any moment. Pay attention! She sat like that for several minutes. The mysterious Captain Jack Harkness had not made another appearance, and she didn't know what to think. Idiot! she yelled in her head. He was playing you! A joke. A stupid joke. I can't believe I fell for that. Cybermen...no such thing...the stupid blaster's a toy...what an elaborate scheme...loser... She stood and walked around the corner. This was too much. It was time to go home.
And then there it was. The clunking was back. "You will be deleted," the metallic voice said. "You are an inferior being. You will be deleted."
Imogen turned the corner to see a strange man staring down a robot.
"Not today you don't!" the man laughed. "Do you know why?"
"You will be deleted!" the robot said louder.
God, I hope this thing works, she thought. She shouted, "Move!"
The robot - no, the Cyberman - turned around to face her. The man started to open his mouth as if to say something. Imogen aimed and pulled the trigger. The Cyberman melted in front of her eyes. She ran to the man to see if he was okay.
His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open in shock. "You killed it," he exclaimed accusingly, and then louder, "You killed the Cyberman!"
"You're welcome," Imogen said. "There are more of those thing mucking about somewhere. You need to get out of here."
"How would you know that?" he asked.
"Perhaps I'm just clever," she replied hastily.
"No," the man said, now almost nose to nose with her. "I'm clever. You...you're...who are you? Who are you working for?"
"I might ask you the same question," Imogen countered without wavering.
"Doctor!" Jack came running from the opposite end of the street. "They're leaving! They - "
He stopped at the sight of Imogen and the man staring one another down. He smiled, "Well, hello there."
The man barely turned to look at Jack, but he pointed and said, "Stop it. How many times do I have to tell you, just don't."
"You have a serious thing about saying hello, you know that?" Jack grinned ear to ear.
"Well, glad to see everyone's met," Imogen barked, very irritated now. "Who would like to explain what the hell just happened?"
Jack kept right on laughing, "Jenny - "
"I told you," Imogen stepped away from the strange man and towards Jack. "My name is most certainly not Jenny."
"Right then," Jack said. "Jenny, this is the Doctor. Doctor, this is Jenny."
"I swear you're begging me to slap you," she muttered. "My name is Imogen. Imogen Keegan."
She extended her hand to the man called "The Doctor." He continued to look at her.
"You just killed a Cyberman," the Doctor said. "You can't run about killing anything that gets in your way."
"It would have killed you if I'd not intervened," Imogen exclaimed. "What were you trying to do? Talk it down? Reason with it?"
"That was exactly what I was doing!" he shouted.
"Unarmed?" she scoffed.
"That's not how I operate," he glared. "I most definitely do not go around waving guns. No weapons."
"Yeah?" she scoffed again. "You just let your little friend over here do that bit for you?"
"Hey!" Jack exclaimed.
"I do not!" the Doctor said, nose to nose again with Imogen.
"Not to interrupt or anything," Jack said, still smiling. "But sooner or later, people are going to start coming back outside. Shall we continue this in the TARDIS?"
"No!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Definitely not! She's not coming with us!"
"You have to give her credit, Doctor," Jack said. "She's a great runner."
The Doctor seemed to understand what Jack was implying. He gave an exaggerated sigh, "Fine."
Imogen and Jack followed the Doctor. She asked Jack, "What does that mean? That I'm a great runner?"
"All that matters is that he understands," Jack smiled. "It's complicated, but I guess you'll understand soon enough. Besides, he owes me this one."
The Doctor finally stopped. "What's a police public call box?" she questioned.
"It's a police telephone box!" the Doctor exclaimed, clearly upset that she didn't understand the significance. "So, here's the question. Are you ready to leave your boring little life and all of these sleepy little people? Are you ready to escape the redundancy that is your life?"
"You don't know that my life is redundant!" Imogen countered.
"You're human," he said. "Of course it is."
Jack opened the door and walked in. The Doctor turned to follow, "All you have to do is walk through these doors. It's your choice."
He disappeared behind Jack, leaving Imogen alone to ponder. Come on, what have you got to lose by stepping into a little telephone box?
She took a deep breath and stepped in.