At midnight on the trail to Gibbs Lake, Rachel took her first step. The headlamp she was wearing pierced the darkness before her, just illuminating enough of the path that she wouldn't trip. It wasn't really a long hike, per say. It was listed on the internet as only being 2.7 miles. But Rachel was medically termed as morbidly obese. Plus the last time she had been on this trail - which was when she was about 12 years old - it had been a steep trail with many a fallen trees and rocks to climb over. She looked back at her car, a beat up Jeep that she wished she could get back into and drive off in. But she made a promise, she had to keep it.
On her back was, of course, a hiker's backpack, around her waist rested a hip pack, hidden under her shirt was on one side her holstered gun, and on the other tucked in a pocket was her digital camera. Taking a deep, slow breath and then releasing it, she began the hike.
The night was never really quiet, no matter how books and movies wanted to claim otherwise. There were all sorts of bugs, nocturnal birds, and other critters that Rachel could hear just beyond her heavy breathing. Already five minutes in and she was huffing and puffing, longing to rest. Yet she stubbornly put one foot in front of the other, the light on her head bobbing before her.
Rachel was not what society would term attractive. Barely clearing 5 feet in height, she tipped the scale at 280 pounds. Suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome, she had the typical PCOS belly. To compensate she bought her tops from the tall men's section, wearing 3Xs and even 4Xs that even with her hefty figure she swam in, hanging off her large breasts to the point where she had a barrel-like appearance. She also wore jeans that were baggy as well. Her face would be considered cute by many, despite of the obvious double chin - she kept her head jutted forward constantly to make it look smaller.
That being said, she was often called "cute." She had a youthful face, many claimed she didn't look 42 years old, though she saw it every time she looked in the mirror. She could see the crows feet around her steel blue eyes and the deep lines on her forehead. Rosaceae gave her cheeks and small upturned nose a ruddy glow while anemia made the rest of her skin look pale. Her short strawberry blonde hair was thick and curly. Some cruel people called it "80s hair" but most liked it.
Fifteen minutes into her hike, Rachel stopped to try and suck air into her lungs and take a drink of water. It was as she finally started to breath slowly that she realized the night had actually gone quiet. Just - dead still. Not even bugs were chirping. No sound of tiny critters in the underbrush. She quickly put her canteen back on it's clip then her hand began to drift to her side. Around her neck she wore a necklace made of deer hide, just a simple strap with a large, tear-shaped pendant that had a strange symbol woven into it out of some black material that even in the darkness glittered like a roughly cut diamond. As the silence continued a glow began to slowly build up inside the symbol...
Sound returned, but not sound in the form of animals. Rather it was a strange, deep, "woomph woomph." The air in one area seemed to pulse and reshape itself. A blue box kept coming into and fading out of existence with each "woomph" until it finally became solid there under the trees. The symbol on the necklace stopped glowing quickly. It didn't fade, just shut off.
The top of the box said "POLICE BOX" in large letters with "Public call" in smaller letters in between. On one door was a sign describing what it was with the words "PULL TO OPEN" on the bottom and a circle that read "St. John's Ambulance" around a small symbol on the other. The light on the very top helped illuminate the trail better than Rachel's headlamp did.
A second later a blonde woman opened the door and peeked out. "Hello." She said in a cheerful, British accented voice, "Mind telling me where we are?"
For a moment Rachel just opened and closed her mouth, then replied, "You - you appeared out of thin air."
"Quite right." The woman said. "We do tend to do that." The woman stepped out, followed by three more people, a young woman with dark brown hair, a young man with short hair, and an older man with a nice smile but sad looking eyes. "I'm the Doctor and these are my friends, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham." She didn't even wait for Rachel to offer her hand, just right away started grabbing it and pumping it.
A little more shock ran through Rachel, but she recovered and replied automatically, "Rachel Manilow, no relation to Barry."
"Oh, oh that's brilliant! Pleased to meet you Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry!" The Doctor said with a big, dopy grin on her lovely face. "Well, Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry mind telling us where we are?"
Behind the Doctor her two of her three friends were explaining to Ryan about singer/song writer Barry Manilow which distracted Rachel for a bit. Then she shook her head to clear it and said, "You're on the trail to Gibbs Lake which is on the California side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I wasn't told you'd be a woman. Or that you'd appear out of thin air."
Now it was the Doctor's turn to look confused. She stopped pumping Rachel's hand and finally let it go. The others also stopped their conversation, which had gone to Graham trying, and failing, to sing "Mandy" to him now addressing Rachel. "You knew we were coming?"
"Well, I didn't know - I was told if I needed him the Doctor would show up, that he - she, sorry - has a habit of showing exactly where he - she - is needed. Um, perhaps we better go inside for a moment." She motioned to the police box.
"Right, sounds like a good idea. Bit nippy out here." The Doctor replied, motioning for Rachel to go first. She loved this bit, a human's first time inside the TARDIS. Even her friends were all smiling to each other.
They weren't disappointed. Rachel stopped and stared with wide eyed wonder. However, instead of the usual confusion the look in her eyes was that of a child entering some movie version of a toy store. Not the cold, sterile ones of reality, but the ones with glittering lights, giant teddy bears, and happy workers.
"Wow..." she breathed, "this is - TOTALLY AWESOME! How is it bigger on the inside? Does it exist in multiple dimensions at once or is it forced perspective like the holodecks on Star Trek?"
"Oh you're good Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry. It's the first one." The Doctor replied. "Welcome to the TARDIS. Stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."
"It's a space ship," Ryan spoke up now, "and a time machine. We can go anywhere in time and space in it."
"Oy, excuse me, it's my ship, I get to explain it" The Doctor said in a teasing tone about the interruption. "No, it's okay, go ahead." She said with a grin and a handwave.
Yaz rolled her eyes a bit, she knew how both the Doctor and Ryan could go on and on endlessly. "Maybe we should let Rachel explain how she knew we were coming?"
"Well," Rachel said, even as she lightly stroked one of the crystals in an almost worshipful sense. "I was told you might. Or at least the Doctor might. I mean, I knew there was a chance there'd be four of you," she suddenly reached down to her hip pack and unzipped it, pulling forth four necklaces just like the one she was wearing. "Because I was given these to give to you to wear. But it was made clear it might only be the Doctor and - that the Doctor would be a man. But I guess if you're all aliens then you all could've appeared in any form. Guess I should be grateful you're all human looking and not a horse or dog."
"Oh, we're not aliens," Graham said, motioning to himself, Yaz, and Ryan. "I mean, the Doctor is, but we three are from Sheffield. Ryan here's my grandson and Yaz is a friend of his from school."
Meanwhile, Rachel was taking this in, then just shrugged and handed out the necklaces. "Okay, so we're all supposed to wear these. No, I don't know why. But I promised my friend Jenny I'd come up here. Apparently something happened to me up here when I was a kid but I don't remember it but for that reason I'm the only one who can do what needs to be done. I don't get it, but you all travel in a time machine that looks like a police box so I suppose you're used to weird things."
"Oh very," The Doctor said. "We love weird things. Don't we love weird things? Yes, weird is great." She slipped the necklace over her head. "What else do we need to do, Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry."
"First you need to just call me Rachel, that bit is getting old, Doc. Second, I guess you'll all need gear. Hiking boots, a headlamp, backpack with snacks, a first aid kit, a small shovel, toilet paper, and a canteen of water. I'd also suggest we all use the bathroom before we set out unless your lovely TARDIS is going to keep popping up in front of us on it's own."
"You want us to take a bath?" The Doctor asked.
"Um, she's American, Doc," Graham replied. "She means we should all use the toilets before we head out, even if we don't think we have to go."
"Oh, oh right! Yes, I forgot you Americans call the toilet the bathroom. Don't spend that much time in America, really. Should correct that someday." The Doctor continued rambling on like this for a bit.
Rachel looked to Yaz and Ryan as if to ask wordlessly if the Doctor was always as hyper as this. The look the two younger folks gave back confirmed that she was.
To say strange things happened when one hung out with the Doctor was the understatement of several millenniums. Yet Yaz had gotten used to it quickly. Still, knowing that someone had been told they might show up was a bit of a new development. It would take a bit getting used to.
Progress on the hike was slow, for more reasons than just the physical limitations of some on the team. Not just Rachel's obvious state, but Ryan's coordination problems caused a bit of hesitation when they had to climb over fallen trees and rocks. Both of them still tackled these things with little complaint but it was obvious they weren't going to reach this Gibbs Lake before dawn.
They also still didn't know why they were out here. Then again, Rachel didn't seem to know either. She just said she had made a promise and had to keep it. The only things anyone knew was that they had to keep the water to their left to stay on the trail.
It was when they all stopped for a brief breather that Yaz noticed something. It had suddenly gone quiet. Dead still quiet. The air felt heavy all of a sudden, like the pressure before a massive storm. Just weighing down on everything. The second thing Yaz noticed was a glow starting to emanate from their pendants. She looked to the others. Rachel was reaching for something along her side, lifting up her shirt a bit.
That's when the noise started. Something between a growl and a shriek. The lights from the pendants became blinding. There was an impression of something running around them, confused shouting, then from a little to the right and above something came tumbling out of the trees, landing at Graham's feet. The glow of their pendants stopped almost instantaneously, leaving a brief blindness. Then as their eyes cleared Graham let out a scream and jumped back.
A human skull lay where just a moment ago Graham's toes had been.
Both Yaz and the Doctor were next to the skull instantly. For Yaz it was her police training taking over. For the Doctor, well, it was just her being the Doctor. However, both were surprised to see Rachel there too, her backpack already off, pulling a plastic bag and a metal spike out. She handed the bag to Yaz and the younger woman turned the bag inside out, using it like a glove as she picked up the skull. The Doctor already was scanning it with her sonic screwdriver.
"They died recently." The Doctor said. "Within the last month."
Yaz, without touching the skull with her bare hands, pointed. "Doctor, are those teeth marks?"
"Brilliant catch, Yaz. Yes, teeth and claw marks. But not animal - not any from earth at least. Nor human. Or at least not entirely human."
"So, somebody ate him? Her?" Ryan said, looking like he was about to throw up.
"Somebody or something." The Doctor confirmed.
Graham made a noise in the back of his throat, looking as ill as Ryan. "Is this why we're here then?" He asked, looking not at the Doctor but at Rachel who still knelt in the dirt, her eyes on the ground. "To find who's been eating people?"
"Or what." Rachel whispered as she rubbed her hand hard across her eyes. Was she trying to cause tears or rub them away? "I think - well, it must be, right? I told you, Jenny - she's the one I promised I'd come up here - she and the others told me that I had to be the one because I faced something up here as a child and blocked it out, which is why I had to come. If you're done with the skull wrap it in the plastic bag and tie it, please."
Yaz did as asked and watched as Rachel used the spike she had pulled out earlier and a hammer to make sure the bag was secured to the ground with a laminated note that read "Do not touch, contact authorities."
"You came prepared at least." There was a slightly suspicious tone to the Doctor's words. Of course, any sane person would be suspicious by now.
Rachel shrugged. "I was told what to bring."
"So you're told," Graham said, with a bit of a stern note, "to come up here in the middle of the night and hike up to this Gibbs Lake. Told we might show up and told what to bring. But you weren't told anything more than it has something to do with something that happened to you that you forgot?"
"Made myself forget, apparently." There should've been a defensive tone, in any other situation it would be, but Rachel, now sitting back and staring at the plastic encased skull, said it in a flat, manner of fact manner. "I know you don't believe me. I don't believe me. Who in their right mind sends a fat, middle aged woman out to hunt something that eats humans? It's stupid. I told Jenny and the others it was stupid, but they made me promise and I always keep my promises."
Getting up, Rachel grabbed her backpack and shrugged it back on. Yaz could tell from her body language the older woman was uncomfortable being near the skull. Both Yaz and the Doctor also moved away, but the Doctor grabbed Rachel by the arm and moved her to a fallen tree and made her sit while telling the others to check for any tracks from whatever had been there. While there were scrape marks in the soil, nothing that could be clearly defined as a track, but some of the trees had fresh claw marks. The Doctor scanned each one with her sonic, but shook her head as she found nothing.
When Yaz looked back at Rachel the woman was softly crying and shaking.
"All right," The Doctor said as she now sat next to Rachel. "You need to tell me everything. Who is Jenny? Who else wanted you to come out here? Do you remember anything?" Her tone was clipped, almost cold, trying to snap the woman back into the real world.
"Jenny's a childhood friend. We used to hang out together every year when my parents and I came to camp and fish in these mountains. At least until she became a teenager and had to get summer jobs. She made these," Rachel touched the necklace. "The others - I can't tell you, they wouldn't tell me their names. One was American man, I think - something was off about him. The other was a woman with a British accent. They just told me that it had to be me."
"So you're told to come here, put your life at risk, and you just do it?" Ryan asked.
"There was a huge argument at first." Rachel admitted. "But the they told me it had to do with this." Unhooking her hip pack she pulled the bottom of her shirt up just high enough to expose the upper part of her stomach. There were stretch marks, of course, but what everyone's eyes were drawn to were six long, old white scars that disappeared into the waistband of her jeans. No telling how much longer they were as she was wearing the kind that went an inch or two above the bellybutton.
The Doctor also noticed something else. "You have a gun."
"Yes. I got it legally, it's registered, I went through all the safety courses." Pulling it out of her holster, Rachel first showed the bottom of it, an empty hole greeted them to show there was no clip, then she pulled back the top to show no bullet was chambered. "Not loaded either."
"I don't like guns." The Doctor said. "People get stupid with guns."
"It's just for protection." Rachel said. "Look," from her hip pack she pulled out a clip and popped one of the bullets out, handing it to the Doctor. "Blanks. Just to make a big noise to scare away four legged predators."
"And the other clip?" The Doctor asked, nodding to where a second clip, this one with a line of glow in the dark paint on it, could be seen.
"Loaded." The American admitted. "In case of two legged predators. But now there's five of us, I likely won't need them. We can outsmart them." She sighed at the Doctor's look. "Doctor, I'm not going to shoot it willy nilly." She put the blank back in it's clip before putting it away and zipping up the hip pack.
"All the same, you should throw it away." The Doctor said, not wanting to let this go.
"It's registered under my name, Doctor. I'm not going to toss it where someone might find it, especially if there's a chance they might commit a crime with it." Now Rachel's tone was indignant. Not, it seemed, because of the Doctor wanting her to get rid of her gun, but rather the thought of getting rid of it in an illegal manner.
"Whatever this thing is, I'm not letting you shoot it."
Rachel now looked at the Doctor wide eyed. "You - you think I'm supposed to shoot it - with a gun?" She now reached to her left side, pulling something out of her pocket. A digital camera rested in her hand. "I was told I'm supposed to shoot it with this. I wasn't sent out here to kill it even if it wants to - apparently tried to - kill me. I'm supposed to take a photo of it."
Now the foursome were really confused and looked to each other. So a thing - some sort of being - that apparently cut Rachel deep enough to leave scars and traumatized her so badly she couldn't remember it - a being that might also kill humans, defiantly ate them, well the human could've died of something else and just been scavenged - and all she was supposed to do was take a photo?
"Why did our necklaces glow?" Graham suddenly asked. "When that thing showed up, these symbols started to glow."
"Excellent question, Graham!" The Doctor was suddenly bright and cheerful again as she took out her sonic and started to scan each of the necklaces in turn. "Let's see, deer hide, a bit of wood - hello, what's this? This design here, the metal it's made from isn't from earth. Ryan, what does the design remind you of?"
"A circuit of some sort." Ryan answered. "But more - curvy - than our's."
"Yes, exactly, brilliant Ryan! A circuit. Not one I recognize, perhaps from a planet I haven't been to yet. Who did you say made these?"
"Jenny." Rachel said.
"And this Jenny? She's not British and married to a woman with green, scaley skin, is she? Or maybe a cheerful blonde who loves running?" The Doctor asked in a rapid-fire way.
"No... Jenny's Paiute, single, and we've known each other since we were small kids. Her grandma used to clean the cabins and bathrooms at the resort my parents and I stayed at every year." A beat went by. "I think the other two gave Jenny the stuff to decorate the pendants if that's what you're getting at."
"Right. You said they were an American man and a British woman, but they never told you their names? What did they look like?"
"Well, the man was, I guess what society would consider good looking. That stereotypical corn fed Midwest type you see in the movies, the one who was probably the high school quarterback and actually managed to not go to seed. I'm not a good judge as I - well, I just am not attracted to anyone of any gender." Rachel said with a shrug. "Brown hair, blue eyes, square jaw. Both he and the woman were super flirty at first. I mean, crazy flirty. I normally can't tell if someone's flirting with me even if they flat out tell me they are, but with these two you could tell. They flirted with Jenny, with me, I think they would've flirted with the furniture if any of it was a sentient, consenting adult."
The Doctor's eyes had grown large during this and her mouth hung open slightly. "And the woman...?"
"Let's see, beautiful I guess - again, I'm no judge. But probably could be a bathing suit or underwear model. AMAZING hair. It was like it was it's only separate being. She picked on faster than him that I just wasn't interested in either of them and elbowed him when he continued flirting. Oh, yeah, and she told me that if you push the issue about the gun I was to turn to you and say "Spoilers, sweetie." That if anything were to make you stop lecturing me, those two words would..." Rachel trailed off as she and the others looked at the Doctor's shocked face.
"Doc," Graham asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder as the Gallifreyain was suddenly as still as a statue. "What is it? Do you know who these people are?"
"Yes... one is an old friend, Captain Jack Harkness - and the other - the other is Dr. River Song... My wife."
"I can't believe it," Ryan was saying to Yaz as they walked next to each other, "the Doctor is married. Can you believe it?"
"What about her makes you think she's not the marrying kind?" Yaz asked, a little annoyed at this point as it was all Ryan had been talking about in the last five minutes since they restarted their hike.
Ryan paused for a bit. "Well, she's never mentioned her wife for one, and she travels a lot."
"I have several wives, actually," the Doctor said as she turned her head side to side so the headtorch would illuminate more of the path. "And a few husbands too. Gallifreyians are allowed several spouses what with us regenerating and all. Of course most of my husbands might be my wives by now and vise versa. And then there was that bit with Marilyn Monroe..."
"I guess she is the marrying kind after all." Ryan said before dropping back to where their slowest member of their hike was. "You doing all right?"
Rachel nodded as she sucked in another lung full of air. It wasn't just the fact she was out of shape. The trail was steep, even Ryan's legs were burning from it, and there were lots of obstacles to deal with. Not to mention the fact is was just a little after one in the morning so it was still quite dark. Dawn was at least four or more hours away. Perhaps longer seeing how they were in the mountains and all. Still, Rachel forced herself on.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ryan began.
"Is it why I always introduce myself as Rachel Manilow not related to Barry?" Rachel's voice was a bit breathless, understandable under the circumstances.
"Nah." Replied the young man. "I get that now. I imagine it's hard having the same name as someone famous. Always being asked if he's your da or cousin or something like that. I was just wondering why you're doing this. I get that you made a promise and all but - you could've promised then not done it..."
Rachel gave Ryan a shocked look, then shook her head. "Jenny is my friend. Granted, we drifted apart through the years. But we used to hike together, fish together. She'd come down to the coast for a week and we'd visit places like Disneyland and Universal Studios, I'd come up a week or two before my parents did and stay with her family. Her father taught me how to hunt. Her grandmother told me stories." It seemed as for a moment Rachel had forgotten she was short of breath. "And there's the fact that she's right - something did happen to me up here that I can't remember. My parents and I hiked up to Gibbs when I was a kid. There's golden trout there. Dad and mom both caught one each - I caught two. Then - suddenly dad insisted we had to leave. He barely gave us time to pack up. I remember being angry at him because I wanted to fish some more, but - it was so quiet - and the air was heavy - like if it had been turned into an overstuffed down comforter..."
"Like before that thing showed up." It came out as a whisper. Ryan could almost feel it now, that heaviness, the stillness.
Rachel nodded. "The rest is - a blank. Even years later mom and dad don't remember anything. I just remember being in the car and looking down and realizing my shirt was stuck to me, I was bleeding and my shirt was torn. We had to stop and patch me up. We were all too scared to take me to a hospital. Then I had a fever for a long time..." She shook her head, making the light on it bounce wildly for a moment. "I can't remember anything else. At least I think I can't. Ever since the skull it feels like I'm starting to remember something, but it doesn't want to come."
They walked on in silence for a bit more. Graham dropped his pace as well to match Rachel's and eventually so did the Doctor and Yaz. Clumping together a bit. Maybe it was to combine the lights shining from the headtorches, or perhaps it was just a matter of feeling safer together.
"How'd you all meet?" Rachel asked, trying to will the growing silence away.
The Doctor started the tale, explaining about regeneration and how she was a grumpy Scotsman with deadly eyebrows one second, a cheerful blonde woman the next. Each picked up the story in turn. When they got to the part about the Stenza warrior "Tim Shaw" Rachel began to chuckle.
"I'm - I'm sorry. It's just - well, there's this old gothic soap opera called Dark Shadows - there's been a couple of reboots including a lousy movie, but the original 1960s one, there's a time travel storyline where Barnabas Collins goes back to find out why the ghost of Quentin Collins has possessed David. Anyway, long story short there's a character in that storyline named Tim Shaw. He starts out as a good guy but after the wicked Reverend Trask convinced Evan Handly to use black magic to use Tim to kill Trask's wife, well, he comes back as a bad guy bent on revenge no matter who he hurts. Long story short, I just find it funny that a bonafide time traveler gave the nickname Tim Shaw... and I'm a total geek, I'm sorry, please ignore me and tell the rest of the tale."
They had just gotten back to their story, each interjecting their own piece, when Ryan saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and not long after the others stopped too.
Onto the trail came a mountain lion, it's eyes glowing in the light of their headtorches. Drool dripped almost excessively from it's mouth in long ropes and a strange noise came from deep in it's chest. The Doctor took point, pulling out her sonic even as she gently pushed the others behind her.
"It's rabid," The Doctor confirmed. "Don't let it get any nearer and don't let it bite you."
"Easy for you to say, Doc," Graham said. "How do we get rid of it?"
From the back Rachel said, "Cover your ears."
"No, that might scare it into attacking." Yaz's voice was a hurried whisper, as if she feared she'd draw the ill creature's attention.
"Spoilers." Was all Rachel said in a deadpan tone.
Everyone covered their ears as Rachel fired off two blanks, holding the gun pointed up in the air. The mountain lion turned and ran back into the woods around them. When the others looked to her as she made sure the gun was now unloaded they were a bit surprised to see a tear run down her cheek.
"I - I should - but the bullets aren't designed - oh God, I've left it to suffer..."
This American was very different than Jack Robertson. Where the billionaire had been heartless in his shooting of the giant spider, Rachel was grieving in not shooting the mountain lion so it wouldn't suffer a painful death by rabies. Ryan found himself wishing he could introduce the two to each other. Not in a matchmaking sort of way, but to show Robertson how a human being should act. But Ryan knew it would be an exercise in futility. If Robertson couldn't learn that from the Doctor, he couldn't learn it from anyone.
There wasn't time to really ponder this for long though, because suddenly a pained animal scream ripped through the darkness. Then everyone's pendants began to glow.
What happened next was a blur. A split-second glimpse of a face that was both human and inhuman at the same time. Limbs too long with odd joints. Fingers or claws, it was hard to tell which. The shriek. Rachel was trying to take photos but the thing was moving too fast. Any time the light from one of their pendants caught even a section of it's flesh it screamed. It was behind Graham - his pendant fell to the ground. Ryan found himself rushing to him, putting him behind him as his pendant somehow scared the thing away. Yaz was picking the damaged necklace off the ground and handing it to Graham, it's cord neatly cut. The Doctor had her sonic out, calling out to the creature that they meant it no harm. But it kept trying to get at them, herding them together.
Then there was the familiar and welcome "whoomp whoomp" - the TARDIS appeared, it's door already open. They rushed inside, all except Rachel who stood at the open doorway, still trying to take a photo until Ryan grabbed her by her backpack and yanked back hard. Yaz slamming the door closed. There was a thump and a shriek. The doors rattles. Ryan and Graham held it tightly closed from their side, both shouting for it to be locked. When it was they backed away.
"Right then, is anyone hurt? Graham?" The Doctor checked the back of his neck. "A little scratch but some antiseptic cream and you'll be right as rain. Ryan, if you could get a first aid kit. Let me see that necklace. Cut clean through. The claws on that thing must be sharp."
"It's afraid of them." Ryan said. "Like vampires being repelled by crosses."
"Crosses don't really work on vampires," both the Doctor and Rachel said at the same time, looking at each other right afterwards.
"I've read a lot of folklore." Rachel said. "Nothing about crosses repelling them. Though there is this one funny thing involving cow poop and thorn bushes."
"I've met vampires." The Doctor replied. "Long story, no time for that now. But right you are, Ryan, it is afraid of these - or at least the symbol on it and the light it produces!"
Whatever it was it was still pounding on the doors. Along with what sounded like scratching. The Doctor took Graham's necklace to the TARDIS console. Some sort of box was suddenly sticking out of it and she put the necklace inside.
"This'll just project a larger image of the symbol outside and..." there was a rage filled shriek that caused everyone to cover their ears. Then silence. "Well, I'm glad that worked or I would've looked very silly."
There was a moment of silence then together both Ryan and Yaz asked, "Vampires are real?"
Graham was very glad the TARDIS came to their rescue. Not just because of the creature outside, but because now he didn't have to do his business in the woods. It was one thing to do it on a regular camping trip or hike, another to do it when some unknown monster that eats human flesh was out there.
The Doctor was examining what few pictures Rachel had gotten. All were fairly blurry and not of much. A bit of a hand here, a foot there, the curve of a bald head. The Doc was talking in her quick, almost rambling manner. Sometimes it made Graham's head spin, but it was always interesting. And it took his mind away from the emptiness of Grace's absence. Actually, in a way it made it feel like Grace was right here, ready with one of her quips and a kiss.
"The TARDIS can't identify it either. It's a species we just haven't come across." The Doctor said, shaking her head.
"You know what I don't get." Graham said, looking to Rachel, "you said you blocked the memory out - but your parents were here too. Didn't they ever try and talk about it with you?"
The woman paused, something flickering over her face. "I - I don't know - they never talked about it. Never talked about coming back up to Gibbs either. I just remember how scared they were when we were in the car..."
"So either they forgot too, like those stories of people being abducted by aliens and finding themselves with missing time - no offense, Doc - or they do remember but don't want to remind you." Graham said.
"Excellent theories, Graham!" Exclaimed the Doctor. "Oh, I have such brilliant friends. So that leaves the question which it is. Blanked out memories, or not wanting to bring them back to you. Got your mobile handy, Rachel?"
"My mobile? Oh, you mean my cell. Um, it won't do any good, Doc, unless you have a way to contact the dead." She smiled a sad smile. "They lived a good life, but - well, illness happens and sometimes you can't beat it."
Graham instead said, "There is another option. We're in the TARDIS, we could just go back and see what happened."
"Brilliant! Didn't I tell you I had brilliant friends?" Grabbing Rachel's hands, the Doctor led her to the console. "I just need you to touch this here and here. I used to have people stick their hands in pink goo but this is better and less sticky. Now think about what you can remember about that day. Your dad has just made you and your mom pack up and leave. You're upset because you want to keep fishing. Concentrate on that day. How you felt, what it smelled like, the slant of the sun. Every bit you can remember..."
Even as the Doctor reached to start up the TARDIS Rachel suddenly stiffened. Everyone's pendants started to glow, though Graham noticed a different quality to the light. Where before it was white this one had a bluish tint. Opening her mouth wide Rachel let out something that was a strange hybrid of a scream, a growl, and a roar all at the same time. Her skin kept turning bright white then back to normal, it seemed like her arms and legs would briefly grow longer then shorter, and her heavy frame would keep switching to something leaner, almost whip-like.
But the worse was her eyes. Her head jerked so quickly to one side that Graham thought her neck might break from the force of the turn, when she looked at him it was like for a moment her eyes weren't there, just two gaping black holes, like an empty skull.
A moment later she fell to the ground, looking normal for a woman who had just fainted. The pendants stopped glowing. The Doctor was on the floor, scanning her with the sonic screwdriver. "Pulse is rapid, breathing shallow, no sign of a heart attack at least. But she's going to have a nasty bump on her head from where she hit it and I'm afraid she's banged up her elbow fairly badly. No breaks though."
"What just happened, Doc?" Graham said. "It was like - like she was turning into whatever that thing is out there."
"I think that's exactly what was happening, Graham." The Doctor replied even as she began to pat Rachel's face. "Come on, Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry, time to wake up." A second later the Doctor was letting out a bone chilling shriek of pain as Rachel did wake up and bit her hard enough on the hand to draw blood.
It took both Ryan and Yaz together to get Rachel to let go of the Doctor. The woman growled like a feral dog, backing away on all fours. Then the blood dripping down her chin began to glow a golden color as did the bite mark on the Doctor's hand. Rachel whimpered as if in pain, then began to cough and choke. Soon a grey coloured slime seemed to exit from her mouth. It wasn't so much vomiting, more like something trying to escape her. It wiggled for a bit like a dying worm, then just went flat, smelling of mould.
Though repeating himself felt like a bad thing, Graham couldn't help but ask, once again, "What just happened - now?"
The Doctor rubbed her hand where there was no longer any sign of injury. "Biting me triggered a bit of regeneration power. I guess swallowing a bit of my blood drove out whatever has been brewing inside her since she was attacked as a child." By now the Doctor had her sonic out and was scanning the grey matter upon the floor. "Very complex DNA structure, can't identify it, I don't think I've come across this before. Don't think anyone from Gallifrey has or there'd be a record of it. Rachel, can I see your scars again?"
By this time Yaz had helped Rachel lean back and Ryan had brought her a glass of water. She looked confused but obediently lifted up her shirt to expose the scars. They were still there, but somehow not as vivid as before. They looked almost blurry. Like a slightly out of focus picture.
"Okay, you can put it down now." The Doctor knelt down, putting a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "Rachel, did you remember something?"
"I remember everything. Doctor, I know why I have to photograph him - it sounds crazy, but a photograph will cure him."
The Doctor had heard many things in her long life, but a photograph curing someone was new to her. Not just new to this incarnation but all of them. Even her grumpy first one. Thinking of that one made her think of Susan and suddenly she wondered how her granddaughter would react to her latest version. What if her granddaughter was now her grandson for that matter? Oh, sometimes this regeneration thing got very confusing.
Back to the matter at hand - while it sounded far fetched the Doctor had to admit nothing really was that far fetched in the grand scheme of things. She had met beings with god like powers, seen the universe torn apart then put back together, living fat, nothing was really impossible. Not when you had all of time and space as your backyard.
Rachel had insisted on bringing up the photos again, this time asking them to be enhanced. The sections that caught a bit of body zoomed in on.
And now everyone could see it. The hand with it's claws now looked like a double exposure, a hand laying over another hand, a foot within a foot. The fingers looked shorter, no claws. The foot was broader and blunter. Even the small sections of head had a second, rounder, hairier head underneath.
"So that thing - it's human?" Graham asked.
"No." Rachel said. "I remember now. I was angry with dad. Angry enough that I didn't tell him and mom when I had to go to the bathroom. I stepped off the trail. Figured I'd let them think I got lost somehow for a moment. Scare them in revenge. I had just finished when he showed up. He hadn't changed - yet - but he was starting to. He couldn't tell me much, just that there was a plague on his planet, he was infected. They had sent each of the infected to different planets thinking they'd die there and the disease die with them. But he realized he could infect me... that's when he clawed me."
"But you didn't change," the Doctor said. "It was in you to, but your body was just different enough to not do it. And by making yourself forget you were able to keep the infection at bay, somehow - maybe chemicals your brain sent out, maybe just sheer human willpower. Never under estimate human willpower, I always say. One of the strongest forces in the universe. It wasn't until I tried to make you remember that the infection started to flare up - but then you bit me, triggering my regeneration powers, and by swallowing some of my blood it acted like a massive injection of antibiotics and killed it off once and for all. What I don't get is how a photograph is supposed to cure him."
Rachel called up Google and typed something into the search bar, calling up an image search. "Have I said how much I love the TARDIS? Look at this amazing wifi it has. Bet I could play Pokémon Go and Hogwarts Mystery all day in here with not a single data charge." She touched an image and suddenly it took up the whole screen.
The picture was of a humanoid being on all fours. It's limbs were long and bonelike. It's bald skull slightly too large and it's chin slightly too pointed. It was looking straight at the camera with glowing eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"I remember this," Ryan was saying. Brilliant boy, that Ryan. Even if he couldn't always see it in himself. "People thought it was some sort of zombie in Louisiana. But I thought they debunked this as an image from a PS3 game."
"Did they?" The Doctor asked. "Tricky thing, aliens, sometimes certain people in high powered positions like to hide their existence. Especially if those people are aliens themselves..."
"You're saying there's aliens in government?" The brilliant Yaz asked. "Actually, come to think of it, that makes sense. Almost too much." Oh, yes, the world was a better place with Yaz in it. Can't have a universe without Yasmin Khan.
"Okay," Graham, equally brilliant, wonderful, solid Graham, asked, "but that doesn't explain how a photo can cure this plague. I mean, it took you biting the Doctor to cure you."
"That's because it hadn't taken me over yet." Rachel, who was brilliant in her own way, the Doctor was sure. "You know the story on this?" She motioned to the photo. "I mean, Ryan, you obviously know."
"Yeah, supposedly some hunter found his trailcam trashed but the memory card still intact and this image was on it." Ryan said.
"That's because the plague knew a camera was dangerous to it. But not that camera. It has to be a camera with a flash." Rachel looked to the Doctor. "You know how people say zinc can make antibiotics work better to help you get over a cold faster? Even though that's not really what happens."
The Doctor touched the pendant. "This is the antibiotic and the camera flash is the zinc. Together the two kill off the infection, helping return the sufferer back to their original form. But how did you figure it out?"
"You're the one who told me." Rachael said. "You showed up seconds after I was clawed. You told me everything. That we would meet again, in your past but my future. Then you did something to hold the memories at bay because it held the infection at bay. You totally erased my parents' memories so they wouldn't risk triggering mine too early."
"Oh, the perils of time traveling." The Doctor said. "You never know when a future version of yourself messes with your own past. Keep that in mind in case you ever met a younger version of yourselves."
"Okay, so let me get this straight," Graham said. "Sometime in the future the Doc here shows up in your past, saves you, tells you what you need to know, hides your memories, I would assume also likely arranges for this Jack and River to end up meeting your friend Jenny in some way - and then we show up knowing nothing about this because it all happens in our future?"
"Pretty much." Rachel said with a sheepish grin and a shrug.
"How are you taking this so calmly?" He now just had to ask.
"Dude, I was infected with an alien plague that could've turned me into a flesh eating monster, had my memories suppressed for years, and just bit an alien so hard I drew blood while in a semi-infected state. Right now Dracula could come in tap dancing while singing some "Weird" Al Yankovic song and wearing a sequined jumpsuit and I wouldn't blink."
"Fair enough. So now what, Doc?"
"Now," The Doctor said, "we figure out how to trap an infectee and get their photograph."
"You sure you're ready for this?" The Doctor asked as Rachel handed her necklace off to Ryan. "Once you're out there you're no longer protected, not by the TARDIS, your necklace, or even the infection you carried."
"I made a promise, Doctor." Rachel replied. "If it means my life, I intend to keep it." Though she wanted to do nothing but run away, Rachel knew this is what had to happen. She had to be - bait.
The Doctor eyed her for a moment. The camera now hung off Rachel's wrist, ready to be used. The outline of the gun showing just marginally beneath her oversized shirt. It wasn't going away, but at least Rachel didn't want to use it. There was a difference, the Doctor knew, between those who owned guns but didn't want to use them unless forced, and those who owned them and looked for any excuse to use them. "One last question. All of time and space - where would you go?"
Rachel looked at the Doctor for a moment. The question seemed to have physical weight between them. Then, "It's a hard question to answer - there's so much I'd like to see, people I'd like to meet, but I suppose for right now the answer would be to take this poor soul home once he's cured. See how his planet is doing - if they've beaten the plague yet - and if they haven't how I could help."
"Good answer. Right, off you go then, Rachel Manilow, no relation to Barry." The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Rachel walked out and went back on the trail. She stopped and watched as the TARDIS began it's "woomph" sound and slowly faded out of sight. Then she turned back and started to head towards Gibbs Lake again.
It was a bit lighter now. Not much as it was just a little after 3 am, but the sun was slowly starting it's climb. Rested from having spent so much time in the TARDIS, Rachel puffed a little less to start with. She knew she was getting closer to the lake as well. Even though a little over thirty years had passed, she could actually remember some of the trail from last time. Yes, that tree with the crack was larger now, and that large rock with the graffiti was more covered in moss, but it was still the same while also different.
Time had passed was all it was. Everyone was a type of time traveler, really, but the only way was forward.
All of time and space... It was tempting. It's not like she had much to hold her here. No family, very few friends, not even a pet right now. She hadn't told the Doctor but her parents had left her more than enough to keep her living well just off the interest alone. So, really, not even a job. She could set up bills for autopay, close up the house for a bit...
And probably be instantly killed by some alien or something. Truth was, the Doctor and her friends all looked like people who did a lot of running and Rachel was not the running type. Plus the Doctor also seemed to be the big dramatic speech type. Not that was a bad thing, just Rachel could be a big dramatic speech type too. They'd probably end up fighting over who gave the big dramatic speech.
If one were to be party to Rachel's thoughts, they'd quickly realize she was concentrating on all the reasons to not travel with the Doctor to distract herself from the fear and panic inside her. She had a promise to keep, but it was hard knowing that keeping that promise might mean her death. She didn't want to die, she liked living, if she could she'd live forever. Oh, people always told her how horrible that would be, outliving your loved ones and all, but she already had outlived many loved ones. Living forever meant being able to do so much more, new experiences all the time, new things to learn.
Even if there was an afterlife, Rachel was in no hurry to enter it.
Though she was deep into her mental debate it didn't stop her from noticing when it got suddenly very quiet. All she could hear now was her own heavy breathing. The air was thick with pressure, weighing down on her. Though part of her wanted to reach for her gun, she instead turned her camera on.
Quicker than one would think she spun around, lifting the camera and starting to fire off shots. The creature being her screamed.
It was even more terrifying than the picture of the one on the internet. It's limbs seemed impossibly long and thin as it crouched like a spider. It's head was large at the top with a sharp, pointed chin and a too-wide mouth filled with a row of shark like teeth. The eyes were large, deeply sunken pools of black. The skin gray and tight against it's frame, like if it no longer had any muscles at all, but rather was just held together by skin and sinew. There was patches of dried blood all over it. Some flaking and brown, some fresher. A large hunk of skin with yellow fur was logged between two of the lower teeth. Even though it was screaming and moving quickly, Rachel was still able to make this out as she spun in circles, continuously taking photos.
As for Rachel herself, she was glad she used the bathroom on the TARDIS before coming out. All the same there was a heavy feeling in her bladder, warning her that she might just wet herself in terror. The Doctor wasn't coming. She was going to die. It was getting closer, going faster, she was so dizzy from spinning around to keep it in sight... "I don't want to die," Rachel whimpered.
Then suddenly four points of light, one from each direction, coming towards her, catching the creature in the crossbeams. It screamed. Rachel took photos, the flashing light of the camera joining with the lights of the pendants. The quality of the lights changed, they seemed more solid and glowed orange. The creature's wails of pain changed in tone, becoming deeper, more like sobs, these soon trailed off until there was nothing but silence.
Dizzy, Rachel sat heavily upon the ground, trying to not vomit. She tried to concentrate on the form before her, even though the world was spinning. Ryan was beside her, trying to hand her back her necklace. "No," she said. "I don't need it anymore - they do."
Laying on the ground, unconscious, was the former victim of a very strange alien plague. If their species had a gender, Rachel couldn't tell. Their skin was a light teal, the head ball-like round, the body was still painfully thin but now it looked like there were lean muscles under the skin. A thin fuzz of greenish hair covered their entire body with the exception of the face. Where there had been claws were now short, blunt fingers with no visible nails.
"What is it, Doc?" Graham was asking even as the Doctor took Rachel's necklace from Ryan and slipped it over the being's head.
"Don't know. Never encountered this species before. Let's get them back to the TARDIS and make them comfortable. You alright there, Rachel?"
"No, but I will be."
"That's the spirit."
Carrying the alien was frighteningly easy, Ryan found. Just scoop them up and carry them like a long limbed baby. Course it didn't hurt that the TARDIS had been near by, having dropped them off just a few feet away from Rachel. A room that hadn't seemed to be there before was now just off to one side complete with a comfortable looking bed and some reddish liquid in a glass. Even now he couldn't get over how the TARDIS always seemed to sense everyone's needs before even they knew them. Like it was The Room Of Requirement from Harry Potter. There was even tea and chocolate biscuits waiting for them.
Rachel was on her mobile with Jenny, telling her what had happened, including the skull that was thrown at them. She was shaking and pale, her tea nearly slopping over the rim as Ryan handed her a cup.
"The skull can be found about a half mile or more in. I bagged it, pinned it down, and put a note on it just like you instructed I should do. It shouldn't be hard to find. Hope you can get to it before any other hikers do. It's going on dawn so there might be some." Rachel sighed. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I just hope the next time you make me promise something it's something simple and not pants wetting terrifying. No, I didn't actually do that, but I came close."
Ryan waited until she was done before handing her a biscuit. "So, feeling any better?"
"Not really." Rachel admitted. "But at least this part's done. Now there's just waiting for him - her - them to wake up and hear their side of the story."
"Well, we know part of it. Before they infected you they told you it was a plague on their planet."
"Yeah, only one that instead of killing them turns them into killers." Sipping her tea, Rachel stared off into the distance. "From what they could get out back then the idea was to isolate the infected on other planets. Hoping it would contain the infection and let it die off, not give it anyone else to infect. They didn't know they had the ability to cure it all along. Or that it's possible to pass it to people of other species. I wonder how many planets they accidently infected."
That morbid thought gave Ryan pause. There was possibly at least one more of the infected here on earth. So far they didn't seem to have infected anyone else. Yes, sure, Rachel was able to hold off the infection, but only because the Doctor did something so she wouldn't remember it. Basically her own mind kept it at bay.
"I wonder why light is the cure. Especially the light of the pendants combined with a camera flash." Ryan now pondered.
Shrugging, Rachel replied, "I don't know. Did you see the green fuzz all over them? It made me think of some sort of plant. So maybe they're plant based life forms?"
"Brilliant deduction, Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry," The Doctor, who had just walked up behind them, said. "Made some scans and that's exactly it - they're more plant than animal, but animal enough to get infections that can be passed on, but not easily, to other animal based lifeforms. Humans are not entirely compatible, which is why blocking your memories of being infected let you hold it at bay."
Ryan took this in, mentally digesting it, before saying, "What I don't get is if you know this how come you didn't just have us cure them back before they ever attacked Rachel?"
"Paradox. I only know about them in the future that takes place in Rachel's past because of the events of now. If we went back and cured them then, then we wouldn't be here to help Rachel and the infected person now."
At first Ryan was going to ask more questions, then suddenly closed his mouth. Actually, the Doctor was right. The whole thing would cause a paradox in which they might never get involved and Rachel would've either died on this trail or the infection would've taken over.
"Okay, so it's an alien virus that we can't get easily, though obviously it can be passed on. And it turns people into - ghouls, I guess." Ryan said. "But why would light cure it?" He looked at the Doctor, but the Doctor looked at Rachel. Ryan got the feeling that the Gallifreyan was testing her.
Rachel shrugged, making an "I don't know" noise. "Different rules for life forms from other planets, I guess. Like Kirk being able to make a functioning weapon out of alien bamboo when we know on earth our's would likely blow up instead of acting like a gun or Superman getting strong because of Earth's yellow sun because it's different from Krypton's red sun."
"Good analogy." The Doctor replied. Apparently Rachel passed the test. "Now, about what you haven't said..."
Ryan and the others looked to Rachel. She was still holding things back? After what they all went through together? He wouldn't deny he was a little bit hurt at the thought. Ryan watched Rachel's face. He could see something playing across it, a flicker of guilt. He looked back now to the Doctor who was doing that stare. The one that always got people to confess. It was like she could read a person's mind.
"I was told that if you never showed up to help me it didn't mean I could do it on my own. It meant I was to use my gun on myself." She whispered. "It's not that I want to - I like living no matter how hard it is - but - if you didn't show I guess I would've remembered without you, which means the infection would take over and I could pass it on easier to humans." She straightened her shoulders. "I made a promise, Doctor, one I don't have to keep. But yet, I would've kept it. Especially if it meant the infection would die with me."
Ryan was a bit shocked to hear that, but also not surprised. It actually kind of seemed sensible. If you were the only one with an infection that could lead to the destruction of an entire planet - well, wouldn't it be better that it end with you instead of beginning?
"Since you don't have to keep that promise then you won't mind giving me the gun." The Doctor said, her hand out for it. "I promise to destroy it. You can't travel with us if you insist on keeping it."
Ryan looked at Rachel, mentally urging her to hand it over. Sure, it came in handy to scare the mountain lion, but the Doctor was right, people got stupid with guns. Besides, Ryan bet that his grandfather would enjoy having someone closer to his own age around. Heck, he wouldn't mind Rachel joining their merry little band.
"That's just it, Doctor," the American said, "I'm - not going with you guys. I thought about it out there and I'd just be a detriment. I'm too fat and slow. You'd either die rescuing me or I'd die the first time out. It's better for us all if I just go back to my life, put the gun in the safe only to be taken out for routine maintenance or, God forbid, if I should need it."
"Are you sure?" Ryan asked. "I mean, you survived this."
"I'm not the least bit sure, Ryan. I want to go with you guys so badly I feel like a piece of my heart is being ripped out. But this is the most logical choice." Her voice got thick and shook a bit. "I'm not choosing the gun over you, Doc," she said, likely guessing what the Doctor was thinking. "I'm choosing the most rational thing."
Ryan watched as the Doctor clasped Rachel by the shoulders, then gently shook her a bit. "I understand, Rachel Manilow no relation to Barry. I don't like it, but I understand." The Doctor replied.
As he opened his mouth to put in his own thoughts, a scream suddenly erupted. He found himself darting forwards towards it. Halfway across the floor the room where the alien had been put opened up and their guest stumbled out. He looked at everyone in utter terror, then tried to head for the doors, but weakened by his long illness, all he ended up doing was falling at Ryan's feet.
"Here now," Ryan said, kneeling down, "there's no need to be afraid. Just relax."
The alien scrambled backwards. "Stay away. Don't get near so I don't hurt you."
"No, man, you're not going to hurt any of us." Ryan said, trying to keep his voice modulated and calm. "You're cured now. You're going to be fine."
"Cured? There is no cure!" The alien said, moving faster than anyone expected, it headed for the door. However, Rachel was in the way and despite the space in the TARDIS, because she was - well, wide bodied - meant the alien crashed into her. "Get out of the way! I don't want to kill anyone!" The alien shouted, though in it's panic it only seemed to grapple with Rachel more, soon finding the gun on her hip.
It seemed no matter where and when they went, guns always had a similar enough shape throughout the universe that it could tell this was a deadly weapon. Moving away from everyone, it held the weapon to it's head. Everyone was shouting some form of "Don't," "No," or "Put it down!" even as the alien pulled the trigger.
Only for it to click, not fire. In their panic, they had all forgotten Rachel didn't keep it loaded. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief even as the Doctor disarmed the alien and tossed the empty gun to Rachel.
"Calm down." The Doctor was saying. "Please listen to us. We've cured the disease inside you. You're not going to harm anyone ever again. It's gone, it's passed. It's going to be okay."
The alien starred at the Doctor, in what Ryan could only describe as shock. Then it happened to notice the necklace it was wearing. It lifted the pendant up and began to stroke it.
"How? How did you get metal from my planet? How did you know to make the symbol of our suns? Is this what cured me?"
"It was part of it." The Doctor said. "Come on, sit down, have a cup of tea - do you drink tea? We'll explain it all."
The alien's name was - too hard to pronounce, even for the Doctor. Eventually the alien agreed to the Doctor's suggestion to just call them David after several mangled attempts. It wasn't that people didn't try, it was that their tongues were the wrong shape and even though the TARDIS translated every language the translation of the alien's name came to, "They Who Sit In Trees And Dances With Water While Gargling Fish Oil." It was a bit of a mouthful. Since they made an honest effort to say their name, the alien didn't mind getting a human name so much.
They cried when they realized they really had killed and eaten humans. It seemed the disease had left their memory fuzzy, but when told about the skull, they suddenly started to have flashbacks to what had happened. They even now remembered trying to infect Rachel as a child.
"The disease is only communicable in it's first stages, before you're fully transformed." David said. "After that it only remains in the host and cannot be passed on."
When it was their turn they talked about their planet and the plague. No one knew where it had come from, except that the first carriers had disappeared one day. Just plucked up in "a beam of darkness" - then returned, infected but not transformed. The best they could figure was either another species had infected them or maybe members of a secret organization had been experimenting on them. Seemed like every world had it's own form of the Illuminate conspiracy.
The others knew then that it wouldn't be long before the Doctor was investigating "beams of darkness."
But there was something else to deal with here on earth first. There were at least two other infected. One, as they rightly guessed, in Louisiana, the other somewhere in India.
"I don't even understand it." David was saying. "We were supposed to be put on a planet devoid of any left except perhaps bacteria. The hopes was that we would starve to death - the infected eat meat. Our people evolved to only need plant matter, sunlight, and liquids to survive. The disease is almost like a - deevolution. A return to what we were before with the exception that the infected need almost total darkness. Where even our most remote ancestors required at least a few hours of sunlight."
"It is a mystery. I do love a good mystery." The Doctor said. "Well, David, let's see if we can cure the other two and we'll see about taking you all home."
Apparently forgetting about Rachel's choice to not go with them, the Doctor moved to the TARDIS console.
"Well," Rachel said, gathering her things. "I guess - well, goodbye, everyone. It was terrifying but - I'm still going to miss you."
"Are you sure you want to go?" The Doctor asked. "I know we already spoke of this - but, you are welcome to stay."
"I'm not sure of anything, Doc. But Jenny's waiting for me with local authorities by now. I guess I really haven't kept my entire promise until I try to tell them why I was prepared to bag up a human skull." Before anyone could try to hold her back with hugs, she was out the door. The last they saw of her that day was her back as she started to hike away as the TARDIS door closed behind her.
"I'm glad the infection didn't take her over." David said.
"I think we're all glad of that." The Doctor said as she reached for a switch.
Michael Duclot checked his camera and his gun one last time just before the clock struck midnight. He hadn't been back to the bayou since that time he and his dad went in and only he returned with no memories of what happened. Mom had suddenly decided they needed to move to New York. Far away from everything and everyone he had known. However, his best friend had called him back. There had been two others with him, a good looking man and a woman with amazing hair. The three of them had extracted a promise from him. A promise he intended to keep.
As Michael prepared to go there was the strangest sound of a "Whoomp whoomp" behind him. As he turned around a blue box appeared and a blonde haired woman stuck her head out.
"Hello," she said, "I'm the Doctor and we're here to help."
~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~