Disclaimer: I don't own it.
A/N: Alright, I didn't get many reviews, but I had several of you put this on your story alert subscription, so I assume you want me to continue. A big thank you to those of you who did review and put the story on alert. As I've already said, this is AU so the characters are OOC. There will be a lot of familiar faces and a few new ones. There will also be several pairings. I'm not going to name them all, but they'll be fairly obvious later on. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
They'd been walking along this road for several hours now, sneaking supplies out of the city and into the underground encampment where they were currently living.
All of the major cities were either overrun with drones, or demolished in the fighting, and were therefore uninhabitable. Any who thought otherwise and tried to stay didn't last long.
Rose thought of her mother who hadn't made it out of the city. She'd been taken along with innumerable others to god knows where during the first onslaught.
She thought back to the night the invasion had occurred. She had just informed her mum that she was finally going to be a grandmother. Her lips quirked up as she remembered her mum's face. She had nearly fainted at the information. That had been nearly seven months ago, and Rose had given up all hope of seeing her mother ever again.
"Rose…"
She was roused from her depressing thoughts by her older brother. Wiping a stray tear from her face, she turned to face him,
"What?"
"You all right?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.
She gave him a reassuring smile, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
Tony always had a rather annoying habit of asking her if she was sure of any answer she gave him. She figured it was just his big brother instincts kicking in, but it was still annoying as hell.
"Yes Tony, I'm sure." She sighed.
"Because you know you can always-."
"I said I'm fine!"
The second the words flew from her mouth she felt guilty. He was just looking out for her, and she knew that, but the stress of their situation combined with the raging hormones that came with pregnancy made her prone to reckless outbursts that she later regretted.
She stopped walking and turned to her brother,
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean it. But this really isn't the best place for a pregnant woman to be."
"Can you tell me of a place that is good for a pregnant woman?"
"Good point." He admitted sulkily as they started to walk again, "But I still wish you'd ride in the cart. What would Mickey say if I brought you back in an unfit state?"
"Have you always been this fussy?"
"Only for as long as you've been this stubborn, so… yeah." He laughed at the pouty expression on her face. "Seriously though, please get in the cart. It would make me feel better. You've been under enough stress as it is."
She groaned in annoyance, "Alright fine. I'll be in the back if you need me." She made her way to supply cart in the back of their convoy that contained all of the items they'd been able to procure when they'd made their way into the city.
Climbing aboard, she managed to make herself as comfortable as possible and prepare for the rest of the trip to what they now called their home. She hadn't planned on it, but eventually, exhaustion overcame her and she managed a light sleep along the bumpy road.
A short time later, she was jolted awake by the cart being jerked to a sudden halt. Rising from her makeshift pallet, she looked down the road to see what had caused the disruption.
Tony and several other members of their caravan were gathered around a young man sitting on the ground weeping and clutching a dead body to his chest. Rose made to get up and see what all the commotion was about, but a sudden uncomfortable twinge in her lower abdomen gave her pause and she sat back down. She'd just ask her brother about it later.
She made herself relatively comfortable again and waited for the trip to begin again. The longer she waited, the more restless she became. Even while pregnant, Rose was unused to being idle. The lifestyle she and her comrades were now living forbade it. If you sat around, you died; that was just how it was.
The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention,
"I'm so sorry for your loss John." She heard her brother say as he and the young man that was in the road came around to the back of the cart.
"Thank you Tony. I really don't know what I'm going to do without him now."
"Well we'll help you figure something out." He turned to look at Rose, "This is John. His brother was just killed by the drones. I told him we'd give him a lift to the camp and help him get sorted."
She inclined her head to the stranger, "Hi."
"Hello." He returned as he climbed into the cart beside her.
"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"
"Not at all. Make yourself comfortable."
Such a task was quite impossible amongst the heap of assorted random items they'd collected, but he found a position that wouldn't kill his back and reclined back, saying nothing.
Rose decided to try and strike up a conversation with the man, if for no other reason than to pass the time.
"So John, where are you from?"
"Far away." He mumbled.
"What brought you here in the first place?"
He looked up from where he'd been staring at his hands, "I came here to visit my brother."
God, she was such an idiot! This man had just lost his brother. The last thing he wanted to do right now was chat with a strange woman.
"I'm so sorry. I'll just shut up now. Me and my big mouth never know when to quit."
He quickly tried to reassure her, "No, its fine. Talking helps take my mind off of it. So, boy or girl?" he asked, gesturing to her rounded stomach.
"Boy."
"Have you thought of a name?"
"Nothing definite yet, though we do have a few ideas. Do you have any kids?"
"No, just a brother. Now it seems I don't even have that anymore." Tears began to once more fill his eyes and slide down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Tony."
"Is he the father?"
"Oh no, he's my brother."
"Ah, okay. So tell me, where exactly are we going?"
"All of these supplies were scavenged out of the city. We're bringing them back to our encampment."
"So is everyone here the only ones who are part of this 'encampment'?"
"God, no. We're just the ones chosen to look for supplies this time. Once a week, about twenty of us go out and look for supplies that the camp is running low on, and then we bring them back. The whole trip takes about two or three days. There are hundreds of people at the camp; but of course, we're not the only one. They're all over the world.
Where the hell had this man been if he didn't know anything about the system that had been running for several months?
"And how exactly do these camps function? I mean, is there someone in charge?"
"Each camp has two or three people who make the important decisions, like when to move, who to send out for supplies, that kind of stuff. The leaders are able to have limited communication with those in charge of the other camps so that decisions that affect everyone can be carried out somewhat efficiently, and attacks on the drones can be coordinated."
The man nodded attentively throughout the explanation, clearly absorbing all the information. After she'd spewed all of the important facts, she waited for him to ask another question, and when he didn't she decided to take another nap.
"Look John, we've got another few hours before we reach the camp and I'm kinda tired. If you have any other questions, you can just ask anyone else here and they'll fill you in."
"Alright thank you. Oh, by the way, I didn't catch your name."
"It's Rose."
"Well, nice to meet you Rose. Get some sleep."
It had certainly been easier than he'd expected to gain their trust. All that was required was for him to shed a few tears over his 'brother' and give them a sob story, and they bought it. They certainly weren't the most intelligent beings in the universe. Oh well, that made his work a lot easier.
The plan to take down these humans for good was already in motion, but it would take a fair amount of time to complete. Fortunately, being a Time Lord, that was something he had an abundance of, and he planned to use every second to his advantage.
It was also in his favor that humans seemed to be such a chatty bunch. He'd be able to garner all sorts of information by simply asking a few questions. But he wasn't stupid, and he knew that many secrets would not simply be given up. But if it came to that, he could simply rip it from their minds by force.
After sitting in the cart for a brief span of time, collecting all of his thoughts and getting his plans together, he decided he was bored and climbed out of the cart. He might as well talk to someone else and see what other information he could gather.
The drones were good for brute force, but to defeat this race, he was going to need something more than that. He was going to need cleverness and cunning. Looking to the front of the progression, he spotted the young man who'd first spoken to him.
Starting to walk with the line, he made his way to Tony to strike up a conversation.
Again, thanks for reading, any concrit is welcome.
-Goldenheart