Chapter 3-Separated
Rose kept running, ignoring her pounding heart and gasping for air. She didn't stop, even as she dodged the shrapnel and debris flying around her. As the loud shouts and explosions echoed around the open field, she focused on one thing: get away from here. As she sprinted across the open plain, she spared a glance back over her shoulder. Crap! They were gaining on her. She picked up her pace, racing faster and faster against the inevitable. Suddenly, she fell to the ground with a crash, having tripped over a stray tree root in her path. As she frantically got to her feet, flat-out panicking now, a thought entered her mind.
Why was she even running? She gradually slowed her pace to a walk, contemplating. She should probably just give up now. What was the point? She came to a complete stop as a hazy fog took over her mind, pushing away all thought of escaping. She was suddenly overcome with despair. Wouldn't it just be better to let them have her now, rather than carrying on with this pointless struggle? Surely there was no hope of escaping.
Suddenly, a bomb went off particularly close to her, jolting her mind out of its cloudy state. 'What are you doing? Run!' she reminded herself. Pumping her legs faster, she reached the top of a hill.
Rose found herself wishing more and more the Doctor was beside her, smiling that crazy smile and silently encouraging her to go on. She knew that couldn't happen though. If they got their hands on him, they'd have unimaginable power. That thought spurred her on. 'Come on,' she told herself, 'just a bit farther.'
The angry shouts grew closer and closer, and Rose knew she couldn't hold out much longer; she was tiring quickly. Even though she was incredibly toned after running for her life practically every day, she wasn't Superwoman.
If she could just make it past the giant boulder jutting out from the ground a couple hundred meters ahead, then the TARDIS' electrical field could short out their equipment, giving her a bit of an advantage. The shields would protect her from almost everything. She pushed herself even faster. Almost there-
There! The TARDIS lay in wait, a bright beacon amid all of the dust. She glanced back again, checking her adversaries' progress. Big mistake. Not looking where she was going, Rose failed to see the explosion happen not far from her.
BOOM! The biggest explosion yet was close enough to knock Rose off her feet, leaving her sprawled on the ground and more than a little dazed. She lay stunned, vision dimming for a moment before focusing again, only to see them catch up to her. Not fast enough, she thought before one of them touched her and the world went black.
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Earlier
The Doctor held his breath, gauging Rose's reaction to this stunning revelation. She took it surprisingly well, considering she had just been told an alien creature was living inside her brain. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "But I thought you had taken it out of me," she said, not quite believing him. He couldn't blame her. He could hardly accept it himself, and he'd had hours to think on it. "Is it still dangerous?"
"No. It seems like even though I got most of it, I must have missed a little bit. Some of the consciousness must have remained behind. I wonder why, though," he mused. "If you wouldn't mind," he began, "I'd like to look inside your mind, to see if I can find anything."
"Will it hurt?" she asked. It seemed like a childish question as soon as it flew from her lips.
"No, I would never do anything to hurt you, Rose," he reassured her.
"Ok," she agreed. "What do I do?"
"Just relax," he advised her, putting his hands on her temples. "If there's something you don't want me to see, just imagine a door in front and block it off. I won't be able to look at anything you don't want me to see."
Entering her mind for the second time was much different from the first. 'Doors' that had been closed before by her subconsciousness in an effort to protect herself from the intruder were now opened by her, welcoming him in. Other parts that had not been very bright were now well-lit due to her increased amount of brain activity. He strolled almost casually down the hallway, trying to sense something that didn't belong to Rose in this confusing maze. Peeking into doorways, hands in his figurative pockets, he searched for hours to no avail.
He had been through nearly every section of her mind, from memories to dreams to current thoughts. He hadn't felt anything foreign anywhere. He decided to go check the largest section again, memories. As soon as he got past the more recent ones, a tingling sensation ran down his back. He spun on his heel immediately, facing an ordinary-looking passageway, except for the faint golden glow surrounding everything. Running down it, he came to another door. This one seemed to be shut, but not like it had been last night. This looked like it had been messily closed, not by Rose herself. He threw it open and had to shield his eyes from the bright glare of the memory.
In it was Rose's memory of the Game Station. Of course! The Bad Wolf was very clever. It had masked itself in Rose's own memory of the event, gaining energy from itself in the past while remaining hidden in plain sight. Of course, it wasn't burning up Rose's mind anymore because she was unaware of it. At least he knew it didn't have any intention to harm Rose. That was something, he supposed. However, he couldn't let it remain in her mind for much longer, whatever its intent. Now that she was aware of it (and he knew she was; he could feel her curious presence hovering nearby), the situation could quickly become dangerous.
Stepping into the memory, the Doctor cautiously approached the Bad Wolf. He couldn't interfere too much, or else it would taint Rose's recollection of the Game Station.
"Am I speaking to the being known as the Bad Wolf?" he asked loudly, voice echoing around the large room.
"Doctor," the Bad Wolf murmured.
"What are you doing here? Well, never mind, I know why you're here. You want me to leave. I just want to know what you think you can do about it. I am needed, however, and cannot leave until the moment is right."
"You have to, though! If you stay in Rose's mind much longer, it will tear her apart."
"She will not remember this once you leave her mind. I will stay safely hidden until I am required, and the child will be safe."
"You can still stay! Just leave her mind, and come into mine. I'll be able to host you much longer, and with no risk to Rose," he begged.
"No. The child has been chosen, and I will tell you this: you will not have long to wait. We will meet again, Doctor, but I warn you, it will not be a pleasant time. And with that, you should depart."
The Doctor found himself being gently but firmly pushed out of Rose's mind. His eyes flew open, only to see Rose slump over in her chair, nearly falling off. "Whoa!" He caught her and saw she was deep in sleep.
"That would be the mind wipe, then," he said to himself and gently picked her up to carry her to her bedroom so she could sleep it off. We seem to be doing this a lot lately. Rose collapsing, me carrying her…he reflected.
Setting her down, the Doctor decided to go out for a walk. Even though he didn't want to leave Rose, he was bouncing with energy and a walk would help him figure out what the Bad Wolf had meant. Besides, what was the worst thing that could happen?
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What did he think was going to happen? Something always went wrong. It was their way of life. He knew he shouldn't have left Rose alone, without even leaving a note. 'Stupid, stupid Time Lord!' he chastised himself. Now they were both going to pay for his carelessness.
He'd only been walking. How was he supposed to know that a Kahler camp was less than a kilometer away? He'd just been strolling along, minding his business, when a squad of camouflaged soldiers had swarmed out of their hiding place behind a small copse of trees. They then had proceeded to surround him, powering up their high-tech weapons. Within seconds the Doctor had found himself securely bound, unable to move anything below his neck. Aiming their guns at him (as if he could do anything) they bundled him not-so-gently into their form of transport, which seemed to be a cross between a hovercraft and a tank. A soldier climbed in after him; now the Doctor was stuck in the middle of the vehicle, making escape impossible.
"Oi! Put those down, you'll have someone's eye out with that!" the Doctor remarked indignantly, hiding his surprise at being jumped with no warning. The soldiers slowly put their weapons down, perplexed this strange man's attitude.
"Thank you. Now, would someone care to explain why I'm trussed up like a Christmas turkey and being escorted to what I assume must be your main base?" the Doctor said brightly as the engine started rather loudly. Nobody bothered to answer him, and he correctly surmised they must be under strict orders not to talk to him.
"Ok, so you're not talking, guess this will be a monologue then. I do like a good monologue, though they can get a bit dull if you go on long enough. Did you know, I once met Franklin D. Roosevelt? He gave a good monologue. Nice bloke, Frank. Although, his Fireside Chats could get a little long. Speaking of long monologues, have you ever heard of Queen Elizabeth XXXIV? No, I suppose you haven't, old Earth history. Blimey, she could blather on. Talk your ear off if you let her. She was known for falling asleep during any speech she wasn't giving. Most people didn't take that too well, as you could imagine. The people did love her plum pies, however; they were some of the best in the country! I didn't think much of them though. Now if they had been banana, that would have been a different story. You can never go wrong with a good banana," the Doctor lectured, earning him many annoyed looks from the soldiers in the automobile.
He wasn't done though; oh, no, he was going to keep talking and talking until these arrogant fools told him who they were and what they wanted with him. He figured he deserved at least that much, what with their rough treatment of him and rather rude demeanor.
So he talked. On and on, about various different subjects, from proper care of infant Raxacoricofallapatorians to Benjamin Franklin's favorite foods, all the while silently straining against his bonds. This went on for nearly twenty minutes, with the military personnel growing more and more irritated with each passing minute. The Doctor was just beginning to feel discouraged at his apparent lack of progress when the pilot turned around.
"Will someone just shut him up?!" he roared angrily, fed up with this pointless and aggravating prattling. Not to mention it was distracting and dangerous.
Everyone jumped at his sudden loss of temper. One man sitting in the back threw a threatening look at the Doctor which seemed to say, 'I'll make you shut up if you aren't quiet.' The Doctor glared at him with coal black eyes that were suddenly flooded with previously held-back rage.
"Listen to me. If you don't want to make me angrier than I already am, which would be a very, very bad idea, then you will tell me who you are and what is so important that has led you to kidnapping innocent civilians!"
"In case you hadn't noticed," one man said acerbically, "there's a war on. I don't know about you, but I will do anything that helps to protect my planet. If that includes recruiting people who are stupid enough to go out for a stroll in the middle of a warzone, so be it. And if you think we hadn't noticed what you are, Time Lord, you are sadly mistaken. I think you will be very useful in helping us to win this endless fight," the big man sneered, almost gloating.
The Doctor continued to fight against the unforgiving force field surrounding him while staring at the muscular man with a murderous glint in his eye. Unfortunately, he failed to see the man seated on his other side pull out a syringe.
The medic rolled his eyes. It looked this one was going to be a problem passenger. He stabbed him in the neck just as the Doctor turned around.
The Doctor didn't have time for anger as the drug suddenly took effect, sending him into a comatose state. So it was going to be one of those days.
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