San Francisco's secret
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, the BBC does. All I own are my own characters and my own plot (except for the part of the plot that's inspired by San Andreas… I don't own that movie either.)
Chapter 3
Earthquake
Oakland airport, California, USA
"He's already moving in with her?" asked Greg, a dark skinned man who was walking side by side with Tim.
"Yes," Tim replied.
"That's fast," said Greg, shaking his head. "Hey, you know you could've taken some time off, right?"
Tim shrugged, not quite understanding why he would want to do that. After all, working made him think about other things then his issues in life. It also bothered him that Greg thought he had a problem with Emily and Richard moving in together. Yes, he was pissed about it, but that didn't mean that his closest friend had to think of him as weak.
"You wouldn't have made it a day without me," said Tim in a joking way as they stopped in front of one of the many helicopters that was placed on the landing track.
"Hey!" said Greg, sarcastically pouting slightly. "That hurts, man."
Tim forced out a chuckle, trying his best to act normal although he knew that Greg wouldn't buy it for a million quid. At least he might understand that Tim wanted to have a normal day although his family was broken.
"Seriously though," said Greg, making Tim look at him. He sighed slightly as he was prepared for Greg to say something serious about his family-drama. "What do they do with these things!?"
Tim was shocked for a while until his eyes followed Greg's gaze, seeing the engine of the helicopter and letting out a real chuckle this time, a smile gracing his lips. "Beats me," he said, crouching down and taking a closer look on the fried engine.
San Francisco, California, USA
Avery and Richard drove in silence for five minutes after they had met the Doctor and Rose. The traffic was getting heavy and Richard had to drive slowly. None of them said anything. Avery was rather offended by Richard's way of talking to Rose while Richard most likely was deep in thoughts about his new clients and the money he'd be able to earn from them.
"The earthquake was that bad?" asked Avery, breaking the silence and wanting the tense atmosphere to just go away.
"Yes," said Richard. "The entire Hoover Dam cracked, flooding Hoover City."
"Oh my God," said Avery, her heart fluttering as she thought of the amount of people that had been living in that city, all of which were now either dead or trapped.
Richard didn't reply, instead he kept his gaze on the traffic. It wasn't until the car started to shake that both Avery and Richard looked back at each other again.
"Doctor," said Rose with a sigh as the Doctor kept on walking, seeming to still be in his own thoughts. "Why don't we just go back and travel to New York like we'd planned?"
"Because there's something wrong," said the Doctor, looking over at Rose who furrowed her brow.
"What do you mean?" asked Rose.
"The Hoover Dam," said the Doctor. "It's not supposed to do that."
"What, crack?" asked Rose. "You've said that before… it's really bugging you that you don't know everything that's gonna happen, isn't it?"
Her voice had sounded amused, though her amused smiled faded as the Doctor gave her a serious look.
"I'm a Time Lord. I can feel when an event is out of place or when an event is flexible; changeable. But this… this is just completely off," said the Doctor.
"What do you reckon caused the earthquake then?" asked Rose.
"I don't know," said the Doctor quietly when suddenly, the ground beneath their feet started to shake, a strange rumbling noise filling the air.
Everyone stopped walking, pausing whatever they were doing as they felt the strange shuddering of the ground. Even the cars stopped moving. Rose looked around herself with worried eyes as the Doctor furrowed his brow, watching every move the people made. Some people grabbed each other, not sure what was going on while some people from the cars stepped out of them. He noticed the man that had been with Avery step out of a car close by them.
Although the Doctor could feel the ground shaking, it didn't feel like an earthquake. It was something else that was making the ground shiver like that. Though what it was, the Doctor didn't quite know.
When the rumbling and the shaking stopped, Rose looked back at the Doctor, some people continuing to walk while others remained where they stood.
"Was that an earthquake?" asked Rose, her eyes wide.
"No," said the Doctor quietly. "It wasn't."
Then, as if on cue with what the Doctor had said, the ground beneath them shifted. Though not in a way that made everyone freeze and wonder what had happened. It shifted in a way that made everyone fall to the ground. Screams erupted throughout the streets of San Francisco as this happened, people falling to the concrete ground.
The Doctor looked around, still placed on the ground. Something inside of him told him that that wasn't the last they were going to feel. "Rose…" he said quietly as she looked over at him, having fallen on her back though luckily not hurt herself.
Before he could continue, the ground started to shake vigorously, not stopping and making it difficult for the people to stand up again. Panic filled the streets and people started to scream.
"Everybody!" called the Doctor over the noise of the earthquake and the noise of the people panicking. "Get to a safe place!"
The Doctor stood up, helping Rose up as well. "What is safe? The TARDIS?"
With wide eyes, the Doctor looked around, watching the huge skyscrapers wobble and move as the ground shook beneath them. Streetlamps were starting to fall, the concrete cracking under several cars which caused several cars to flip and some to slide down the crack. Holding a tight grip on Rose's hand, he ran towards the wall of one of the skyscrapers.
"Find a stable wall and press yourself against it," said the Doctor, reciting something he'd read once to Rose before yelling it at the people who ran by, none of them noticing him as they were too panicked.
Suddenly, broken glass started to fall down, landing in front of the two of them, some of it falling on the people running past them.
"What's happening!?" called Rose, her hands holding a tight grip on the Doctor's coat.
"The skyscrapers," said the Doctor. "They're not built to withstand such a massive earthquake!"
"Oh my God," said Rose, keeping her back pressed against the wall.
Beside her face, the wall started to crack, crumbles of concrete falling down on them from above.
Oakland airport, California, USA
"Shit!" called Greg as he was thrown to the ground, the ground underneath his feet suddenly shifting.
Tim, looked back at Greg, having fallen over in the seat of the helicopter. "The hell was what!?"
"How should I know!" called Greg back as he stood up, his hands bloody from having scraped against the concrete ground beneath him.
Tim placed himself in the seat of the helicopter, looking out over the landing area. Every single person that was there had fallen over, some of them still on the ground. He looked out over the sea that was placed next to the airport, seeing the water starting to become more and more angry.
"Was that a… an earthquake?" asked Tim, earning a chuckle from Tim.
"Bro, have you ever been in an earthquake?" asked Greg, shaking his head. "That was nothing like an earthquake."
"No…" said Tim, narrowing his eyes as a strange, black line started to appear at the other end of the airport, people running away from it. "It wasn't an earthquake."
Greg eyed him suspiciously as Tim continued to stare at the black line far off. It was getting closer and closer, people still running away from it. And as it got closer, Tim could clearly see that it was a crack in the concrete that was coming their way. The helicopter started to shudder the closer the crack came to them.
"Greg… Greg, get inside," said Tim, an impulse idea suddenly striking him. "Damn it, Greg! Get your ass in here!"
"Alright, alright. I'm on my way," said Greg as he jumped up into the helicopter.
Tim immediately dove underneath the dashboard where he had been earlier, trying to find the cable he had been working on. The helicopter shook more and more and it was starting to get hard for him to see anything clearly. The fact that his hands were shaking from the adrenaline that filled his body wasn't helping him find the red cable.
"Shit, Tim!" said Greg as he sat down in the other seat at the front. "It is an earthquake!"
As he found the cable he had been looking for, he quickly grabbed a pocketknife from his jacket, opening the cable up so that he was holding the bare, copper cable in his fingers. He slowly, and carefully placed it against another, bare wire, causing a spark to come from it, burning the top of his fingers though Tim didn't feel this as his veins pumped with adrenaline.
"Tim!" called Greg as the engine of the helicopter started. "The crack!"
"Get us out of here!" said Tim as he made his way from underneath the dashboard. "Now!"
Greg quickly started to push multiple buttons, igniting the take-off program while Tim dashed to the back, closing the door before jumped back to the front, watching the crack come closer and closer… until it was underneath of them.
"Okay… let's go," said Greg, placing his hands on the steering lever as the crack opened up beneath them. He seemed calm as he slowly and steadily lifted the helicopter from the ground.
"Hurry up!" called Tim, his entire body shaking.
"I'm trying, man!" snapped Greg, his eyes widening as he saw the large gap that would've consumed them had it not been for Greg being able to fly the helicopter. "Shit… alright, I'm hurrying up."
Greg lifted them up into the air, the engine barely making any sound except for a strange coughing noise from time to time. Tim assumed that this sound was because they still had to fix the rest of the engine, though he wasn't sure.
"Shit…" said Greg quietly, the ground beneath them far away though not far away enough for them to not see the massive crack that had appeared out of nowhere.
Water forced its way into the crack and had it been on a screen and made by a computer for a two hours catastrophe-movie, then Tim would've thought it was beautiful; the way the water flowed gracefully towards the end of the crack, spilling only slightly over the edges.
"What do we do? What do we do, man?" asked Greg as they both stared down at the water, the helicopter flying over it slowly.
"I don't know… I honestly don't know," said Tim quietly, glancing at Greg and seeing his wide eyes. Apart from the eyes, he looked completely calm whereas Tim was shaking still.
"Family," said Greg, looking over at Tim. "That's our priority now."
Tim nodded. "Yours is closer. Go there first."
San Francisco, California, USA
The ground had stopped shaking, but the buildings didn't stop moving. Pieces of the roofs were coming down, landing on the cracked pavements and streets of San Francisco. Fires were lit everywhere coming from explosions and hit cars while water burst out of the water pipes that had been broken underneath the streets or inside of buildings. Some people lay still on the pavement, both willingly and unwillingly, while others ran.
"We need to get out of here!" exclaimed the Doctor, Rose nodding, a lump forming in her throat from the fear she was feeling. This was no alien, this was no spacecraft. This was a natural disaster and Rose was scared that the Doctor couldn't do much to keep the both of them safe.
Though, the Doctor could indeed not do anything about a normal nature disaster, he himself doubted that it was anything like that. It had not felt like something natural, it had felt as though someone had shaken the ground on purpose.
"Someone! Help!"
Amongst the sounds of multiple people screaming for help, there was one voice that caused the Doctor to freeze. His hand held Rose's hand and she looked at him strangely as he stopped moving towards where the TARDIS was parked. The voice sent chills down his spine and there was something about the cry of help that made both his hearts skip a beat. It sounded familiar, like something he had heard during a certain war… The Time War.
He turned towards the source of the voice, seeing nothing but people running around and upturned cars. Rose tugged at his hand: "Come on."
"Wait," he said absentmindedly.
"Help me!" the voice screamed again, this time the Doctor saw the source and he immediately started running towards it, dragging Rose with him.
In the middle of the street, amongst many turned over cars and a crack in the concrete, a car lay turned around on its back. A large chunk of a nearby skyscraper had fallen on top of it, almost crushing the entire car. Though, not completely. Inside, the girl from earlier was trapped, hitting her palms against the window that, surprisingly so, was still intact. Her palms left small, pink stains on the window.
On his way towards the car, the Doctor bumped into the man from earlier who had been rather unfriendly towards Rose. His eyes were wide though he didn't look back at Avery, instead he stared straight at the Doctor before continuing to run… away from Avery.
"Avery!" called the Doctor as he stopped in front of the car, stepping over the crack in the concrete.
Rose crouched down, placing a hand on the window as panic filled her. The girl had been kind to her and she couldn't have been much older than herself. She couldn't even imagine the panic she would've been in if she had been trapped in that car, being left by the one person she travelled with just like Avery had been just now.
"Don't worry! We're going to get you out of there," said the Doctor, taking out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and aiming it at the window.
"What are you doing!? Just hit it!" said Rose, taking a rock from the ground and smashing the window with the stone.
It only dented it.
"Oi! I'm working on it," said the Doctor, looking over at Rose with an offended look.
"Yeah? Well, you're too slow," said Rose before thrusting the rock against the window again.
The Doctor rolled his eyes before continuing to sonic the window, hoping to find the correct level to make the window break. Though it was hard with Rose constantly hitting it.
"Jeez," said Rose, panting as she looked at the dented window. "Kick a football and it breaks a window without you wanting it… save a life and the freaking thing doesn't break!"
"You got a football?" asked the Doctor sarcastically before the ground suddenly shook again.
Although the quake was less harsh than the last one and didn't last as long, both saviours fell backwards on their butts, Rose losing the rock in her hand which fell down the crack that was located right behind her. It was too tight for anyone to fall through, but the rock fit… and so did the sonic screwdriver.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" said the Doctor as he looked down the crack, hoping that it wasn't as deep as he assumed it was.
Though it was. The bottom couldn't even be seen and his shoulders slumped, a sigh escaping his lips. However, something caught his eye. A strange light emanated from the very bottom of the pit, making the Doctor narrow his eyes.
"Doctor!" called Rose, her eyes widening as the chunk of concrete that was on top of the car sunk deeper down, crushing the window that they had been working on and making Avery push herself against the ground, a cry escaping her.
As the Doctor turned around, Rose darted forwards, grabbing Avery's hand which placed herself partly inside the car as well. "Are you hurt?" she asked as he looked at her.
"I'm stuck!" she called, her voice wavering as she spoke. "He left me…"
"Where are you stuck, Avery!?" called the Doctor, leaning down in order to see inside the car.
"My leg is stuck," said Avery as the Doctor stood up and rounded the car, looking inside from the other side.
The piece of concrete was pushing down the car's roof so that the roof was pushing the seats down towards Avery. One of the seats, the one she presumably had been seated on, was pushing against her right leg, making her incapable of moving without hurting herself.
"He left me…" she said again, her other hand reaching out for Rose's hand and holding her single hand with the both of her hers, looking as though her life depended on her not letting go of Rose's hand.
"It's okay, we're here now," said Rose, finding herself thinking of how lucky Avery was that the Doctor had heard her of all the people that were calling out for help though she also wondered why and how he had heard her. Rose hadn't, not until they had run past the man that Avery's had travelled with.
"Avery!" called the Doctor from the other side of the car. "I'm going to lift this, alright? The moment you feel you can move: move."
Avery nodded though realized that the Doctor couldn't see her and shouted a "yes!" before she closed her eyes, afraid that pain would start coming soon.
The Doctor wasted no time in starting to lift the concrete piece, though didn't manage to lift it much, not until Rose came and helped him. It shifted a few centimetres and Avery started to move her foot slightly. But, another quake came and the Doctor and Rose were thrust to the ground again, both of them letting go of the piece of concrete.
A muffled scream was heard from the car as the quake stopped.
"Are these after quakes?" asked Rose as she stood up again.
"Something like that," said the Doctor as he quickly made his way to Avery again. "You alright?"
"It hurts!" called Avery.
The Doctor looked at the place where her leg was and realized she must have moved slightly when they had lifted the rock. When the concrete was put back down again, thanks to them falling over, the piece started to put pressure on the leg differently and it may just be pushing against her leg now, like it didn't do earlier.
"We need to get her out of there," said Rose as she looked around at the slightly emptier streets. The buildings were still moving around, even though they had stopped slightly, and she felt rather unsafe, wanting to return back to the TARDIS as soon as possible.
"Don't leave me," said Avery, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"We are not leaving you," said the Doctor, crouching down so he could look her in the eyes. "You hear me?"
Avery nodded.
"There has to be something that we can use to lift this up!" said Rose, putting one hand in her hair and scrunching some up in her hand in a frustrated way.
The Doctor looked at Rose, looking around them. He felt panicked. This was a life that was about to be killed. The car wouldn't hold the weight of the concrete forever and she would be crushed soon. Not to mention that the buildings around them were still not very stable and they could collapse any second.
But, he didn't know what to do.
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