Chapter Three: Dyatlov Pass

"Now this is interesting," Martha said.

"What?" The Doctor popped over to her side. She was reading a book called "Unsolved Mysteries." More often than not, the Doctor found that the people who wrote such books had just made the mysteries up, or else exaggerated the truth so much that they might as well have. Yet every once in a while, there was something genuine in them, and he trusted Martha to be able to tell the difference.

"It's this really strange thing that happened. Dyaltlov Pass, in Russia." She pointed to the section on the page. "I heard about it on a TV program when I was a kid, and just remembered it when I read this. A bunch of hikers died out in the woods. Some of them were killed outright, others died in the cold."

She offered the book and the Doctor took it. He put on his glasses and read. "Mysterious deaths… experienced hikers… naked in the snow…chest caved in…" The Doctor looked at Marta over the book. "It's a bit grisly, Martha."

"I know," Martha said, "but I was thinking… we save people, you know? Maybe we could try to save them…"

For a moment the Doctor looked very old. "I'm sorry, Martha. I don't think that's a good idea. For something like this, something that we already know happened in a certain way, trying to change it usually isn't a good idea."

"It can be done though, right?" Martha asked.

The Doctor shrugged reluctantly. "Yes, it can. But you have to be very careful."

"They were just some hikers. What's the worst that could happen?"

The Doctor could think of several things. Assuming Martha was on to something, and that the hikers dying in Dyatlov was something they could potentially prevent, then they may have died for a reason. Perhaps they died stopping something terrible from happening. Wouldn't be the first time the Doctor had seen it. Maybe whatever killed them had a good cause. And there was always the possibility that one of them might wind up being the next Hitler, though that was pretty unlikely.

The Doctor looked back at the book. There were some old, black and white pictures of the incident just after the bodies were discovered. The Doctor looked them over, hunting for any clues that the humans might have missed. Then he saw something. Poking out over the trees in the background of one picture. Barely visible- it would be mistaken for a smudge, more than likely, unless you knew what you were looking for, but it looked a bit like the outline of an old lamp.

"Alright," he said. "We can't go back and save them. It's too risky," the Doctor said. He could tell Martha was upset, but it was how it had to be. "But we can go there and try to find out what happened to them."

Martha shrugged a little. "I guess that would be ok."

The Doctor smiled softly. "Alright then. Let's get to it. Allons-y!"

The Doctor and Martha stepped out of the TARDIS into two feet of snow. In spite of wearing several layers, Martha started shivering almost immediately. The Doctor did not so much as button up his coat. Martha wondered if he wore a sweater under his suit. It would not surprise her.

The TARDIS had landed in the woods a short ways from a clearing. It was not actively snowing, but the snow was so thick it took them some time to find anything.

The Doctor held out a hand and stopped Martha before crouching. "Footprints," he said. Martha could barely see the outline in the snow; it was mostly filled in.

Martha looked in the direction the footprints went. "I don't see anything," she said.

"Wrong way," the Doctor said. He had stood up and looked to where the prints came from. Now Martha could see the barely standing remains of a large tent. One side had been ripped open, letting the snow pile up.

That was where they found the first body.

"Oh, god," Martha recoiled. The Doctor already walked past, missing it. He quickly came back. His face became sad as he again crouched in the snow.

It was a woman, nearly undressed, mostly covered by the snow. The Doctor drew out his sonic screwdriver and ran it down her body.

"Doctor, how did she die?" Martha asked.

"Exposure," he said. "She froze to death."

Martha exhaled sharply. "I don't see any injuries. Whatever ripped her clothes off did it carefully."

"They weren't ripped." The Doctor brushed some snow away next to the body, revealing a small pile of neatly folded clothes.

Martha shook her head. "It doesn't make sense. Even if someone had a weapon, she would know how bad freezing to death is."

"I know. And look." The Doctor stood up and went to the tent. "The tent's been ripped open from the inside. You can see where they were trying rip it in a few other places."

"So you think they just took off their clothes on their own and froze to death?" Martha said.

"No," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Something did this to them, and I have an idea about what it might be." Doctor. You made it in time. The Doctor's head jerked up. "Indrid Cold, is that you?" Yes, I am here. The voice sounded soft in his head, very weak. "Where are you? I can't see you." You won't find me. There's no point. I am dying."

"Doctor?" Marta had taken a step away from the Doctor, looking very concerned. "What's going on? Are you ok?"

"Just a minute," the Doctor said. "There has to be something. Help me find you." Stop. It's too late. Do not waste time. "Then what? What happened here, to these people?" I followed it again. It came here. "It killed them?" Yes. Let me show you.

They were all sleeping in the tent, huddled up inside sleeping bags. The victims. How The Grinning Man was doing it, the Doctor did not know. The Doctor felt like he could sort of look inside their heads and see their thoughts and dreams, but the memory, or whatever he was experiencing, didn't focus on that.

One of the women abruptly opened her eyes and immediately crawled out of her sleeping bag. Her mind seemed to have a black shroud over it. She crawled to the tent wall and began to scratch and pull at the heavy canvas. She woke several others up, who shouted at her to go back to sleep. She ignored them and kept clawing. One of the men joined her as a similar shroud covered his thoughts. Then another. One of the women stopped midshout to join them. Eventually they were all pulling and ripping at the tent. When it finally ripped open, they piled out of the tent and lined up next to it.

In front of them was what looked like a small man. He seemed insubstantial, like he wasn't quite made of anything solid. He stood on top of the snow, looking a bit like a cloud of smoke, and not leaving any footprints or sinking in.

He looked at the woman on the end. She stepped forward and began to undress. When done, she remained in place, shivering slightly. The man looked her over for a while, walking all around her. Then he looked at the man next to her and he also stepped forward and began to undress. Again the strange man looked him over before moving on to the next one. After he was about halfway down the line, the woman at the front of the line fell over, succumbing to the cold. The dark man did not seem to notice.

Abruptly, his attention turned. He looked in the woods. Can you understand me? The Grinning Man walked out from the forest and into the campsite.

The dark man nodded. Then come with me. Do not try to fight, it will be useless.

The dark man shook his head. He reeled back, as though struck. He stayed on his feet and then the Doctor heard the Indrid grunt telepathically. The Grinning Man seemed to be straining himself. The Doctor understood that some sort of psychic battle was going on that he could not witness.

Indrid Cold seemed to be winning. After the dark man's initial attack, Cold regained his composure. He slowly began to walk toward the man, holding a small, golden globe. The dark man seemed like he wanted to run away, but he could not move. The Grinning Man threw the globe at the dark man. It expanded into a net and pinned him to the ground. As soon as the net was in place, Cold relaxed and the humans seemed to snap from their spell. They began shouting and running. A few tried to get their clothes back on or tend to those who had fallen into the snow, but it was too late for them now.

No. The dark man began to glow again and the Doctor knew he was about to escape. No, not again. This is impossible. Yet it happened, the dark man vanished in a flash of light. Indrid Cold merely looked at his now empty net and cast a glance at the panicking humans. He collected the net and began to walk back into the woods.

He stopped abruptly as he reached the treeline. You're still here. Indrid Cold barely had time to see the creature that attacked him; it was barely more than a black blur. He tried to stop is psychically, but the creature didn't have a mind strong enough for the Grinning Man to influence. It ripped into him, knocking him on his back, clawing and tearing. The Grinning Man healed quickly, but not quickly enough.

The Doctor snapped out of his memory, or whatever it was. "Cold!" The Doctor shouted. He was walking around the clearing, looking for signs of the Grinning Man, knowing it would be almost impossible to tell where the mostly white alien was in a snowstorm. "I can help you! Tell me where you are." I am dying, Doctor. Maybe you can finish what I started. I wanted to show you what happened. You are smart, you can figure it out. "Indrid Cold! Where are you?" It's too late. Goodbye, Doctor.

He never heard the Grinning Man's voice again.

"Doctor, what happening?" The Doctor turned back to Marta. She must think he was crazy.

"Something did this to them," the Doctor said. "Something… made them do this."

"Made them?"

"With its mind," the Doctor said. He looked and he saw four more lumps in the snow near the one body they had found. "It was studying them." The Doctor looked around the clearing and saw two more lumps in the snow, toward the edges. "We have to look for the others. They might still be alive."

"I thought you said we couldn't save them?" Martha asked.

The Doctor shook his head as he scanned the area. "This wasn't supposed to happen. This was something I could have fixed."

"Then let's go back now! It's never too late, not with the TARDIS!" Martha gestured toward the TARDIS, still parked off in the woods.

"Not once we've been here. It's too dangerous." The Doctor turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Martha."

Martha held his gaze for a few moments before breaking it and looking behind him. "You said some of them might still be alive?"

"Possibly. They managed to get away, but I don't know what happened after that."

"So they're still out there?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said. "Martha, stay close. Whatever killed those people is still out there too." He wanted to explain about The Grinning Man and strange creature they had both been running into, but it would have to wait until later.

The Doctor was eventually able to see traces of footprints in the snow. They had been running along the treeline, and the cover had helped preserve their footprints a little. They followed them along until the forest opened up again.

The Doctor topped and held out a hand to stop Martha. He grabbed a rock from nearby and chucked it about ten feet in front of them. The rock fell into the snow and the snow collapsed, partially revealing a shallow but rough ravine in front of them. The Doctor and Martha tossed a few more rocks to clear the snow out.

"I guess we go down," Martha said.

"Once more unto the breach," the Doctor said with a nod.

"Was that originally you or him?" Martha asked.

"Him." The Doctor though for a moment. "Pretty sure it was, anyway."

They saw the bodies before they reached the bottom of the ravine. They carefully made their way over to them and examined them closely. One of them was mostly undressed, but the other three seemed to have all their clothes on "Diagnosis, Doctor Jones?"

Martha carefully examined the three clothed bodies and saw no signs of injury. No ripped clothes, no blood. She assumed they had all died of hypothermia, but since the Doctor was asking she looked more closely. Upon feeling for any possible wounds, she realized that the other three had sustained massive injuries. "These two have had their chests' caved in somehow. And he had his skull fractured. It could be from the fall, but the skin isn't broken anywhere." Martha stood up and looked at the Doctor. "Doctor, the thing that did this… is it still here?"

"I don't think so," he said. "It's moved on to another place. Maybe another time." He took off his glasses. "All the same, let's go back to the TARDIS, what do you say?"

They began to climb back up the snowy embankment when the Doctor heard something behind them. He looked deeper into the ravine, to where it was still covered by the snow, and saw a shape. It was coming toward them, slowly. The Doctor did not think it had noticed them, but he didn't think that would last.

"Martha, faster. When we get to the top, run."

"What's going on?" Martha asked. She kept her voice low and didn't stop moving to ask her question. The Doctor could have kissed her for that.

"Just go."

The thing came out of the shadows. It resembled a large reptile, but as black as an adder with smooth skin and large, strong arms. Its hands resembled human hands, but for the claws. It stopped and sniffed the bodies for a moment before looking around.

It saw them.

"Martha, go!" The two of them ran up the hill as fast as they could, barely looking where they put their feet. Loose rock broke beneath their feet several times, but they managed to reach the top together. The creature was closing and the Doctor was fairly certain it was faster than them. He had to slow it down.

"Keep going!" he shouted to Martha as he stopped at the crest of the ravine and drew his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it to the other side of the, where the snow had built up, and activated it. The snow broke loose, creating a small avalanche that hit the creature as it neared the top.

The Doctor did not stop to admire his handiwork. He did not think snow would hold it for long. He ran as fast as he could, trying to catch up to Martha, but the snow was slowing him down. He heard the creature emerge from the snowfall behind him. He didn't look back. The TARDIS wasn't far. He could see it through the trees now. The creature was large, a little larger than a human. The forest would slow it down. Then the Doctor remembered how fast it had came out of the woods and attacked Indrid Cold, and he wasn't so sure anymore.

The footsteps grew closer and closer behind him. The Doctor tried to keep his distance from the trees, so as not to trip over any roots. Ahead, he saw Martha reach the TARDIS. Good. At least she would make it out.

The creature did slow down a little when it hit the treeline but it was still moving much faster than the Doctor. It made a sort of reptilian grunting sound with each step, growing a bit louder each time.

The TARDIS was close. Only a few steps, but the creature sounded like it was right behind him. The Doctor looked again at the TARDIS and realized it was facing the other way. He finally reached his blue box, crashing against it because he couldn't stop properly in the snow. He tried to scramble around it, but knew he couldn't make it. He rounded the corner and leaped at the door, even as he felt the creature's breath on his back. He lost his footing. He looked back, seeing, the creature skidding around the TARDIS and readying itself for the final leap.

Martha opened the TARDIS door behind him and pulled him in. He kicked it closed with his foot. Martha jumped over him and locked the door before turning and leaning against it.

The Doctor got to his feet and ran to the TARDIS console. He pulled a switch and looked at the screen, showing the exterior of the TARDIS. The creature was nowhere in site, though he could see a few flecks of gold light.

Martha joined him at the console. "Doctor, what the hell is that thing?"

"I have no idea," the Doctor said. He found the recording of the exterior camera and rewound it.

"You have no idea? How can you have no idea, you always have an idea."

The screen confirmed what the Doctor thought- the creature had begun to glow as it chased it him, vanishing just as it was about to reach him. This complicated things- the Doctor had previously assumed the creature would transform only when threatened, but this time it seemed to happen for no reason at all.

"It's been known to happen every once in a while." The Doctor turned to look at Martha. "I'm sorry, Martha. I may seem like I know everything, but sometimes the universe is just as big a mystery to me as anyone else."

Martha did not seem to take much solace in this. She looked back to the door. "Is that thing coming back?"

"No idea," the Doctor said. "And I have no way to track it. The TARDIS wasn't really deigned to chase something that can travel through time and space like that."

"So that's it for that thing?" Martha asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "Unless it finds me again."

"How likely is that?"

"I really have no idea," the Doctor said with a grin.

Several Years Later

The Doctor held the door of the TARDIS open for Amy and Rory. He closed it, turned on his heels and clapped his hands. "So. Questions."

"What do you mean, 'it was him.' He just died!" Amy pointed out.

"Yes, but he was alive before that," The Doctor pointed out.

"What makes you think it's him?" Rory asked.

"Hard to say. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the memories came up now." He walked past them over to the TARDIS console. "There was always something strange about that case, but I expected it to be terrestrial. Now I am no so sure."

"So why don't we just go back five minutes and ask him?" Amy asked.

"Never a good idea," the Doctor said. "Short backwards hops have too much of a potential to go wrong."

"Because you've had so much luck going five minutes forward."

The Doctor smiled, but said nothing. "I've been sorting through these new memories and may have an idea. I may know someone who knows something about what happened."

"Who's that?"

The Doctor punched a few things on the TARDIS and pulled a lever, sending it off. "We're going to see Colonel Run-Away."