Chasing Hearts
Author Note: Here's a new chapter! Sorry it's a little shorter than the last one, but a lot of excitement happens. I really appreciate the reviews, it's nice to reflect on what the readers like or dislike about the story, so keep expressing your opinions! And for those of you curious about Sam I have one hint for you, pay attention to his reactions throughout the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and tell me about your thoughts on Sam! :)
Chapter 4 – Into the Mine
The Doctor pulled Clara through the cool dark tunnels, turning left and right trying to loose the outlaws and unnoticeably loosing Red. The tunnels became so dark the Doctor abruptly stopped. Clara almost ran past him but his hand gripping hers pulled her back. "What is it? Doctor we have to keep moving!"
"Look around Clara. Can you see? What if we run right into a wall or fall down a chasm? No good running when we can see where we're going." She became aware of their blindness and slightly tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand.
"What now? They can find us any moment!" She felt the Doctor place his other hand on her shoulder, sliding down to find her free hand and grabbing it.
"Stay calm, Clara. Listen." The only sound to touch her ears was their breathing, slightly echoing of the stone walls around them. "We've outrun them – safe for now." He released one of her hands and Clara heard cloth ruffling. The low hum of the sonic reverberated on the now green tinted walls. "There we go – no more dark."
"But Doctor, your screwdriver isn't a torch. Are you sure it won't, I don't know, collapsed anything on us with it's sonic-y science-y thing?" He smiled at her clever mind, but his smile was short lived.
"Ah – well yes and no." He began walking back the way they came and pulled her along with their still intertwined hands.
"Which is it? Can't be both – what do you mean both?" The Doctor stopped to face her, sonic still lowly humming as it illuminated the tunnel green.
"Yes, can't really turn off the sonic – but I can put it on the lowest level of frequency, hopefully low enough to keep the tunnels stable, at least long enough to find a way out." He turned and briskly walked down the tunnel before she had time to properly express her discomfort.
"Great. We're wondering through a mine with a sonic screwdriver as a torch that could potentially collapse the place, have I missed anything?" A slight hint of orange light began to reflect against the tunnel walls, dimming the green.
"We're being chased by an angry group of gold hungry thieves with guns."
"Great. Thanks. I feel so much better." They walked out into the opening only to be welcomed by gunfire. A bandit with a lantern shot at them sending chips of rock flying from the walls. They ducted their heads and ran around the corner into another tunnel. They ran through the barely lit tunnel into another fork. Flickering light crept up from the left tunnel. The Doctor pulled them into the right tunnel only to find it dead ended with a two foot thick chasm stretching along the floor of the back wall. He quickly scanned the sonic around the room as light from both sides of the tunnel increased with the sound of heavy footsteps. "Doctor, what do we do?"
"Hush, thinking." He continued to fiddle with the sonic. As it began to flicker the Doctor hit it against his hand until it hummed green like normal again. Clara looked at the encroaching light and back to the Doctor.
"Doctor!" She urged him in a whispered yell. He flicked the sonic and smiled with delight at its findings.
"Gotcha."
Sam's whistling bounced of the illuminated cave walls. Chipping away at the glossy white and gray quartz walls, his eye catches a shimmer. He shifts on his knees and chips away at the quartz with his small pickaxe. A chunk fell to the ground and exposed a shimmering gold vein spreading across the quartz light a lightning bolt. "Ah, would ya look at that." Before getting too excited his put down his pickaxe and pulled out a worn pocket knife. Cautiously he scratched the gold surface. Little flakes of gold fell to the ground and Sam sighed heavily before sitting back down. "Damn, fool's gold. I have to be close, I just know it!"
The sound of muffled gunfire made him flinch in surprise. Reflexively one hand covered his pistol strapped to his side and the other covered the left side of his vest. He stood to his feet and dimmed his lantern as low as possible without snuffing out the flame. Drawing his gun and standing with his back against one side of the short tunnel, he quietly side stepped to the edge to peak around the corner. The tunnel looked as dark as it was before, but the gunfire stopped. His ears rung with dark silence and his death grip on the gun's handle slightly loosened. He emerged from the short tunnel with his side bag and lantern, but kept his gun at the ready and his lantern low. When he reached the four-way opening, he stuck close to the wall and peered around it. A dim orange light lightly danced along the wall of the tunnel to his right. He blew out his lantern and quietly waited in the shadow, his gun aimed at the tunnel. Footsteps began to echo through the tunnel as they approached. A man in a black duster coat appeared in the opening of the four tunnels. He shown his lantern around the place and firmly held a pistol in the other hand.
Sam very slowly pulled back the hammer on his gun, but it still gave a soft click that grabbed the man's attention. He quickly turned around in the direction of Sam and cocked his gun. Sam's hand betrayed him and shook with nerves. He steadied it against the edge of the tunnel with his other hand. He's never used it on a person before, not for killing. The man walked closer, diminishing the shadow Sam was hiding in. Sam closed his eyes and slowly put pressure on the trigger. Suddenly large rocks broke free of the ceiling and landed on the man, crushing him. Somewhat relieved he emerged from his hiding place. Blood pooled from beneath the rocks and Sam knew with that much gone, the man could not survive.
Sam lit his lantern and continued down the tunnel. Bits of rock and dust fell from the ceiling above him. He shook his head to let it fall from his hat and continued on careful not to disturb the odd instability. As the tunnel curved to the left, he noticed the sound of two men walking around. He clung to the curved wall with his gun ready to fire despite his hesitation.
"Gotcha? Gotcha's good right?" The Doctor put his screwdriver in his pocket and placed his hands on Clara's shoulders.
"Trust me?"
"Sort of." The Doctor pushed her over to the small chasm. "Whoa, hold on. I am not jumping down a crack in the ground leading to who-knows-where."
"Don't be silly, you won't be jumping." She looked over her shoulder and furrowed her brow at him. "You'll be rolling." The approaching lights were almost at the entrance to the dead ended tunnel. Clara turned to protest but the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into the dark crevasse. She tightly put her arms around his waist, ready for the sensation of falling. The sensation never came, it was replaced with a thud to the ground and no space to move. The Doctor and Clara were pressed against each other, pinned between two black rocked walls. They had only fallen a couple of feet down, but it was enough to effectively hide themselves.
The tight space prevented their arms from wrapping around each other, forcing them to be on each other's sides instead. "Doc-" The Doctor placed his finger on her lips.
"They're coming." His whisper quieted her demand for answers and she was reminded of their current danger. In the quiet, she realized just how close they were. Every part of her body was against his. If it wasn't for her height, she feared their lips would have been inches apart. Her cheeks flushed at the thought and she hid her face in his shoulder. The men were almost at the tend of the tunnel, their lanterns lighting it up. In the quiet, she took comfort in the lull of his heartbeats. A pointed rock irritated her shoulder blade and she shifted slightly trying to alleviate it. The Doctor's hearts beat a little faster and something pressed against her left hip.
"Doctor."
"Sorry! Sonic, in pocket – hush!" Their whispers appeared to go unnoticed by the approaching outlaws. They stopped as the came upon the end of the tunnel.
"You said they came this way!" The man shoved the other bandit.
"They did! I seen 'em run right down here! They must a run past you, how'd you miss 'em?"
"No I ain't missed nothing. This is your fault, boss is gonna cut you loose if he knows you let 'em go." The ceiling near the beginning of the tunnel creaked as debris dropped from above. "We best move on brother." The man with the dominating attitude began to walk away.
"Wait, how's 'bout over here? Suppose'n they fell down there?" He stepped closer to the edge of the crevasse. Clara closed her eyes and clutched her fingers around the Doctor's vest. The Doctor covered their heads with his arm.
Bark!
The men quickly turned away from the crevasse. "It's that dog again! Come on!" They ran down the tunnel, but a loud crash reverberated off the walls. "Brother! Hey wake up! Dammit! I knew we should a just blew the place up!" Clara could here the man's throat tighten around his words with sorrow. The click of a gun's hammer was heard and Clara could feel the Doctor's muscles tense. "How's there? I know you's there just come out real slow and I's won't shoot you dead." The was no response and the Doctor reached for his screwdriver. She could here his hearts beat even faster now. He barely retrieved the sonic after having to put his hand between himself and her inner hip. Clara flinched at the sound of bullets hit rock. Gunfire was exchanged between the outlaw and a mystery party until the outlaw yelled out in pain and metal clanged against the hard ground.
Clara wanted to peer up above the ledge, but the Doctor gently held her shoulder down and put his finger on his lips to gesture silence. Footsteps walked down the tunnel towards them again, but it was accompanied by another sound, a light tapping noise. It came closer and closer until suddenly Red's panting face hovered over them. He excitedly licked their faces and the Doctor lightly swatted him away. "Alright, alright! We're glad you're alive too, and yes Clara's fine." Sam looked down upon them.
"Seems you've found yourself in a bit a trouble Doctor." Sam extended his hand for Clara as she dislodged herself from the Doctor. They both dusted themselves off and the Doctor scanned the crevasse with his sonic, but it threatened to die on him again.
"Magnetite."
"Magne-what?" Clara questioned the Doctor but her focus was on hugging Red.
"Magnetite. Blackish mineral found mainly on Earth – quiet fascinating really, they are almost magnetic, some actually become lodestones – imagine, a magnetic rock!" His fascination seemed irrelevant to her. He cleared his throat to regain his composure and put again his sonic. "That's why it looks like a deep chasm, it's made of magnetite, reflecting black in the dim lighting giving the delusion of depth."
"That's great Doc, we need to get out of here. There must a been some sort a earth quake or somethin' to make the mine unstable. And why are those thieves from Hangtown runnin' loose chasin' people?"
"Well, the stability problem might have been my doing, but the being chased part – no, also my doing." Red silenced their conversation with a deep growl at the tunnel entrance. "No time for talking, run!" He grabbed Clara's hand and followed Sam down the tunnel.
"Come on, this way. There's another way out, if we can get to the horses we can make a run for it." As they reached the opening for the four tunnels, the remaining outlaws had almost caught up. They shot at them and Sam fired back, covering the Doctor and Clara as they entered a new tunnel. Not long after they ran did the other two bandits turn the corner to follow them. Bullets resumed their destruction of quartz walls around them. Sam returned fire as they ran, but his bullets were running thin. Bits of rocks flew at them from both sides. Clara felt a sudden dull heat on her side right, a rock must have scratched her so she ignores it and keeps running. Sam briefly stopped running to steady his aim and shot one of the bandits in the heart. The outlaw's partner never flinched and continued his pursuit. Sam lost his breath as pain impaled his left shoulder. He fell to his knees gasping for air. Red barked at the Doctor desperate for his attention.
"Sam! Doctor, help him!" They stopped in their tracks and ran back to Sam. The Doctor lifted him up by placing Sam's right arm over his neck.
"I'm fine! Just winded is all."
"Come on, Sam – we have to keep moving. Clara, grab the sonic – right pocket." She quickly grabbed the screwdriver as they stumbled along as quickly as Sam could move. "Point it behind us, imagine the ceiling vibrating loose – but make sure you point it far enough behind us." Sam and the Doctor continued on as Clara stopped and aimed the sonic screwdriver at the rocks behind them, pressed the button and it hummed to life. It flickered like before, so Clara hit it like the Doctor did and it seemed to work. The thief was almost close enough to fire at her with his reloaded pistol when the ceiling collapsed between them. She briefly smiled at her achievement and ran to catch up to the Doctor. The tunnel became smaller and smaller until it ended, but light was still seeping through somehow.
"What now? Sam? Where's your way out? Doctor, do you have a plan?" Sam was focused more on breathing, but was now able to stand on his own. The Doctor touched and sniffed at the rock walls.
"Sonic." He opened his hand expectantly at Clara until she relinquished it to him. He tried scanning the walls with it, but struggled as it flickered worse than before.
"Doctor, the rocks is loose up top there." Sam pointed above the Doctor and he shown his half working sonic at the ceiling.
"Ah! Perfect, just on the other side of this ceiling is the outside world. You three stand back, I'll have to dislodge them." Clara, Sam, and Red backed away as they were told. The Doctor strained his dysfunctional sonic at the loose ceiling. The sonic hummed loudly and sporadically as the rocks began to fall. He quickly got out of the way and the rest of it collapsed, releasing a wave of cool fresh air. The doctor closed his screwdriver and stuck it in his pocket. "Come on then, let's get moving."