(AN: Okay, this chapter is really short, and I'm really sorry about that. But we've been busy the past week; we're not going to be here next week either. Due to that, the next chapter of "Awake and Alive" will be posted on Saturday instead of Friday.)

Chapter Ten

Playing Soldiers

Sam stayed in the bushes as the Doctor, Rose and Candace were led out down the street. Candace was yelling at the creatures, something about busting them, but the Doctor and Rose were silent, sending each other looks. Sam slowly got up the courage to follow them, careful to stay in the shadows. The Doctor treated her like a person, instead of just a little girl, and she definitely appreciated that. She wasn't going to let whatever those things were take her new friends without a fight.

The aliens eventually made it to a large street that was blocked off "for construction", a sign said. They went past it, and Sam watched as they went into a door that seemingly appeared out of thin air. She followed carefully, as one of the aliens conveniently left the door open. She gaped at the blinking lights surrounding the top of the walls, and the sound of whizzing electricity down every corridor.

She had lost sight of where her friends were taken, but she took a guess that they went down the right hallway, seeing as she could still hear Candace's protests. Bottling up her courage, she quietly followed. Eventually she reached one too many forks, and couldn't remember where anybody had gone. She suddenly heard footsteps, and backed against a wall, hiding behind a bend. One of the aliens was passing, carrying some sort of card. He didn't see the girl, and flipped the card down a slot in the wall. A door slid open in front of him, then slid closed as he went in.

That card must open the doors. Sam thought, getting excited. Finally, a real adventure! She hurried down corridors until she found a large, heavy box suitable for her plan. She hid behind an open door, waiting. Finally, another alien came in. Sam swung the box and hit him over the head. Thankfully, this seemed to work, and the alien slumped over. "Yes!" Sam cheered as she grabbed his card. "Samantha for the win!"

"So, this is the new Zygon ship." the Doctor said, glancing around the high-tech room. He'd been put in solitary confinement, due to the fact that the Zygons already knew who he was. "It's a bit more invisible from the outside than it used to be. And hiding right in the middle of New York, who would've thought?"

Suddenly something small came hurtling into his room, crashing onto the floor. Sam looked up, grinning. "Hi, Doctor! I got in, knocked a guard out, and got the key card thing!"

"Brilliant!" the Doctor said, closing the door quickly behind her so as not to attract attention from any passers-by. "What key-card?"

"This!" Sam grinned, showing him.

The Doctor took it and examined it, frowning. "They don't usually use key-cards. Their ships are more focused on organic structure. Which of course means that-"

"That they tend to use their biological structure more than they use technological advancements." Sam responded. She had learned half of these words from her sister, and didn't really know what they meant, but the Doctor seemed very impressed.

"Yes, good." he said. "It almost seems like they want us to escape."

"So, these aliens are shapeshifters, then?" Sam asked. "And all the people who are acting weird are people who've been replaced?"

The Doctor once again looked surprised. "You're really smart for your age." he muttered. "Not that that's unexpected, though, now that I think about it. The thing is, the people are still on this ship somewhere. The Zygons have to have a body print to keep impersonating somebody, meaning that the person has to still be alive and hooked up to some sort of machine."

"Meaning that anybody we meet could be a Zygon in disguise." Sam nodded. "Even the others."

"Especially the others." the Doctor said. "You stay here until I can get them out."

"No." Sam crossed her arms. "I can take care of myself. I want to help."

The Doctor smiled and ruffled her hair. "That's the spirit! But if we run into a Zygon in the hallway, let me do the talking this time. I don't know what could've happened to you if you hadn't been able to knock one out."

"I would've gone off running." Sam responded.

The Doctor nodded. "Definitely. Time to run again!"