A/N: (feel free to skip my useless rambling) I know, it's nearly half a week late and I apologize. My life is super crazy and hectic right now, but I know that you all are wonderful and incredibly patient and I wanted to get this up for you as soon as humanly possible. So here it is! As general housekeeping: kudos to admiraljoshar and SSG Michael B Jackson for being amazing and taking the time to review! It's much appreciated. Alright, well, I must warn you guys that there's serious River whump in this chapter, so there, I threw that out there. Nevertheless, it was a challenge to write (I'm not that good at actiony stuff) but a lot of fun (because I love River whump). So I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did. Sit down, have a cookie and a hot drink, and please read and enjoy! Don't forget to leave me a review on your way out (or sick rabid Oods on me for this being late). (Hopefully) see you all next week!

10

"Power resides only where men believe it resides. [...] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill." - George RR Martin

The cry of an owl boomed through the darkened forest. Night had fallen, clouds had rolled in to bed the three moons in a misty, blueish shroud. Incidentally, the first sound River heard as she slowly came to was the rippling of water that sounded like it was not far off. Her mind was fogged, and she felt agitated, nervous - afraid. Inherently unsafe.

Claws forming out of nowhere. Her feet knocked out from under her. She was scrambling for her own gun but it wasn't within reach. Pain, searing, sudden, unbearable, ripping through her core. Dragged out of the underbrush, an animalistic sound rent from her throat that was silenced, hanging in the air like an unfinished crescendo to a brutal melody that tasted of terror and caustic surprise.

She slowly managed to push herself into a semi-upright position, supporting herself on her elbows. Hissing at the sudden stab of pain, she looked over and relief washed over her to find that she wasn't completely alone. Sam was crouched not far away, looking a little bruised but otherwise unharmed.

River looked around, surveying the area. There wasn't much of an area to survey. They seemed to be in some kind of hole. The ground was raked near the entrance where they must've slipped down last night, and she vaguely remembered falling into it. River tried to move, biting back a gasp that drew Sam's attention in the darkness. The blonde crawled over, seeming to flinch a little and favor her left ankle as she switched on her torch and pointed it in River's direction. She'd lost her cap.

"You're awake."

"We need to get out of here," River said, biting her lip. "It's nothing better than a trap." She tried to sit up again and searing pain engulfed her senses, momentarily whiting out her vision. When it cleared, she slowly looked down to see Sam's jacket wrapped around her abdomen, darkly stained with blood.

"There's no way either of us are going anywhere," Sam said, shaking her head and collapsing back down beside River in the dust.

River hushed her. "No, we have to get out. It likes to play games, and it'll find us." She winced. "Now, be a dear and prop me up." Sam frowned and obeyed, sitting behind the older woman and letting her lean against her chest as River reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a needle and suture. "I'll just patch myself up and we'll be on our way." Ripping the package with her teeth, she then gave Sam a weak grin. "I'm a doctor, after all."

"Of archaeology." The Scientist was unamused.

River rolled her eyes. "Darling-" she huffed impatiently before frowning as the cut was revealed. It wasn't horrible, but it could turn nasty if it got infected and any more trauma and she could have very easily lost her insides. She took a deep breath through her nose. "That's going to leave a scar..." she threaded the needle, "only fun if you get a scar out of it, I always say!"

Her breathing became more shallow and she steeled herself for the pain. Sam had to cringe as River inserted the needle and pulled, a breathy, choked gasp bubbling from her throat without her consent. Sam decided to try and take her mind off of the pain and asked, "What did the Time Lords call the alien?"

River's chuckle was tight, like a string stretched to it's limit. "They never did find a name for it because they couldn't figure out what it wa-" needle in, tug, stifled whimper, "w-what it was. Sorry. They named things for what they were. They couldn't name it without that knowledge," she finished with some difficulty, now halfway across the wound.

She wished the Doctor was here. She wished it was his back she was tucked against, his arms around her, whispering gentle encouragement and apologies in her ear while his clever fingers fixed her - made it all better. But River couldn't have that now. He was miles away and she was alone with Sam with the taste of dried pain and fear in her mouth and she had to get through and make do without him.

The ground shook.

A terrifying swell, billowing out and loosening the dirt at their feet.

A ghastly rumble curling through the wood of the fallen tree above them.

River felt Sam freeze behind her and her fingers halted their work, trembling as she reached for the cold metal of her gun - but that reassuring press against her waist wasn't there, and she felt her left heart begin to race ahead of her right, and the other heart hitch, trapping her breath in her chest at the first sickening footfall.

Get out. Get out. Get out!

She snapped into action, working with shaking hands, stitching herself up as quickly as she could before snapping the suture and casting the needle aside. Adrenaline flooded her system. River grabbed Sam's hand and whispered, "Run!"

They scrambled out of the hole. Sam's heart was pounding as she limped along through the forest. They hardly knew the direction as they ran. It was pitch black except for the few places where the hollow moonlight broke through the canopy of leaves above them. River's breath was coming in short, sharp, painful gasps as she forced herself to keep up with the limping Scientist. They could hear the disappointed roar of the creature behind them, bounding after them, almost breathing down their necks. River was crying. She couldn't help it. Everything was too painful and too disorienting and too frightening and yet somehow she managed to keep going, led only by Sam's hand.

Her feet pounded along through the underbrush, running, winding through the trees, seeking somewhere safe. But there was nowhere safe - how could there be when the one chasing you could reform itself into literally anything, down to the tiniest, most infinitesimal particle and no gun, no weapon devised by any Lord of Time could stop it?

The pain was a sharp flaring fire low in the pit of her stomach, slowly smoldering up to her chest, stealing away her breath and strength. River wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going like this. The sound of the river was close by, rushing in her ears even as the roaring behind them got louder.

And then suddenly she couldn't go any farther. Her legs buckled and she fell. Sam kept plunging along until she realized River wasn't behind her. She skidded to a sharp stop and turned to take her friend's hand, trying to haul her up to her feet, but somehow River just couldn't get herself to move.

It was getting closer. Hunting for them behind every tree. No help was in sight and Sam had to go or both of them would probably end up dead.

"River, c'mon!" Sam begged, frantic as she gripped River's upper arm and tugged.

Guilt and raw fear was pulsing through River's body as she struggled to even breathe. "Go!" The pain was too much, surrounding her in the darkness, choking her and keeping her from pushing herself up from the musky, spongy layer of wet leaves. She could see a whisper of a shadow behind them, moving along with the suggestion of a pounce. Glittering empty eyes and a mouthful of fang-like teeth -

With her last bit of adrenaline she shoved Sam to the left and threw herself to the right.

River had seen the hill. That's why she pushed Sam that way. The blonde scientist had no choice as she tumbled and slid, bushes scratching her arms as if they had claws, her mouth filling with loam. She then bumped to a stop as her foot reached the water with liquid shock and a soft splash. All she could think about was that no one was to be left behind and that was exactly what she was doing, without choice. But River wanted her to run, and so she shoved that thought aside, knowing she had to somehow find Jack and the Doctor if they were to have any chance at all. River was buying her time to do that. So Sam got up and limped along as fast as she could go through the night, the riverbank as her guide.

River struggled to steady her breathing. Sam had better be running for her life or when River saw her again she'd shoot both of Sam's legs with her own gun. The cut in River's stomach was throbbing with screaming pain that she couldn't ignore. She'd probably ripped stitches. River bit her lip, drawing a salty bead of blood as she fought to keep silent, shaking hands grabbing fistfuls of her shredded trousers.

She could hear the creature rooting around, snuffling to hunt her out. Her spine prickled and she had a distinct awareness of it just behind the tree she was resting against. Her eyes closed and she pressed lower into the dirt and the press of the rough bark at her back.

A footfall

Another.

The sound of something whistling through the air, her eyes jerked open when she heard the scraping of it on the bark. To her right, the tail was creeping around the trunk like a hideous, nightmare of a snake. She scooted forward, holding her breath as it slithered along behind her.

A clawed foot stepped to her left, and she stifled a yelp, fighting the urge to get up and try to run. To move now could be fatal.

Her eyes darted around for some way of escape. The only way she could see was forward - to the left or to the right and she'd be seen.

Yet left was the only option when the tail touched her arm.

Both her breathing and that of the creature's hitched.

The tail swung. A deafening screech ripped through the night air like a knife. River let out a pained cry as she forced herself to roll to her left. The tail slammed into the ground with a lethal thunk. She scrambled forward as the creature rounded the tree. Sheer, prickled pain wrapped around her ankles and she gasped when the ground disappeared from under her.

It hoisted her into the air like an angry crane. Her stomach leapt into her throat at the sudden movement. And then she faced it.

The mysterious enemy of the Time Lords stared her in the face as it held her by the ankles. A pair of hollow eyes sat deep in a cobra like skull of a face. It was like staring into a void, and she was frightened.

River had never been so scared. She'd stopped being frightened of monsters at a young age. But she couldn't explain the cold terror that squeezed the life from each heart and blocked air from reaching her needy, burning lungs as that mouth opened, showing glistening fangs.

She was going to die.

No. Stop it River, think.

"I know you're scared. But never run when you're scared."

There's always a way out.

It was holding her. Skin to skin contact as it dangled her above its widening throat of mist and wind and thunder. So she fought back the only way she could: telepathically.

She gathered all the pain and fear in her body and threw it at the creature.

It wasn't enough to hurt it, but it stunned it enough that she was dropped to the ground with a dull thud that stole air and blood from her throat. River coughed, groaning as she collected herself, forcing herself to fight through the damp haze and reach for a weapon - anything she could use. The creature was stunned enough to be solid. She reached for a rock heaved herself up to stand on shaky legs. She hadn't a clue what its weaknesses were but her instinct told her to go for the head, the brain, the kill.

She slung the rock full force, striking it squarely in the head and ripping a furious roar of pain from its thunder-clad body. River thought fast, grabbed a nearby branch, and swung it first at a leg, and then at the head again. She got in three more good hits before claws slammed her aside and everything went dark.

River laid unconscious in the leaves as daylight dawned and shadow and mist surrounded her body.