Chapter Two
"Open fire!"
The two soldiers guarding up immediately started shooting. They were aiming for the eye stalk like I said, but they were missing. It seemed to be useless. Nothing was even hurting the Dalek.
"Don't shoot it!" Henry yelled. "I want it unharmed."
"I sure as hell hope it harms you," I murmured under my breath.
"Rose! Avalon! Get out of there!" the Doctor hollered.
"DiMaggio," a guard said. "Take the civilians and get them out of here alive. That is your job. Go!"
"You, you, and you," the woman said. "Come with me." Rose, Adam, and I all quickly did as told. We dashed down several corridors until we saw other guards rushing in, ready for the creature rushing towards us. "Civilians! Let them though!"
The guards pushed aside, letting us glide though.
"Good luck!" I yelled as I ran. Seconds later, I heard the Dalek shooting, gun shots and yelling.
All of the men were dead.
We ran even more and finally we hit stairs.
"That's more like it!" Rose cheered. "It hasn't got legs! It's stuck!"
"Move! It's right behind us!" DiMaggio shouted. We ran up a few of the stairs and then watched to see what would happen. I bit my lip nervously as the Dalek turned to corner. It turned towards us and stood there, watching our every move.
"Great, big, alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs," Adam began.
"Hush!" I scolded.
"Listen to me," the guard began. She raised her gun up to the Dalek. "Return to your cage. If you want to talk, I guarantee that Mr. Statten will be willing to. I know we imprisoned you, and I know that it was wrong, but people have died and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that?" she asked, her voice shaking. "I demand you to surrender. Is that clear?"
"Elevate!" it replied. Slowly, it began rising off of the ground, moving towards us.
"Oh my god," Rose whispered.
"Adam, get them out of here," DiMaggio stated.
"Come with us!" I shouted.
"I can't."
"You can't stop it!"
"Well someone's got to try. Eye stalk?" she asked. I slowly nodded, knowing she wouldn't listen anymore. "Now go! Don't look back! Just run!"
Adam grabbed my hand and pulled me off before I had the chance to say anything else. We were racing down another hall when I heard her scream.
Such a loud and horrifying scream. I instantly knew I would never be able to forget it.
"Come on," Adam whispered.
We ran and ran and ran. The three of us ended up running right into a room full of men holding weapons.
"Hold fire!" a commander yelled. "You three, get the hell out of here!" We raced past all of the men, but stopped short at the very end. The Dalek slowly slithered in and stared directly at us. At Rose.
Adam grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her off. I followed closely behind.
"It was looking at me," Rose said.
"Because it wants to slaughter us!" Adam replied.
"No. It was looking directly at me."
"The metal eye thing was looking all around," he argued.
"I dunno. It was looking at me like," she paused. "Like it knows me."
"You're right," I cut in. "It was looking directly at you. You spoke to it. You showed it mercy. No one ever shows it mercy. That's why. We have to keep moving though. These people can't die for nothing."
We all quickly raced off again but instantly heard the sound of guns firing. The three of us hit stairs once again. Taking two or three at a time, we tried to run up them as fast as we possibly could. Soon Rose's phone started ringing. The Doctor was calling.
"Put it on speaker," I said when she answered it.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"Level forty-nine."
"You've got to keep moving. The fault's being sealed up at level forty-six."
"Stop them from closing!"
"I'm the one who's closing them and it can't wait," he replied. "Now for god's sake, run!"
We jumped up the stairs faster and faster and finally we were on level forty-six.
"We're nearly there!" I yelled. "Just give us two more seconds!"
He was quiet for a few moments before muttering the words: "I'm sorry."
Hearing the vault beginning to close, we all began running faster than we thought we could. It appeared so mocking close yet so far away.
Adam bolted off and I tried to do the same. My legs, however, were groaning in protest, aching in a writhing pain. He turned around and yelled at us to hurry up. The vault was still steadily closing and I couldn't make it stop.
It was so close to the ground now; just hovering centimeters above. Rose and I were just yards away. At the very last second, I thought I would make it. Adam dropped to his knees and rolled under. I tried to do the same, but it quickly slammed closed.
Rose stopped behind me and panted. We were trapped. Rose leaned up against the bulkhead and looked as though she was going to cry. I closed my eyes for a second but reopened them when the Doctor's voice rang through the phone.
"Rose? Rose? Are you okay? Did you make it?" his voice sounded so worried and so fearful of the answer that was about to come.
"Sorry I was a bit slow," she responded. I carefully placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to sooth her.
"Avalon?" he managed to croak.
I wanted to lie. I wanted nothing more than to lie and make him feel better.
"I'm so sorry," I murmured.
He was silent and I could tell I hurt him. I longed to take it all back. To erase what had been done and tell them what would happen and how they shouldn't go and see the creature. Everything could have been avoided if I just admitted that I knew what was happening.
While I was arguing with myself, out of the corner of my eye I spotted the tin death machine lurking towards us. I gulped and snuck a glance at Rose. She was huddled over the phone, staring at it, praying for a response.
"It's the end," she suddenly whispered. "It's not your fault, remember that. None of this is your fault. We both know that."
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," I imputed.
"Neither would I," Rose said. She looked up and gave a faint grin. I tried my best to return it. "It's not your fault."
"I'm so so sorry," I heard myself whisper once more.
We both turned around to look at the death machine to see it staring at us. It slowly raised it's arm.
"EXTERMINATE!"