-Chapter 10 - Important-
Rose fell and the Doctor caught her. His hand in hers sent a shiver of awareness across her skin. Reflexively she pulled away only to stumble again and have Tom catch her instead.
"I got her," Tom assured the Doctor. He nodded. Stoically watching as Rose let Tom aid her.
"We... we have to move faster." Rose looked up and saw Ford, his eyes darting around, fear twisting his features as he stuttered. "It's coming." They could all feel it. They were being hunted. By something. Something in the walls.
And Rose was regrettably slowing them down. Every bone and muscle in her body ached and every breath she took was a struggle. At this rate she might end up getting them all killed.
So she picked up her pace, Tom running along side her. But she didn't make it far before she was out of breath, her body screaming at her to slow down. She ground her teeth. She hated feeling like a burden.
But no matter how she fought, her muscles were aching and her feet felt heavy as though her shoes were filled with led. So again she stumbled, no one close or quick enough to catch her this time.
Rose caught herself with her palms flat against the floor, gulping in lungfuls of air as she realised that at this rate they were going to have to leave her.
Tom was by her side but it was the Doctor's hands that wrapped around her waist and got her back up. Before she could object he pulled her back, manoeuvring her far too easily behind nook in the wall. Effectively blocking her view with his body.
"Go on," he told Tom.
After a moment of hesitation Tom urged the others along and they hurried away down the dark and broken hallway. "I'm sorry," the Doctor told Rose. "But if you're hellbent on getting yourself killed...-"
"I'm not," Rose refuted, interrupting him impatiently. "Just not keen on getting everyone else killed because I'm...-"
"Shut up," he growled, the harsh command startling her into silence.
The Doctor raised his hands, his fingertips ghosting against her temples. She drew back at the tingling sensation his touch caused but was stopped by the wall.
"Trust me," the Doctor told her, his eyes sharp on hers.
"Like I did last time?" she bit out.
It was meant as an insult. A cruel reminder of what had landed them in this situation in the first place. Her blinding trust in him. His eyes hardened, his jaw clenching tight.
"Yes." He leaned down closer to her. "Blindingly," he added as though he'd read her mind and in that moment Rose knew, despite it all that she would. Again and again. And that realisation broke her heart. Because what was wrong with her that she could trust him even as he told her lies?
The Doctor shut his eyes and Rose thought she saw a flicker of fear flutter in their depth before he did.
"Let me into your mind." The words were hard as though he wasn't asking to be allowed in but demanded it. Only Rose could feel his fingers tremble as he held them at her temples, understanding the fear she'd seen in his eyes.
If she told him no, he wouldn't push. Whatever he had planned this was one demand he wouldn't make of her. But if she did say no, it would hurt him. She knew it without a shred of doubt that even though he might sound brisk and unfeeling he was far from it.
It was a fragile request and one he might never make again if she refused him. So Rose closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax and feeling some of the tension leave the Doctor's body as she did. "Properly," he whispered. "Or I can't help you."
Rose took a deep, shuddering breath and almost immediately she felt the link between them flare up. Bright and shining it wove her mind with his and the more she let him in the more the euphoria of it spread through her body.
The feeling was like nothing she had ever known before and she absently wondered if it was the same for him. Did he feel like every movement was perfect, every touch ecstasy? "Relax Rose," he murmured. "...and I'll show you what to do."
And so she did and he did. He showed her how to direct all that pulsing, errant power inside her. Direct it towards the parts of her body that needed mending. It felt good. So very good to have the energy directed, focused on something instead of just trying to contain it. As her body healed Rose let the energy flow more freely. Letting it wound and bind and reach. Instinct guiding her more than conscious thought.
Then suddenly an image blazed up inside her head and
She instantly knew that it wasn't from her mind. She was seeing into the Doctor's.
She saw darkness. The infinite kind. She felt the echoes of desperation and long denied want. But most of all she felt the loss of this moment and fear of never knowing its like again. Rose could see as the Doctor ran his hand down her arm and she could feel exactly how her skin felt underneath his fingers. Exactly how it made him feel to finally touch her this way. He kissed her bare shoulder. Softly, reverently as he murmured her name. Rose. My Rose.
Then suddenly it was like a door slamming shut. The image vanished. The Doctor released her so abruptly she had to steady herself against the wall not to fall. Rose gulped in air as the world around them rushed back in.
"You shouldn't have done that," the Doctor said, his voice hard. Rose looked up at him, confused.
"Done what?" she asked, her mind a scramble.
"Looked into my mind," he clarified.
"Oh, but it's okay for you to poke around in mine?"
Rose struggled for a moment to regain mastery of the power surging through her blood. The Doctor had pulled back so quickly it was like it had abruptly lost its tether and it took her a moment to tie it back down.
"I wasn't looking at your thoughts I was just trying to help you," the Doctor said.
At that Rose started and stopped, looking up at him.
"What I saw, that is what you were thinking about? Right now?" she asked in surprise. The Doctor stepped back, his eyes dropping from hers. "Doctor?"
His eyes fluttered back up to hers. "It's all I can think about," he admitted, his voice ragged and raw like a fresh wound. He turned away and Rose straightened. She reached out but halted as Tom called back to them.
"What are you two doing? Come on!"
"We gotta go," the Doctor said and Rose clenched her outstretched hand into a fist and let it fall. "Come on." He walked away and Rose could do nothing but follow.
Her head was still pounding but her body no longer felt weak, her breathing easy and her heartbeat steady.
They hurried to catch up to the others, noticing they had all stopped. As they got closer it was easy to see why. The way was completely blocked by debris.
"This wasn't here before," the Doctor muttered. Rose glanced around, she had the uncomfortable feeling something was off.
"Wait, where is Clive?" she asked aloud.
"Who's Clive?" the woman in the sharp suit remarked disinterestedly, immediately causing Rose's ire to rise.
"White haired bloke, kind smile," Rose told her and the woman shook her shoulders as though she couldn't care less.
The Doctor pushed past them, joining Hannah and Tom in trying to move some of the debris out of the way. While Rose twirled around seeing no sign of Clive. Then she heard it again. That scratching. She made her way over to the wall. She paused, a touch of trepidation running down her spine like cold water before she put her ear to the wall.
There was definitely something scratching. Except it wasn't scratching. Not quite. She pushed closer, listening as hard as she could. Insects. It was the first thought that came to mind. It sounded like insects. Rose stumbled back, worry rising in her chest. She really wasn't a fan of insects. Certainly not lots of them.
"Doctor?" Rose called. He left Tom and Hannah and came over to her.
"What?" he asked.
"That scratching. Can you hear it?"
He paused and listened, nodding after only a second.
"What does that sound like to you?"
His eyebrows went up. "Bugs," he said. "Like lots of... bugs."
"Clive's missing," Rose said, her eyes still glued to the wall, sure the noise was getting steadily louder.
The Doctor looked around as though he would simply spot Clive in a dark corner Rose would somehow had missed.
"Hey, wait!" He called out, Rose finally able to tear her gaze away from the wall. She was just in time to see the woman in the sharp suit disappear through a door. "It's a dead end!" The Doctor shouted after her but she was already gone.
"I'll get her," Rose said and hurried after.
"No, Rose wait!"
The Doctor followed her as Rose rushed through the door, barking at the others to wait for them.
Another dark hallway met them. Smaller and not as destroyed, with one door at the far end. No sign of the rude woman.
Rose ran down the hall to the door, the Doctor calling at her to wait. She, of course ignored him, opening the door and hurrying inside only to stop dead.
The first thing that hit her was the smell. Rancid and vile. The next was the giant cocoon. It hung from the ceiling, taking up most of the far corner and dripping goo onto the floor. The whole thing was pulsing, stretching to near breaking point.
She felt the Doctor at her back, some objection having died on his lips. Then he was drawing past her, specs appearing on his nose as he moved closer to the big mucus covered sack.
"Interesting," he muttered as he hunkered down in front of it.
"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked.
"I do believe that was your missing Dave."
Rose started and turned at the female drawl. The woman was standing in the room, having been momentarily hidden by the shadows.
"It's Clive," Rose corrected without thinking. "Wait, what?" She looked back at the pulsing thing in the corner. "You mean he's..." She swallowed hard. "... in there?"
"If he was there's not much left of him," the Doctor muttered, his eyes running over the cocoon. He retrieved his sonic out of his breast pocket. But he barely had time to use it before the thing gave a violent twitch causing them all to start.
"Doctor, maybe we should go," Rose said, glancing around the room in case something else was hiding in the shadows.
Her attention caught on the woman. There was something in her eyes as she stared at the pulsing, twitching cocoon. Or perhaps a lack of something that alerted Rose to the fact that she'd seen this before and she was not at all surprised to see it now.
"You know what that is, don't you?"
The woman turned her attention on Rose. "There are far worse things down here than that, Agent Tyler," she said, a hint of a smile twitching her lips. "And they are all loose now."
"Who are you? What's your name?"
The woman's lips spread in a smile that was eerily familiar in it's absolute lack of empathy.
"Annabelle," she said. "Annabelle Conn." And Rose felt her blood run cold. She fought to swallow the lump in her throat.
"Dr. Conn was..." Rose trailed off.
"My sister, yes," Annabelle Conn confirmed. Rose stared at her. She must be the sister, Rose thought. The one Dr. Conn had been desperate enough to want to cut Rose's head open to save.
"Are you the one that's dying?" Rose blurted out and saw surprise fill the woman's eyes before they turned hard again.
"Did she tell you that?" she asked. "Before you murdered her?"
It was like a fist and reached inside and twisted Rose's heart. Murder. But Rose shook her head. She'd had no choice. Of that she was sure. Whatever she had done it had been in self-defence. Or - her eyes flickered over to the man still hunkered down on the floor in front of the giant cocoon. - in defence of the Doctor.
Rose turned back to Annabelle Conn, noticing she had steadily made her way closer to the door. "I'm sorry," Rose told her. And she was. Even though she couldn't regret it or could barely remember the event at all, she was still sorry it had happened. Annabelle Conn didn't answer, she only smiled.
"You, know," the Doctor said, drawing Rose's attention back to him. "I think I've seen this before."
"That's great," Rose said with just a hint of sarcasm. "So what is it?"
"Do you remember you thought you heard insects in the walls?" he said and Rose felt the acute need to rub at her arms as though said insects were suddenly crawling all over her.
"Yeah," she said hesitantly.
"Wirrn," the Doctor said.
"Wirrn?"
"Yep," the Doctor confirmed. "Or some version of them. They take a host, most likely poor Clive here, infect it and it turns into this." He pointed at the sack of oozing goo. "And from it the Wirrn is born."
The cocoon gave another hard twitch. Enough to get the Doctor to his feet and a step back.
The door suddenly slammed shut behind them, both the Doctor and Rose twirling around. Annabelle Conn was gone. Rose immediately rushed over to the door and with a sinking feeling in her stomach she yanked on the handle. Locked.
"Doctor...?" She turned back. But he was staring at the cocoon. It was twitching more violently now. Stretching and writhing like something inside was trying desperately to get out. "Doctor...?"
"Yeah, I think we should..." began and then the thing burst opened.
Rose screamed. She couldn't help it. Because out poured bugs. Big as cats. Their glistening bodies coated with mucus, their insect legs crawling over each other, pouring out of the cocoon that had once been Clive.
The Doctor ran, his sonic already in his hand. A few flicks and the door unlocked.
Rose and the Doctor practically fell through it. He grabbed her hand and together they ran. It had been too late to close the door behind them. The Wirrn were already pouring out of it. Flat out the Doctor and Rose ran. Chased by the patter of hundreds of insect legs behind them.
They reached the other door. They Doctor yanking it opened and pushing Rose through ahead of him. She stumbled into the hallway, the Doctor slamming the door shut and using the sonic to lock it. Immediately it shook as large insect bodies crashed against it.
Everyone in the hallway were staring at them. There was no sign of Annabelle Conn.
"Okay, let's go!" the Doctor called out, pocketing his sonic. "Now!"
They all burst into action. Hannah, Tom and Ford had managed to clear some of the debris away but the path was far from clear.
The Doctor and Rose helped Tom lift a particularly heavy metal beam out of the way when the door behind them burst opened. The Wirrn spilled out. Insects. Hundreds of them. Ford screamed. Tom cursed. And the Doctor clasped Rose around the waist hoisting her up onto the remaining debris.
"Go!" he told her. But Rose reached out her hand for Ford instead, helping to pull him up. Then Hannah.
"Go, go," she urged them and they both scrambled away. Desperately lifting debris out of the way, struggling madly to get through.
The Doctor helped Tom up and Tom hurried over on hands and knees to help Hannah and Ford. Rose held out her hand for the Doctor. He glanced back at the coming swarm of insects. Insects as big as a forearm, crawling up the walls, running towards him across the floor. "DOCTOR!" she screamed.
The Doctor twirled back around. He clasped her hand and she helped to haul him up.
"Big bugs," Rose muttered. "Big, giant bloody big bugs."
"Oh, these are nothing," the Doctor said as they crawled hurriedly over to the others. "Babies."
"They get bigger!?" Ford exclaimed, his voice shaking with strain or fear as he pushed a heavy piece of what used to be the ceiling out of the way.
"Um...yeah... much bigger," the Doctor admitted.
"Wonderful."
They cleared a hole. Everyone stared down into it worriedly. There was no knowing if that would lead anywhere. Going down it could mean they got trapped. Rose looked around in desperation. There was nowhere else to go. The first of the newborn Wirrn were coming up towards them. Rose groaned and jumped into the hole they had created. She landed on the floor and found the debris had fallen to create a tunnel through it.
"Come on!" she called up to the others. "I think we can get through!"
Rose crawled in. It was a tight squeeze. At some sections she had to get down flat on her stomach and pull herself through. She could hear grunting and complaining behind her as the others followed. But that was not all she could hear. There were scratching all around them. A part of her feared that by the time they got out from under the debris the insects would be everywhere.
There was a scream. A very human scream.
"Oh my god, hurry!" Someone yelled from further back. Rose thought it might be Hannah, the terror in the voice making it nearly unrecognisable.
Rose pulled herself forwards. She cut her leg against some sharp piece of metal and stifled a cry but she didn't slow. There was no time for slowing down or checking the wound. She scrambled onwards, praying the others were keeping up behind her.
Finally she seemed to reach the edge of the fallout. Rose crawled out from under it and pushed herself quickly to her feet.
She turned around and found Tom coming out behind her. She took a hold of his arm and helped him up. He was sweating and shaking. Next was Hannah. Both Rose and Tom helped pull her out. Then there was no one.
Rose stared at the dark hole they had come out of. But no one else emerged. She felt panic chasing her heart into a canter, her blood rushing in her ears. No. She got down on her hands and knees, shining her torch into the opening.
"Doctor!" she called into the darkness. No response. "Doctor!" she screamed again, hearing the panic in her voice. Hands grabbed her and tried to pull her away. She struggled against them. "Let me go!" she growled, trying to twist free.
"Rose, we got to go!" Tom tried to tell her but she wasn't listening. "Rose!"
"No!" she insisted, trying to crawl back into the darkness. "I have to get him!"
"He's gone," Tom told her, not unkindly. "He's gone Rose. We got to go!" She twisted free.
"No!" She dove into the hole only to have Tom grab her and pull her back out. He got his arms around her and dragged her to her feet.
"Stop!" he insisted. "Stop!"
But Rose wouldn't stop. Couldn't stop. Tom shook her hard to get her attention.
"I promised him I'd get you out," he was saying. "I swore!"
"NO!" was all Rose could form as a reply. She wouldn't leave. Not without the Doctor. Never without him.
"Doctor!" Tears were starting to stream down her face, unrivalled fear clogging up her throat.
Tom pulled her away while she struggled. She couldn't even hear the insects getting closer, their feet tapping rapidly against the walls as they rushed towards them. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears, the frantic pounding of her heart.
"Help me!" Tom begged Hannah. She grabbed Rose and helped Tom drag her away while Rose struggled. Tom's and Hannah's eyes were flying frantically about. The insects were crawling across the walls, the light from their wrist-torches shining of their glistening bodies.
Hannah stumbled and fell to the floor. One of the beetle-like insects was suddenly on her leg. She screamed. Tom managed to kick it off her. Hannah scrambled back up, tears of fear and panic trailing down her cheeks. Tom gave Rose a hard shake and spun her around in his arms. He yanked her within an inch of his face.
"You are going to get us killed!" he screamed at her. Rose's eyes finally focused on the two of them.
She couldn't let them die. It's not what the Doctor would have wanted. A hundred different moments flashed by behind her eyes. Moments of the Doctor. Always helping. Never thinking of himself. She couldn't be selfish. She had to help Tom and Hannah get out. She watched as the insects spilled out of the hole they had crawled through.
By extreme force of will she pushed the thought of the Doctor to the very back of her mind. It took every ounce of strength she possessed to turn away. It hurt, physically hurt just the thought of leaving him but she had to do it. He was strong, resourceful and clever. If he was still alive he would find his way out. And she had to believe he was alive because the thought of him gone was enough to cripple her if she let it.
Rose pulled free of Tom's hold and stomped on a bug that was inches away from his leg. It made a horribly squishy noise as it splattered under her foot. It wasn't like stepping on a beetle or a spider. It was more like stepping on a cat or something. Rose fought the urge to gag. She gave them both a nod.
"Let's go," she said and the three of them took off running.
They ran flat out, jumping over most of the obstacles in their way while the insects scurried with them across the walls. Babies, the Doctor had said. They were nothing but babies. They turned a corner and skidded to a halt. Nothing but babies.
Before them towered an insect the size of a large man. Its body was sleek and black, it's mandibles snapping at them. It was up on its hind-legs, the squealing sound it was emitting sending shivers of fear down Rose's spine. It was something out of a nightmare. The kind of ones you woke up screaming from. She stared in horror for the blink of second, frozen in absolute fear. She had no doubt those mandibles could crush a man's skull and suck the marrow out of bones.
Rose got a hold of Tom's shirt and yanked him away. Suddenly another one came up at their right. Hannah screamed as it got a hold of Tom. Rose looked around in desperation for any kind of weapon. The Wirrn in front of her hit her and sent her flying. Rose knocked into the wall and slid to the ground with a grunt.
The Wirrn was screeching and coming for her. Her hands ran along the ground until her fingers miraculously closed around a lead pipe. She picked it up and struck out. She hit the Wirrm hard. It screeched and stumbled. Rose scrambled to her feet, running past the momentary stunned Wirrn. The other Wirrn was bent over Tom, its mandibles snapping at him. Rose hit it over the head. It screeched and Rose hit it again. Hannah rushed over and grabbed Tom, pulling him to his feet.
They all turned and ran. The large Wirrn seemed to be calling the smaller ones to it. They were clearing off the wall, showing a door that there hadn't been any hope of them seeing when the Wirrn had been crawling all over it. They kicked the smaller Wirrn out of the way as they ran for the door.
Tom yanked it opened and ushered the girls inside. They found themselves in another hallway. Rose used the lead pipe to secure the door. They ran on.
"We have to find somewhere to stop," Hannah breathed. "I can't run anymore."
There were a few doors lining the hallway. Rose picked one at random but it was locked. Tom yanked on another one. Also locked. A smile spread on Rose's lips as she spotted a door marked Stairwell 4B.
"Over here!" she called to the others. She pulled the door opened and rushed up the staircase, the others close behind.
Hannah was panting harder than Rose and Tom but Rose could still feel the objections in her muscles. She was tired. They needed a moment. She stopped at a landing and opened a door marked with the number twelve. She peaked in.
It was a large room lined with rows of desks and computers, some of the desks had toppled over, the computers lying broken on the ground and many of the ceiling tiles had fallen down. There was a lounge area with water coolers and a couple of couches in one corner. It seemed to be mostly standing.
"Come on," Rose told them and slunk in. Rose was looking around as she hurried over to the sofas, looking for any movement. Any threat. They put Hannah down in one of the couches and Tom got her a drink of water.
Rose remained standing, folding her arms across her chest, her eyes on the room. She was trying her damnedest not to think about the Doctor.
Tom nudged her arm, holding out a cup of water for her. She took it without looking at him. She swallowed the water in one gulp, not noticing that her hands were shaking until Tom clasped the one holding the empty cup.
"He saved our lives," he said. "He died saving all our lives." Rose pulled her hand out of his.
"He's not dead," she told him firmly.
"Rose..." he said sadly. "...those things were everywhere. He couldn't have made it out."
Rose pulled her hand out of his. She squashed the paper mug and let it fall to the floor.
"He's not dead," she insisted and walked away, heading back the way they'd come.
"Where are you going?" Hannah called after her. Rose twirled around and glared at them.
"I'm going back to get him," she told them.
Hannah rose out of the sofa."You can't!" she exclaimed. "Those things...!"
"I don't care!" Rose spat. "I'm not leaving him!"
Rose was so worked up she didn't notice the sudden look of absolute shook on both Tom's and Hannah's faces. "I'm not leaving him." she repeated.
"Rose."
She froze. It was his voice. She twirled around and there he stood. Pinstriped suit, chucks and spiky hair. Alive. Amazingly and utterly alive.
"You're alive," Rose breathed. "You're alive."
"Last I checked, yeah," he answered, his smile a touch sad. Rose marched over to him and slapped his arm as hard as she could.
"Don't you ever do that again!" she told him harshly. "You hear me! Never!" She hit his chest with her closed fist. The Doctor caught her hand.
She tried to pull free but he didn't release her. Within a second he had caught her up in his arms and pulled her to his chest. She was too exhausted to fight it. Any of it.
Tears of anger and relief streamed down her face as she let herself relax against him. The Doctor ran his hand soothingly up and down her back whispering comforting words in her ear that she couldn't understand.
"What are you saying?" she mumbled into his shirt. He kissed the top of her head and for a long while he didn't answer.
"It's not important," was all he said then.
Rose finally pulled away from him. She felt his reluctance to let her go by his hands lingering for a moment at her waist. But she stepped back, out of the protective circle of his arms. She felt it as she did, that hum under her skin receding.
Low level connection, he'd said. It didn't feel -low level-, Rose thought. The Doctor's eyes lingered on her but she was too much of a coward to look up and meet his gaze. Too scared that she would see what Tom had talked about. He looks at you like loving you is killing him. Brave Rose Tyler, a coward.
"How on earth did you get out of there?" Hannah asked, astounded. The Doctor put his hands casually in his trouser pockets.
"Weeell," he drew the word out. "I'm just really clever," he said and gave Hannah a smile and a wink.
"So what do we do now?" Tom asked. "Are we taking the stairs?"
"Those ones can only take us up a couple of more floors," the Doctor told them, pointing with his thumb behind him to indicate the stairwell they had just used. "Then its collapsed."
"Are we even above ground yet?" Rose wondered, looking around but seeing no windows.
"No," the Doctor shook his head. "We're still underground. Five more floors to reach the surface."
"Five!?" Hannah exclaimed. "I thought we were closer."
"You know, you lot," the Doctor said, sounding a tad irritated. "For working here your knowledge of the building is pathetic."
"The compound's huge," Rose explained. "You usually just stick to your own department."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, like they were all idiots.
"Doctor," Rose said, thinking it best to get his mind on a different track before he really got into insulting them. He turned his eyes on her. "Annabelle Conn, she said there were more things to fear than those Wirrn and that they were all loose now."
"What does that mean?" Hannah asked.
"I'm guessing it means all the things they were experimenting on down here are out now," Tom said. All eyes fixed on him. "The Conn sisters they ran the Basement. I was just recently recruited to work security down here but I've seen enough."
"What kind of experiments?" the Doctor asked.
"On creatures. All the rooms down there hold different ones. One room I remember was just black and I saw another one with a statue in it. An angel statue. I was warned to stay away from that one. But there were others too. They have Cybermen suits and I heard they even have dead Daleks. They cut the ones they can opened. Splicing."
The Doctor gave Rose a glare.
"Oh, so you think I knew of this now do you?" She sighed, annoyed.
"No, but you were suppose to be cleaning this place up weren't you?"
"I've been trying."
"Yeah, until you decided to go stop a damn explosion and getting yourself killed."
"What choice did I have?"
"To not to!"
Rose sighed in frustration. "Right, I should have just left it be. Let people die, 'cus that is exactly what you would've done is it?"
"No, but I'm not you," the Doctor told her.
"What?"
"You're important!"
"And you're not?" Rose rolled her eyes. The Doctor took a step closer to her.
"To me," he growled, glaring at her. "You're important to me."
Rose glared back at him, trying hard to not let his words get to her. But they were. How could they not.
Rose had to fight the urge to yell at him that he was important too. So important. When she'd feared she'd lost him it had taken all her strength just to keep going. No matter what he'd done he would never stop being important. That was a truth she couldn't fight no matter how much she might want to.