"Padra's Run"

11. The Bad Men

Inside the TARDIS

She swore she'd seen them somewhere, west of the sixties, past the flappers, and then… "Padra, I found the gloves!" she called back, climbing up from the depths. "They could be a bit too big for…" she presented the gloves… to no one. "Padra? Where are you hiding?" she smiled, putting the gloves down, looking around. She'd wandered off.

Rose sighed, moving out from the wardrobe, following the halls. Maybe she'd returned to the control room; she had liked to look at the lights, the console and 'the thing that went woosh' as she called it.

She wasn't there, but Rose did find something else. She crouched to find a hat, lying on the ground just shy of the walkway toward…

"Oh… no," she dashed for the door.

X

The Mercer Colony

It had been nearly one month since she had been home. She knew the Doctor had wanted her to stay in the TARDIS with Rose, and she would… She just wanted to see her own sky, walk on her own ground, just for a minute or two and then she would go right back in. She also knew no one could see her; this she had been aware of for as long as she'd been running with Toh. She knew it had to do with the exchange her father had tried to make, and she wondered if this would be the last time she ever set foot in the colony. If that was the case, then she deserved one last look at the place that had been her home.

She hadn't been this happy in so long, and all she could think about now was her house, and her friends, and… her family… Were they there? Were they wondering what had become of her, were they worried?

There was her home, so close ahead, she could see it. She looked back to the TARDIS, hesitating. She looked forward, to her home and…

Nira.

She could see her, outside, in front of her own home, which was next to hers. There was something wrong with her leg, she could see it from all this way away. For that alone, she couldn't help herself, she had to go to her. So she ran.

"Nira!" she tried to do something between a shout and a whisper. Her friend looked up, and seeing her there nearly made her fall off her feet.

"Padra, you're here, you're… Where did you go?" Nira smiled.

"I can't… What happened?" she looked at her leg.

"When you left, the people… They thought you were hiding at our house, they wanted to make my parents talk," Nira's face trembled with the memory.

"I'm sorry," Padra blinked in shock. "Does it hurt?"

"Less now," Nira shrugged. "Padra, where did you go?"

"I can't tell you, I…"

The first thing Toh had taught her after they had left the colony was that she needed to remain hyperaware, wherever they went. She had to be able to feel her surroundings, in case someone was looking at her like they might be after her, trying to take her. It was complicated at first, but she had learned quickly.

And now she was feeling something.

If she'd looked up a second later it might have been too late. But she did look up, and when she did she saw them coming toward her and Nira. There were four of them, tall and strong and frightening. She recognized two of them from her house, the day they'd come for her.

Everything else happened very fast.

"Get out of there!" They looked back to Nira's house. The Doctor was coming toward them, as were Nira's parents.

"Girls, to me!" Turning again, there was Rose, running up.

"You get away from my daughter!" Eran shouted at the four men, brandishing a heavy digging tool. Bridget ran ahead to go pick up Nira, who couldn't run, while Rose got hold of Padra.

"Stop there where you are," the Doctor called to the four men. "This doesn't need to get out of hand."

"Give us the girl, and everything will be alright," one of the men spoke up, eyes locked on Padra and Rose. "Or resist, and we will have no choice but to prosecute you for harboring payment."

"So you're a judge then, is it?" the Doctor asked. He knew where everyone stood, had to. All it would take would be for one person to move, and everything could degenerate in an instant.

"Take her," Bridget spoke to Rose. "Take her, keep her safe… Please, help them, can you do that?"

"Yeah," Rose replied slowly. "We will, but…" her eyes went to the men.

"You three, you get out of here, you go and don't look back."

"But…"

"No, you listen. Take her, if they get their hands on her…" Bridget sounded terrified.

"What? What happens if they get her?" Rose asked.

"Just go, we'll take care of them," she looked to the men.

"We can't leave you, they could kill you."

"I'm not letting them hurt Nira again, not her, or anyone. We will deal with this, now go," she begged. Rose looked to the Doctor. Had it been anyone else, they could never have heard from that far away, but this was the Doctor, and he had heard every word, she was certain; she could see it in the way he stood… He was getting ready to run.

"Alright, just… be careful," Rose didn't want to think about anything happening to Eran, or Bridget… to Nira most of all. "I'm going now…" If he didn't actually hear her, then things would turn to hell.

"Rose?" Padra asked.

"You hold on to me, alright? Don't let go." And she ran.

She couldn't stop, or turn, not once. She could hear noise behind her, but she couldn't look. There was the TARDIS ahead of her and getting Padra inside was all that mattered.

"Nira!" Padra shouted, and Rose didn't know if she was shouting because she didn't want to leave her or if something had happened.

Having Padra in her arms made running harder. One moment the Doctor caught up and got ahead of her, and that gave her a boost. He got the door open, got inside. Padra was still shouting for her friend. Rose ran so fast, as soon as she passed the door she stumbled to the ground, turning so her back would hit rather than to have her fall on top of the small girl. The Doctor snapped the door shut, ran to the controls and within seconds the TARDIS was in flight.

Rose remained on the ground, panting for breath, shaking almost as much as Padra was, crying in her arms… She felt like crying, too.

"You're safe…" Rose rubbed at her back. "We've got you, it's alright."

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT SUNDAY)