Rory trudged wearily through the mud. How long had it been? Weeks? He wasn't really sure. The Nazi base had been in eastern France. Moving across the country wasn't terrible. He would travel by night and sleep by day, often camping out in old World War I trenches. Now he was sure he was near the coastline, and he need only make it across the English Channel into London.
After 2,000 years he was pretty good at not drawing attention to himself, but unfortunately that wasn't discouraging the Nazis from pursuing him across the country. Apparently Tori, or Lieutenant Planck he supposed, had been leading a search party for him. There had been a few run-ins, here and there. Luckily he had escaped them all, and just barely.
However, there was that one time he got shot. The bullet had just glanced off his arm, but it was enough to melt and disfigure a few square centimeters on his arm. And it hurt like heck... He wasn't sure, as a nurse, how to treat plastic.
Rory heard yelling behind him. Blast! He though he had lost the search party miles back! He started sprinting in the opposite direction, tripping over the brush and puddles of mud.
Whoa! Rory struggled to skid to a halt as the ground suddenly dropped out in front of him into the sea. He turned to see himself surrounded by Nazi troops, guns cocked. Rory charged up his hand gun and he saw Tori push herself past the ring of soldiers to face him.
"So," she said, "Are we done running?" "Never," said Rory, glaring. Tori smiled and strode up to him. Her hair had begun to fade from red into her natural blonde color.
"What a coward," spat Tori, "Running away, when centurions were meant to fight!" That insult smoldered inside Rory's chest. "I am not running away," he said, "I am running to protect Amy!" Tori raised an eyebrow. "Amy?" she asked, "Who's Amy?" Rory balled his fists. "That box," he said, "Inside is my fiancé. Her name is Amy. The Pandorica is healing her."
Something behind Tori's eyes softened. "And you're protecting her until it's done," she said. Rory nodded.
Then suddenly her eyes were hard again. "Well, it looks like she will have to be on her own for a bit," said Lieutenant Planck. "Nehmen Sie Ihre Ziel!" she ordered, and Rory backed up to the edge of the cliff. His heart skipped as his heel knocked pebbles down into cold, harsh waves. "Feuer!"
Crap! Bullets whizzed past Rory as he backed up. And then there wasn't ground underneath his feet and he was falling and falling and... SPLASH!
Lieutenant Planck held up her hand to cease fire. She leaned over the cliff to try to spot the centurion, but all she saw was the black of the water.
