The Tyler Factor
By Lumendea
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Nightmare: Nightmares Will Come
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
…..
Sarah Jane Smith jumped at her son's cry of alarm and glanced towards her husband. Then years of instinct and practice kicked into gear and she set the butter knife she'd been using for sandwiches down. Johnny was on her heels as they rushed up the stairs with Clyde and Rani already several steps ahead of them. Bursting into the attic room, Sarah Jane found Luke nervously standing by Rose and calling her name. Clyde and Rani stepped to the side to let her past and Sarah Jane moved to Rose quickly and knelt down next to her. She called Rose's name as she checked her pulse.
"She's breathing normally," Sarah Jane told the others waiting in the room. "Judging from her eye movements she's dreaming."
"But she won't wake up," Luke repeated with a hint of panic.
"Deep breath Luke," she ordered him sternly as she stood up and looked at Spock. "He's still tied up in diagnostics, Luke go and get K-9. He'll have to do for now."
"Can't you get Spock to stop running diagnostics?" Rani questioned as she stepped forward carefully.
"Rose gave the order for him to run them and she is his primary operator," Sarah Jane explained with a sigh as Luke headed out the door and down the stairs. "I'm secondary so I can't override an order from Rose."
"How long will it take for him to be free again?" Clyde asked sounding irritated with the situation.
"Hopefully not long, his abilities are a bit more varied than K-9's," Sarah Jane admitted sadly just before Luke rushed back into the attic with K-9 in his arms. He set the robotic dog down with a small huff.
"K-9 run a scan on Rose," Sarah Jane ordered as she stepped back from Rose's sleeping form.
K-9 rolled forward and extended his scanner with a soft beep. There was a soft ticking sound in the otherwise quiet attic as he processed the scan.
"Mistress Rose is asleep," K-9 announced making Clyde snort before he continued in his robotic voice. "Brain waves suggest a deep and potentially artificially induced REM cycle that is preventing outside stimuli from breaking through."
"So she really can't wake up," Luke repeated with wide eyes. "Something is keeping her asleep."
Sarah Jane bent over and pulled Rose's phone out of her pocket and tossed it to Rani. "Rani, call Rose's friends Sharon and Shareen. Sharon is a medical student and I want someone we can trust here with us."
"What about the Doctor?" Rani asked as she looked up from Rose's phone. "The TARDIS is listed in the phone."
"Call Sharon first and then I'll call the Doctor," Sarah Jane told her as she looked back at Rose. Gently she brushed a strand of hair out of Rose's face and sighed softly. "Poor kid never seems to catch a break."
"Mistress," K-9 called suddenly. "Detecting changes in brain waves, Mistress Rose's brain is more active than normal for REM cycle."
"Active? In what parts of her brain?" Sarah Jane asked with a frown.
"Scans indicate increased activity in the medial temporal lobe, part of the brain strongly tied to declarative and episodic memory."
"Memory?" Sarah Jane repeated carefully as she looked back at Rose. "That could be very bad with everything that was just dumped into that section of her brain."
…
The sky above her was dark with thick clouds and billowing pillars of smoke. Rose could barely breathe in the thick stench of rotting flesh and spilled chemicals, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other. She looked around nervously at her surroundings. Tall buildings made mostly of metal and glass surrounded her with only a few brick buildings scattered on the dark side streets. She didn't recognise any of it and it filled her with a sense of horror and sadness.
Small fires were lit throughout the abandoned street with bodies draped over the flames to burn. The scent of cooking meat made her stomach turn as she realised what it was she was smelling. Lifting the scarf wrapped around her neck, she covered her nose and inhaled the scent of dust and smoke instead, but decided that it was better. Rose risked a look into the flames at the nearest body. The clothing had burned away and much of the skin was already on fire, but she could see strange sores still visible on parts of the arms. Shuddering, she stepped back from the fire and looked away from the terrible sight.
In the distance, she heard a scream followed by vicious laughter, but she just kept walking up the street. After a few minutes, the sounds died away and she let out a soft breath of relief and tightened her right hand around something cold and smooth. Slowly she took more in and realised that she was carrying some kind of metal baseball bat. There was a backpack on her back and heavy duty, but well-worn boots on her feet. She was covered in layers of clothing despite the heat of the… she couldn't tell what time of day it was, but it was very warm and the heat of the scattered fires wasn't helping.
Rose looked down at her wrist, tugging aside the leather gloves she wore and noticed the absence of her bracelet with a frown. She reached up and brushed behind her ear with a gloved hand checked behind her ear. Her translator was gone and Rose realised with a start that she had very short hair that was cropped close to her scalp. She looked towards one of the buildings and caught her reflection in the glass.
It was hard to recognise herself under the dusty and dark clothing. Around her waist was a belt that connected to the backpack with small pouches. A hood over her head hid the short hair, but her face was visible. The skin was rough and dry, looking cracked in some places. There was a long place scar on her forehead and into her hairline on the right side of her face. A bruise around her eye was mostly faded, but still visible and she was nursing what looking like a recent burn on the left side of her face. Rose was stunned and stared in shock at the ragged-looking woman before her.
There was a sudden whining noise over her head and she looked up sharply in time to catch sight of something silver zooming past overhead. A moment later she dashed towards one of the side streets, a sense of fear pounding in her veins. The back alley stank even worse than the street and in the darkness, she felt the fear only intensify. Backing into the shadows, Rose panted softly and tried to stay very still as more of the fast silver things zoomed overhead.
On the wall of the alley, she spotted a poster of some kind. The writing wasn't familiar, but it seemed to rearrange itself in front of her eyes until she could read it. There was a warning for the plague urging residents to stay inside and wait for vaccination. A bitter and angry feeling that she didn't understand rose up sharply in her and Rose leaned against the wall as she tried to calm down.
"Terrible isn't it," a voice whispered behind her. Rose spun with the bat at the ready, but there was nothing in the alley. "Plague cripples governments and chaos takes over. Humans killing anyone with the plague to stop it and taking to the streets in guerilla warfare." The voice told her. "Such terrible things hidden away in your head Rose Tyler. The stuff of nightmares."
Then a pair of pale blue glowing eyes appeared at the far end of the alley. A chuckle echoed out of the shadows and Rose took a shaky step back before reaching up and pinching her cheek. Nothing happened and the thing in the shadows laughed. A moment later Rose felt faint and darkness crept into her vision. She was falling and something was laughing gleefully.
…
Sarah Jane paced nervously across the room with the phone in her hand waiting for someone to pick up on the other end. "Come on Doctor," she growled with a glance towards Rose.
Clyde and Luke had moved her very carefully so that she was fully laying down with her head on a small throw pillow rather than sleeping sitting up with her head hanging back. Rani was downstairs waiting for Sharon and Shareen to show up from across town and Johnny was sitting patiently on the other side of the room watching her and giving silent support.
Sarah Jane yawned loudly just as the phone was answered. "Hello?" a small female voice said.
"Uh?" Sarah Jane replied blinking quickly in surprise. "This is Sarah Jane Smith."
"I'm Amelia," the little voice replied happily before she made a small cough. "Oh right, who are you calling for?"
"I'd like to speak with the Doctor please?" Sarah Jane told her gently before her curiosity got the better of her. "Who are you, Amelia? Do you travel with the Doctor?"
"Only sometimes. I wish I could all the time, but Rose says that I'm just too young and little to travel with them all the time. I only get to go on trips when I get good grades and after my checkups."
"How old are you?"
"I'm not sure I should tell you that," the little girl said a moment later with a hint of suspicion. "Rose tells me to be careful about talking to strangers."
"Is Rose there?" Sarah Jane asked earning a surprised look from Johnny.
"No she and the Doctor stepped out to stop an alien tyrant after locking me in the TARDIS," the little girl replied obviously pouting.
There was a noise from the other end of the phone and Sarah Jane heard a familiar voice before it came over the phone. "Hello Sarah Jane, sorry about that," Rose apologised.
"No problem, but are you and the Doctor adopting now?"
"Something like that I suppose. It's no secret that Amelia listens to me far more than she does her aunt," Rose replied sounding a bit out of breath. "What's up?"
"Well I'm looking at you, younger you on the sofa of my attic, and you won't wake up."
"Oh… it's that time isn't it," the older Rose said carefully. "Okay, I'll make a call."
"A call? Wait aren't you coming to help?"
"No," Rose answered shortly. "But it'll be alright Sarah Jane, I have to go through this. I'm just sorry about… well, I'm sorry."
"Rose!" Sarah Jane called into the phone feeling irritation rising in her, but the other woman had already hung up. Huffing, Sarah Jane tossed the phone onto the sofa where Rose was sleeping. She glared at the young blonde woman for a moment before sighing. "I hope you know what you're doing."
….
Rose came back to herself slowly and looked around nervously, her eyes sweeping over the terrain. She seemed to be nearby her original location, but the buildings were crumbling and parts of the street had collapsed into underground tunnels. Beneath her was cracked concrete with grass starting to grow through. A bark made her jump to her feet as a dog rushed past her with a bone in its mouth and snarled in warning. Its fur was matted and Rose knew in an instant that it was feral. Once it was past, Rose took another look around. There were no more fires and instead plants were starting to grow over everything, it was almost beautiful except for the horrifying meaning of the growth.
She didn't doubt that she was in the same place as before, but it was like the fast forward button had been pressed. Walking forward, Rose noted that thick mossy growth covering what glass still remained in the buildings. She couldn't see her reflection and wondered just how bad she looked but dismissed the thought as trivial. Looking around Rose tried to see any signs of other humans, but everything was horribly quiet. There were no fires burning corpses anymore or sounds of fighting in the distance, there was just nothing. It reminded her of the day that those alien robots had taken all the humans except her.
Except this wasn't just for a day, this was for a lot longer. She felt ill, but reached over and pinched her arm. Nothing happened and Rose struggled to keep breathing.
"It's just a dream," Rose reassured herself as she tried to pinch herself again. The jolt of pain seemed real enough and she wasn't walking up. "Just a dream," she repeated. "Probably some alien messing with me."
A high pitched laugh surprised Rose and she jumped even as she spun around and looked around. It was a small crooked man that looked so ordinary at first glance that Rose thought he was merely part of the dream. He wore a well-worn three-piece suit and had a little bowler hat perched at an angle on his head. But he was staring at her with wide pale blue eyes that were horribly bloodshot. It was the small knowing smile on his face that made Rose shiver and really called her attention to him. She was torn between pretending she didn't notice him and trying to observe him quietly and demanding to know what was happening.
"Rose Tyler," the man cooed, exposing rotting teeth as he spoke. "Thank you, my dear, for inviting me."
"I did not invite you," Rose replied coldly, narrowing her eyes dangerously.
"Oh, but such things inside your head," the stranger sighed dramatically. "The stuff of nightmares. Horrible imaginings, personal tragedies and dying worlds," he added as he opened his arms dramatically. "All of this rattling around in that head of yours and an open door just waiting for me to step through."
"Who are you?" Rose demanded as a sense of dread crept over her even as she began to understand where she really was and what was happening. "How are you in these memories?"
"Just call me the Nightmare Man," he giggled cheerfully, exposing his rotting teeth again.
Rose kept herself from shivering at the dangerous hint in the being's tone and instead raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips trying to look unimpressed. To her satisfaction, the being seemed less amused.
"That didn't answer the second question," Rose informed him in an even voice. "How are you in these memories?"
"Ah yes that famous Rose Tyler spunk," the Nightmare Man said with a widening grin. "Never let them see you afraid."
"I'm trapped in a nightmare that is apparently a memory about my species being destroyed by some kind of terrible plague," Rose observed with bite in her voice. "Of course I'm afraid, I'm not stupid."
The admission seemed to throw the Nightmare Man for a moment, but then he merely tilted his head at her. "Perhaps something more terrifying is needed," he muttered thoughtfully, tapping his chin dramatically.
"What are you after?" Rose demanded. "Why can't I wake up?"
"You're in too deep," the Nightmare Man replied with another giggle. "And what I'm after… well, we'll get to that my dear Sleeping Beauty."
Before Rose could say or so anything, the Nightmare Man raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Rose tried to say something and moved, but the sense of falling took her over again. Once again darkness surrounded her.