Things didn't go according to plan, okay, they never go according to plan, but just this once, Lila hoped for a miracle, and instead, she's running down the halls going towards the hanger holding a potted daisy while she's sneezing up a storm.
Damn her insistence in helping others even though it put her in danger's way.
Damn her for not listening to Theodore when he explicitly warned her against doing something like this.
Damn her for getting up this morning, it was her day off!
Lila wasn't sure if the Plague Doctor's following her, she wasn't stopping to check, and she just let her legs carry her as they're running for the nearest hills away from certain death.
Of all things she had to do to lure a dangerous creature away, a daisy wouldn't have been something she thought of until now, but here she was, running with it, and hoping to lure the Plague Doctor towards the hanger.
After she gets it into the hanger, well, Lila hoped to run into the TARDIS, get it to do its thing, take it somewhere else, and hopefully rid it before it turns her into a blue rare sashimi.
That's assuming she's correct that it's hunting her because it thinks she's sick and not because she threw her flashlight at it in order to incite it.
Okay, maybe she said some things aloud she shouldn't, but it was for a good cause, and it kept the Plague Doctor's attention, of course not in the good way, but kept the attention all the same.
She hoped Roy and Roger were okay, because she doesn't know what became of them after she led the Plague Doctor on a goose chase. Neither sick, so they should've been okay, but then the problems start when they don't know a whole lot about the Plague Doctor.
It's smart enough to send a cart crashing into Roy, enough to use it again to get their attention, and the more Lila thinks about it, the more she realized that there's more to it than they thought.
Possibly, it's doing this intentionally, luring Lila into its own trap. She saw it catching up to her, but slow down, giving her a chance to get ahead of it. It's clearly able to get her just by running after her, but it didn't, and that doesn't make any sense unless one thinks of it cornering Lila.
Whether she's right or just talking crazy, Lila doesn't know, and all she knows that she wants to survive this night.
As she's running past the large windows showing the storm as it slowly moved away from the area, Lila thought it's just her mind going haywire with fear, but she thought she heard a woman humming outside the window. It's covered up by the wind, but faintly, she hears the humming, and when Lila's further away from the windows, behind, she sees the large Plague Doctor keeping pace with her slow down to a screeching halt near one of the windows.
While she ran with sweat running down her face, Lila turned her head briefly to see the Plague Doctor look outside the window, seemingly entranced by the humming, and turn its head back to Lila.
Of all things Lila saw, this one took the case, and there's a reason why. The Plague Doctor, it doesn't look human anymore, hard to argue that it even was at one point, but the eyes, those eyes.
They looked... human.
They LOOKED human!
She can see those green eyes looking at her and still convey the hidden emotions of the Plague Doctor as it continued chasing her.
Those hidden emotions aren't signifying that the Plague Doctor just wanted to talk it out and explain its side, by the way.
Lila felt the anger in those human green eyes and she doesn't want to begin to guess what's going on in the brain.
... Maybe it's a good thing that she doesn't know what that thing's thinking.
While running, Lila heard a familiar voice in her head.
She couldn't answer because her mind's preoccupied with surviving and he shouted for her, when she saw an opening, she fired back with, "A little busy here!"
Theodore sounded happy to hear she's alive and worryingly asked where she's located and Lila couldn't tell in the darkness, so she just told him that she's trying to get to the hanger. Something else, she's sure that they're not alone as they initially thought.
"What's going on?" Theodore asked her.
Lila couldn't properly describe it on account her feet's killing her and there's a tall dark with wide shoulders wanting her dead, but she gave the best description under duress, "No bull, I'm starting to hear a woman humming. Don't ask me how the hell I'm hearing her, but I am. I can't tell you where it's coming from, but it sounds like it's coming from somewhere outside, I think. I think the thing hears her, too, it keeps looking out the window. Like there's something out there, but I can't see and I'm not stopping to check."
Theodore's confused and Lila's too, but she affirmed that she heard a woman humming and the Plague Doctor affected by it. He mustered her to keep her pace and reach the hanger. Once she's there, she's to enter the TARDIS. If she can't use the key on account she's trembling in fear, the TARDIS should let her open without it since it's an emergency.
He pointed out that it didn't mean she can simply forget the key or lose it, but Lila got the gist.
Quickly, Theodore tells her that he and the commander were on their way towards the hanger, too, he had a plan, and Lila wanted to know what he had in mind.
Theodore responded that he thinks the Plague Doctor doesn't like a particular smell coming from a plant he'd taken with him when he and the commander hurried off from the lab.
Rosemary.
"How do you know that?" Lila asks him.
When she heard that the Plague Doctor went after Roy and Roger, but couldn't because the smell from the rosemary's intense enough for it, that it fled.
"It went for them, after I'm sneezing up a storm?" Lila's baffled that the Plague Doctor abandoned chase for her to attempt hunting Roy and Roger, but a plant staved it off, and Theodore affirmed that it's that.
Lila asked about Roy and Roger and relieved once Theodore told her that they're okay, shaken, but okay, they're heading back to the command center.
At first, she's happy, but it quickly went away when Theodore told her that UNIT remained heavily spread thin.
"So, what's the good news?" Lila asks him.
Of course, the aloof giant had to make a quip about Hammond ordering decaf coffee for the break room.
"Don't play with me, spaceman," Lila flatly responds.
Never mess with someone who needs a strong cup of coffee in the morning and during her shift at the library.
Also, never mess with someone trying to avoid death.
Left alone once Theodore left her mind, Lila slid across the ground as she made it towards the end of the hallway. It's familiar, she recognized the elevator down to the hanger and not surprising, she quickly realized that without power, it's not going anywhere, and she rushed to find an alternative down to the hanger.
"Okay, I'm being chased by something that wants to brutally murder me because I tossed a flashlight at it, what would I do to get down into the hanger in a timely fashion?" Lila asks herself as she panicked. She then quickly added, "Without risking injury or capture?"
It's her and the darkness, nothing else, as she's looking for a way down into the hanger, which wasn't looking well, and would've been considered a violation in some parts without a way down during a state of emergency.
As Lila contemplated her options while her mind raced with thoughts, she heard what sounded like footsteps. They didn't sound like the Plague Doctor's massive bird feet, just regular footsteps, and Lila wasn't going to open her mouth until she heard that aloof giant talking in her head. Which he wasn't, so it meant it wasn't Theodore, and certainly wasn't the commander or someone from UNIT.
Wielding the potted daisy, Lila narrowed her eyes as she's trying to see through the darkness. Oh, why didn't she think to toss the daisy at it, because she didn't think this through, what a surprise!
The footsteps sounded closer and Lila felt air catching in her throat as she's unable to discern the source, and she couldn't go anywhere else, because that's just the luck of it.
Suddenly, the footsteps... they just stopped... short of her... but she couldn't see anyone in front of her... not even an outline...
Nobody there, except her, and the darkness.
Perfect scenario for a horror movie, seemingly phantom footsteps, darkness, a dangerous bird-like creature that formerly once was human, and a daisy.
Her back pressed against the wall, shielding her face with the daisy, Lila flinches as she prepared to meet her maker, as she doubted daisies are viable weapons.
There's a gentle breeze, a smell of cologne brushed by her nose, she doesn't know the scent, it's not pungent at all, almost pleasant, and as quickly as she smelled it, it disappeared.
The elevator doors open, there's light inside, and Lila's without words. She hesitated briefly, but quickly dropped the daisy on the ground, and rushed inside the elevator, when she turned around with her back pressed against the wall, she saw it.
It's right there, she saw the outline.
Tall, wide shoulders, the long-blackened hair draped over the shoulders like a cowl covering the feet, and she sees those eyes, those human eyes. Only when it blinked, Lila sees how unnatural it really is, because as it blinks, it's like a bird.
It didn't come after her, stayed far from the elevator, and the elevator doors closed, showing Lila's reflection as the elevator descended down into the hanger.
Standing with her back pressed against the doors behind her that faced the hanger, Lila exhaled sharply as she held a hand on her chest.
"I know what he should add to that book," Lila coughs as she moved away from the doors as she felt the elevator reach the bottom.
The doors slowly opened and Lila rushed out of the elevator, hurrying through the darkened hanger as she's searching for the TARDIS.
Outside, there's silence, the storm moved on, thunder no longer rumbled, no lighting to blind anyone unfortunate looking outside, and the humming's grown silent, as well.
The humming's gone, Lila hadn't heard it since she passed those windows towards the elevator, she would've thought it's just her mind playing tricks, but the Plague Doctor heard it, too, so, Lila's without an idea.
Granted, she did have an idea, not dying.
So far, that's working, but the missing cogs started causing the gears to grind and halt, and that's not working so well, so Lila's hoping to muster enough to get by before everything falls out of whack.
One would think she'd find the damn thing in the dark, but the TARDIS' aged horribly enough that the windows haven't produced any notable lights since, well, after Mr. Smith hung up the scarf.
Cleaning them wouldn't work, make them nice and shiny, but light's not coming through that easily.
Lila wondered if they're able to use a linked fob and have it flash bright lights briefly when they're in the dark looking for it, whether it be under duress or not.
Thinking as she pulled her matted hair off her face and tucked behind her ears, Lila looked through the darkness as she felt around, feeling the aircrafts, the cargos, vehicles, and trying her best not running into them as she nearly poked her eyes out on the nose of an aircraft.
The Plague Doctor couldn't come down the elevator, there's light, and it's established that it doesn't like it.
That'd be a nice way of how Lila isn't facing it now, if not for the fact that the power's off still and seemingly, only the elevator's working.
Her chestnut eyes struggled to see through the darkness as she's cautiously walking, Lila glimpsed around, regretting tossing the flashlight at the Plague Doctor.
Theodore's going to have choice words for her when this' said and done, already Lila hears him ranting almost like Hammond, her bringing that up, and Theodore exasperating at the comment.
The future conversation's going as well as one expected, hopefully Lila lives long enough to hear it as she's maneuvering through the darkness, touching everything, hoping that she finds the TARDIS.
"Come on, you found Christmas presents without a flashlight, how hard is it finding the damn thing?" Lila muttered under her breathe while trying to locate the TARDIS. She's amazed that she found Christmas presents in the dark easier than the TARDIS, even going far as going up in a dark attic with holes in the boards, some large enough to snag her foot. Yet, she found her presents tucked away near the boxes, of course, Lila couldn't possibly get her hands on them, as she needed to vacate the attic and hide in her bedroom, dad was coming home at that moment, she heard his car coming in the driveway.
Of course, that meant nothing to the situation at hand, but the general fear of getting caught's the same, the only difference's her dad wouldn't tear her apart for the slight of sneaking a peek at her Christmas presents.
Bumping into every conceivable thing known to man, except the TARDIS, Lila heard footsteps near her, same ones she heard above. They're distant, like someone's moving away from her, and she's getting fed up with this as is, so she's doing the only insane thing coming to mind and trying to track down the source.
She's following the footsteps, at least attempting, and she heard them ahead of her, but she can't see where they're coming from, still, she's following them.
As she bumped into another vehicle, felt like a open top Jeep, Lila heard the footsteps stop again, they're close, and she tries to get close enough to gauge where they stopped.
Moving forward with her arms outstretched as she slowly walked, Lila glanced around, silence, and she swore smelling that cologne again, faint as before, but she's able to discern what it smelt like, roses.
Only, the scent's not the heavily perfumed kind, not wild either, smelled weird. A combination of sorts, a scent of roses and something peculiar. Couldn't explain it, but almost, it can't be right, Lila's near something, but there's a hint of metal in the cologne.
It's getting stronger when she finally found her way towards the spot the footsteps stopped, but she jumped when she heard the elevator doors opening again.
Looking back, Lila couldn't see anything, too far from the elevator, and only heard the elevator doors closing.
Turning around, Lila smelled the air, the cologne's gone, and as if it couldn't get any more bizarre, she hears the humming.
This time, she can hear it coming from where she guessed's the entrance. At least it didn't go away when she started following the humming, bad choice she knows, but Lila's hoping that she can find the TARDIS somehow with it and hopefully not lead herself to her doom.
Mrs. Hudson wants her due this month and Lila aims to pay her in a timely fashion, once that's done, only then is it permitted. Bad taste otherwise.
Fumbling in the darkness, Lila tripped over something and fell to the ground in a loud thud, barely brushing against something pointy, and as she struggled to get up, she heard not just the humming, but it sounded like something clanking against each other, like nails.
"This is getting too weird, man," Lila muttered under her breath as she pushed herself from the ground. She reached up to touch the nose of a fighter jet and holding the nose, she avoided it before exhaling.
Weirdness comes with these adventures, but all this happening one after another's just crazy, worse than a late-night sci-fi movie that's hammed on by a host.
"Note to self, broach the subject of having robot companions to Theodore, sure he wouldn't mind having extra set of hands," Lila mentioned as she stumbled in the darkness.
Knowing him, though, that's out of the question, considering he already detests K9 and the mere mention of 'robot' would've sent him in a rant about Hammond getting his hands on them and making his life hell whenever they're not at the library working.
It was a thought, but maybe for the best, the last thing Lila needed's the robots becoming handmade Cybermen and trying to turn them or possibly kill them. Maybe try to take over the world, well, unless they install Turing protocols into their heads, maybe, but whatever, Lila's in a horror movie, not a sci-fi.
"Come on, I should've found the damn thing already," Lila mumbled as she's grown irritated. She's whacked herself on things left and right, trying to not conk herself on anything, still no damn TARDIS, and no light.
Scratch that, she found a light.
As she walked, Lila abruptly stopped when she heard something rolling towards her and lightly brushed against her sneakers. Cautiously she reached down and touched it, finding that it's a flashlight, hers, she can tell because the body's coming apart in areas from her throwing it as far as she's able at the...
Oh...
No...
Oh no...
No...
God, can't it just be a wild coincidence just this once?
No, it apparently can't, and Lila froze in terror as she held the flashlight.
No Lila, don't turn on the flashlight, you know the tropes.
Yes Lila, turn it on, because you can't find the damn TARDIS in the dark because you hated carrots all your life, even carrot cake.
Why didn't she eat her carrots like mom said and get night vision?
... Well, that's scientifically impossible, but anything can happen now that she's traveled with Theodore...
"Bad, very bad," Lila winces as she held her flashlight tightly as her legs started trembling.
Clacking noises, disemboweled humming, phantom cologne scent and footsteps, what else's in store that hadn't happened yet?!
Oh, Lila got her answer, because she heard...
Thud... thud... thud...
B-behind...
B-behind...
"Ah... Th... Doc... if you're still somewhere in my head, a little help be nice!" Lila trembled as she called out to Theodore, hoping he's in her head somewhere.
Of course, wouldn't you know it, the man's not answering, and Lila's taken off like a bat out of hell because darkened hanger or not, she's not standing around for long, and as she ran, she remembered that the Plague Doctor hates light.
Well, it was a nice thought when she went to turn the damn thing on and found that either she's the Bionic Woman or the Plague Doctor broke the bulb and everything on it, so it's a paperweight.
"Mother..." Lila frustratedly hissed as her curse cut short when she heard the groan of the elevator coming down again, the doors opening, and she sees light coming from two flashlights briefly pointing up at the ceiling.
Never was Lila comforted when she heard the aloof giant in her head, asking her where she's at in the hanger, and Lila summed that she doesn't know, but there's a problem.
"What problem?" Theodore asked.
Lila bluntly replied, "Tall, black, very, very frightening me!"
It came to a shock to Theodore that the Plague Doctor found its way down into the hanger, he said that they just got the elevator running, and Lila wasn't going to argue why that wasn't so, because there's a bigger problem.
Who knew the Plague Doctor held grudges for long?
Well, Lila found out, and that's good to note in the future should they ever find something like it, but very terrifying in this context, because it's stalking her.
Sigourney Weaver, she is not.
"Lee...laa..." Lila started hearing that guttural raspy whisper behind her.
At least it knows how to pronounce her name...?
She doesn't know how to feel about this, but what she does know's she can't run anymore, and it feels like she's been running forever.
Her legs forced her to slow down despite her trying to keep them going, but they weren't taking no for an answer, and she slowed to a stop, unable to gauge where she's at in the hanger, not to the walls or the closed entrance, there's nothing in front of her as she tried to feel a round.
"Leeeee... laaaaaaaaaaa..." she heard that guttural raspy voice behind her and her legs started rattling at the sound of those thudding noises closing in on her.
She can't run anymore; her legs would've given out from under her out of protest.
Oh lord, don't let this be her end, Hammond would've blown his top if she doesn't come in tomorrow on time.
It happened so fast, Lila's mind couldn't catch up fast enough, one moment she's praying in her mind, next she sees pale light cutting through the darkness, a flood light, and it's pointing at the tall, dark, not very slender, Plague Doctor as it stood just short of her.
Looking back, Lila sees the beautiful, but still annoying, TARDIS at the end of her run through Wonderland, and she took it as a sign that her number wasn't called, yet.
"Look, we got off on a bad start, so listen, why don't we settle this in a calm professional manner?" Lila coughed as she moved backwards, the Plague Doctor's still after her despite the flood light pointed behind it, guess determination's something she better keep in mind for the next time, "I say sorry for throwing the flashlight at you, you don't maim me, fair?"
Clearly, the Plague Doctor doesn't negotiate because it let out a guttural hiss at her.
Well, nobody can't say she didn't try to resolve this diplomatically!
"Ah, well, um, sorry, anyway?" Lila meekly responds to the hissing as she dropped the broken flashlight before bolting right then and there, maybe her legs won't run anymore, but it's better than standing right there.
Oh, how she missed the TARDIS, even if it almost got them killed, and her whole body, after she slammed into it, her body unable to move further.
Groaning, Lila blinked several times before recovering from her daze, her clammy hands reaching for the handle.
"Situation! Open!" Lila shouted at the TARDIS.
She expected the thing to have a laugh at her expense, but the door handle gave and the door opened inwards. For once, she happily ran inside and shut the door behind her with a loud slam.
Her heart running like it's Schwarzenegger, Lila exhaled sharply as sweat dripped from her nose, when she wearily looked up, she thanked the TARDIS.
"Man, for once, I'm happy you opened your door," she hoarsely coughed as she ended up having to sit on those steps, her knees rattling, and she heard Theodore in her head.
He asked if she's inside the TARDIS and she told him that she was, much to his relief.
As she catches her breath, Lila blinks as she felt compelled to tell Theodore, "Hey... get the hanger door open, okay?"
That tone of voice, she never heard that coming from herself, but she said, and Theodore's taken aback by the request until Lila tells him that the humming's coming from behind it.
"I... I think we have to," Lila tells him.
Don't ask her, she doesn't know, all she know's she's taking Advil and vegetating for the rest of the night. Hopefully, Hammond's understanding as to why she needed time off tomorrow.
Theodore didn't ask any questions why, just told her to stay put, and Lila nods as she tells him in her mind, "Don't worry, spaceman, my legs gave out and likely to murder me if I don't."
Now, she hoped Theodore makes it out of alive...