So it's been a few years since I posted a chapter in this one. Sorry about that.
We continued down a hallway until we stopped at a room that I assumed was the medbay. The Doctor helped me into the room and propped me up on a chair that resembled one that would be in a doctor's office. Actually, the whole room resembled a doctor's office. Or a hospital room. There were pieces of medical equipment around. Most of them I recognized, but there were a few futuristic gadgets. I looked around the room as he rummaged through cabinets until he found what he was looking for, which turned out to be a syringe filled with some blue liquid. I gulped a bit as he came back over.
"Um, isn't there another way to do this, like without a needle?" I asked hesitantly. I really hated needles.
"This is sap from the Mocor tree on the planet Dera. Has the best and fastest healing properties I know of. Plus, this won't hurt a bit." He said, gently lifting up my ankle and inserting the needle. I bit back a scream as the needle pierced the swollen flesh and the liquid entered my ankle.
'Won't hurt a bit!?'" I said, glaring at him as he removed the needle. "That literally felt like the sting of a thousand bees!"
"Alright. So I might have lied a bit. But, it did do its job. Look at your ankle"
I looked down at my ankle in astonishment. The swelling was immediately gone. "Thanks." I said, suddenly feeling really grateful to the man who'd pretty much saved my life and also the only person I'd talked to in a year. A whole year of not being in contact with anyone. I was surprised my voice was even still working. Suddenly, I heard myself let out a long sigh.
"Blimey, that was a long sigh." The Doctor said. "Been holding that in for a long time, I see."
I looked down at my hands. "I guess so. It's been a long year of no contact with anyone and trying to hide myself." I said. "But you probably wouldn't want to hear about it.."
"'Course I would. The TARDIS brought me here for a reason and I think you're just the person I need to tell me what's going on." The Doctor said casually, leaning against the wall and crossing one brown pinstriped leg over the other. "So," He said, fixing me with a look that almost felt like he was looking into my soul. "Why don't you tell me what's been going on."
I hesitated at first, trying to figure out how to tell a complete stranger who I'd just met that night, everything. Suddenly, I found myself spilling everything. How the Mruksas' had come to this town, claiming to be running from their war-torn planet and hoping for a new life here. How they had always been curious about humans and wanted us to teach them about human life. How everyone was a little bit cautious about letting an alien race stay with us, but quickly got over that (except for me) and welcomed them into our town. How my instincts were telling me something was off with this species and tried to warn whoever would listen to me that we shouldn't trust them and how I'd been brushed off with people saying that I should just give them a chance, that that I should learn to trust with my heart and not my head, even though I'd been listening to both my head and my heart and praying about the whole situation and that all three were telling me that they weren't to be trusted and how I was right.
How they'd very quickly acclimated to our lifestyle. How some of them had somehow managed to get jobs at local radio stations or news stations, which led to them taking over the airwaves, subtly at first. Sending small subliminal waves that led to them voting one of the aliens into office as the mayor. How that small act led to bigger brainwashing until everyone was fully brainwashed into serving these monsters. How, at that moment, when everyone was under their control and started dressing and acting and working for them, I knew. I knew that I had to leave this life, but I couldn't get out of the city because these brainwashed people were guarding the town's border so that no one could come in or out. How I'd sent out a text to my friends and family who didn't live her that this might be the last time I could reach them and that I couldn't contact them for fear of being caught. How I'd silently cried, as I saw my parents and younger sister, stoic as they marched to their workstations, and how I'd tried to do everything I could survive for a year.
"And now I just feel like I can't do it anymore." I said, finding myself crying. "I feel like it would just be a better life if I just turned myself in and surrendered to the brainwashing. At least I would have a place to sleep and a job instead of hiding and only coming out at night." I said.
"Ah, well I don't see you doing that anytime soon." The Doctor said.
"How do you figure?" I asked, curious where he was going with this.
"Well, you've already come this far." He said. "You've continued to hide and protect yourself because deep inside you know you've got something to hold onto."
I considered his words. Maybe he was right. Every time I thought about turning myself in, I didn't. That inner voice was telling me to not give up. That despite everything, I had something that gave me a reason to fight. And that inner voice was telling me at that moment to not give up, that thanks to the Doctor showing up, I had something to look towards.
"Hope." I said, softly, looking at his kind face with those ancient and sad that looked like they had seen so much.
The Doctor grinned. "Exactly!" He said excitedly. "That's one of the things that humans carry with you the most. That drive to never give up because you know there's something out there. And you also have something else to help you." He said, seriously.
"What?" I asked.
"Me." He said. "That's why I'm here. To save your city/"
"So what?" I asked "Do you just go around saving people in the universe who are in trouble?"
"Welll, it doesn't always start off like that, but that's how it ends up/" He said.
I felt a wave of relief come over me. Somehow inside of me, I knew that hope was keeping me alive and keeping me from not turning myself in. I knew now that thanks to the Doctor coming when he did, we could defeat them and save this town. For the first time in a year, I felt something come alive and I felt an emotion I hadn't felt in a long time. I felt happy.