I'm not dead I swear

Chapter 22

Hidden in California

February 10th 2018

"Thank you. For everything, really."

They stood on the sidewalk across the street from June's apartment. Her luggage sat on the ground. A single suit case. She was leaving more items than she had taken in the first place.

"You talk like you're never coming back," the Doctor said.

"Of course, I'm coming back," she laughed. "Can't I be grateful in the moment?"

He smiled. "Of course."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"When are you coming back?" Rose asked.

June shrugged. "A few days, maybe a week. It'll probably be different for us." She could already feel herself missing their familiarity. But she had family and friends waiting for her. And she needed to be with them more. "I'll miss you guys."

"Oh, come here." Rose pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll miss you too. Remember to call."

June laughed. "I will."

She hugged the Doctor too. His hug was tighter than usual. She didn't mind at all. "Don't stay away too long."

"I promise I won't."

June picked up her bags. "I'll be in touch. I'll tell you when I want to be picked up. And, don't have too much fun without me."

"Utterly impossible, June Bug."

She crossed the street and they called their last goodbyes to each other.

~*O*~

Seeing Grace and Logan again after so long actually made June emotional. Familiarity felt warm and relaxing. She was safe and loved and face to face with her two best friends. She wasn't sure who rushed into who. If she rushed towards Grace or if Grace rushed to her. Either way they met in the middle, squeezing each other tight, grinning like utter mad men. And Grace took June's face in her hands and began to babble on about how much she had missed her and how much she had missed while she was gone and how she had to tell her everything about her traveling. She pulled her head down and planted a sloppy kiss on her forehead.

And Logan said something along the lines of, "My life was better without you." But with one of those smiles she knew so well, a smile that negated any negative meaning from the sentence.

And she replied with, "Mine too." And they hugged. Because they could annoy the hell out of each other all they wanted, but it didn't mean that they actually hated each other.

Not so long after, Parker made an appearance. And he walked right into Grace screaming over the state of June's hands. How they were all discolored and splotchy along the palms. June made up some story that wasn't, "I was helping to save a space station from the Earth burning."

Parker looked at June with this brand-new sense of pride she had never seen before in his eyes. Something about her making her own life and going out and having fun and adventures. He didn't know the extent of it. He held her hands and kissed her palms and then kissed her lips and June remembered why they had their deal. She missed the affection of love.

And as June set her things away and got prepared to go see her family, Grace asked what they would be doing for her birthday. And June told her that she just wanted to stay home, visit her parents, watch a movie maybe. Eat, get a little drunk. She just wanted to lay around the house after traveling so much. And, what she didn't tell them, is that she was already birthdayed out. First it was meeting Walt Disney, then a series of concerts which almost destroyed her eardrums, and then birthday cake and sodas on the moon, protected by the TARDIS's force field. She was happy to just laze around.

~*O*~

February 11th 2018

And just as June said, they just laid around all day. She had a perfectly non-exciting birthday, which June never realized she would be so thankful for. She stayed at her parents' house, surrounded by everyone who cared about her, watching movies, receiving presents, eating cake, and getting a little drunk.

She got the type of presents a twenty-three-year-old would get. Clothes and lip gloss from Grace, a mountain of candy and about five pairs of sneakers she wasn't sure what she was going to do with from Logan, records from Parker because music, and a gently used electric guitar from her parents. June named it Mae and it was gorgeous. Aubrey, her younger sister, didn't get her anything. She said 'happy birthday,' to her and gave her a hug which was good enough for June.

And June was the last one awake that night. Slightly tipsy and unable to move from the living room couch considering Parker had his arms wrapped around her so tight. Everyone had passed out. Her parents in their room, Aubrey in her room, Grace on the couch across from her, and Logan on the floor, his feet under the coffee table. The TV glowed on all of them and June felt herself smile. She had missed them. She had missed everyone so much. And surrounded by people she loved, she wondered how the Doctor couldn't be happy with a life like this, how anyone couldn't really. She managed to grab a blanket from her stuck position and laid it over her and Parker and let herself drift off to sleep.

~*O*~

The days June spent at home were the most ordinary, yet entertaining days of her life. She had never really been away for long. Returning felt like the most wonderful sigh of relief. To step out onto familiar laws and spend her nights in her own bedroom again. Driving her own car where ever she wanted to go. Spending time with the people she knew best in the world.

Even the way her couch sunk when she sat was wonderful. The way her bed creaked when she turned. The smell of perfume coming from Grace's room. Plush towels and thin blankets. The ability to wake up and see her best friend standing in the kitchen, making toast or something, with sleepy eyes and a large cup of coffee. Logan's snorts and snickers while they played video games with worn controllers. How he would shove her whenever she was about to win. And just about everything about Parker. His long red hair and the small array of freckles he had on his forehead but nowhere else. The way his hand felt and his voice sounded. How she could feel his breathing while they were squished together on the couch.

And of course, just the presence of her family made every bit of tension June didn't know she had fall from her body. What was so wonderful about them was just the fact that they were her family. Her own flesh and blood. Her wisecracking mother, too loving for her own good. Her father, never worried and a little too trusting. And her little sister, the one she had helped raise, growing into that older naivety where she knew parts of the world but not most of it. She had always had such an attitude, even since she was young and she never lost it.

The universe was vast and wild. So many things to see, so many lives to cross through. But even after everything she had seen, her little corner of the universe was her favorite.

~*O*~

February 17th 2018

11:41 PM

Cars were never meant to be driven with bare feet. But June pushed on. She weaved through the cars which still lingered on the road no matter how uncomfortable she felt.

"Um hey," Logan leaned over from the back seat and June jolted when he set his hand on her shoulder. "They're still following us."

"I know!" June yelled. "I can see them!" The three men in black which June theorized weren't men at all, but something more mechanical, were after her. She could see them speeding long after her at an inhuman speed in her rear view mirror. The night had quickly gone downhill.

"What do you need me to do?" Grace asked from the passenger's seat.

"Call the Doctor!" June yelled. She made a sharp right turn down another street. She heard a honk in the distance and swore under her breath.

"Doctor who?" Grace asked.

"Just do it!" June shouted. "He's in my contacts!"

"God, okay." Grace tapped away on June's phone.

A warm voice began to speak into her ear. "Hey, we're all gonna be okay. Calm down." June really did appreciate Parker's efforts, but it's not like he knew anything about what was really going on.

Logan laughed stiffly. "Okay? We're not gonna be okay! We're being chased by the goddamn men in black!"

"Do you want to get into an accident?" Parker snapped at him. Logan pulled a face, but stayed quiet. "Okay, so shut up."

"The Doctor?" Grace asked, staring down at the contact.

June nodded. "Yeah. And put it on speaker."

A familiar voice answered the phone, although not the one she was aiming for. "Hello?"

"Rose give the phone to the Doctor!" June shouted.

"Why, what's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Just give it to him!" She boomed. All her friends groaned. She might as well have been screaming in their ears.

A moment later, "June Bug! If you missed me you could've just—"

"We're being chased by the men in black!" June shouted.

The Doctor paused. "The men in black?" He didn't sound impressed.

"Yes!" June yelled. "Sorta. I dunno. They're not human or anything, they're chasing my car on foot, but they look like the men in black."

The Doctor took another moment. "We?"

June's attention snapped to one of the back windows rolling down. She watched Logan in the rear view mirror as he leaned out into the night and tossed something back at the three menacing men following them. "What the hell, Logan!? What was that!?"

"It did nothing!" Logan gasped.

"Logan!" June screamed.

"It was an empty soda can, calm down!" he yelled.

"Why would you do that?" Grace yelled at him.

"June!" the Doctor called over the phone.

"I wanted to see if it would do anything!"

"Are you stupid?" June shouted.

"Don't act on your bad ideas!" Grace yelled.

"June!" the Doctor called again.

"It wasn't bad!" Logan protested.

"Guys, shut up!" Parker roared. Everyone went silent. "None of this is helping."

"I see what you mean by we," the Doctor grumbled. "Why are they chasing you?"

"I dunno," June shrugged. "They just broke into my house and tried to kidnap me."

"Why?" the Doctor asked again.

"They said I was a required material, whatever that means," June said.

"Required material for what?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know!"

"Didn't you ask!?"

"They started vaporizing my furniture, no I did not!" June cleared her throat. "Okay, listen. There's this back-parking lot behind an old Angel's movie Theater, on Sunset Street. There's an alleyway between it and the Ruby's. It's 11:44 on February 17th 2018. I'm about five minutes away. Be there."

There was a deep sigh. "Alright." The wheezing of the TARDIS engine echoed from the other side of the phone.

"What's that?" Grace asked.

June shook her head. "Don't ask." She had to make a sharp left. She muttered curse words to herself as the whole car lurched and teetered on its wheels.

"Stop swearing," the Doctor ordered.

"Bite me, E.T. Grace, hang up."

~*O*~

The patrons of the small bar on the corner paid no attention to the old hatchback racing down the street, kicking up pebbles from the asphalt. And they didn't see the three men chasing after it at an inhuman speed. Maybe then, they would've known that something was about to go wrong.

June yanked the steering wheel and the car lurched right down an alleyway which opened up to a parking lot. She had spent a few months in that parking lot learning how to drive. She had almost crashed into one of the streetlamps. And there was something that she had expected to be there that wasn't. It didn't belong there, but it was necessary. The TARDIS.

She parked her car and groaned, hitting her head on the headrest. "Where is he?" she complained. "Why can't he be on time for once?" she slumped down in her seat. "Stupid time travel."

"Are you high?" Logan asked.

June sat up in her seat again and looked back at him. "What?"

"You heard me."

"No, I'm not high," she scoffed.

"You said time travel," he said.

"I think we have other things to deal with," Parker said, holding his hand up to cut off conversation. "Like the creepy men in black following us."

"Yeah, honestly," Grace rolled her eyes. "Who was that doctor guy you were talking to?"

June shook her head. "It's a long story. But basically, he can help." She went for her phone again and dialed the TARDIS. She stuck it to her ear. The phone rang… and rang… and rang… and rang some more, but there was eventually no answer. She could've screamed in frustration but she kept it down and dropped her phone into the empty cup holder.

"So, what do we do?" Parker asked.

June shrugged. "I don't know."

"We can't just let those things come after us."

"Yeah, I know," June snapped. She leaned back in her seat. All was quiet for a moment. She kept thinking about them sneaking up on them, pouncing, their weapons raised and ready to fire. She picked her backpack up from the ground in the back seat and began to rummage through it. She pulled out her baseball bat.

"How-?" Logan whispered.

"Again, long story," June said.

"You can't keep being vague like this," Grace told her.

"I know. Everything's just too difficult to explain now." She straightened and rolled her head across her shoulders. "I'm gonna go hold those freaks off. You guys stay in here." Immediately, protests. Loud arguments coming from all three of them. June raised her hands. "Guys, guys—" they still all talked away, "GUYS!" They fell silent. "Listen, those things are after me. They won't hurt you if they get to me first. And they need me for something so there's a chance I won't end up hurt at all. It'll be fine. This is the safest way."

"It's still stupid," Logan muttered.

Parker was silent. He kept his eyes on her. They were weary and nervous, but not outwardly rejecting. He knew she had some sort of logic to her plan, no matter how he hated it.

"Not happening," Grace said. "Whatever happens, I will be by your side."

"Not this time," June told her. "This time, you've got to listen to me. I'll be fine. It'll be fine. The Doctor will get here soon. I can hold off a few robots for a few minutes."

"Oh, no, no, n—"

June rolled out of the car before there could be anymore arguing. "Bye. Stay in the car. I'll be fine. Don't come after me until the Doctor gets here."

She jogged away as fast as she could on the asphalt in bare feet. Every time there was a pebble, she winced. She knew the odds were against her.

The men in black were already waiting in the alleyway when she reappeared there. She could see their identical outlines. "You will come with us," the chorused.

June shook her head. "Nah.

They began to move closer. And although she knew it wouldn't be the best idea, her legs carried her closer to them. They stopped in front of each other. Their faces were so still. "You will come with us."

"Again," June said, "no. And you better get out of here before my backup arrives or else, you're really gonna have a bad time.

June should've known what ran by her in that moment. She could tell by the hair and the height and the sound of frustration coming from her mouth. But her brain wasn't that fast. And Grace had already pushed one of the robots over.

"Grace!"

"Too bad!" she shouted. She turned on the robots. "Now leave us alone!"

"That's not gonna—" she groaned and hit one of the robots over the head with her baseball bat. "Now everything is gonna get worse!"

She felt metal grab her wrist. She turned and knocked the third robot down too, but it pulled her with it. She crashed. Rough edges digged into her ribs and in the side of her stomach. The ground scraped her knees through her thin flannel pants.

Grace leapt forward just as one of the robots appeared behind her again. She wrapped her arms around June's waist and kicked at the robot's arm. She grunted something like, "Get off. Get off." She yanked June's hand out of its grasp and they both rolled over onto their backs.

"Could you listen to me for once!?" June shouted.

"Not when you're being stupid!" Her words turned into a shriek as one of the robots stepped over her, a gun pointed at her head.

June jumped off the ground and slammed her baseball bat into the side of its head. It fell away, buckling towards the ground. June helped Grace off of the ground, shaking her head. "I swear to god. This—"

"June!"

She was picked up off the ground. June was held in the arms of two robots. She struggled and kicked. "Hey!" The third one grabbed Grace. She shrieked and June struggled harder. "Let her go! Please!"

And then the sound of wheezing. And June's heart dropped.

"Let her go! Let her go!" June shouted. "Get back to the parking lot, please!"

Grace was sobbing and desperately lunging towards her. "June! No don't!"

And June was shut off.

Grace didn't have to deal with the stress of seeing her best friend knocked out by robots because she too, was shut off. But while June was dragged away to wherever the robots were going, Grace was left in the alleyway.

~*O*~

Parker and Logan had climbed up to the driver's and passenger's seat. So, they had gotten quite the good view of the blue police box appearing in the parking lot. They exchanged quiet looks. Logan pointed at the box. Parker nodded. Logan slumped down in his seat. "She has a lot to tell us."

"Yeah."

And as if it couldn't get more confusing, two people stepped out of the box. A man with cropped hair and a leather jacket and a young blonde girl. The man's attention was pulled to the car immediately. The blonde scanned the parking lot, her face pinched and eyebrow tilted. The man b-lined towards the car, pulling the girl along with him. Parker and Logan exchanged looks.

The man stopped at the passenger side window with an obviously forced and stressed smile. He knocked on the window with his knuckle. Logan rolled it down. "Hello," the man said. His voice was immediately recognizable. "We're looking for—"

"June," Parker interrupted. "You're June's friends.

"Yup," the man—the one June had been shouting at—the Doctor—said. "That's us. Where is she?"

"She went to confront the men in black," Logan said. Parker stared straight ahead. It sounded so much worse than he thought.

"And you just let her go?" the Doctor demanded.

Parker pinched the bridge of his nose. "She made a good argument," he muttered.

Logan frowned and glanced at him. "I thought you didn't say anything because you can't tell her off."

"What—"

That's when they noticed that the two strangers had wandered off. They both scrambled out of the car and raced on after them.

"Do you think she's okay?" the blonde asked.

"I don't know, Rose," the Doctor said. "That's why we're going to go check." When the two boys caught up, the Doctor glanced at them over his shoulder. "I didn't say you two could come."

Parker shrugged. "Too bad."

"So, now you feel bad," the Doctor guessed.

"Doctor," Rose muttered, glaring up at him.

"Do you think I wanted to let her go alone?" Parker argued. "I wanted to protect her as much as she wanted to protect us."

"Yeah!" Logan shouted.

"Shut up, Logan," Parker snapped.

"Dude—"

They stopped in the alleyway. It was dark and almost deserted. Except for Grace, who laid in the dirt, asleep but not peaceful. Parker swore to himself, running his hands through his hair. "Grace!" Logan rushed over to her, kneeling in the ground. He pressed his fingers to her neck. "She still has a pulse." He shook her. "Wake up."

The Doctor and Rose knelt down next to him. Parker began to pace. Grace woke up when the shaking became too much. "What—hey, stop!" She glanced at the two strangers. "Who are you?"

"What happened?" Logan asked.

"What happened to June?" the Doctor asked.

Grace was silent for a moment. Then her face screwed up, her hands flew to cover her eyes. She began to sob. Logan pulled her into some sort of hug and held onto her. The Doctor put his hand on her arm. Grace looked over at him. "What happened?"

Through bubbles of sobs, Grace explained what had happened. The mysterious men in black, the fighting, the baseball bat, and how they had managed to grab her. And all was quiet except for Grace's sobs.

"So, what do we do now?" Parker asked.

The Doctor stood up. "You lot are going home," he said.

Grace shot up. "No way."

"Yes way," he argued. "Rose and I can deal with this. You three go home. I'll bring June back once I have her."

There was protest and arguing and the Doctor was frankly not fazed by any of it. The shouting and anger and bubbles of tears did not get to him. They had no idea what they were really up against. The Doctor had no idea what they were up against in the first place.

"Let them come with us," Rose whispered to him.

The Doctor frowned at her. "You're not serious, right?"

"They're June's friends," she said.

"Doesn't matter. I don't want them to come along and make things all domestic," the Doctor said.

"They won't stay forever," Rose said. "Just let them come along so they can make sure June's alright. Do it for her."

"Hold on," Grace said. She sniffled up her tears. "You're assuming we need permission to come along. We're coming along no matter what. You may be her friends but we were here first."

"Technically, I was here first," Parker muttered.

"So where are we going?"

The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other. Rose smiled. The Doctor did not. He looked back at the three strangers he had probably heard so much about. He didn't remember. He rolled his eyes. And for some reason, without much arguing, he sighed and said, "Alright, follow me."

So, I'm not dead. Been busy. I am a high school senior after all.

That was the introduction to June's friends! I hope you liked them.

I'm not exactly proud of this chapter, but I hope you guys liked it.

Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite

Until next time,

- C.C.