Part Six – Taken

Keep running.

Don't think, run.

Tears stung Rose's eyes as she stumbled blindly over the rocks. Her chest heaved with effort but she refused to slow down, even for a moment. If she stopped, thoughts would come and that she could not allow.

The voluminous skirts were catching her legs, interrupting her run with trips that almost sent her sprawling. She could not make out a thing, through the tears and the darkness but that didn't matter.

A stone caught her slippered foot, dumping her unceremoniously on the ground, skirts spread around her. She blinked, realising that she could actually see. Not very far, to be honest, but it seemed that she'd found her way outside, back to the fog.

Gathering the skirts in one hand, she pulled herself to her feet. The silk was cold between her fingers. She let in drop, thrusting her hand into one of the pockets of the leather jacket. Lingering warmth, his warmth, seeped slowly into her chilled skin.

The fog seemed to be clearing a little. It certainly looked a little thinner anyway.

A twisted piece of wood a few yards to her right caught her eye. Picking her way across the stones, she swiped a sleeve of the jacket over her cheeks. The tears had been freezing where they fell.

She stopped suddenly, in shock, staring at the fog. She could not have described it exactly, but it seemed to be … moving somehow. Writhing might have been a better word. It twisted and turned in on itself, slowly and ghostly. Twisting towards her.

She did not know what fog that seemed to be alive did to people, but she had no intention of finding out. Living fog shouldn't even exist! She stumbled backwards, watching in horror as a whip-like tendril of white mist curled out, reaching for her. It pulsed, glowing eerily in the greyness.

With a cry, Rose spun around, preparing to run. The sight of a second tendril, mere centimetres from her face cut her short. Unable to run, she flinched as the slender filament brushed her cheek.

The touch of mist was quite gentle, hardly more than a soft breath on her cheek. But it hurt. Oh gosh, it hurt. Her whole face tingled and her mouth fell open in a silent groan. The second tendril on her hand made her muscles clench. By the time a third branch of fog had ghosted her neck, she felt her eyes slipping closed. Darkness enveloped her and all thoughts of running fled.

The unexpected cry cutting through the dimness made Jack start in surprise. It sounded somewhat familiar, but far away. God, had that been Rose? No, it couldn't have been. She was safe with the Doctor. Wasn't she?

Shaking his head, Jack kept walking. If Rose was still with the Doctor, the last thing she would have been doing was crying. Well, if he had guessed right anyway. Which he was sure he had. That was enough to return the grin to his face.

Wait, was that a light ahead? Jack strained to see into the darkness, considering whether to extinguish his own lantern or not.

The appearance of a silhouette, a nice feminine silhouette in fact, against the light decided it for him.

Holding the lantern out, Jack walked closer. The small pool of light fell quickly on the woman. She was dark haired, her cream dress torn and dirtied. She wasn't wearing any of the gold that Rose had described, but there was no doubt in Jack's mind. And Rose had certainly said nothing about how pretty she was. He might have looked harder for her earlier if he'd known how nicely the dress fitted her curves and how green her eyes were. The fear reflected in her eyes did not diminish her beauty at all.

"Who-who-are-you?" she stammered, her voice melodious even when tinged with fright.

"Hey, don't worry. You must be Jane," Jack said, taking a step closer and assuming his most reassuring smile. If anything, hearing her own name made her eyes open even wider. Jack sighed. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness. One of Rose's friends."

Jane nodded slowly, but she still gripped her skirt tightly.

"What happened?" Jack asked softly.

"I – " The abrupt clattering of falling stones cut her words off sharply. Jack spun, thrusting his lantern out in front of him. The light of Jane's lantern flickered as her hands shook. Pebbles skidded to a halt at his feet. The sound of running footsteps somewhere to their right caught Jack's attention. He motioned for Jane to follow him and sprinted into the dark.

"Stop!" he vaguely heard her call. He glanced over his shoulder.

"You must not follow! Please!" Her eyes danced with renewed fear.

He slowed, staring at her. "There was someone there. You'd better have a good reason! I want to know who. And why. There's something seriously weird going on here and I'm not gonna be happy about it till I know what it is."

"I understand that, Captain, truly I do, but you must be careful!" Her lip quivered as she was going to cry.

"I'm not exactly what you'd call a careful kinda guy. And the sooner we find out what the hell's going on here, the sooner we get to leave. Foggy, cold, old-fashioned places with totally random computers in the mix don't really do it for me."

"Computers?"

"Ah, never mind." He smiled again. This time her features softened and the fear in her face seemed subdued. "Let's go find Rose and the Doctor." He offered her his arm. She hesitated then took it. Yes, he really should have looked harder earlier.

Turning, Jack found himself being grabbed by the arms by an unseen assailant. Before he could even think of reacting, a black bag was being pulled over his head.

He really hadn't expected that at all.