Chapter Seventeen
In which things go horribly wrong
It had been an hour later when I found myself in a large room with various other humans and humanoids being packed in like sardines. There were several guards at the double doors. I knew that we could probably overrun the guards if we worked together, but that would mean that many people who were captives would be injured, if not killed. No, there had to be another way. The room's back wall had a single window which led right outside, to thick bushes. The problem was this – not only did it have a screen, but it also was two stories high and there was nothing to use to climb down, at least on the outside. I got an idea. It was either going to end with my dying or my getting hurt, but it was better than just waiting around for something to happen.
I got up from my sitting position on the floor as I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Since I was near the back and most were standing, I had enough cover as I answered the phone.
"You really have an interesting interpretation of the words 'thirty minutes', mister Lord of Time," I almost hissed into the phone.
"Just warning you that the Oversight Council isn't going to cave into their demands," he stated quietly.
"How much time do we have until word gets out?" I asked.
"Five minutes," the Doctor stated.
"Can you stall 'em?" I asked, watching the mass of humanity.
"I'm trying," he stated, frustration in his voice.
"Keep on doing that. I've got an idea on my end," I stated quietly, "and if you find out that my plan led to my death by way of trying to break the laws of gravity, I don't blame ya. Wait…yeah, I do blame ya… for your horrible timing, you blockhead! I'll call once I can to let ya know that I'm alive."
"Don't do anything daft, Olmstead."
"I think it's a bit too late for ya to be telling me that," I stated before hanging up.
I looked around, making my way towards the back wall and the window. I needed to get closer so I could iron out my plan a bit. A hand grabbed my upper arm, spinning me to my left. There, I saw a timid mouse of a girl, her dishwater blonde hair reaching near her rear and her wide, green eyes piercing into mine with the fear she felt. I saw what she was wearing. It was a t-shirt with a character from My Little Pony on it, almost covered entirely by a denim jacket which looked rather nice and expensive.
"Michelle Connor?" I asked as she had just opened her mouth.
"You're the first one I've seen today who spoke honest-to-God English!" she exclaimed happily, hugging me tightly, "I was so scared!"
"My friends and I have been looking for you for hours!" I exclaimed just as happily, "just follow my lead and I can get the two of us out."
"And what about us?" a rather bulky man asked, leering down at me.
"I promise that we'll get help here," I stated, "assuming I can actually get my plan to work."
"Why don't we just force our way out? The Nambians are idiots and weaklings. We've got the advantage of numbers," a woman off to my far left said, speaking over the rising din.
"Do you know what that will lead to?" I asked, feeling as if I was suddenly channeling the Doctor, "it will lead to people dying. Do any of you want to run towards any crazed armed beings and possibly get yourselves killed?"
I looked around as people looked at me. Some of the looks were thoughtful, some were just eyes rolling, others were disbelieving, and others still looked at me with frustration and anger. They were muttering, creating a dim as everyone started to crowd near me. I felt panic rising within me as everyone was trying to get towards me in desperation for me to help them escape. I started to have trouble breathing as the old anxiety awakened. I stepped backwards, trying to put more distance between me and the panicking throng of humanity until my back was pressed solidly to the wall and yet they still approached me, hands reaching out, the group almost looking like one mutated mass of flesh as my sight started to dim.
Next thing I knew, I was laying on my back on the floor, opening my eyes to stare at the ceiling. My forehead throbbed sharply to contrast with the dull throb at my temples. I let out a groan as I slowly sat up with my head in my hands as I felt my aches remain at their original levels.
"You passed out," Michelle stated, "you hyperventilated."
"Social anxiety," I muttered sourly as I stood up to turn my attention to the window, "physical latch, screen looks screwed in."
"You think that's a good idea? We're two stories up," she stated.
"Two flights," I repeated, "broken legs."
"What?" she asked.
"The worst injury from a fall from two stories in normal conditions is broken legs. Assuming that one lands on their feet on grass," I stated, "I need you to cover me. If you can keep an eye out for the guards, I could keep my progress on the down low."
"They came by five minutes ago," she stated, "seems to be shifts of fifteen minutes."
"So ten minutes to get the window open and the screen removed and then getting me down, hopefully without anyone's attention," I stated, a grin forming on my lips, "I'm gonna love this part."
"But how are you going to get down?" she asked.
"I have a messenger bag and a swath of fabric. Assuming it's about a meter long, I can tie it to my messenger bag's handle and use the messenger bag to secure a foot. It shouldn't be long enough to get me fully down, but I should be close enough to the ground to jump the rest of the way," I stated as I slowly opened the window, "oh, the Doctor may just love that idea."
"The Doctor?" she asked.
"He's a good person. Goes only by 'the Doctor'. Kinda like 'the Green Lantern' and stuff," I stated as I searched the pockets to my cargo pants, pulling out a multi-tool, "let's just hope that this has the right kind of screw. Oh what I wouldn't give to have the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver right about now. It'd solve all our problems."
"You're not making much sense," she stated as I started testing out the screwdriver heads of my multi-tool.
"You'll get used to it," I stated off-handedly, shooting her a grin as I found the right screwdriver head which would work good enough, "there we go."
It was then that my cell phone started to vibrate and I muttered a rather lengthy curse I picked up from watching Firefly as I closed the window and stashed my multi-tool. I managed to answer on the fourth ring.
"Let me guess. Bad news, Doc?" I answered, knowing that it would only be the Doctor.
"I couldn't stall them much longer," I heard him say.
"How much time do I have to get the heck outta Dodge?" I asked.
"Three minutes," he answered.
"Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze," I muttered, "I need more frakkin' time here!"
"I bought you a half an hour!" he exclaimed.
"Most of which I spent passed out because I hyperventilated!" I hissed.
"What?" he asked.
"I need more time here. Can't you do something? Anything?" I asked.
"I'm sorry," he said as I heard the door slam open and I slid the phone into my pocket without hanging up.
"The Oversight Council has failed to understand our plight!" the frogman alien announced, "so we will show them just how much we are committed to gaining out planet back by killing a handful of you in plain sight! Either five will volunteer or we will have to choose seven of you!"
I saw had five different people raised their hands and stepped forward, announcing that they were volunteering to die so that fewer people would be killed. Once the froglike aliens had their volunteers, they gave us a hiss before slamming the doors behind them. I opened the window and continued my work before remembering that the Doctor's call hadn't yet ended and I pulled the phone out.
"I'm back," I stated, "oh and I'm with Michelle."
"This isn't going to end well," I heard him say on the phone, obviously saddened by the loss of life.
"Listen, I need you to pick us up once we've escaped," I said, clamping the phone to my ear using my shoulder so I could go back to unscrewing the window.
"I'm not turning my back on this situation," he stated, "there are people who need me."
"I didn't mean so we could turn our backs on the situation. It's so that we could get rescued and taken to someplace where we won't be cows lined up and waiting for the slaughter," I hissed into the phone, "and I'll see how many I can get out of here so any sort of participation in my escape plan would be very nice to have."
"Just let me know when," the Doctor stated after a few screws were removed, leaving the last two to be done.
"Gotcha," I stated, handing the phone to Michelle.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Michelle asked as I worked on the second to the last screw.
"I want you to let the Doctor know you're ready for a pickup once you get out of here and a good distance from these frogmen," I stated.
"What about you?" Michelle asked.
"I want to make sure everyone else gets out first," I stated, "I've broken bones before. I'll be fine."
Michelle apparently heard something from the phone and lifted it to her ears before saying, "I'm Michelle. Okay." She held the phone to me and said, "he has some choice words for you."
"I bet he does," I stated, "I'll get to hear them all in the TARDIS."
She held the phone back to her ear before saying, "he wants me to tell you to not try to be a hero and get out as soon as you could."
"And he can shove it where the sun don't shine," I stated, working on the last screw carefully so that the screen wouldn't fall.
It was about that time when I heard a scream and the sound of a weapon going off. People were being killed. I closed my eyes for a moment as I grew still before trying to speed up the process.
"He says that once you get into the TARDIS that you'll be grounded," Michelle stated.
"He may be the chauffeur, but he's not my boss and he is not in any sort of position to ground me like a little child. Especially for doing things I know he'd do himself if he was in my shoes," I stated, "and there's a proper time and place for this discussion and this ain't it."
"I don't think he's happy."
"I'm not having that great of a day myself, to be honest," I stated as the final screw came out and I gently removed it while having a grip on the screen, pushing it out and gripping it to pull it into the room.
I poked my head out as the second cry of agony and weapon blast was heard. Each one happening long moments between each other. I knew that there had to only been twenty of the frog aliens here and there had to be a two-to-one ratio between them and the victims being killed. Which meant that there were only four controlling the whole building. Now, those are better odds.
"Okay, everyone, we're splitting into two groups," I stated, looking at the group excitedly.
"And why should we listen to you?" I heard a woman ask me, clearly not believing me.
"Because I'm going to be saving your lives," I stated, "got any problem with that? No? Good! So group one's gonna escape through that window there. If you land in a balanced fashion, you shouldn't get too hurt. You'll be following Michelle to where you'll meet up with a man named the Doctor who will get you all into his ship and wait for my group within the ship. Those with me will force our way out of the back of the building and to Michelle's location. We're aiming at the other side of that hill off to our far left, about a good twenty feet away. Any questions?"
"One!" Michelle exclaimed, raising her hand and getting a nod from me before asking, "the Doctor wants me to ask this. Are you insane?"
"He should know the answer to that himself," I said with a grin as I looked out at the group of humanity, "so those going with Michelle, go to the window and start jumping out. Those with me, let's make the biggest ruckus possible!"
~Author's Note~
I think the Doctor's rubbing off on Lisa far too much. She's definitely trying to see the same angles she thinks he would have. Three chapters in a day? I think my muse is trying to make it up to me. Also, if I ever make the Doctor and Clara's dialogue not British enough, please throw me a bone. I'm an American.
Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze = Mandarin. "The explosive diarrhea of an elephant"