Another One Bites the Dust

Sadie had grown thoroughly tired of walking by the time they stopped again. Strangely enough, she thought that all the walking was much worse than running. At least running got you to your destination quicker, if nothing else. The Doctor didn't seem to be tired at all. He was still chatting away to various members of the party, strolling along like they were heading for a picnic. A moment after the group had stopped moving, a dim green light flooded the area, causing Sadie and everyone else to blink repeatedly until their eyes grew accustomed to it. The Princess had pulled her hood back just far enough to let a tiny bit of light show. It was barely enough light to see much of anything, but it was enough.

"We're still in danger, but this is safe enough for us to stop for a rest," The Princess said, settling herself on a fallen tree trunk. Gethin sat on one side of her, and the Doctor moved to sit on the other side. Sadie plopped down on the dirt next to the Doctor. After everyone was seated, Keaira passed around some strange looking bread to everyone from a bag she wore around her waist. Sadie took a small bite from the corner of her piece, and found it had a wonderful garlic type of flavor. She chewed it contentedly, glad to finally be resting.

"Princess Ilona," The Doctor said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. He hadn't taken any bread as it had been passed around. "I know what you're up against, with the Lokeens. They're nearly impossible to catch, since the only way of knowing where they are is by feeling, and you know as well as I do that if a Lokeen is close enough for you to feel it, it's close enough to kill you. You understand that there's really a slim chance, at best, of stopping them, don't you?"

"A slim chance is better than no chance, Doctor," Princess Ilona replied. "I can't bear to see this continue here...all the destruction and murder. I have to at least try to stop them." She paused briefly and then continued in a slightly shaky voice. "You said before, when we first met, that you could help us. What you've said…are you trying to say that you really can't help us at all?"

"I'll help you," The Doctor assured her. "Don't worry about that. I just wanted to be sure you knew how unlikely this situation is."

"I know," Princess Ilona replied sadly. "But as I see it, I have no other choice." There was silence then, but Sadie was sure she heard a tiny sniffling coming from inside the Princess' cloak. Gethin cleared his throat loudly after a moment, and turned to the Doctor.

"We're heading south, towards an abandoned garrison. It was a closely guarded secret when it was in use, and it hasn't been used for many years, so I know it's the safest place for us right now. We should be there within an hour or two. So, Doctor that gives you that much time to come up with some sort of plan to help us, like you say you can." The Doctor's face darkened. Sadie could tell he wasn't very happy with Gethin's remarks.

"I'll help you," he said. "But I won't be ordered around." Gethin chuckled.

"I'm the one in charge here," he snarled, rising to his feet, glaring down at the Doctor. "So you'll do as you're told." The Doctor was on his feet in an instant. He'd gone from not-too-happy to angry in record time.

"Stop it! Both of you!" The Princess ordered, jumping up between them, throwing her arms out in an attempt to keep them apart. "I won't have you fighting!" When she was satisfied that neither of them were going to move or say anything more, she dropped her arms and turned to Gethin. "I wish to talk to you, Gethin. Alone. Come with me." She headed away from the group, the dim light moving with her. Gethin followed obediently, throwing one last glare over his shoulder at the Doctor as he did.

The group sat in the darkness, listening to Gethin and the Princess exchange what sounded like heated words in the distance. Sadie sat nervously chewing on her thumbnail, trying to make out what they were saying. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the Doctor's voice.

"Don't do that, Sadie."

"Do what?" she asked innocently, moving her hand away from her mouth quickly.

"Biting your nails. I know you're doing it again."
"Sorry."

The group was relatively silent again, until Sadie became uncomfortably aware that someone was crying. She could hear muffled sobs coming from someone sitting near her. She couldn't determine who it was in the dark. She slid closer to the sound, stopping when it was loudest, and when she could feel the person next to her shaking.

"Hey now, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked softly, wrapping an arm around the person's shoulders.

"'m s-scared," the person, a female, choked out. Sadie slid closer.

"It's okay to be scared. We're all scared. But we're going to be okay, I promise," she soothed. Her words didn't have the desired effect, and the girl cried harder.

"No we're not!" she wailed. "We're all going to die, I just know it!"

"You're not going to die, Tynan, I promise you that," The Doctor said, his voice coming from the other side of the girl. Tynan didn't answer. The light came flooding back as the Princess returned, allowing them to see once again. The Doctor was kneeling on the opposite side of Tynan, resting a hand on her shoulder. Others were gathered around as well.

"Is there a problem here?" she asked, kneeling in front of the still crying girl. "Tynan?"

"We're going to die, Princess," Tynan said, despair dripping from her voice. "There's no hope for us."

"There's always hope, Tynan," Princess Ilona began, but Tynan stopped her.

"No! Don't you understand? Nearly everyone we know has died already. We're the only ones left, and they're coming for us! It's been said there's only a slim chance of the Lokeens being stopped… it's useless, Princess, completely useless!" Tynan shrugged off Sadie and the Doctor and stood up. "Why are we even trying?" she shouted. "We're only prolonging the inevitable!"

"Tynan, please.." the Princess pleaded, standing as well. She was abruptly stopped yet again when Tynan grabbed hold of the cloak covering the Princess and jerked it off. Instantly, it became as bright as daylight. Sadie shielded her eyes with her hands, as did many of the others.

"Now! Now they'll come, and it'll be over," Tynan declared. "I felt them, they were already coming anyway. Now it'll all be over…"

The Doctor moved swiftly, grabbing the cloak and throwing it back over the Princess' head, effectively removing most of the light. The Princess and the Doctor scrambled to arrange it so it would block out the rest of the light. Sadie was moving to help when she heard a blood-curdling scream, and turned towards it. Tynan had wandered away from the group, and she had been the one to scream. The light was almost gone, but it was still enough for Sadie to see what happened next.

There was another scream, and then Sadie heard the most horrible noise imaginable, the sound of ripping, tearing flesh. Tynan's now mangled, skinless body fell to the dirt with a thud, as the darkness enveloped them all once again. Sadie felt positively sick at what she had just seen.

Before she could scream, cry, or throw up, the Doctor grabbed hold of her hand and began pulling her along. She had somehow missed the command to run in the madness.

"Doctor…the Lokeens…" she panted after a moment, as they ran blindly through the dark.

"What about them?"

"On Earth, Lokeens only make your skin crawl…when they do that…are they..?"

"Yes. They're trying to figure out how they can remove it."