Chapter 6.
Martha and the Doctor walked through the snow, barely saying a word to one another. "Don't you have family that are worried about you?" Martha asked, looking to him with concern.
The Doctor looked ahead, thinking, "I…don't have any."
"No friends, relatives…colleagues even? We have no information on you, it's like you just dropped out of the sky," she then studied his clothing and looked ahead, "it seems as though you've been in the wars too. Do you even remember how you got injured?"
The Doctor didn't respond as he was once again lost in his thoughts. The pair continued walking until they got onto a road which lead to a bridge, back into the main part of town. However, there was a barricade.
Martha stopped in her tracks, "what is going on?"
There was a tank on the bridge with military vans surrounding it. Military personnel were heading traffic back away from the bridge, nobody was allowed through.
The Doctor ran his hand through his already messy hair, "lets find out shall we?"
"No, wait-" Martha reached out to grab his arm but he was already ahead.
A soldier, whose uniform had the U.N.I.T acronym on the shoulder, held his hand out in front of him as the Doctor approached, "sorry, Sir, we are going to have to ask you to turn around."
Martha followed from behind, looking to the soldier, "What's the problem?"
"We're dealing with a grave situation. It's confidential, please turn around."
The Doctor took time to study the U.N.I.T logo and once again he had flashes and he looked the soldier in alarm, "Stewart…Stewart?" he asked in a confused daze.
The soldier looked awkwardly to Martha, "he'll be far better off just staying at whichever party he came from," to which his demeanour became a lot more firm, "now move along!"
After being ordered to move along, the Doctor and Martha headed back to the small shopping village near the morgue. There was a small café there which was still open for the new year. It wasn't the site of a party, which suited Martha fine since she didn't want a constant reminder of where she could have been had she just simply called in sick.
A waitress came and gave them their orders. The Doctor had a cup of tea while Martha had a cappuccino.
She looked to him with intrigue. "Do you think you could be suffering from some form of amnesia?"
The Doctor looked to his cup of tea, dropping one lump of sugar into the hot beverage that he didn't add milk to. He then looked up to Martha, "well is that not your job?" He then returned to his tea, gently stirring in the sugar with a teaspoon.
Martha sat back, picked up her cup and took a sip, placing the cup down, she started speaking again, "Well, there's no lump on your head, no bruise and no sign of drug or alcohol taking. In fact, it's almost like your clothing took the battering for you, like some kind of shield."
The Doctor patted his jacket briefly, he poked at one of the holes in the material with his index finger. It had never occurred to him as to why he was in that condition, he was more concerned with who he was and why he was there. He shook his head, once again at a loss for ideas and looked back to her, "I like to travel. I'm not fond of being stuck in the one place at the one time."
Martha chuckled a little, "I like travelling to," she dreamily looked to the ceiling, "I remember when Brennan took me to Paris. It was such a nice week. What I wouldn't give to be back there," she them looked back to The Doctor, "how about you, where do you like to travel?"
Once again, the Doctor struggled with the immediacy and directness of the question, "oh…here, there…everywhere?"
Martha laughed, "you have issues, mate," she then stopped to look at him softly, "you don't really get out a lot do you. You're shy…but so…bold too. It's strange. I'm no Doctor though, I'm just studying medicine so I'm afraid I'm of little help to you."
"Doctor…" he echoed as he sipped his tea. He looked around the café to the other patrons, overhearing a parent say to her child, "Time to go, Ed."
Martha looked to him awkwardly, "look, I'm afraid you're starting to weird me out just a little ok. Can we just-"
The Doctor then shot up from his seat, patting his jacket pocket in a panic, he withdrew a key from it and threw it to the table before Martha, she jumped at his sudden impulse. For a brief second, she saw the key glow a bright hold, but then quickly revert back to its usual, mundane property. "I'M THE DOCTOR!" he beamed.
Martha stood up and nodded slowly, "Yeah…ok, I suppose that makes me a professor? But all the same, you are freak me out – AGAIN."
The Doctor looked to her and started to explain, "look, I realise that this is-" his breath was starting to shorten and this time they were beginning to capture the attention of the patrons in the café. He turned on his heel, heading for the door and Martha looked to him in an alarmed state, "HEY!"
She then looked hesitantly to the waiter behind the counter and rolled her eyes, "I guess you want me to pick up the bill?"
She then looked down to the table and saw the Doctor had forgotten his key, she looked up, but he had gone. At the same time, she smirked because her instincts told her that he couldn't get far without the key, especially if it didn't just do what she saw it do. But that worried her too. She picked up a napkin, rolled it into a cigar shaped type object and poked the key. Looking to the napkin, Martha noted that there were no singe marks. She picked it up with her bare fingers and looked to it, "…you are a strange one aren't you?"
The Doctor heard footsteps running after him, he turned around to see Martha, he grinned, "There you are, no stopping you is there?"
She handed him his key, "you forgot this and you owe me four pounds for the drinks."
He tucked the key away and nodded, "consider it done. For now, we need to get back over that bridge."
Martha rolled her eyes, "Ok, Commando, what do you suggest? And why are you in such a hurry, you're still my patient, you know?"
"I need to get back to the TARDIS, there's a scan I need to run. Something dragged me down here, a signal. I need to know what's starting all of it. I have a feeling it's got something to do with the walking dead." He continued walking.
"You are not making any sense. What's a…TRADA? Walking dead?" She laughed with a clap, "oh you are good. The news report that sent you here. Ok, so where is the Mystery Mobile parked?"
The Doctor turned and looked to her defensively, "I am NOT making this up. There is something at work here and I believe its linked to that lock down on the bridge. Apart from the guard that chased me out of that facility, the morgue was abandoned and the Government are covering it up which explains U.N.I.T's presence."
"Ok, I take it you mean aliens, zombies, vampires-"
Moving through the snow, the Doctor reminded, "- and werewolves. Seen them all. But this is something more profound. Who has something to profit from resurrecting a human body. Why, why, why?"
Trying to match his footsteps, she was trying to piece the whole thing together, "Wait, you ARE serious? You saw a body at the morgue…I mean, a living…dead body?"
"You're catching on. My hypothesis is a possible telekinesis. Though the alien using the body as a host isn't off the cards. Though why wouldn't they make some attempt to communicate? Weeell, there was the 'mmhhm-aaaarg' groan I suppose but they should have had full use of the vocal chords." Turning on his heel, he then looked to Martha and stopped in his tracks. "What's your take on the situation?"
Martha just stared at him with an open mouth, lost for words.
The Doctor grinned, "I'm The Doctor by the way."
Martha began to concede to his logic and slowly nodded, "Martha…Martha Jones."
The Doctor turned on his heel and saw a motorcycle parked next to a lamppost, he took out his sonic screwdriver and walked up to it.
"Ummm, you're not thinking of doing what I think you're thinking of doing by any chance?"
The engine started after the Doctor held the sonic screwdriver by the keyhole, he tucked the sonic screwdriver away and hopped on. Looking to her, he said, "it wouldn't surprise me if I was."
"Look…Doctor, I don't steal. I work hard, I study hard and I'm not about to be a party to some petty-"
From across the road, shouting could be heard, "GET OFF THAT YOU BASTARD!" The man looked furious, he was wielding a cricket bat and was approaching them, Martha placed his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, knowing he wasn't going to relent. She shook her head and climbed on behind him, placing her hands on his hips and looked to the man approaching the bike. "It's only a loan, he really is honest like that. I promise he'll-" Before she could finish, the Doctor pulled back on the throttle and the motorbike took off down the street.
The wind pushed through the Doctor's hair while Martha's stayed still in the tight ponytail she had it pulled back in. Shouting over the noise of the engine, "I really hope you know what you're doing!" But suddenly, a siren from behind them could be heard – a police car. "SHIT!" she exclaimed.
The Doctor picked up the pace, Martha gripped onto him tighter while she pressed her knees in harder on the bike. The bike dodged traffic and cut a corner but the car was still in pursuit. Martha pleaded, "please, please, please – STOP!"
"I'm afraid the fate of the Universe is at stake, or at least I think it is," the Doctor then gritted his teeth, noticing a petrol tanker in the middle of the road, blocking the path, "HOLD ON!" He then swerved the bike, almost onto its side, sliding under the tanker and bringing the bike up again.
"YOU ARE INSANE!" Martha screamed, but looked over her shoulder to see that the car was no longer in pursuit, nor was there a crashing sound. That fact gave her some comfort but she still didn't know enough about this so-called "Doctor".
They returned to the bridge to see that the blockade was still in effect. The Doctor brought the bike to a halt and remained seated, he took out his psychic paper and held it up before him so Martha could see it. "Read that" he instructed.
"Read what? It's just a blank sheet of paper."
The Doctor tucked it away, "Great, the regeneration still hasn't finished." He looked to the blockade. There was absolutely no way through. The tank had blocked off the bridge along with the two U.N.I.T vans.
Martha asked, still holding his sides, looked to the Doctor, "So, what's the plan?"
"You're going to hate it."
"Oh, amuse me. So far you've signed yourself out as a patient, travelled across the city to break into a government morgue, broke out, fought a zombie and now you've stolen a motorbike. Really, what could part of tonight could I hate more?"
The Doctor winced, looking to the bridge, asked, "Martha…it is Martha? Well, how are your swimming skills?"
Martha looked to the bridge and then to the water beneath it. "Oh no, no way – you have got to be kidding. It's dark, freezing in there not to mention that you have no idea how deep or shallow the water is. This is where I get off. Nice knowing you, good luck saving the world, but I'm gone, have a happy-"
Another siren could be heard coming in their direction, she looked to it. "Oh no." She looked back to the Doctor and took a deep breath. "How do I know I can trust you."
He looked over his shoulder and looked into her eyes with warmth, "I admit, my methods of late have been dubious, but I promise, I would never hurt you."
The words resonated quite strongly to her. She couldn't explain it, but so far, nothing of that evening had made sense. But more than ever, for the first time in years, she felt so alive. She held onto him even tighter and looked ahead, "Hit it."
The bike took off, heading for the small slope, it picked up speed and the bike flew through the air once it kicked off from the lip of the bank. For a moment she felt that they might make it, but they descended toward the water, the Doctor then cried out, "JUMP – NOW!"