"Is it-" Clara said in a soft voice, her body frozen in fear.
"Affected," Jane confirmed, realizing instantly the danger they were in. Grogs are extremely fast and it would be able to quickly overtake them, its four pincers capable of crushing their bones with ease. If it was affected and bent on killing anyone around it, then they were certainly in the wrong place. She glanced towards Damian, who looked back at her with wide eyes.
Without any warning the Grog suddenly raced forwards, heading straight towards them. Not needing any incentive the four of them scattered, racing as far away from the Grog as they could get. Jane flinched as she heard the Grog barrell into another one of the containers, sending supplies flying across the floor. She headed towards the side of the room where there were several mechanical supplies laying around, where hopefully she would find a weapon. After ducking around a shuttle and leaping over a small box she turned to glance behind her to see how her companions were faring. She couldn't see the Doctor or Damian, but the Grog was clearly in sight as it neared Clara. She sprinted forwards, nearing the area where the shuttles were repaired and where all of the tools were placed.
She slid into the workbench and grabbed the first thing she saw before turning around and sprinting back towards Clara and the Grog. Four pincers descended towards Clara, so without a moment to lose Jane hurled the heavy hammer towards the Grog, the tool sailing through the air to crash into the affected's chest. Clara narrowly evaded the pincers that jerked back from her as a result from the hammer's blow, her petite body slipping through a small partition between two shuttles. The Grog halted, his attention turned to Jane, his black eyes eerily staring forwards.
She turned and ran, not wanting to wait to watch him begin to chase after her. Crashing sounds emanated from behind her as the Grog barrelled through the shuttles, nearing her with rapid speed. She raced back to the repair area, listening with horror as the affected neared even closer.
She flipped over the workbench and picked up a heavy wrench that was lying on the ground, her fingers clenching the comforting weight tightly. She twisted around, just in time for the Grog to appear lumbering above her. She swung upwards with her wrench, knocking away one of his deadly pincers that was descending open towards her. His other pincer came flashing towards her side so she quickly leapt away and kicked a nearby toolbox towards the Grog's legs. He stumbled slightly before lunging towards her, pincers outstretched. His feelers near his mouth were strangely lying limp, his black eyes staring straight ahead. She swung her wrench forwards, the metal bashing into his mouth with a satisfying crunch as the limp feelers were wrenched from his face and flew across the room. His face remained blank, unresponsive to the pain as yellow blood began dripping in the place where his feelers were just before, his pincers quickly descending on her.
Jane turned and ran once more, ducking as his pincers scraped the top of her head. A shuttle was not to far ahead of her, the door open, ready for flight. She considered briefly shutting herself inside, but the reminder of all of the nearby obliterated shuttles changed her mind. She raced forwards and fell onto her side to slide beneath the shuttle, knowing that the Grog would have to make his way around it and therefore slow his approach down. She cleared the shuttle and made to get to her feet before the shuttle was suddenly rocked forward's by the Grog's impact. She ducked and laid flat, finding the shuttle above her once more. She hadn't expected that, but quickly began squirming forwards. A pincer reached under the shuttle and grasped onto her leg, quickly closing shut with a bone breaking crunch.
Pain flared all the way up her leg and Jane's vision turned bright white as she felt a scream escape from her lips. His pincer had completely closed on her ankle and crushed all of her bones, Jane felt like she could pass out from the amount of anguish she felt as he dragged her out from beneath the shuttle. She felt everything turn upside down as she was lifted into the air, briefly realizing that she was probably going to die right then. Dying wasn't really something she could do right now, there was no telling when she would awake. The universe was ending and right now wasn't the time for her to pass into oblivion until her body slowly healed herself and she awoke.
She realized that the wrench she was holding was somehow still loosely in her fingers, she tightened her grasp and swung weakly, knocking his descending pincer aside before it slammed into her head. She gritted her teeth in determination and began whacking at the side of his leg, her blows doing nothing against the hard shell of his skin.
She heard shouting coming from Clara as an attempt to draw the Grog's attention, but to no avail. She smacked at it a few more times until suddenly everything exploded around her and she found herself flying through the air.
She landed roughly, her head spinning from the impact, her limbs on fire. She arched her back in pain and opened her eyes to see flashing and blinding stars of light bounce all around her, so she quickly closed them and lay down to wait for the pain to secede. Once the pain had receded enough for her to lift her head- her leg still aching in fiery pain- she opened her eyes to figure out what had happened.
The Doctor poked his head out of a shuttle whose guns were still smoking. She pieced the puzzle together and realized that the Doctor had shot at the Grog, the explosion sending her flying as the Grog was propelled across the room to crash land amid dozens of crumpled supply boxes.
Jane sat up, her head buzzing as she watched the Doctor begin to climb triumphantly from the shuttle. A sick feeling entered the pit of her stomach; she knew that it would take a lot more than a blast from the guns on a shuttle to kill the cockroach-type alien. Grogs were impervious to lasers or other blasts, their only weakness was their feelers, which Jane had already ripped off to no effect. The rest of its body was covered in a shell as hard as steel that was able to withstand any blasts or radiation emissions. She grit her teeth as she looked at the pile of supply boxes that the Grog had flown into, watching as the pile began to shift and move.
The lopsided grin that had framed the Doctor's face quickly disappeared as he stared at the moving boxes. He glanced back at Jane in fright, his face turning pale. Suddenly boxes went flying as the Grog emerged, looking none the worse for wear besides the blood dripping from the place where his feelers had been ungraciously ripped off. It's attention focused in on the shuttle and it began racing towards it.
The doctor quickly disappeared inside of the shuttle, most likely intending to fire off a few more shots. They began to fire off at random, none of them hitting its target as the Grog rampaged forwards. Jane began to fear for the worst, knowing that there was nothing she could do to save the doctor.
A deus ex machina appeared in the form of a bright red laser that hit the Grog, evaporating the shoulder of the purple uniform and successfully distracting the Grog from it's predestined course. Luckily the Doctor also stopped firing, giving the affected time to think about who to attack next without drawing undue attention to himself. Another red laser came soaring through the air, hitting the Grog firmly on the side of its head.
Its victim now cemented into its mind, the Grog turned to face his new attacker. Damian stood with a steaming laser in his outstretched hand, his eyes flashing dangerously. He was near the large airlock, only a hundred or so meters away. The Grog began running towards him so the commander quickly turned and began to race away as quickly as he could.
"All you alright?" Clara asked, running out from behind a shuttle and to Jane's side.
Jane winced in response and ignored her, her attention drawn towards the stampeding Grog that was rapidly catching up to Damian. She watched with horror as Damian passed between the large doors leading to the airlock and disappeared from sight. The doors began closing, and Jane began to hope that perhaps the doors would close quick enough before the Grog entered.
Jane's heart stopped as she witnessed the affected barrell forwards with remarkable speed, narrowly slipping through the doors before they slammed shut with a resounding click that echoed throughout the hangar. The Grog is trapped in a room with Damian, she realized, stunned. She knew that he would have no chance of survival being trapped in a small room with the murderous affected.
She lurched forwards in an attempt to get to her feet, Clara quickly reaching out to her shoulders to steady her. She flung an arm over Clara's shoulder and hurried to her feet as fast as he could, Clara supporting her weight. She frantically began hobbling forwards, healing herself as best as she could, finding a difficult time to breathe.. Her thoughts became riddled with darkness, thinking that by now the Grog would have Damian between his pincers, crushing his bones and squeezing the life out of him...
A loud sucking noise suddenly echoed from the room, sounding like a large vacuum, the noise emanating from the airlock rooms. Jane lunged even faster forwards, coldness seeping into her blood as she realized what had happened. The airlock doors had been opened; in her minds eye she witnessed Damian's crushed body being sucked out into space, the Grog hurtling along with him.
Wracked with grief and torment, her shattered ankle still boiling with pain, Jane obstinately made her way to the airlock, unwilling to believe that the commander was now dead, sucked off into the blackness-now purpleness-of space. She was the one who should be in his situation, sacrificing herself for everyone else. She could survive whatever happened to her, she should have been in Damian's place. Her movements became hysterical as she raced forwards, Clara doing her best to keep her from falling over.
He didn't deserve to die, not now, not when they were so close to the end- not when she so desperately needed him. She loved him, she had been drawn to him since she first saw him on the bridge, standing confidently with his strange clothes and pale skin, his eyes filled with beautiful colors that intelligently absorbed everything around him. He had placed his trust and confidence in her when he informed her of the Time Gate and the affected, becoming her equal partner on their fateful journey. He couldn't die now, not before they saved the universe together. She couldn't continue on without him; he has to help her, he can't be dead, he can't be...
Finally she reached the airlock so she hobbled over to the side of the large doors where the sensor was located. She shakily waved her hands over the sensor, but it had been locked from the inside. She slammed her fists in frustration against the fragile sensors. She knew that there was little hope for Damian, certainly by now he would have been sucked off into space, all of the oxygen sucked from his body, his bones crushed by the Grog's deadly pincers-
The Doctor suddenly appeared at her side, his expression somber as he held his sonic screwdriver at the ready. Unable to open the doors herself, Jane mutely stepped to the side, allowing him to shine his screwdriver against the sensors, closing the airlock doors that opened into space. The sudden silence was deafening as the sucking vacuum noise diminished, leaving a dull buzzing: a remembrance to the horrible noise that Jane correlated with the commander's definite death. A green light shone from his screwdriver as the large doors slowly began to open.
Jane eagerly peered into the room and stepped away from Clara, ignoring the shooting pain surging through her as she rested her weight on her decimated ankle. As soon as the doors were wide enough for her to fit through she surged inside, frantically glancing all around her. The room was completely empty, no Grog in sight; her eyes raked the area, focusing on a rope that descended from the wall near the controls to attach to a form lying motionless in the corner.
There he was. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she hobbled into the room, heading straight for the body lying motionless on the ground. She couldn't believe her immense luck that Damian hadn't been pulled out into space; miraculously he had been able to pull on a black vest that was kept as a safety measure near the controls, it secured him inside of the room via the means of a strong rope, keeping him from being sucked out by the vacuum of space.
Just because he was there didn't mean that he was alive. Her pulse pounded as she hobbled to him, fear creeping into her bones as she imagined multiple scenarios of his death, his motionless body frightening her. The Grog could have trapped him after he got the vest on, crushing his bones with his pincers; once the airlock opened there was no doubt that all of the air had been sucked from his lungs, leaving nothing behind as the room fell into the negative degrees, freezing his body and draining all of the warmth from him.
As she neared him she began to worry even more. He was lying on his stomach, motionless, his arms wrapped tight around his vest beneath his body, his legs bent at an awkward angle. She imagined him landing heavily once the airlock closed, as when the doors were open he would have undoubtedly been pulled so forcefully that his entire body would have been lifted into the air, the only thing keeping him from being sucked through the doors was a thin rope that desperately clung to the wall.
She fell to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, shocked by how cold he was. She rolled him onto his back, her eyes desperately scanning his body. It didn't look like the Grog had damaged him in any way, his limbs were all still attached and she could see no signs of broken bones. His pale face was extremely pallid, his lips blue while dark bags hung under his eyes, his black hair tangled in a frantic mess atop his head. She sobbed as she said his name, her hand sliding to his throat to feel for a pulse, her fingers becoming chilled by his freezing cold skin.
She could feel no movement in his veins, no rhythmic beating of his heart that signalled his vitality. Instead she felt cold stillness, attesting to the fact that her darkest fears had been realized. Damian was dead.
They had gotten so close; they hadn't had much time to be together to learn about each other, their relationship overshadowed by the daunting reality of the end of the universe. Even with all that was at stake, she had been drawn to him and his sharp eyes, his enigmatic smile, his warm fingers wrapped around her own. She couldn't imagine herself continuing their task without him, he encompassed everything about their mission and he deserved to see it through to the end. It was too soon for him to go; she had wanted to spend all of the time that she could with him, all the way to the Time Gate and the edge of the universe, and perhaps even beyond that should their mission be successful. She felt like all of her hope for her future and been wrenched out from under her feet, even though she knew from the beginning how high the stakes were.
Her body began convulsing as she sobbed, grieving for her loss, cursing for her poor luck. She knew that everyone around her eventually died, the ultimate end was inevitable, but she felt robbed. If she had a choice she would have spent the rest of his life with him, watching him grow old yet loving him all the same, but that future had suddenly evaporated as she stared at his lifeless, cold body beneath her.
She couldn't accept it. He couldn't be dead, he had a mission to finish. He had to take them to the Time Gate and help them blow it up. He had to be alive. Determined, Jane rose to her knees and positioned herself over his body, weaving her hands together and placed her palms on his chest to begin doing compressions. She pushed all of her weight into her rhythmic movements as she performed CPR, trying to get his heart pumping again. She leaned forwards and planted her lips onto his, forcing herself to stay even though the cold was shockingly sharp. She breathed warm air into his lungs and went back to doing her compressions, her movements methodical as she repeated them over and over.
Time progressed, dragging along at a slow pace as the harsh reality began to sink in that Damian just wasn't going to come back. Out of the corner of her eye Jane noticed the Doctor and Clara keeping their respectable distance, their expressions showing their concern and doubt. Jane pressed on, pushing hard onto his body and then breaking to breathe warm air into his lungs, feeling heartened as his body began to warm. Over and over she compressed his torso countless times, taking breaks only to breathe air into him.
She felt movement beneath her, only a slight twitch, but it was enough to keep her going, her hope expanding. She pressed her lips against his once more, surging warm air into his lungs. Upon her release his blue cupid bow lips parted slightly, inhaling a small breath of air. Suddenly he began coughing, the movement racking his entire body. She shouted his name in joy, quickly rolling him to his side as he convulsed and coughed: alive.
The Doctor and Clara rushed to her side as Jane stared jovially towards Damian, rubbing his shoulder for warmth as he tried to catch his breath. No words could describe the depth of emotion she was feeling, her overwhelming sense of relief and happiness palpable in the air around her. Damian shuddered from the cold, his breathing more controlled as he sucked in raspy breaths, the air wheezing from his lungs as he exhaled.
She leaned forwards and showered him with kisses, mapping his forehead and high cheekbones with her lips, not caring that she was being over excessive. He opened his eyes, his face gaunt and sunken as he looked up at her. She rested her face inches above his, grinning at him with triumphant relief.
"You altruistic idiot," she condemned jokingly, watching as one of her tears fell onto his cheek.
His lips pulled into a strained smile, his eyes showing his amusement. Wanting to wipe that smirk right off his face, Jane leaned forwards and planted their lips together for a satisfyingly deep kiss.
She heard a cough from behind her. "You should probably let him breathe," the Doctor warned.
She released Damian and sat up, the two of them breathing heavily as they stared at each other. She helped Damian sit forwards, his body shivering uncontrollably as he slowly moved his head to look around him. His body was still freezing and he hadn't quite caught his breath yet, but he was attentive and warming up rapidly.
"How about we never do that again, ok?" Clara said, her brown eyes looking between the three of them.
"No promises. I rather liked that shuttle," the Doctor replied dreamily, his lips pulled up into a mocking smile.
Clara lightly punched his shoulder and squinted up her nose in frustration.
"Hey, that hurt!" he complained, rubbing his shoulder tenderly though it was apparent that she hadn't done any real harm.
Jane ran her fingers into Damian's messy hair to try to unravel the tangles, their eyes connecting. "Clara's right. Don't do that again. We don't need you sacrificing yourself for us."
He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from him, the clear color of his eyes swimming between cyan blue, lime green and gold. "You told me that you couldn't let your friends get hurt," he muttered, his voice deep and raspy. "I wasn't under any such obligations."
Jane slid her fingers back into his hair and pulled him forwards into another kiss. She couldn't imagine why he would believe that she didn't care whether or not he got hurt, but hopefully her kiss chased any doubts from his mind. Upon her release she slid her finger over his face, tracing down his temple to his high zygomatic arch. "You are now," she whispered against his lips.
"We should really get going, we are kind of on a time schedule here," the Doctor said impatiently, pacing around the entrance to the airlock.
Jane sat back from Damian, her heart content. He was alive and they had a universe to save; together.