Chapter IV
A little over a week had passed without incident and the Doctor and Rose had begun to become accepted by the residents of Alexandria. They had proven themselves in a domestic capacity though they had not been allowed out the gate. They had shown no sign of ill intention towards the group and had even made a few friends among them; no one in a leadership role yet but new friends nonetheless. This had been a long week for the Doctor, he was used to covering millions of years of time in the span of hours and "going it the long way" was something that seemed so tedious and unnecessary for him. It was at this time that Rick decided to pay the Doctor a visit concerning gaining entry into his TARDIS.
"Are you busy doctor?" asked Rick after he walked into the room where the Doctor was tending to someone's broken leg. They still hadn't learned that he wasn't that kind of doctor but his vast array of knowledge and lifetimes of experience enabled him to do the job as well as anyone. "Not anymore." the Doctor said after he finished with his patient and turned to Rick. "You know this would be much easier if you gave me back my sonic." the Doctor commented. "Oh you mean that pen light? That can be arranged, I'll go grab it after we're done here." Rick responded. Rick took a few more steps inside as the Doctor was putting away the crude implements he had been given to perform his tasks. "What I came here for is that we need your help to get inside that blue box you were hiding in." Rick explained. "Of course you couldn't get in, only I can open it." the Doctor remarked. "Anyways we just wanted to take a look around inside; it would go a long way to helping us figure out just where you stand." Rick explained. The Doctor knew these were hard men and arguing with them would only put himself and Rose in danger, besides they wouldn't understand let alone we able to operate any of the equipment within the TARDIS. He also remembered the conversation he and Rose had about correcting this timeline. If it indeed was the same timeline that Rose had come from it was an erroneous one and it was almost incumbent upon him as a good Time Lord to set it right. "Seeing as I find myself missing that delightful old box I would be willing to take you up on your offer. Bring me my sonic and Rose and I will meet you by the gate." the Doctor accepted. "Well the thing of it is, a lot of folks here might like you but we still can't trust the both of you outside the gate not to turn on us when given the right opportunity. I'll give you your pen light and go with you to your fancy phone booth but the blonde girl is staying here." Rick told the Doctor. "Fair enough, just promise me she will be well taken care of." the Doctor replied. "You have my word, she'll be like family." Rick pledged. "Now I'm gonna go get your toy and you meet me by the gate in half an hour." Rick told the Doctor.
At the appointed time the Doctor met Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Maggie at the gate. Rick handed the Doctor his sonic and offered him a Smith and Wesson .45 pistol. The Doctor took the sonic but refused the weapon. "I don't use weapons, no offense, just not my style." the Doctor said. "Just take it. We can't have you becoming walker feed when you're the only one that can get that thing open." Rick insisted. The Doctor reluctantly took the pistol though he had no intention of using it. Rick's words did have some effect on him after they had left the community however. The thought of a zombified Time Lord was truly terrifying. Would it trigger a regeneration or would he remain a slothful corpse like the humans that were turned? If the latter were true would he then regenerate after his second death? If this blight were indeed a Time Lord killer it would be a truly horrific thing; a thing that most certainly should never reach the mind of a Dalek that was for sure. "So you really believe this box of yours is a time machine huh?" Rick asked the Doctor, thoroughly skeptical of the claim but simply trying to strike up a conversation as they walked through the woods. "A time and space machine, one can't simply travel in one without the other." the Doctor replied. "Still sounds like a bunch of hooey to me." said Daryl. They passed through a large number of slain walkers on the ground. The Doctor nonchalantly scanned them with his sonic screwdriver. "Quiet with that thing, these have been freshly put down which means someone is close by." Daryl whispered. "Word to the wise Dr. whoever you are, most folk out here aren't too friendly." Daryl cynically cautioned the Doctor. The doctor glanced down at his sonic and took in the data it had retrieved. He at first wondered if these things were still human and if by any advanced technology they could be brought back but the results he gathered told him otherwise. The human body was indeed dead to begin with; the only thing alive with these "walkers" as they were called was the organism that was hijacking the motor cortex of the brain. While they activated the brainstem and kept certain vital functions going to slow the decomposition of muscle and nervous tissue the walkers themselves were only temporary hosts for the parasite and in time would fall apart and the symbiotic creature would die if the parasite could not find a new host. The Doctor's preliminary findings fascinated him though he would need a live sample of the organism in order to learn more about the disease itself.
As they drew closer to the TARDIS the group heard the load roar of a large diesel engine. Someone was operating heavy equipment nearby and as expected the noise drew in the nearby walkers. Rick's group slowed down took cover and kept alert as the snarling of approaching walkers was met with a barrage of automatic weapons fire. The group fanned out with weapons drawn and crept towards the TARDIS. When Rick caught the first glimpse of the TARDIS it was wrapped in chains and hooked to the back of a heavy tow truck, one of the big ones that were used to tow semi-trucks and other large vehicles. There were also several men shooting and hacking a horde of walkers that had been drawn in by the noise of the tow truck. Leading these men was a tall well-built man around 40 years old with a slightly receding hairline wielding a baseball bat wrapped it barbed wire. The leader crushed the skull of one of the walkers approaching him with a fierce downward swing and then spit upon the corpse and kicked it back. "Hurry up and clear out these motherfuckers!" the man shouted to his men. "Dammit Negan we're trying!" shouted back a young man as he was chopping at a group of walkers with a machete. Without hesitation Negan drew a pistol and shot that man in the back of the head. "No backtalk boy!" Negan shouted. The Doctor winced when he saw this heartless act of brutality while Rick and the others expected as much from the man-animals that dwelt outside their walls. Negan directed the tow truck to move and the driver mashed down on the gas pedal only to have his tires spin out. The TARDIS refused to budge; it was much heavier than it appeared to be. The TARDIS security system wouldn't allow them to move it unless the door was unlocked or he was inside. However with the TARDIS wrapped in chains there was no way for the Doctor to gain entrance to the TARDIS. The two dozen heavily armed bruisers and nearly one hundred walkers engaged in mortal combat between him and the TARDIS would be no small task to get by either. Rick and the others waited, they couldn't advance nor retreat lest they be noticed. They were outnumbered five to one by the humans alone so their strategy for the moment was to hope the walkers thinned out the ranks of the new group enough so that along with the element of surprise they could come at this group from a position of strength. Daryl had also assumed that if these guys succeeded in dragging away the blue box he could tail them and see where they were taking it, not only for the sake of uncovering the mysteries of the box but to learn where a seemingly large group of potential enemies may be lurking. As the fight played out in front of them the group remained on guard, watching and waiting for an opportunity to act.