chapter 26
"Run? Run where?", River asks.
"This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere", I offer.
"Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics", Lux says.
"Doctor, the little shop. They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff", Donna notices.
He runs across the room and lurks into the shop. "You're right. Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop".
"Okay, let's move it", Dave says as we all start going.
I notice something. The Doctor does too. "Actually, Proper Dave? Could you stay where you are for a moment?".
"Why?", he says.
"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows". He has, at right angles to each other. I feel a little guilty for having him move before, but damn. Count the shadows and stay out of the shadows was basically their only instruction. "It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh".
"What do I do?", Dave asks, frozen in shock.
"You stay absolutely still, like there's a wasp in the room. Like there's a million wasps". Carefully, everyone else is keeping eyes on their shadows.
"We're not leaving you, Dave", River states. I have the feeling this team of hers, she's put a lot of work into it. She cares about these people. I'm suddenly scared for Donna. Although, I don't know if you can regenerate when your flesh has been eaten.
"Course we're not leaving him. Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me", the Doctor asks.
"On the floor, by my bag". Anita goes to get it.
"Don't cross his shadow. Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got". The Doctor puts Dave's helmet on him.
"But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets", Donna points out.
"Yeah, but we're safe anyway", he says nonchalantly.
"How are we safe?", I ask.
"We're not. That was a clever lie to shut you up. Professor, anything I can do with the suit?", the Doctor asks River. I can feel her cringe about him not using her name.
"What good are the damn suits? Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit. There was nothing left", Lux points out.
"We can increase the mesh density", she says.
"Dial it up four hundred percent. Make it a tougher meal", I suggest, checking my laser screwdriver.
"Okay". The Doctor uses his screwdriver to adjust Dave's suit. "Eight hundred percent. Pass it on", he says, offering River the screwdriver, without realizing she's already extracted one of her own and sonicked Anita's suit.
"Gotcha", she smiles, smugly.
"What's that?", he asks, confused.
"It's a screwdriver", she states.
"It's sonic". He's very confused now.
"Yeah, I know. Snap".
I'm a bit confused too. I've always seen River with her tablet, never with a sonic screwdriver.
She upgrades another spacesuit. The Doctor grabs me.
"Teleports are in the other room", he says, quickly. "You and Donna should teleport to the Tardis. Can you manage?", but before I can protest, he corrects himself. "Actually, I'd rather have you here. I mean-".
I nod, then turn to Donna and grab her.
"With me. Come on". I sprint through the shop with her, she slows down.
"What are we doing? We shopping? Is it a good time to shop?". I stumble back to grab her again, and push her to the middle of the teleport platform.
"Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. We can't send the others, Tardis won't recognise them", I explain, running to the little console to hack the teleport.
"What are you doing?", Donna asks, confused.
"You don't have a suit. You're not safe. Doctor's orders", I explain quickly as I laser the console.
"You two don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as I am and I'm not leaving you", she protests.
"Donna, let me explain", I trick her, then I pull the teleport lever. Sometimes I think I take too much after the Time Lord boys. "Oh", I sigh, watching her teleport away. "That's how you do it".
"Zoe! Watch the shadows!", the Doctor calls as I run back to the bigger room.
"Where did it go?", I ask him when I'm back. Dave has only one shadow now.
"It's just gone", Dave says. "I looked round, one shadow, see".
"Does that mean we can leave? I don't want to hang around here", River asks.
Lux is growing anxious. "I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence".
"Shut up, Mister Lux", River says.
The Doctor is standing again in front of Dave. "Did you feel anything, like an energy transfer? Anything at all?"
"No, no, but look, it's gone", he replies, turning around.
"Stop there. Stop, stop, stop there. Stop moving", he warns him, as Dave turns his back, sonicking the floor. "They're never just gone and they never give up". I join him, crouching down to scan the shadow.
"Well, this one's benign", I say, checking my screwdriver.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?", Dave asks.
"No one, they're fine", the Doctor stops scanning, frowning, raising his head to look at him.
"No seriously, turn them back on", Dave insists.
"They are on", River states, warily.
"I can't see a ruddy thing".
"Dave, turn around", I ask, standing up. He turns back to the Doctor and me, and his visor is completely dark.
"What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here?".
I shiver, and instintively step back.
The Doctor stands in my way. "Dave, I want you stay still. Absolutely still". He jerks abruptly. "Dave? Dave? Dave, can you hear me? Are you all right? Talk to me, Dave".
"I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine".
"I want you to stay still. Absolutely still", the Doctor repeats.
"I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I-".
He's ghosting, his communication unit green lights are blinking.
"He's gone. He's ghosting", River says.
"Then why is he still standing?" , Lux wonders.
"Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?", ghost Dave keeps repeating. And that's a detail that goes into my campfire horror story for sure.
"Doctor, don't", I warn him, as he slowly approaches the ghost, carefully moving to avoid crossing his shadow.
"Dave, can you hear me?", he questions.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?", the ghost goes on, grabbing the Doctor by the throat. I gasp and step back as he tries to break free. Dave's skull is showing in his helmet. "Who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?".
I stand in shock for an instant, and River runs past me drawing her screwdriver. "Excuse me!", she says, zapping the zombie suit and freeing the Doctor.
"Back from it! Get back. Right back", the Doctor crawls back, his body bumping against my legs as I help him stand up. Zombie Dave lurches a hesitant step towards us.
"Doesn't move very fast, does it?", I say.
"It's a swarm in a suit", the Doctor shrugs, as Dave shadows grow to four and bigger in size. "But it's learning".
"What do we do? Where do we go?", Lux anxiously asks.
"See that wall behind you? Duck".
River fires a gun at the wall and makes a square hole in it. That reminds me of Captain Jack Harkness.
"Squareness gun!", the Doctor exclaims.
"Everybody out. Go, go, go. Move it. Move, move. Move it. Move, move", River ushers us through the wall.
The stacks hallway is very dark, which is not at all relieving.
"You said not every shadow", I repeat.
"But any shadow", he repeats, looking around.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?", zombie Dave's voice comes from behind. He's following us.
"Run!", River orders, taking the Doctor's hand. To my surprise, as he follows sprinting after her, he drops her hand and reaches for me at his back. I take it just not to slow him down. Boy I feel so guilty.
We run as fast as we can to distance the slow zombie, until we're deep down a corridor between the stacks of books where the light is still working, and we take a break.
"Shall we boost the power?", I ask, pointing the laser screwdriver at the lamp cord.
At the next lamp, the Doctor nods and start sonicking the fitting too. "Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down", he explains.
The lamp I'm lasering gives a sparkle. River points her sonic to where the Doctor is working, making his lamp sparkle too. "So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?".
"Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine", he states, confused. I don't like the Doctor when he's confused.
"Yeah. You gave it to me". I can hear the smile in her voice.
"I don't give my screwdriver to anyone".
"She's not anyone", I offer.
"Who are you?", he asks again, but she ignores him, turning to me.
"What's the plan?".
"I teleported Donna back to the Tardis. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate", I say, because, well, I don't really think we have a plan except maybe a plan to save Donna. As I'm saying this I realize something went wrong.
"Take her home, yeah", she nods, then turns to her team. "We need to get a shift on", she instructs.
The Doctor reads my gaze and looks worriedly at his screwdriver, then at me. "She's not there", he states. "I should have received a signal. The console signals me if there's a teleport breach".
"Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient", River says, turning to him.
"Impossible. Zoe sent her. She's quite the teleport rockstar", he frowns, unbelievingly, as I repeat mentally everything I did. And I'm sure I did everything correctly. In fact, I am quite the teleport rockstar.
"Better than you?", River asks.
"She learned from me", He shrugs, then runs to a node standing by. "Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?".
Because of course he just has to take credit for something I'm good at. Even if he's honestly right, because he is brilliant, and pinpoint accurate at teleports, I don't have time to get bothered by it because the node turns around and. It has Donna's face.
That's the creepiest thing I've ever seen. And I really should stop saying this, because everytime I say so, something outcreeps the last time I said it.
"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved".
"Donna", I whisper, incredulous.
"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved", the Donna node repeats.
River looks briefly at me, stepping towards the Doctor. "How can it be Donna? How's that possible?".
"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved", the node repeats, as the Doctor gently caresses her face.
"Oh, Donna", he whispers.
"Donna Noble has left the library".
"Hey, who turned out the lights?". Slow zombie Dave has finally reached us.
"Doctor!", River cries, turning around.
The Doctor stares at the node, still. "Donna Noble has been saved".
"Hey, who turned out the lights?".
"Donna Noble has left the library".
"Doctor, we've got to go now!", I run past him, as River again grabs his hand. I don't know if he drops it again or not, because we're running fast, followed by both voices, the Donna node and ghost Dave.
I almost step into the shadow that's growing in front of me when the Doctor grabs my jacket's collar, drawing me back. He spins me around, relieved, then nudges his forehead against mine. It's a glad you're okay spontaneous gesture, he does it all the time with me, but I'm not sure I like it in front of River. It's like he doesn't want to trust her, he's cautious, and somehow the fact that I know her and that we seem to get along just fine isn't enough to trust her.
But, anyway, we're trapped between shadows, so if me and River and the Doctor will ever sort things clear, we have to get out of this first.
"Doctor, what are we going to do?", River asks, looking between us. I'm not even sure she saw me almost dying and being rescued by the skin on my teeth. Or actually, my jacket.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?". The voices are haunting us. "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved".
"River! The squareness gun!", I call.
She shoots an opening in the wall behind us, and we all jump through. "This way, quickly. Move!".
We run through rooms and corridors, River at the front cutting through the walls, until we finally reach another big room with a skywindow like the one where we were before. "Ok, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly. Don't let your shadows cross", she instructs. "Zoe? Doctor?".
"I'm doing it", I say, crouching to scan the light. My own shadow is long. I look up to the skywindow, then at the room. "There's no lights here. Sunset's coming".
River nods. "We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?" she asks.
"Maybe. It's getting harder to tell", the Doctor replies, tapping the screwdriver repeatedly into his own hand. "What's wrong with you?".
"We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?", River asks, then walks back to the group sitting at the middle of the lit area. "Thanks, Dave", she says as other Dave passes her a chicken leg, then turns and throws it into the shadow.
Again, it lands as a bone. "Okay. Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet", she says returning to the group.
"They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming", the Doctor explains.
"Oh, yeah, who is he? You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him?".
"He's the Doctor", River explains. She's getting anxious too now.
"And who is the Doctor?". Lux asks.
"The only story you'll ever tell, if you survive him". River is short of breath.
"You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are", Anita points out.
"Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been".
Anita doesn't really buy it. "Well the girl seems fine, but he doesn't act like he trusts you".
"Yeah, there's a tiny problem", River laments ironically, standing up. "He hasn't met me yet".
"Zoe, is yours reading?", the Doctor asks as River walks to him.
"Not really. There's a signal coming from somewhere", I tell him.
"It's interfering with it", he nods.
"Then use the red settings", River suggests him.
"It doesn't have a red setting".
"Well, use the dampers".
"It doesn't have dampers", he replies, indignant.
"It will do one day", she says, offering him her screwdriver.
He stands up. He takes it, slowly turning it into his hands, still suspicious. "So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver", he states, dubious.
"Yeah".
"Why would I do that?".
"I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about".
"And I know that... because?".
"Well trust Zoe if you can't trust me yet".
"Leave... Zoe... alone". It's like he's frustrated that I kept this River Song person a secret. "Apparently lately she comes and goes as she likes, and my trust is wearing thin for everyone today". Woah. That hurt.
"Listen to me", River insists. "You've lost your friend. You're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now", she warns.
"Less emotional?", he repeats, offended. "I'm not emotional".
"There are six people in this room still alive. Focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young", she complains.
"Young? Who are you?", he asks again.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!", I jump up. "Look at the pair of you. We're all trying to survive right here, and it doesn't look like we're doing a great job, and you... and gosh! You're just bickering like an old married couple!".
Ooooh. The instant I say that, a whole lot of things start making very much sense. My, us Time Lords really are thick.
"Oh, okay", River shrugs.
The Doctor looks at me frowning, his hands waving at his sides.
River leans in. "Doctor, one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you", she says, placing a hand on his chest. "And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry".
He looks at me, dead serious, then at the floor, as River leans over to whisper in his ear.
I think I can feel his heartbeats racing in the back of my mind.
Bet you didn't see that coming, child. Maybe not his heartbeats after all.