ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XIII

Standing back in the same room as before, Penelope tried hard not to look around too closely. This was the last place she went with Felicity and it was killing her.

Looking over her group of about 11 men, Penelope frowned when trying to determine how they were going to split.

"Alright, I'll take Jasper and Jack, and 3 of my agents. The rest of you can go with the army's boys. That evens out the skills we have, right." It was a statement, not a question. Those were the groups whether they liked it or not.

Nodding, they set off on their separate journeys on the opposite sides of the ruins.

Penelope and Jack once again took the path on the left, this time feeling far more confident. Although both noticed that there were far more bodies lining the halls and the most was thicker. Almost as if they were wading through it.

Penelope clicked her comms on and heard several people behind her do the same. They had a dedicated person that relayed information on each team so that the comms weren't overcrowded. But everyone was instructed to be quiet until it was confirmed that the rooms were clear.

Considering there was only the blocked off corridor on the opposite side of the ruin and the main room that Penelope found before, this entire place seems a lot bigger than she remembered. The corridors were longer and it got colder quicker. Overall it wasn't a very nice place to be.

It took them a long time to get to the main room, so much so that the other group had already confirmed that their side of the ruins were clear and they were heading back out.

Standing in the archway, surveying the room, the other men filtered out from behind Penelope to entire the room first. She stayed still to ensure that nothing crept up on them as they spread out.

When it was confirmed that nothing was moving within her field of view she entered the room properly. Walking up behind Jasper and placing her hand on his shoulder so that he knew she was there. And she took a moment to glance around the room, it had changed significantly since she was last here.

The high ceiling was almost within touching distance of the piles of bodies. It was almost as if they had climbed atop each other to die. Together in one big mound as they realised they couldn't survive on this planet anymore.

It had only been a week but the bodies that were at the bottom, specifically the one tourist that Penelope recognised from the red shirt had decayed to the point of near sludge. Blackened skin clung to the bone and complete dead skin had slid down his face, pooling around him. That's what had created the black liquid that she hadn't seen before.

It was the decayed and liquified skin of the infected.

That fact alone caused her to look away and take a deep breath. Trying to calm down by watching the way her breath became mist in the freezing air.

Arguably it should've been obvious that fire was their weakness, they had made it so cold for the sole purpose of existing.

She signalled for everyone to come together and they collectively determined that nothing here was alive and they could leave. Before this however, they spread the accelerant around the room, nothing could be left behind.

Making sure the agent informed the other group that they were exiting, Penelope made them all leave before her. As she started to leave, something made her stop.

A body tucked away in a ball in the corner of the room. None of the infected had died alone, and yet this body was as far away as it could be. Its clothes were weird, out of place. She blamed the trips into the stars that made her paranoid.

Eyes quickly flicking between the retreating backs of her men and the body, she made the snap decision to raise her gun and advance on the body.

Slowly she closed the gap, steadily training her weapon on it, praying that it wouldn't move.

Hooking her boot into its arm, she pulled it out onto its back. There was a soul plummeting crack as its spine disconnected and only the top half of the body moved.

Luckily this confirmed that the body was dead, and Penelope could get a closer look without the threat of being attacked. Keeping the gun trained on it, however, she crouched down to read the logo on the coat.

'THE LOCKSMITHS: Surveying our history since 4089'

4089? Looks like she hadn't been paranoid, there was something off with this body. It came here as a time traveller from sometime after 4089. A surveyor of history? A time travelling historian. How she wished that profession existed right now.

There was a strange electronic.. something on his left wrist. And despite everything in her that despised what she was about to do, Penelope holstered her gun and reached forward to take it from his wrist.

Holding it between just her thumb and finger, she tried not to look at the specks of decayed skin that had made its way into the item. If it's from the future it's important and can't burn here.

She'll disinfect it back at the Torchwood base, Gwen will be able to whip something up for her. Hooking it lovely to her belt, Penelope half raced down the corridor, praying they hadn't realised she'd been gone and broken protocol.