Fight or Flight ( Doctor Who Fanfiction )

Almost People

Rory and I didn't speak for a long time after we left the chapel behind. Apart from a whispered direction like "here," or "left," or "wait ".

"Rory," I whispered eventually.

"Shush."

"You shouldn't have come."

"She needs help."

"What the..." I spoke aloud as we rounded a corner. Neither of us had any idea where we were in the monastery, but I immediately wanted to be anywhere else.

The wall was studded with what I could only call eye sockets.

A hundred human eyeballs dotted the wall, all shifted towards us.

"Are you seeing this?" I asked, suddenly unsure that I was awake.

"Unfortunately," responded Rory. "What are they?"

I shook my head, dumbfounded and without response. I took a step, and he followed - and the eyes shifted with us.

"They're eyes, I suppose," I said.

"Clearly."

"You asked."

"Why are they here?"

I leaned closer to get a better look at them, but shook my head and stepped back. "I don't really want to know. We need to keep moving."

At the sound of footsteps, we scampered down the passage, trying to ignoring how the wall of eyes craned after us, and hurried silently into a dark passage. I flicked off my torch.

Jennifer's Ganger entered the wan light by the wall of eyes, and stood staring at them like she'd been caught in the headlights. She pressed her hands to her forehead like she was in pain.

I took a half-step forwards, but Rory grabbed my wrist firmly.

"Stop. Stop. Stop, stop," she murmured, before hurrying away.

I watched her go, and turned to the man next to me.

"Why did you stop me? She needs us, Rory."

"She doesn't trust us anymore. Not after what Cleaves did. We need them both."

"You're talking like we have a plan."

"Well the plan isn't to jump out in front of a Ganger, two-on-one. You've seen what she can do."

"Then what do you suggest?" I hissed, "I didn't ask you to come!"

"We find the real Jennifer, and then we get her. It'll prove we want them both, we're not trying to use her to get to the real one."

I began to walk, reluctantly taking us down a different corridor than Jennifer's Ganger.

"They're both real."

"I just meant it as a distinction."

I switched on my torch.

The acid leaks had settled. They weren't so much spraying out from the walls and ceiling as they were dripping into pooling on the floors. The flow must have been halted alongside all the other functions when the solar storm hit.

"Can I ask something?" Rory said after a while of our precarious hike.

I frowned in confusion, glancing back at him. Why would he hesitate instead of just asking?

"About... before."

Ah.

I shifted. "Anything. Of course."