He Needed Me

Chapter 17

James gathered together a small search and rescue team comprised of his top triage staff and four of his most adept sentries. They were going into this fully armed, the medical staff carrying supplies while the guards carried weapons both in their hands and strapped to their person. He was going to have to make a tough choice. The girl had seemed fine, distressed but physically alright. Her companion was not going to be so lucky if that creature caught him. He didn’t like the idea of possibly leaving her in the wilds after dusk but there wasn’t time to get to both of them before then. Dien came out of the compound a few seconds later, slipping on a red scrap of well-loved leather that hung to her thighs, “Right, so you go after the girl and I’ll go take care of big and ugly.”

Several of the team looked at her with a startled expression while she just grinned, waiting for James to make his usual arguments. And he certainly didn’t disappoint, “It’s too-...”

“Dangerous? Remember me, fly boy? You lot take care of the sick, I’m the hunter around here.” She shrugged and swaggered a bit as she walked up to him, “Besides, I really don’t think her husband will be happy if something happens to her or the baby while we’re off saving him.” More startled looks but she just held up her hand, “Matching rings and...look don’t even ask how I know, I just do. Go, get to her and get back before dusk.”

Dr. St. Clair adjusted the medical kit over her shoulder. She wasn’t as familiar with Dien as some of her other patients but that didn’t mean she didn’t care, “What if you need help?”

Winking at James who knew her better than most, “I’ll be fine.” And right away he knew she was telling the truth. She wasn’t being cocky, she was just that sure in her abilities.

He nodded grimly and handed out a hand pistol to her. She just laughed at him indulgently, not lifting a finger towards the weapon, “You might need it.”

Shaking her head, “Never have, never will.” Pivoting on her heels, she gave his rear a firm pat while she winked and with a click of her tongue she took off at a sprint for Quadrant 2. Within seconds she disappeared in the underbrush of the forest.

James sighed through his nose, holstered the pistol, and took off the safety off his laser rifle, “Alright, let’s guard at four points. Shoot anything threatening but make sure you’ve got your target in sight. For all we know there could be more than two civilians and they’re going to be frightened, people.”

“Sir, shouldn’t one of us follow her?”

After a moment he just shook his head. He’d seen her move. In the wilderness she seemed to be in her element and flew through the foliage like nothing he’d ever seen, “We’ll never keep up.” Turning his attention away from the sentry who had spoken, “Dr. St. Clair, keep your team single file and watch where you step, just because it’s small out there doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.” They all nodded, well aware of the routine and proceeded with extreme caution.

***

Rose was trembling from head to toe, crouched into a ball in a tall rotting tree and trying frantically to reach out to the Doctor. She couldn’t hear him. Couldn’t feel him. It was like he was gone, like completely gone, and she just continued to shake her head in denial. He couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t. Not her Doctor. He’d find a way. He always found a way. Regeneration sickness and he’d found a way. Locked in the past in France and her stuck with Mickey in the future and he’d fixed it. Trapped with the devil and about to hurl into a black hole and he’d saved the day. He couldn’t be dead. Not here. Not like this. She had no idea how quickly she was breathing until she found she couldn’t quite catch her breath.

She took in gasps of breath, trying to draw in enough oxygen into her starved cells and not quite able to manage it. She felt like she was suffocating in her own skin and looked around in a panic, clutching at her chest and looking around wildly. Strange alien plants stared back at her, nothing remotely comforting and suddenly she wished for her mum. She wanted Jackie’s warm embrace and her too sweet tea and her annoying chatter because it was familiar and it was home. She felt so small all of a sudden, pulsing realization flowing through her veins that she could die all alone out here and no one would ever know. Her mum would never know, just be sad and assume she couldn’t get back to her but that she was living a fantastic life with her Doctor and going on adventures for the remainder of her long life.

Except it wasn’t true. She was going to die today. She was going to die and so was her Doctor and so was her baby. The last of the Timelords and one stupid little ape were going to die out here in the wilderness and she choked on a gasped sob as she realized this was all her own fault. She’d insisted on this adventure. TARDIS had picked the spot but she’d ignored the Doctor’s worry and blackmailed him into venturing out. There was a sound reaching her ears but she didn’t hear it, her vision flooded with random black spots as she choked out a croak of a word. Just one word before the world faded to black, “...Doctor...”

***

Dien took to the trees, finding it the easiest mode of travel compared to the less than safe terrain of the forest floor. It was more of a natural habit for her anyway and she jumped from branch to branch, the feat quite easy considering how close most of the trees were to one another. It was just a matter of balance and her’s was spot on. She could hear the distant sounds of an animalistic roar and narrowed her eyes, moving faster. There was no mistaking that kind of a sound. It was a sound of an imminent kill.

She found them quickly, both man and creature down in a narrow ravine and she could easily see that the man was out of running room. His back was to the base of the mountain, panting in exhaustion, and she could see the plant life was too young to assist in his escape. Silently she slipped to the ground and moved with haste to their position, seeing the creature snapping it’s teeth and trying to get a claw into it’s prey. But the ravine was too narrow for it to move effectively and even cornered the man was not giving up, weaving and jumping out of the way, retreating under a root encased overhang that gave him the barest of cover. She had to respect his will to survive.

She watched him still for a moment before his eyes lit up with inspiration, smoothly pulling some kind of device out of his pocket and stepping up to the animal, pointing it at the creature’s eyes. It screamed, suddenly blinded by the intense light and swung around backwards in pain. The scaled tail whipped around, the man having no room to duck as he was hit solidly in the chest and sent flying into the rocky surface behind him. With a soft groan he crumpled to the ground and lay very still. Dien winced in sympathy.

The beast was still howling, pitching it’s head from side to side and scratching at it’s face. She saw her opening and leapt in, the blade concealed in her hand slicing neatly through the artery at it’s neck. It howled again, this time a defeatest sound as if recognizing it’s death, body thrashing to fight. Dien neatly swung around the writhing body, sinking the blade to the hilt with deadly precision into it’s spinal column and gave a sharp twist. It gave a last cry before crumpling to the ground, it’s body twitching in the last throes of death before sinking into the soil with a forced exhale.

She studied the creature for a moment, not moving from her position until her hearing informed her this animal would not be getting up. Nodding to herself and retrieving her blade she moved to the crumpled, human appearing form and checked him over. The strong, double heart beat that reached her ears told her he would pull through just fine, and that he was definitely not human. She glanced around, becoming aware of just how close sunset seemed to be and frowned to herself. That wasn’t right. Sunset should be two hours away. It shouldn’t be this dark.

Whipping out the communicator she rarely kept on her person, “James.”

There was a pause before he responded to her, “Are you alright? Where are you? We’ll be right there.”

Rolling her eyes at his overprotective nature, “Down boy, I’m just fine. I’ve got him safe and sound, how about you?”

He sighed over the communicator, “She had a panic attack but she seems alright. We’re heading back now.”

Nodding to herself, “Good...but pick up the pace. Something’s really wrong.”

There was another pause, before he spoke cautiously, “What is it?”

Frowning intensely as her instincts screamed something was coming. It was always hard to pinpoint them when they were like this but the only time they were like this was during the weather change, “I’m not sure, but I think Winter’s coming.”

“What??”

Growling softly, not having the time nor the inclination to go into details, “You heard me, fly boy now move it!” She cut off the small device and pocketed it, deftly lifting the man over her shoulder and grunting softly. Skinny though he may be, right now he was a tall drink of dead weight. She closed her eyes for just a moment, gathering herself together and feeling her muscles coil in preparation. With a growl she bared her teeth and ran up the body of her own prey then leapt to the relative safety of the forest floor.

Glancing up at the trees, she knew she’d never maintain her balance while carrying him so she settled for starting a cautious jog along the ground and spanning out her senses for the slightest hint of danger. Her brow furrowed a little, slightly annoyed that his limp arm kept hitting the back of her legs but dismissing her annoyance since he couldn’t exactly help it. She felt a sudden dip in the temperature, at least ten degrees and swore softly under her breath as her jog became a run. Glancing down, she noticed her coat was starting to change colors, slowly bleaching out to white. It was designed to adapt to the conditions as camouflage. She was right. The Winter Wall was coming and it was going to hit them fast.

Picking up the pace a little bit more, she tapped the communicator twice and a technician from the control room answered, “Control room-...”

“Get everyone inside right now, Winter’s coming and I mean in ten minutes.”

“Miss-...”

“Don’t ‘miss’ me and don’t ignore me. Get everyone inside or I’ll kill you myself. Got it?” She snapped the little device off again with an irritated snort. They’d take readings and waste time and anyone outside could potentially freeze to death under the first assault of Winter in about five minutes.

“...Rose...Rose...run...”

Dien blinked in surprise that he was semi-conscious already before realizing he really wasn’t there
considering what he was mumbling. She just patted the back of his knee and kept moving, “It’s alright, kid, we’re running.”

“...yeah...run from.......from scary.......Jackie...”

By the time she’d made it back to the edge of the perimeter, a light frost was on the ground and James was hustling everyone inside. By the looks of things his crew had made it back before she had by at least several minutes. He gave her a relieved head to toe glance and she just rolled her eyes at him, “I’m fine.”

Giving her a disbelieving nod, “Right. And who was the one who said that while gushing blood from
a ‘flesh wound’?”

Rolling her eyes and following him quickly inside, “Yeah, yeah...” Grumbling to herself, “...like you don’t know the Monty Python reference.” He grinned to himself. Once they’d managed to establish themselves here, an inventory of their combined supplies left them with enough videos from all sorts of eras to keep them all entertained until the next millennia. And since Dien was completely ignorant of human cinema, most of the survivors had taken it upon themselves to educate her, “Is that everyone?”

James tapped the computer console, the instrument making a quick tally of everyone in the compound before displaying the results, “Yep, the good thing is the only ones outside were the Johnsons and us. That’s 237 colony and military chips and three life forms without them.” He gave Dien a longer glance, “You really should-...”

Pointing a finger at his nose, “I’m not getting chipped so save it and if you don’t mind he’s not exactly light as a feather.”

Raising an eyebrow at her, “You want me to take him?”

Sniffing, she didn’t even dignify his question with a response. James shook his head as he watched her
go before hitting the release and the main doors slowly closed. With a thud the doors sealed themselves, locks clicking securely to keep them in. He crossed his arms, walking down the main corridor and turning right into the conference room. The rest of the flight crew were already present, “Sir, Winter’s more than two days early-...”

He nodded slowly to himself, not looking up as he landed heavily in a chair. The supplies were stocked so that wasn’t a worry. Thankfully Summer had lasted long enough to fully charge the solar cells, giving them plenty of energy for surviving Winter. No, the worry is that the climate net should have noticed the shift in the season and warned them about it. So either the system was faulty...or there was a saboteur here. And while he immediately threw suspicion at these two new guests he couldn’t think of a good reason for it. But he also couldn’t think why one of his own people would do this, either. Glancing up to see them standing still and waiting expectantly, “Smith, I want a discrete check done on all systems. Every single one from top to bottom. Daniels, you’re going through everyone’s access. I want names of anyone who probed through the weather system, even indirectly. Carrol, you and McCain are double checking behind them. Look for anything encrypted and especially any tampering with the weather system. Is everyone clear?” As a group they all nodded silently, expressions grim, “Dismissed.”

Once they’d left silently he tapped his com-badge once. Surprisingly she actually answered, “What?”

He couldn’t help but smile since it’s how she always replied. She may not be military but she really acted like it sometimes, “I need a favor.”

She sighed softly, “So what else is new...fine, what do you have?”

Expression grim, “A saboteur.”