Saving the Doctor

Chapter 11

The Doctor and I share another look before going back to staring at the doors.

After a few moments, they come again.

One...two...three.

Thank Pete it isn't four quick ones, but they still make me nervous.

I back away from the console and slowly make my way to the doors.

"What are you doing?!" The Doctor hisses quietly at me.

"I'm going to look out the window, what does it look like?" I whisper back as I reach the doors.

"They are savages. They have no remorse. I barely got away last time, I do not want them to come in here." I put my palm on the wood and stand on my tip-toes. "Do. Not. Open it."

I try to see out the window the way I've done before, but now my view is obscured by dirt and grime.

I realize that they'll be knocking again soon, and if the pattern is any indication, after the third time, they give up trying to get the homeowner to answer the door. Who knows what they'll do then.

I set my hand on the door handle.

"Bethany, I said 'don't'."

I throw him an irritated look. "Listen. Either we open the door, or they do. I would rather be peaceable and trusting. Maybe they'll trust us if we trust them."

"They are incapable of trust, and I promise you, they are not worthy of ours. They are mindless animals."

I'm appalled by the way he sees them. "They seem to understand the concept of numbers," I sass, "and knocking before entering. And the fact that you and I are in here. I wouldn't call them mindless, Doc."

With that, I unlatch the door and open it slowly; Just because I don't think they're mindless doesn't mean they're any less scary.

I hesitantly step out and shut the door behind me so they can't get in and take control of the Tardis. I know the Doc won't come out, so I suppose it's also my way of trying to protect him.

The first thing I notice is that it's no longer cold. We must have landed somewhere with a warmer climate.

I then turn my attention to the short, skinny people crowded in a semicircle around the front of the Tardis. They only come up to my waist, but if they weren't hunched over, they would more than likely come up to my chest.

They're a brownish color with beady yellow eyes, and their hands look like oversized doorknobs. Their legs bend backward instead of forward and have knobs that are slightly flattened on the bottom for feet.

Other than their eyes, their faces are featureless, and they have no hair anywhere on their body. In fact...their skin almost looks like wood.

I just stand there, looking them over, and they do the same, taking in the strangeness of me.

Something in the way they shift their eyes makes me nervous.

"Bethany," the Doctor whispers through the door behind me, "do not say a word. Do not make any sudden moves."

Why would he care? It's not like I mean anything to him. All he really cares about is getting off this planet.

Which is probably the only reason he wants me to come back in.

I take deep, slow breaths, and try to keep my heart rate down. After a second, I take a hesitant and slow step forward, watching them watch me.

"What are you doing?" The Doc hisses at me, "Get back over here and get in!"

I try to keep an eye on all of them at once, but there are so many of them, it's impossible to do. Each time I look away, they seem to find the confidence to come slightly closer.

Soon I'm surrounded and they're closing in around me. Quickly. I start getting jittery and nervous, and no matter how hard I try, there's no keeping calm.

The creature directly in front of me lifts it's giant knob of a hand high into the air, it's arm unfolding and turning out to be much longer than I thought at first, reaching almost past my head.

I take a step backward, only to find that there is nowhere for me to go. They've pressed in so close that I can barely move without hurting one of them.

I suddenly start to feel panicked.

Why did I come out here? To prove a point? All I've succeeded in doing is proving I'm a fool. An idiot who can't and won't take orders if I disagree with them.

So much for trying to be understanding and just trust his instructions, for being a 'normal' companion.

They never listen to him either, though, do they? I should've learned from them. Then again, they always had their Doctor to come save them.

But.

This is different.

He is different.

War does strange things to peoples' personalities. He'll leave me here on my own to die, for all I know. He doesn't care.

Maybe my death is what will snap him out of whatever it is he's going through. If so, I'll make that sacrifice.

We need him the way I saw him: a hero.

I just have to think of it this way: the needs of the many, in this case the universe, outweigh the needs of the few.

Or the one.

But only if it comes to that.

I don't want to die. So even if I'm going to, I'm going to put up a bit of a struggle.

I look around, trying not to make sudden moves, determined to find a way to escape.

There is nothing. No way out.

What's worse is that the creatures behind me have started stacking on each other up to my full height, coming right up to my back like a wall.

The one with it's arm outstretched comes closer and pulls it's knobbed hand backward. Despite the surprisingly sturdy wall of them behind me, I try to back away, failing.

I refuse to abandon my principles by hurting them, so I finally give up, deciding that I should at least save some dignity in my last moments.

I see the knob-hand fly forward and I squeeze my eyes tightly shut, awaiting the impact.