While You Were Out ...

Chapter 2

Jamie gaped at the empty space in front of him.

"Wasn't he jist in front of us?"

"He ... was ..." Zoe replied slowly as her brain tried to compute what had just happened.

"Weeell, where could he have gone, then?" Jamie began frantically looking around. "Doctor!!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Zoe sighed. "Jamie, we're not going to find him."

"Well, of course we're nae if we jis' stand here! If we hadnae been arguing, mebbe we would've seen where he'd gone. Come on, help me look." He started off when she grabbed his arm, effectively stopping him.

"It doesn't matter. He was right in front of us. We would have heard him if he'd walked away. And he wouldn't have had time to hide anywhere without us seeing." She gazed at the desolation around them. "Look around; there's nothing here to hide behind anyway. He's actually disappeared."

"Weel, then, where is he, canny lass?"

"I don't know!"

There was a long stretch of silence as she struggled to theorize what happened to their dear friend. Finally she and Jamie stared at each other in futility.

"Mebbe he's made for that wee village or whatever it is he saw," the Highlander offered.

Zoe shook her head. "We would have seen him. It was quite a distance away; he wouldn't have got that far in such a short time."

"Well, what're we gonna do?!" he practically demanded. "We cannae —" The Highlander stopped and winced as the wind suddenly picked up. Far from being a cool, refreshing breeze, it was sickeningly warm.

It also picked up some of the red dirt and sand, sending it flying into his eyes. "Agh!" he cried, frantically wiping his eyes with his shirtsleeve and then doing his best to shield them with his arm raised, wrist against his forehead.

Zoe quickly took off her little jacket, placing it over her head as a makeshift umbrella.

"We can't stay out here —we need to find shelter!" she shouted over the noise of the whipping winds.

"How are we gonna find any shelter? There's naethin' aroond here!"

"Well we've got to find something!"

Zoe desperately tried to recall which direction she had seen that cluster of buildings the Doctor had spotted. Could it have been ... there? She pointed in a vaguely northwest direction.

Or maybe it was there ? She heaved a sigh of frustration. No, despite how uniform their surroundings appeared, it couldn't have been in that direction. Perhaps it was—

"Come on!" Jamie suddenly gripped her hand and pulled her along with him as he took off running.

Zoe didn't object as the winds picked up even further and she struggled to keep her jacket above her head with one hand. In such conditions she couldn't see where they were going, but it no longer mattered —she trusted Jamie enough to lead them to safety.

Slowing a bit, she lowered her head slightly, dropping her gaze to the material beneath their feet as she began toeing at it with her shoe. "If we found some soil with a high clay content, we could use it to construct a makeshift barrier to shield us from the wind and sand—"

"Or we could jist make fer those yon houses!" Jamie interrupted, gesturing vaguely with his left hand before he hurried them along.

Looking back up, Zoe risked a glance in the direction he was pointing. About thirty yards away she was just able to spot a cluster of white buildings. Could they have been the same ones the Doctor had spotted? They appeared farther away than this. At least she thought they had ...