Walk The Earth: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 2]

Truths and Lies

Truths and Lies

"By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger." -C.S. Lewis, 'The Last Battle'

Matt woke alone.

Was it any real wonder he nearly panicked?

For a few terrifying moments, he had himself convinced it was another dream. A dream in the same disgusting clarity as the three he hadn't had in two months, as the one that had come true before his eyes, but a dream nonetheless. He was in the safehouse in Trenton—but the bunk that she had been in before joining him was perfectly made and empty, any evidence of habitation gone. Had his subconscious teamed up with the universe to play the cruelest trick imaginable on him?

The room was just as dim as it had been in the middle of the night, though now a significantly larger amount of the beds were unoccupied. He hadn't a clue what time it was, though it felt as if he'd slept for quite a while.

He reached a hand across the mattress, hoping for a tell-tale warmth that would tell him she really had been there, but found only cold, empty sheets.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to steady his breathing. If last night had only been a dream... he couldn't even finish the thought. The very idea threatened to shatter him.

Matt wasn't sure how long he stayed there before he forced himself out of bed. Having learned the hard way that one didn't always have time to worry about something as minor as changing clothes when you woke up in the morning, he was still dressed but for his jacket and boots, which were in a small locker at the foot of the bunk along with his pack. He laced his boots but left the rest for now.

Ten minutes of aimless wandering finally lead him to some kind of cafeteria. The chatter from inside washed over him, but he couldn't bring himself to pay attention.

"Matt!"

He spun around at the sound, at her voice, and thank everything good in the world, it hadn't been a dream. Automatically, he started to search the crowd for a head full of blonde hair, before her voice called his name again and he reminded himself that she wasn't blonde anymore. At long last, his gaze landed on her. Dimly aware that Mark was sitting beside her, looking as if he'd been in deep conversation with her, Matt wove through the crowd toward her.

"Thought you were never going to wake up," she teased as he neared, sending him a grin that for once, he couldn't return. It quickly slipped from her face, though, as she saw the look in his eyes. "Matt? You all right?"

She pushed her empty lunch tray aside before sliding her chair backwards and getting to her feet.

He hadn't even followed the thought all the way through to its end before he was acting on it, locking his hands around her waist and kissing her eagerly.

Blocking out the sound of the crowd around him, he could only focus on her, on the way she moved against him, pressing closer... no.

Pulling away.

"Mark, I'll be right back," she said, and Matt tamped down the quiet, offended jealousy that pointed out he had just given her one heck of a kiss and she had pushed him off in favor of talking to Mark.

"Take your time," Mark said dryly.

Mallory gave Matt a look that quite clearly said she expected an explanation... though he wasn't quite sure why she was giving him that look.

In the end, he was glad he had wandered for a few minutes. Even in a place as busy and well built as this, there always ended up being a few quiet, innocuous dead ends, and he'd managed to find one. Now, instinct lead him back down it.