the forgotten child of gallifrey | doctor whoniverse

xvii: the amulet of ankh

"Run!" the Doctor yells, grabbing both our hands and pulling us to the left.

I can barely hear the Doctor muttering under his breath, something along the lines of: "Why does he get to be ginger. I've always wanted to be ginger. All this time, I've never been ginger, but look at him, ginger on his first try. This is not fair."

The pounding footsteps behind us grow louder and louder. This is not what I expected from a simple trip to Egypt. I thought it would be fun, maybe get to meet the pharaoh or something. But nooooo, we have to get chased by weird aliens trying to take my present for Echo. Plus, they called it the Amulet of Ankh. Ankh means life, but the Egyptian symbol for life is more like a golden cross with a circle as the top line and a red ruby in the center of the circle. So they must not have read up on their history before trying to kill me.

We run down into what will eventually be the lower tomb area.

"Psst," a familiar voice says from around the corner. "Over here."

With no idea what else to do, we follow the voice. With our backs pressed to the wall, the Zorlaks run past us, thankfully.

The person pushes their hand into the wall and a secret entrance opens up. "In here."

Once inside, they pull out some kind of light. Now I recognize her. It's Mesta, the girl who first greeted us when we arrived. But, maybe I say, she looks smoking hot. She's not in her Egyptian get-up from earlier; now she has on a skin tight black body suit, black kne- high boots, with her actually-not-a-wig hair up in a high ponytail.

She turns to me and says, "What are you looking at?"

I quickly snap back to reality. "Oh, um, nothing. Sorry."

"Who the hell are you?" River asks, a hint of jealousy evident in her voice.

"I'm here to help. Look, we don't have much time."

"Well, how are we supposed to trust you if we don't know who you are?"

"Fair enough. The name's Megan. Mesta was just my stupid cover-up name. I'm from the 46th century here to investigate the possible alien situation back in Egypt. I got here by the new and developing time travel technology. So, the only problem is I can't go back." A look of deep sadness passed over her face.

"Oh, okay. Well what's the p--" River starts, only to be rudely interrupted by those stupid alien things.

"The boy will hand over the amulet," one says, monotone.

"Pfff, the boy will not," I say, looking at everyone, signaling for them to get ready to run. Hopefully they understood.

The aliens start walking closer to us, still in their human state.

"Go!" I yell as I start to race further down the hall.

"Doctor, what's the plan?" River asks again.

"Plan. Plan-y plan plan plan," he says, partially to himself. "Er, I don't have one. Just run."

"You can't use that for everything," she replies between breaths.

So. No plan. No idea where we're going. Deadly aliens chasing us down. Great.

Not knowing how this is going to end, I decide to give Echo one last call. I fumble around until I finally my mobile. It goes straight to voicemail.

"Hey, Echo. I don't know when you'll get this, but there's just a few things I need to tell you. First off, I lied. Everything isn't going good. I'm currently running for my life from strong, murderous, shapshifting aliens, so yeah. The Doctor and River have no idea what to do. Probably because it's been so long since he's encountered the Zorlaks. We may or not make it back. I love you, bye."

"Wait, what did you just say?" the Doctor asks me.

"Nothing, j-just nothing," I reply, running with every ounce of energy left in me.

After a few minutes of pure adrenaline and dashing about, the Doctor finally speaks.

"Alright. Split up. River and I will go left, you two go right. Meet back here once you get rid of your stupid Zorlaks. Be careful."

The rest of us just nod, having nothing better to go with.

"Okay...now!" he says, tossing me the sonic screwdriver.

We silently race down the hall, not looking back. Once we reach the end there's a split and we duck around the corner to buy ourselves a little more time.

"I don't think," she says between gasps, "I caught your name."

"Jay," I respond. "Okay, what are we gonna do?"

"You're gonna stay here, while I use the gun I have hidden in my boot to kill as many of these bastards as I can before they get me," Megan states, her mind already made up. How long had she been planning to do this?

"No. You can't, you don't have to. We'll find another way, please don't," I say, almost begging her to stay.

"I don't have anything to live for. Everyone I loved hasn't even been born yet, and won't be for thousands of years. That's why they sent me here. They told me to stop them whatever the cost. Now I finally know what they meant."

"That's no--" She cuts me off, putting her finger to my lips.

"I'm so sorry I have to do this to you. Not gonna lie, I know this will probably hurt you more than it will hurt me. You really are a great guy. Go find yourself a worthy girl. Maybe someone who doesn't have to die to save your cute ass." A little smile escapes right at the last part.

"Goodbye Jay," Megan says, a single tear slipping down her face. Those will be her last words. Her warm lips press against my cheek for just a moment. She tries to give me a quick reassuring smile right before she heads out to her impending death.

She turns the corner, bracing herself in the bravest stance she can manage. Shots are fired and a few bodies drop to the ground. A scream escapes from her mouth as one of them holds her down. She has no chance of escape. The sound of her neck snapping fills the air. Just like that, Megan is gone.