Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [87]
Sam liked to think she was going there because she wanted to warn everyone, to tell them all to get away while they could. But there was a suspicion deep down that she was seeking safety in numbers. Whatever, the bodies they passed on the way were a clear and horrible reminder that the creatures had already been here. Sam's stomach started to tense up at the thought of what they might find.
The sight that awaited them was worse than she could've imagined. Bodies were piled high in bloody pools. Clearly, the men had been forced to fight or die. From the look of the corpses, they had managed both.
Sam found herself resting her head on Tanhith's shoulder. She felt his hand cradle the back of her head, and it was all the sympathy she needed to let herself give in to tears.
'You've cried a lot since you met me,' mused Tanhith in her ear.
'I suppose I have,' she agreed. 'I'm pig sick of it too, if you're interested.
Some date you turned out to be.'
Tanhith sadly heaved a sigh that turned into a long bubbling cough that hacked through the air like gunfire. She shushed him, rubbing his back, and they looked around them at the carnage in the heat, in the dreadful silence.
'Yast got away, didn't he?' asked Tanhith.
'I think so. He was near the doorway. Didn't take Felbaac long to shut everyone out, did it?'
'They're survivors, those two.'
'I can think of better words for them.'
Tanhith paused.'Why didn't you just let me die, Sam?'
Sam closed her eyes. 'I told you. You saved my life. I'm grateful.'
'Well, I'm not.' He sounded weary, and in pain.'Why did you want to bring me back to this ?'
She pulled herself away from him. 'What is all this?' she began angrily.
'Stop it. Stop it, will you? Look around, at all these people. You think they wanted to die? You think there
hasn't been enough death round here already?'
Tanhith just looked at her.'It was my destiny to -'
"That is such crap !' Sam spat at him. But she thought of her own travels with the Doctor, thought of how much was preordained, wondered how much of a difference they were allowed to make. But then she thought of the dreams she'd had of being someone else, a dark-haired girl holed up in a King's Cross bedsit, with nothing special in her life, just endless days of being ordinary. The Doctor had cheated her of that life. And if she shared his jinx for accompanying cataclysms wherever he went, well, maybe it followed that she could cheat this death for Tanhith.
'Anyway,' she murmured, looking at the ground, trying to shut out the horror around her, 'Yast gave you the injection that brought you round.' She paused.'How long will it last?'
'I don't know.' He smiled, faintly, then coughed some more. 'I'm quite a wreck, Sam, really.'
'Well, we're going to get away from those creatures. We're going to find the transmitter platform and work out how to use it, and we're going to get back to the moon.'
'Right,' said Tanhith, his face nodding mock-seriously as if taking an order.
'Then we're going to find the Doctor and get you to the TARDIS - his ship -
and make you well.'
'Right,' concurred Tanhith again.
'Forget all about burning birds and all that, OK? The only burning bird you've got is me. People with fair hair shouldn't stay out in the sun for too long, and frankly I think my complexion is ruined for ever.'
Tanhith smiled a bit more fully, and Sam felt a small tingle of relief. Or something.
'So we'd better get you out of the sun then and start looking,' said Tanhith.
'Before those creatures come back.'
Sam clapped her hands together, and the sound echoed like a pistol crack around the deserted camp. 'That's it! Those creatures!' Tanhith just looked at her, trying to stifle another coughing fit, which Sam ignored. 'They're not indigenous, are they? They can't be.'
Tanhith nodded, slowly. 'The men would surely have mentioned