Doctor Who: Drift (4 page)

Helping her out, protecting her and her kid, that night it had been about doing his job. Two nights later something had prompted him to swing by and check on how she was doing. Then the same thing prompted him to ask her out.

Looking after the pair of them, Martha and Amber, now it was about his life. Him and Melvin Village, living for other people, and when we‟re alone - well, Makenzie got by.

Makenzie Shaw had been getting by since he was ten years old. Since he was Amber‟s age.

Laurie was attractive and she was there every day. And she was two-thirds his age. So now he woke up to Martha‟s head on the pillow, all that brown hair massed up, and he could see himself with her ten, twenty years down the road. The picture was that clear. In his head, at least, it all worked out fine.

„Hey, you know, Chief, you ever want to talk about it. Over a beer, you know?‟

He‟d sat quiet too long, he realised.

„Nah, ain‟t a domestic situation been invented I can‟t handle,‟ he beamed, then raised a Styrofoam toast. Laurie was good, and the thought of red hair on his pillow was inevitable. Where would they have ended up by now? Sitting in the same truck every morning? Picking up coffees from Hal‟s store? Don‟t even go there, Makenzie. Just a different colour to your morning. Not a big enough change to want that bad.

„Appreciate the asking anyhow.‟ Makenzie held a bead of caffeine on his tongue. „So - what‟d Hal have to say?‟

Laurie settled back in her chair. She knew when the personal door was closed. „He was kind of worried, Chief.

This couple came in early, stocked up on supplies for the road. The guy reckoned the weather had eased off, enough to try the journey home anyway. Said a few of the townsfolk were going to try to make a break for it along with them.‟

Yeah, thought Makenzie. Not the real townsfolk. Just the ones who‟d bought themselves a nice holiday home or two around here.

„What time?‟

„Round seven. Hal told them he didn‟t like the way the storm was eyeing up the town. But the guy said his lady had been going stir crazy over in the hotel. So it was today or never.‟

Makenzie shook his head, returned his cup to the dash.

„Never make promises you can‟t keep. Okay, well 1 guess we‟d best check it out - for all our peaces of mind. They tell Hal which way their little convoy was going?‟

„North. The ploughs were all along Route 109 two days ago.

Guess they reckoned on a lot of traffic before Thanksgiving, huh?‟

„I admire optimism,‟ remarked Makenzie as he grabbed the wheel and reached for the ignition. He gunned the engine and wheeled his truck gently out into the street.

„But I‟d have to side with Hal on this one. I don‟t like the way that storm‟s looking at us. Not one bit. Best check it out, bring them back in. Maybe you should have had Hal fill up a Thermos or two.‟

He swung the vehicle round wide to steer them north. As he started out of town the winter, for the present, was parting to let them through.

„Maybe they had a lucky break, Chief. Maybe they made it

„Maybe.‟ But Makenzie‟s tone wasn‟t convincing either of Ten minutes into her walk and Amber‟s face still burned. It hadn‟t helped that she‟d been near enough to the road to watch Makenzie when he rolled by on his way to work. That big important truck, with the rig of lights on the roof, always idle, and the Police badge emblazoned on the doors, as idle as the lights far as Amber knew.

Makenzie, driving down to take care of his precious town, like he was its daddy or something. Like he owned the place.

He hated her Daddy because he wasn‟t anything important like him. And sure, because he hurt Mom. But - hey, screw him. She was out on her own now, just her and the snow.

She could do what she liked.

Pretty soon she was marching between the trees, away from the track - which you couldn‟t see anyway - and after a while the sting in her cheeks was only the wind. And as she walked, enjoying the effort it took to plant and re-plant her boots in the drifts, she imagined all sorts of craggy faces carved in the silver-white bark around her. She wished she had her knife so she could carve them some angrier faces, and the idea made her laugh.

She trotted for a while to keep warm and to get her to her secret place just a little quicker. She kicked the snows and spun about, and she sang out loud, a note of triumph she couldn‟t have explained if she‟d wanted to.

Her own voice stopped her, like she‟d screamed in the middle of someone else‟s party. Too loud. She searched around fast for the people who must have heard her. The ones she felt sure must be watching. Except she knew - she

knew
- there was nobody up here. How could there be? She was alone on the mountain. Makenzie‟s mountain.

Mount Shaw. Makenzie had joked about how it was his mountain that day they‟d moved in - when taking the
family
for a summer evening walk seemed like a good idea. But they‟d stopped close by another cabin, maybe fifty yards short, Makenzie said, of the view he‟d promised them.

Because Amber had complained she was tired, complained until Mom took her side. Today that cabin was only a shadow on the air, but the look in Makenzie‟s eyes as they‟d trekked back down his mountain was carved in bark.

Well the mountain was hers right now. She was alone here.

She ruled the mountain. She could do what she liked and it didn‟t matter who was watching.

She bent to scoop up a lovely helping of the ground. She pounded it together, thinking it was like a ball of frozen mashed potato.

Then she hurled it, full force, at the face in the nearest tree.

But she didn‟t watch what it did to the face. She was more interested in the way her creation broke apart in soft lumps, flying in every direction and falling noiselessly back to being just part of the ground once more.

Done standing still, Amber spun and carried on up the hill with a fresh spring in her step. There wasn‟t any movement in the forest; none at all. So perhaps it was the stillness that kept provoking her to glance around. There was never anything there, ever, and she didn‟t like feeling so stupid.

She wanted to get to her hideout already.

Gearing herself up, she turned her run into a charge for the last stretch of the slope.

She was about ready to let out another great hurrah - but as she conquered the rise, a layer of ground, huge and purest white, flew up to smother her. And trapped the cheer in her throat.

„Don‟t you people know any other welcome? Honestly, put a gun in a man‟s hands and he seems to forget all about tea and biscuits.‟

Given that the air had to escape over such a wall of teeth, the power in the man‟s voice was phenomenal. Sufficient to command Kristal‟s attention, such that she hardly noticed as Hmieleski carefully plucked each tiny splinter of glass from her forearm. There was such gravity too in the stranger‟s face, and eyes that could stare down an owl.

„Oh, please, you‟ll have to excuse the substandard hospitality,‟ parried the Captain, his tone a poor glue for patience already snapped, „but you and your girlfriend have just walked in on something of a situation here and it so happens you look to me like a couple of cultists.‟

Oh really? And what do they look like?‟

All the guns levelled at the prisoner might as well have been water pistols, although he kept his hands aloft as a courtesy. Or as an example to his companion.

„Well, the specifics I think vary from cult to cult, but broadly speaking they tend to look
weird.
And if I put that description out to the local cops, my guess is you‟d be the first suspects they bring in for questioning.‟

„We generally are. Isn‟t that right, Leela?‟

The girl - the woman - she was an altogether different fascination. Steadfastly silent, trusting and afraid, ward and guardian both to this outlandish hobo who‟d barged in on the Captain‟s precious scene. They‟d received advanced warning from Falvi and Barnes out on the perimeter, but the snipers‟

report hadn‟t prepared anyone for the figures that walked in.

The other squads had suspended their room-to-room search and some of the men were out in the hall, waiting on the outcome like the final score in a football game.

Well hell, Kristal was ready to lay a few bucks on the outsider.

She flinched as cold liquid bit her arm. Joanna Hmieleski flashed her a wry look of apology. She was a good officer and an even better doctor, but she‟d never waste anything as rare as sympathy on scratches.

„How‟s she doing?‟ Captain Shaw asked, taking a time out.

Joanna met Kristal‟s look, and smiled. „She can walk and she can fight. She can even play the piano if she wants. I‟m just cleaning up the cuts now.‟

Right there, thought Kristal, was the first anyone had smiled since entering this house. The atmosphere didn‟t exactly encourage it. And despite the good news, Captain Shaw wasn‟t ready to echo the expression.

„Doesn‟t change the fact,‟ he rounded on his prisoners, „I have wounded here. Scratches or no, there‟s a lot of firepower littered around this place, and it could have been one hell of a lot worse. So you and your lady friend will understand if my temper gets shorter when I don‟t start getting answers.‟

The Captain‟s pacing brought him in line with the woman.

She didn‟t care for the attention. „You said these soldiers would be friendly, Doctor.‟

The
quality
of the sound was like a shock through Kristal‟s heart: a native innocence that fit perfectly with the apparel. It confirmed everything Kristal had already seen in the young woman‟s eyes.

The Captain was sharp, one of the sharpest, but there were times - just some times - when he couldn‟t see daylight in a cloudless sky.

„Well, friendly is a relative term, Leela. Friendlier than whoever or whatever they‟ve been shooting at, I would hope.

And where there‟s hope there‟s - what exactly have you been shooting at, Captain? Because, you know, if they were very large and very green there‟s a good chance I might be able to find an easier way of dealing with them.‟

Captain Shaw was not a big fan of condescension. „Okay, first of all, I‟m not interested in your screwy religious experiences with Martians, how you
commune
with extraterrestrials. And second of all, if you‟re not cultists, I want to know who you are, what you are, what you‟re doing here, what you know about any of-‟ He gestured around, but had no words (nobody had) for the scene that possessed this house. „-
this.
Immediately would be nice.‟

„Well, as you‟ve probably gathered, I‟m the Doctor. I‟m a Scientific Adviser with the UNIT organisation, although I‟m mostly part-time these days. More of a traveller, freelance, you might say.‟ The grin could have disarmed a legion - or provoked one into battle.

„UNIT huh? And who is she? The People That Time Forgot?‟

„In a manner of speaking, yes.‟ An answer for everything, it seemed, and now a new mask that seemed done with playing.

„Her name is Leela. You might take a little more care not to hurt her feelings. She‟s very sensitive you know, and probably very tired of keeping her hands up. Do you mind if we take them down, it‟s really getting very boring.‟ His arms were already lowered and those of his young companion followed his lead.

He leaned forward as though to whisper in the Captain‟s ear, but that voice carried to the hall and beyond. „Now I can see you‟re an intelligent fellow and I know if you had anything to do with shooting the people who lived here we‟d be knee-deep in bodies, which puts each of us as much in the dark as the other. And I don‟t very much care for the dark, do you?‟

Kristal read a signal in the corner of her eye and she glanced down to see that Hmieleski had finished dressing her arm. She stood along with the lieutenant and reached down for her parka. In that time, the Captain was busy puzzling over his find.

„UNIT.‟ He shook his head. „I don‟t know.
Doctor.
Seems to me UNIT would most likely be investigating you instead of hiring you.‟

But the Captain had already been won over. And this Doctor had started work, confidently extending his hand, while his eyes conducted a grim survey of the dining room.

„Ah well, genius is rarely understood, you know,‟ the Doctor shook the Captain‟s hand absently. Kristal could almost feel his mind appraising every detail in the room, prioritising every fragment for closer attention.

His gaze fell for a moment on his companion, who waited dutifully for her own assignment.

„You know, Captain, perhaps you could see about getting my assistant some better clothing, something more appropriate for the time of year.‟

„Sir, I can help with that,‟ volunteered Kristal before the Captain could offer his protest. „I‟ll see what they have lying around the house.‟

Morgan Shaw took a moment, then nodded. The message in his gaze was clear: he had no problem being railroaded as long as things were headed the way he wanted. He spun about ready to get everything moving again. Kristal stepped over quickly to usher Leela out of harm‟s way.

Amber kicked and thrashed for the first few seconds, and then started to realise she was making matters worse.