Worth A Thousand Words

Chapter Four

'It's not my fault!' the Doctor protested. 'The TARDIS is supposed to avoid these kinds of things!'

'You sure you just can't drive?'

'Oi! I can drive fine, but if there's a problem in the navigation systems –!'

'Might we keep the domestics until after we've finished running for our lives?' Galloway demanded, having caught up to them.

Which was the exact moment that it all went wrong.

There was a dull thunk noise, and suddenly the Doctor wasn't running beside Rose, but crumpled in a heap in the ashy sand. A large rock lay a few feet away, the roughest part of it slick with a dark, wet substance. A substance that looked worrying similar to a thin stream of dark orange trickling down the back of the Doctor's neck.

'Oh my word,' Dr Galloway sighed, 'that's not very good, is it?'

'Doctor? Doctor!' Rose was on her knees in an instant, frantically trying to turn him over to examine the wound. 'C'mon, Doctor, you have to wake up!'

'Easier said than done,' Dr Galloway called over the din, crouching down as well and reaching for the blood covered rock. 'Ballistic rock, ejected from the volcano – if he'd been human, he'd be dead. Out cold, I should think, and a skull fracture at the very least –'

'We have to get him out of here!' Rose cried, eyes flitting about to take in the darkening cloud above them. 'This place will blow any minute!'

'Oh, my word, do you really think so?' Galloway snarked.

'Shut up and help me!'

Rose crouched down to loop her arm around the Doctor's back, while Galloway helped to hoist him upright. The Doctor's lanky form drooped heavily to one side, and as they staggered forward, his boots dragged in the ash and rock.

Dr Galloway was muttering something under his breath that she couldn't quite make out – words like "timing" and "recklessness" and something about the CIA. But Rose was too focussed on the hammering of her heart to really pay close attention. That and the impression of the Doctor's blood against her face and hair when his head lolled onto her shoulder was making her want to sick up.

She had never seen him injured before, let alone unconscious, and even without her barely passable first aid skills, she knew she wasn't qualified to help an injured alien. Especially one that was the last of his kind.

The only chance of helping him was getting to the TARDIS and hoping there was some kind of alien tech that could fix the bleeding wound in his skull.

It was a slow procession through the ash littered island, and even though Galloway appeared stronger than he looked, they weren't moving as fast as Rose wished. The TARDIS was still too far away, the rocks they had hidden it behind not even visible yet.

There was a thunderous, explosive crack, and for a moment the world seemed to spin on its axis. She and Galloway struggled to find purchase somewhere on the tremoring ground, but even as they did it seemed to break apart beneath them.

A sudden hissing roar interrupted this, and a burning pain ripped up the side of Rose's right leg.

'Oh!'

White arced across her vision as she staggered, losing her grip on the Doctor as she fell backward onto the ground. Beneath her, the earth splintered and she only just rolled away before she took a tumble into its depths.

Ahead of her, Galloway swung the Doctor forward, using that momentum to propel them far enough ahead that they avoided the same fate. They landed in a heap about two feet from the chasm which continued to spout scorching hot steam from down below.