Burning Stars {A Doctor Who Fan Fiction} [REWRITE IN PROGRESS!]

Chapter 9

AN: I know the last couple of chapters have been kind of uneventful, but things are going to start picking up from here :)

 

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Soon enough, we’d rejoiced with Lawrence and his small party of men. When the Doctor had seen them, he immediately handed each of the five men an electric torch, claiming that the gas lanterns they’d brought “weren’t good enough for the job.”

 

At the Doctor’s command, Lawrence took the lead and guided us to the entryway where construction workers had gone down into the underground tunnels to build railroads and had never resurfaced.

 

As the destination grew nearer, I began to worry. If something happened to any of us, how would we be able to get the word out? For all I knew, Lawrence had kept the disappearances on the down low; nobody would know that there were people trapped in the underground. The Doctor seemed to pick up on my uneasiness.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Annabelle. We’ll just be in and out,” he reassured, pulling an arm around my shoulders. I glance up at him, only able to give him a half-smile.

 

“But what if we get stuck down there?”

 

He frowned at this, stopping to place both of his hands on each of my shoulders. “When you’re with me, there’s a couple of things that you always have to remember. First, situations can never get any worse. Second, there is always, always hope in any situation. Third, stay close and don’t wander off. Fourth and final, messing with things usually helps.”

 

“Only usually?” I look past him, noticing the group has moved on without us. He notices also, releasing my shoulders from his grip, instead holding out his bent arm. I take it.

 

“‘Usually’ is quite a high chance,” he grins. “Now, come along, Pond. We’ve got a whole subway system to discover!”

 

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"That's it?" I mutter, flashing the torchlight down into the 'entrance' of the unfinished subway system.

 

"What were you expectin'?" Lawrence piped up, standing two feet away. I stare at the manhole cover behind him, and then back down at the ladder attached to the cement walls of the tunnel. The rust that's built up over the years refused to let any metal gleam in the artificial light.

 

"Well, not a hole. Ever heard of stairs? Or maybe even an actual door?" I replied, retreating away from the edge where the asphalt ends and meets a thin ring of steel.

 

The Doctor steps up to the edge, grinning down into the darkness. "Ooh, a tunnel! It's been forever since I got a tunnel!"

 

“Ernest, why don’t you go down first. You know the place best--” Lawrence starts, ignoring the Doctor’s excitement, only to be cut off by the Doctor.