Quarantine // Elijah Townley

Sitting quietly on the couch in the lobby area of Torchwood, Demory was tapping her finger on the desk with a slight sigh as boredom took over. Looking over to see that several agents were playing a card game. Everyone was just waiting for something to happen, and it was taking absolutely forever. She kept looking over to the mission board, hoping Harkness would show up to update it, but she doubted that would happen.

As quickly as she sighed though, agents immediately burst through the door with a stretcher, yelling incoherently as they then sped down the hallway. Standing up quickly and wondering what had happened, Demory followed behind quickly. They immediately went into the medical area of the headquarters and as she was separated by the glass wall between them, she watched as they tore the sheet off from the body. What the bloody hell is that thing!? Demory's eyes widened.

A creature with dark, muddy and scaled skin with large, dilated eyes was screeching at the top of it's lungs once it had hit the light. It had contorted arms and legs and it's nose was like a snout. Taking a step back from pure shock, she watched as they started to sedate it, trying to calm it down. "What are they doing?" she murmured. She could slightly overhear the conversations that was going on within the room. It was a creature that was infecting the forests of a star system nearby, and they needed to find a cure for it's poison.

Suddnely though, the creature became still, and silent, and the people inside began to panic, wondering what was going on. Tilting her head in curiosity, something inside the alien's stomach began to wander, creating a slight jiggle throughout its body, and CRACK!It's entire rib cage split open as the glass wall was suddenly splattered with some type of liquid. Screaming commenced in the area for a moment, as people were suddenly banging on the doors and Demory gasped, backing into someone. It went silent in the room... and then the alarms started to sound as red lights began flashing.

Attention. This is not a drill. This is a lockdown, now in effect. Please return to your quarters and wait until further instructions.

Elijah looked up to the speaker when the alarm sounded. He was in the smoking room, as cigarettes tended to dull his headaches. He didn't care how bad they were for a person, it worked. He quickly put the cigarette out, and ran to the main lobby, where Demorytor was. She was his partner, and he wanted to make sure she was ok. Once he had reached the lobby, he found that she wasn't there. "Demorytor?!" He shouted, running down the hall to the medical area.

"There you are!" he said, once he had found her. He stared at the creature through the glass, and the slime covered medical staff. "What the bloody hell happened here?" He asked.

Hearing a familiar voice echo down the hallway as agents zoomed passed her in all directions and in all sorts of panic, Demory found herself in a sort of a daze as she continued to look into the room where the slime had been oozing in all places. Narrowing her eyes and slowly leaning forward, she suddenly saw a medical advisor within the sealed room began to violently bang against the glass, a strange creature stuck to his face.

Gasping and taking a step back, she accidently bumped herself into Elijah, and screamed being startled as though it was one of those creatures. Turning around quickly, she caught her breath and immediately moved in and hugged him, breathing sharply. "Oh my god, you scared me..." she looked back into the room and saw that there was suddenly no one in there. Silence took over the room.

As the alarms continued to sound throughout the entire building, Demory's hand involuntarily grabbed Elijahs as she looked at him with fear in her eyes. "We need to get out of here... we can't let anyone who was in here touch us... I don't know what will happen," she immediately began sprinting for the lodging area, pulling Elijah with her.

Elijah was almost pulled off of his feet when she grabbed his hand and started running. He held her hand tightly and kept up with her, a Sonic Blaster in his right hand in case he needed it. He always kept it with him ever since he first recieved it. It was a "Welcome to Torchwood" gift from Harkness a few hours after he had woken up from his coma.

"How long have you been there?" He asked her, trying to make sure she was alright.

"Well I was sitting in the lobby when they rushed in, and I followed behind them. That glass screen protected me from whatever went on in that room though..." she said, sighing. "So I didn't get touched by anything if that's what you mean," she dragged him into the dorm she usually stayed in. Slamming the door behind her and locking it, she had a really bad feeling.

"Something tells me that this lockdown isn't going to keep us safe..."

"I don't think so either...." He was glad to hear that she was still healthy. Whatever had gotten into the Headqyarters was moving fast.... "We can't just sit here.....there's gotta be something we can do!" He sat down on the bed, thinking.

Hearing what Elijah was saying, Demory nodded in agreement as she leaned against the door for a moment. "Jack is still out on his mission... I could try to call him," she murmured to herself as she suddenly stopped, hearing screaming and hysterics on the other side of the door.

People were running about and screaming and it left Demory with wide eyes as her heart pounded in terror. Keeping the door locked, she looked over to Elijah and swallowed hard. "...I don't know if it's a good idea to go out there, Eli..."

"It's not a good idea to stay in here either..." He stood up and walked toward the door, leaning an ear against it so he could hear what was going on. "Pretty soon whatever's in there will start searching the rooms....and if they get us cornered in here, we won't stand a chance..." He looked back at her. "We need to think of a plan....you call Jack, I'll have a look out there."

Demory had attempted to call Jack, but she wasn't getting any answers. She dialed again. Nothing. Looking at him with a look of worry washed over her, she shook her head. "Nothing... what are we going to do?" she felt a pit of heaviness sink into her stomach as she suddenly heard something slam against the door, someone screaming loudly.

Turning with a gasp, she watched the door shake a few times with the screaming, a high pitched creek going down the door as if someone's nails were being dragged across it, and there was a sudden quiet thump against it. Her hands shaking, she took a step back to where Elijah was, looking at him with her hearts racing. "....W-what was that..."

"I-I don't know...." He opened the door ever so slightly, and looked down. He gasped lightly at what he saw. Someone's body was being dragged around the corner.....the person must've been trying to get into the room.....trying to escape something.... "I think there's some kind of creature in the headquarters..." He whispered, shutting the door slowly, hoping that she wouldn't panic.

Demory wasn't quite sure what she was going to do. Although she had training for years to deal with these types of situations, she knew nothing oft he creature or what it was capable of doing. It had taken down that entire medical team as if there was no problems.

"Eli..." she felt her voice crack slightly. "What are we going to do...?" she took a step toward him, looking at him worriedly. "We have to help the others, we can't leave them there to die... but we wouldn't last out there..." she took a moment to recollect herself calmly.

"The only thing we can do..." He held up his Sonic Blaster. "We need to take the fight to it...." He looked back at her. "I know we might not have a chance....but I have a plan. You're smarter than I am, and I'm stronger than you are. You can look out for it, and try to organize a strategy...and I can provide the fighting." He looked down the hall, to see if it was still out there. He didn't hear anything....

Nodding at his plan, she immediately peeked out the door the moment he did, seeing if it was safe to escape. Looking around, she took a deep breath, and she suddenly felt something grab her wrist as she gasped. "Wait! Wait!" it was a person who was laying on the floor, bleeding to death. "The only way to kill them... is to separate their head from their body..."

And as he went silent, she immediately knew that he had died. She slowly turned to Elijah, taking a deep breath. "We need to kill them by decapitating them then..." she bit her lip, not knowing if this was going to where. "We have to try to save as many people as we can..." she took his hand and squeezed it lightly. "No going back."

"Or blow it's head off..." He said when she mentioned decapitation. He blushed lightly when she held his hamd, but he looked away so she wouldn't notice. "I saw the creature going down this hall....we move slowly." He crept along the wall, holding her hand tightly, His Sonic Blaster up and ready to shoot anything that moved....

Nodding when he said that they should move slowly, she followed behind him very quietly, still holding onto his hand as she looked around in every direction to make sure that nothing would pop out at them when they least expected it. As they had turned the corner, she could see a trail of blood that was leading down the hall.

"I... I guess we go that way..." she murmured under her breath as she tried not to let her fear get the best of her.

He nodded, noticing the trail of blood. He held her hand tightly, and crept down the hall, Blaster pointed in front of him, ready to shoot anything that would try to attack them....he figured Torchwood would be better than this.....how could they lert the situation get so out of hand?

Following behind nervously, she looked around, unsure of what was going to happen. Everything was far too quiet, and it was making her more nervous. Creeping around quietly with Elijah, she heard something move quickly in the corner as she turned quickly. She tapped Elijah's shoulder, pointing to a specific area within the corridor. "I heard something shuffle over there..." she immediately pulled out her gun, heading over there.

Despite whether Elijah was telling her to do it or not, she blocked out any protest for a moment to investigate as she went over there. Slowly creeping toward the door that was barely opened, she pushed it ever so slightly to reveal a darkened room with a disgusting smell emanating inside. Gagging lightly as she covered her mouth, she stumbled a bit before looking away in desperation. The smell was too awful to go any further... and she didn't even notice the creature that was suddenly charging at her from behind.

He heard the sound of something rustling from a corner. He looked over when Demory tapped his shoulder. However what he saw made his heart skip a beat. "Demory! Demory! Get back over here!" He whispered. He crept over to her, trying to bring her back, but his heart merely jumped out of his chest when he saw the creature rushing toward her white her back turned. He didn't have enough time to push her down and shoot, it was one or the other... "GET DOWN!!!" He shouted, pushing her out of the way, meeting the creature by ramming his shoulder into it's chest.

As she had been rammed out of the way by Elijah as he had screamed, she gasped loudly as she turned to see a foul creature ramming into him. "Stop! Eli, run! Get out of here!" She screamed as loudly as she could at him as the thing had attempted to rip at his skin.

She immediately charged forward, pushing the creature into the wall, putting her gun to it's head and shooting it, but it was still squirming. Panicking, she began to breathe heavily, pulling the knife out from her utility belt and slicing at it quickly to sever the head from it. She was panicking, doing it sloppily, but with one last stroke, it's head was dangling and it became lifeless... as spores were suddenly retracted from it's head, shooting out in all directions, three of them landing into her neck as she fell back, gasping for air, trying to pull them out.

He was covered in spores being in close becoming to the monster when she had decapitated it. He panicked, trying to brush them off. "Is this thing some kind of plant?!" He shouted in a confusion.

She looked at him quickly, and then back to the dead creature "...I'm not sure... these were the things that covered some of the patients who they brought in after the alien..." she immediately wondered what had happened to them. Quickly running back to the infirmary, unsure of Elijah had followed, she had seen that there was no current staff in it.

Quickly slamming through the doors and looking into the hospital spaces... everyone was dead, but not from a violent attack. It was as if they died of sickness. The spores... she suddenly realized, zoning out for a moment as she felt her hearts race. "No... no, no..." she moved her hand to the area of her neck that they hit, looking back at him with tears welling up, "We're infected."

His eyes widened when she told him they were infected..... "We need to get help....see if you can find a doctor who hasn't been killed, I'm gonna try and call Jack...." His mind was racing....trying to think of something he could do....

"Right... a doctor..." her eyes suddenly popped open. The Doctor! She raced immediately to the desk where the emergency files were kept... his TARDIS's number should have been there somewhere... and she ripped through the files quickly and as she found it, she pulled her phone out dialing the number... hoping for an answer.

Nothing. She had to leave a message. "Doctor! Doctor, please, we're being attacked from within the headquarters, we're all infected by a plague and it's going to kill us within the hour if you don't come and help us, please get here!" she begged into the phone.

He furrowed his brow when she had mentioned a 'Doctor.' "Doctor?" He asked. "Doctor Who?" his train of thought was interrupted when she ran down the hall. "Demory!!! WAIT!!" He ran after her into the office, where he saw her ripping though te files like a madwoman.

"He... he has to a-answer--" she started to breathe heavily, looking at him with panicked eyes. She was sweating, and shaking and getting dizzy, and a tear slid down her face as she suddenly went quiet and still, watching him with defeated eyes. "I'm so sorry, this is my fault..."

Before she could say anything else, she felt herself become weightless as her mind grew fuzzy and tunnel eyes flashed before her and she began to fall forward, unable to stop herself from the imbalance.