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Nick opened his eyes and blinked. The sunlight above was blinding. He squinted and searched the ground around him for his sunglasses, but could not find them. He looked up as a figure stood over him and blocked out the sunlight. All he could make out was a silhouette. ‘Here, let me help you up.’ Nick’s hand was grasped tightly, and he was pulled to his feet like he was nothing more than a rag doll. With the sun no longer blinding his vision Nick could see who the figure was. Brad DeMars. Nick eyed him wearily. ‘Where’s the Doctor?’ ‘What, you do not remember?’ Nick concentrated, a task not made easy by his splitting headache. He remembered the Doctor and Brad stepping towards the portal and then nothing. Just waking up on the ground near the cedar tree. ‘I thought you were going with him.’ ‘I was, but the portal released some sort of energy. Knocked me clean out. When I came to you were laying on the ground and the portal had closed.’ Brad scratched his dark hair and wandered over to the tree. He placed a hand on the tree, tracing the scorched outline on the bark. ‘That is not a good sign, is it?’ Nick shook his head. He winced, as his head started to pound in response to the brief shake. He rubbed his temples. ‘Ain’t got a scooby. Trans-dimensional travel is not really my forte, mate.’ Brad smiled at that response. He walked back over to Nick and placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder. ‘You were out for a while there. How do you feel now?’ ‘Fair to muddily. Apart from this damned headache I seem to have got as a result.’ Nick sighed, resigned to the temporary loss of the Doctor. ‘Ah well, I’m sure he’ll turn up again. He has a habit of doing that.’ He thought back to the curio shop after his return from Draconia, and the Doctor’s own unexpected return from the dead. Nick smiled despite the pain in his head. ‘Yeah, you can count on the Doctor.’ ‘I am sure you can,’ whispered Brad darkly. ‘What did you say?’ ‘I said, “of course we can”. Just like my Doctor, always reliable.’ Nick was looking at the tree and failed to notice the dark, almost lustful look that Brad gave him. He watched Nick limp over to the tree and licked his lips. ‘So, what shall we do now?’ ‘We wait for Alf.’ Again Nick winced, this time almost losing balance as well. He grabbed the cedar tree for support. Brad remained where he was, watching. Nick glanced over at him. ‘Don’t help or anything will you?’ Brad blinked, as if taken aback by Nick’s outburst. He walked over to Nick, slowly. ‘The you from this world wouldn’t have waited to be asked, Brad,’ Nick grumbled. ‘Well, I am not my counterpart. And my name is Bradley, not Brad.’ Anger laced every word that Bradley uttered. He helped Nick regain some balance. ‘What is wrong with you, anyway? That is the second time you have lost your balance since I have met you.’ Nick’s face contorted. The pain in his legs was increasing. ‘I don’t know. Been having trouble since we first arrived on Earth.’ He yelled out in pain and toppled to the ground. Bradley looked down at him and sniffed. ‘That smell is unmistakable.’ Nick sniffed. ‘What smell?’ Bradley inhaled the air and let out a sigh of satisfaction. ‘Blood!’ he hissed. Nick gave him an odd look, but before he could ponder the strangeness of Bradley his mind was torn to a more immediate problem. ‘By the Forum!’ he swore and grabbed hold of his legs. He looked down at the blood slowly seeping into his trousers. ‘My legs! I can’t feel my legs!’ Bradley knelt beside Nick and placed a hand on Nick’s left leg. ‘You can not feel my hand?’ Nick shook his head, the colour draining from his face. ‘Oh look, get a grip of yourself!’ Bradley slapped Nick across the face. Nick’s head flopped back as if it was about to fall off. He rubbed his bruised cheek and gave Bradley a nasty look. ‘What was that for?’ ‘You were about to go in to shock. You are only losing blood, nothing to worry about.’ ‘Nothing to worry about?’ Nick said forcefully. ‘Easy for you to say! You’re not the one losing it.’ A thought occurred to Nick. ‘And how do you know that?’ Bradley sniffed. ‘Easy, I can smell it.’ Without further comment, Bradley gabbed hold of Nick’s jeans and tore at both legs. Inside the pair of jeans, Nick’s legs were a bloody mess. Bumps had appeared everywhere, some above his knees, others below. Little pieces of metal lay on the cloth. Bradley picked a couple of pieces up. ‘What are these?’ Nick took the metal pieces off Bradley. ‘The external grafts. Part of the devices that the Martians gave me so that I could walk again.’ Nick’s eyes widened. ‘Arse! Are you telling me that the implants are coming out? That would explain the pain.’ ‘You have mechanical aids to help you walk?’ Nick reached down and wiped the blood away from one of the bumps. Torn skin was revealed underneath the blood. The implants were pushing their way through the skin. Nick swallowed. ‘I used to. My body must be rejecting the implants.’ He looked around in panic. ‘The Martians said that would not happen! They promised me!’ Oblivious to Nick’s state of mind, Bradley ripped open the skin on Nick’s leg and pulled one of the implants out. He licked the blood off the mini-machine and looked at it oddly. ‘Bollocks! You arse!’ Nick whacked Bradley across the arm, but Bradley did not notice. Instead he continued to look at the implant. ‘Such technology.’ Bradley turned to Nick, keeping his eyes on the bloody implant. ‘Is it common in this reality?’ ‘What?’ Nick was incredulous. ‘Do you think I give a shit right now? Look at my legs.’ Bradley did indeed look at Nick’s legs, an action that made Nick’s spine tingle. He started taking deep breaths, focusing on blocking out the pain. Bradley tore more of Nick’s jeans and used the cloth to wipe the blood off Nick’s legs. Nick had his eyes closed, his head resting on the dirt below. While Nick wasn’t looking, Bradley licked the blood off the torn cloth and stuffed the rest of the bloodied cloth inside his linen top. He looked down at the revealed legs again and was amazed by what he saw. ‘Nick. Look!’ Nick opened his eyes and watched. With popping sounds, the implants fell out of his legs and dropped onto the ground. What amazed Nick the most was that he felt no pain as it happened. His eyes opened further, awe taking over, as the wounded skin began to seal itself. Soon he was laying there, his legs completely healed, although a little blood-stained. ‘Bloody hell!’ Nick exclaimed. ***
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