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‘I need a drink,’ Nick said. Alf glanced at him with a small smile. She knew just how he felt. ‘Can you hear that?’ she asked. They stopped moving and listened. From somewhere in the distant they could hear the drip dripping of water. It echoed down the tunnel, making the task of locating its origin that bit more difficult. ‘Not too far away from water, I should think.’ ‘Assuming it is clean, of course,’ Nick pointed out. He rubbed the cut above his eye. Alf reached out to him. ‘Are you all right?’ Nick frowned. ‘I think so, yeah. Just tired and a little dehydrated.’ He forced a smile, and took hold of Alf‘s hand. ‘My body isn’t able to take the same punishment as yours.’ Alf pulled her hand away abruptly. Images of being tied to a chair while being stabbed with a screwdriver came rushing to mind. She couldn’t help but note the hurt look on Nick’s face. He took a deep breath and straightened up. ‘Come on, let’s find this water,’ he said and set off. Alf watched him go with a wistful grin. Her feelings for him were deepening with each passing day, but every time they touched she felt cold inside. Alf knew it was due to her experiences with the vampire version of Nick - it was difficult to disentangle the two at times. She thought back to the fateful day when Nick had first visited the internment camp. There was a connection between them straight away. Alf never expected that falling for Nick would lead her to answers about herself. She sighed, and followed Nick. A lot had changed since that day. Nick was a lot more secure in himself, the Doctor wasn’t as erratic and as for her? Alf shook her head. She did not like what she had become. I’ve turned into a tough-nut bitch, she thought as she kept a steady distance behind Nick. And more than a little screwed up. Look at me! I’m falling hopelessly in love with the man before me yet I can’t bear to be touched by him. I seriously need to deal with that. If I’m not careful I’ll end up pushing him away. Mind you, that might not be a bad thing. I’m turning into a killer! Why would Nick want a killer as his wife? Whoa - did I just say that? Wife? Steady on, Alf, what are you thinking? The word killer echoed through her mind, over and over again. She had never meant to kill that Vogan. All she had wanted to do was get the gun off him and get the hell out of there. But why should that surprise me? Not like it is the first person I have killed. I pretty much tortured Nicholas to death. Okay, so yeah he took great pleasure in torturing me, but two wrongs don’t make a right do they? And before that how many have I wounded or killed during the war with the Cybermen? Maybe I have always been the same. Maybe I was like this during that period of my life that I don’t recall? I’m a natural born killer. Unwanted images of Nick being shot came rushing into her mind. She was holding the gun. It had happened in the Collector’s bizarre space zoo, and even though she had been forced against her will to shoot Nick... The killer instinct must have been there for that Hitchhiker to manipulate in the first place. Which reminds me of what I did to those canines and crocodilemen. Was that really me? What am I becoming? I have got to change that.... if not for myself, then for Nick. So immersed in her own thoughts was Alf that she failed to notice the Vogans creeping up the tunnel behind her and Nick.
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