The Lost In Butetown

[Carlie]

Carlie stepped out of the warm hallway of her apartment block onto a cold, crowded, noisy road. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the stench of exhaust fumes, pouring out of the cars, and sweat from passers-by. She watched the cars, which speed through the city, heading to work, quickly before starting to turn and walk to work. As she walked, her dark brown eyes looked around her, taking in the happenings. The cold stuck to her, and her blue tank top and black jeans, making her shiver, and her arms have little goosebumps. Her sneakers squished in the puddles that lay under foot. All of a sudden, a large noisy bus drove past her, sending out the largest black cloud of fumes, all over Carlie.

"Great, I shall stink for the rest of the day"

She murmured to her self, shaking her head, touching the plait of her hair, which she had done up, to be random. And everyone taking buses would make the planet healthy, whatever. Carlie stopped walking, looking at the footpath till the fumes had faded away, but she could still taste and smell it. The people around her were mismatched. Some were business men, going to work, in mulit coloured suits. One even had a pink tie, which seemed rather gay. She had always wondered if Jack was gay, as he would hit on guys. Though Carlie had to admit, that some of the guys he did hit on were kind of cute, though she was a bit too shy to go up and talk to anyone at all. It depened on the day and month. But she had also seen Jack flirt with girls to, only certain ones. A couple of students walked past, every now and then laughing at something and gossiping. So far Carlie had seen five different uniforms. She had always hated wearing uniforms. Thinking about her childhood, she didn't realise she was walking the wrong way, till she ended up at a old buliding, which seemed to be a hosiptal.

"Great!!"

She sighed, turning around trying to figure out where she was . She had never seen this part of Cadriff, though she had lived there her whole life. She looked back at the building. She tapped the button on her Torchwood-edition ear piece.

"Jack, Ianto, Kas, Gwen, any one on??"

She asked, keeping her voice from shaking. She was worried that she was very much lost. She didn't want to be lost. She hadn't meant to get lost. She hoped that Ianto would be on. He was good at finding his way around town. But Jack was also great at that to. She frowned as she looked at the hospital as she waited for a reply from her fellow members. They would probally laugh at her for getting lost, though she should know where to go. She felt a blush sneak up on her face, she was useless!!

[Amber Samson]

Amber’s face was streaked with dirt by now, her hair was plastered to her forehead, ruined with sweat and muck. Bits of leaves were perched there, twirled in its dark shades. It truly looked like a birds nest, all she would need to do would be to shape the sides to form a hole on her crown – and lo and behold! A birds nest, pre-made for the wild-life that fluttered about, as lost as she was in this strange, alien city.
Her eyes looked all but wild, blood shot and afraid. She raced across the empty corridors of the abandoned building. She knew what it was... even if it was different and alien to her. She had trained all her life as a healer, and of all the places she could have chosen to hide in, to build a safe-house for herself in, surely it was little surprise that it was a hospital she had chosen. She learned to find her way around quickly enough, and was almost sickened by the crude instruments of this place. These people were not as heart-filled and gentle as her own race. Her entire race dedicated there entire lives to healing. They kept to themselves, they were advanced enough to travel through space, but there was no curiosity to compel them to do so. Instead, other races came to them for there miraculous healing. But here, there were nothing but crude, cold devices. Maybe that was why it was abandoned however... maybe there was the chance that these people had evolved, moved on.
Amber remembered the men in the park and shivered, this time however, not from the cold. No, the people here where monsters, and nothing more.

She heard a voice outside – she was on the second level over-looking the shabby street, and she moved now to the window. Slow and fearful she peered through a tattered curtain to see a young girl standing there. She hardly looked older then Amber, she looked fearful and embarrassed. Amber herself blushed slightly and pulled away from the window as the girls eyes turned to the building. Amber well knew the mess she looked right now, with her clothes – holes and scratched and just about ruined, her grubby face and terrible hair. Not to mention she probably stank on top of everything else. And yet... still keeping that in mind, she could not banish from her mind the image of the worried girl outside. She paced up and down the already fading floor as she bit her lip and worried. Finally... she could stand it no more, fleeing to the stairs she took them two at a time as she made her way to the front door. Doing her best to flatten out her hair – to no avail as she did so. She softly pushed open the stiff, creaky door before the door, feeling it close behind her with a soft gust of wind as she stood there, simply watching the other.
“Umm... Hey there”
Amber blushed, knowing how feeble her voice was, and how silly her statement.

[Carlie]

Carlie was still looking at the hospital, when her alien-ammeter (curtsey of Kas) went off in her back pack, making her jump a foot in the air, which made her blush more. She crouched down on the ground, unzipping her bag to pull it out. She looked at it with a single eyebrow raised.

“And why are you going off?”

She asked it, shaking her head at the fact she was talking to Kas’s technology, like it would reply. If Jack had heard her, he would have laughed himself to death. While Kas probably would have started a club called ‘Talk to technology’ club. She looked around expecting a weevil to pop out and try to eat her, but it was silent for a moment. Then a door creaked open, which made Carlie stand up, pulling out her stun gun from one of her many large pockets that were in her cargo pants. She had her real gun hidden in the small of her back, like normally, but she wouldn’t use it, unless she needed to. As she looked up at the hospital door, she saw a girl standing there, just watching her. The ammeter went off again, getting a bit louder. It’s not alien!!! Carlie thought to the ammeter, it’s just a girl. She smiled softly as the girl murmured a ‘hi’. Still she didn’t move towards Carlie. The ammeter was still going off and it didn’t make any sense, maybe a weevil was behind the girl and Carlie needed to stop it before it killed her. She walked slowly to the girl hands up, still holding the gun. The girl looked a mess, like she had been lost. .

“Hi, my name is Carlie, what’s yours?”

She asked gently, as she reached the girl, watching her carefully. As she looked at the girl she saw she was blushing, but Carlie was too. She wondered if Jack would be here soon and why he wasn’t answering. It was frustrating being ignored by Jack. She would have to slap him when she saw him next. She tapped the button on her earpiece again, talking into it quietly..

“Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Kas?? Anyone there…. Ummm at an old hospital, ammeter going wild, found a girl……”

She asked, hoping Jack would reply soon. She didn’t know what to do, her mind spinning. Shouldn’t she go into the hospital and look around for the thing that was making the ammeter go off. Or help the girl; she looked lost, like really lost, for quite a while now, by her appearance..

“Where have you come from? Can you remember anything? I can help you. I belong to Torchwood 3.”

She asked the girl as soon as she finished whispering into her earpiece, showing her the pass on her neck, which was her Torchwood ID. She studied the girl carefully waiting for a reply. The ammeter was still going off, though the girl didn’t look alien to her. But Kas didn’t look alien to her either, but he was definitely alien, no doubt, he was to smart to be human ………. Maybe the girl was alien…… She couldn’t tell. .

[Amber Samson]

Amber stood silently by the door after uttering her soft, almost pointless greeting. The girl before her had some technology that was going on and on like an alarm. Amber wondered if this meant she was late for something... there was a such a terribly large amount of reasons alarms went off in this world... how ever did they know what each and everyone meant?
Amber gasped softly and took a hurried step back to find her back to the door now as the girl walked towards her, hands up, but with what definitely looked like a weapon in her hand.
“Don’t... don’t hurt me”
Amber whispered, pushing against the old door, but this time it didn’t budge. Amber was stuck there, staring at the girl before her.

The girl continued to talk softly, as through trying to reassure her. Thanks to the translator put in her head since birth allowed her to understand the words the girl spoke, and in turn, the girl could understand Amber.
The girl-Carlie, as she introduced herself, stopped in front of her to pull out ID, saying she was from Torchwood
Being an alien in a new world, you had to be quick if you wanted to survive, Amber had well learnt by now that Torchwood meant trouble. Were they went, aliens and things they did not understand got hurt or locked away.
The lost Healer gulped and crossed her hands in front of her, trying to look casual as terrible scenarios flashed through her young mind.
She could so easily imagine that monsters black van racing across the almost entirely abandoned road, she could imagine those people, all dressed in black jumping out, guns blazing. Grabbing her, or shooting her.
Taking her a way to a place where she would be a subject to injections and experiments, or so she guessed. According to her wild imagination.
“Ah... ha”
She murmured in what she hoped sounded like agreement, and then she was shoving against the door behind her. With a horrible groan and a squeal of old mechanics it pushed back under her desperate shoving. The time it took to open it may well have given time for the gir- Carlie, to understand her intentions, but to late. Amber was off, shooting through the corridors without looking back. Her feet skidding across the hard cold floor, stumbling over obstacles long since fallen and left. Past broken windows and unused, old, dusty items. None of it meant anything to her now through... it meant so little in contrast to the know.
The chase was on

[Carlie]

Carlie watched as the girl backed away, leaning against the door. She should have put the stun gun away, before approaching her, so she slipped it inside her pocket, making it look like she had put it in her backpack. She still held the ammeter, which was still going off. She was going to more than slap Jack when she saw him next; she was going to lock him in a cell for day. Maybe the night too. She almost laughed at seeing the Captain in a cell. Made her actually want to do it. The girl crossed her hands in front of her, though Carlie could see she was awkward. The girl murmured in what was meant to be agreement, and then she shoved the door open and fled into the hospital. Carlie dropped her back pack and ammeter, and ran after her.

“Wait!!! I am here to help you!!!.”

Carlie cried, as she ran after the girl. She didn’t get tried as easy as she used to since she joined Torchwood, and was the fittest she had ever been before. She frowned as the girl just ran and ran.

“I am a doctor!! I would never hurt you, and I wouldn’t let any of Torchwood 3’s other members every, same with Captain Jack Harkness, the boss!!”

Carlie shouted, in a calm and pleading voice. She knew that this girl was scared, and she hoped that that would reassure her, and make her stop. Carlie didn’t like running though the hospital; it reminded her too much about her few months working in a hospital. She hadn’t enjoyed it and was more than happy to join Torchwood, after she had a run in with an alien creature, and Jack tried to use his special amnesia pill, which failed. She felt grateful that it did as she would have never got as close to Kas as she had, and she would have not been able to do the good for the Earth. She still remembered that after Jack had given her the pill, he had told her what was going to happen, and made a joke about her forgetting about him. She doubted any one could forget or ignore the Captain; he always made his presence known.

[Amber Samson]

Amber’s wild run brought her further into the hospital then she had gone before. She had dared not search to hard or long before, only far enough to find a place to camp for the night. Now, however, she was regretting the fear that had stopped her curiosity, she was regretting the fact that she had not taken the time to move forward in this place and explorer it for the adventure it should have been. She was just a kid, for gods sake, the girl that chased after her was obviously young, but Amber could tell she was older. Never had Amber felt more lost and a lone, never had she felt so young an uncertain, either. But she felt these things here and now. As she half tripped over a fallen cheer, the wheels spinning softly in her wake. But with one hand that had thrown out before her, she had pushed herself to her feet and continued her mad dash.

The girl was calling herself a doctor now, she was saying that it was okay, that she wasn’t going to hurt her. Amber wished with all her heart that she could believe her words. She wished she could turn around and cry in the arms of a friendly face, beginning for a way home. Begging for answers to all the questions in her minds, and even to the ones she was yet to form. But she knew she could not. If her time on this planet had taught her anything, it was how to survive.
As she ran she thought through the small amount of things she knew about Torchwood. Obviously, there was or had been two others, hence the name Torchwood three. But more then this, she knew that when Torchwood came across alien life or technology it vanished.

She trusted Torchwood about as far as she could throw there Headquarters, and believe, she wouldn’t even be able to budge it. Maybe the people here thought aliens were crazy and super-strong or what ever there imaginations supplied. But Amber was as alike this race as she could be, except for the brilliant ability to be able to heal. People should see this as a blessing, not a curse.
“I don’t mean humans harm!”
She cried out, begging for a way to get the girl to stop chasing her. Was there any escape... she had to find a way to get out, to survive, live. Maybe one day she would even find a way home. [/size]

[Carlie]

Carlie still chased the girl, who looked like she didn't plan to stop. She heard the girl shout back that she didn't mean any humans harm. Carlie sighed. This was going to be diffcult. Where on earth was Jack!! Kas too. It was like they had disappered like Ianto and Gwen had. Carlie bit her lip in worry, what if they had all disappeared, would that mean she was the last Torchwood member? She shook her head, no Jack and Kas probally didn't have their earpieces on and Ianto and Gwen were probally busy.

"I know!!! Thats why I am not carrying the gun!! Please stop, I have a workmate just like you, well actually his kind of my closest, he is alien. Honestly, and he is part of Torchwood. Torchwood 3 will not hurt you!! We can help you!! We can help you get back home, if you wish to. But you have to talk to Captain Jack, my boss."

Carlie tried to explain, murmuring under her breath 'When I find him'. Her voice sounded funny as she ran, after the young alien girl. Its not like Torchwood killed or kidnapped any aliens. Maybe killed, when needed for protection of the community. Who could blame them. They were the Earth's protection against aliens, well Cardiff at least. She had came into Torchwood after Kastiel had, but she soon learnt that he was alien. Since the moment she met him, she thought of him as a friend, and finding out he was a alien, just answered all the questions about him in her head. She smiled thinking about it. She guessed it must have shocked Jack for her to take it so well. Well Kas had been the nicest to her when she joined. Jack had been to, but he trained her to the bone. Like every little thing, like holding the gun exatcally the right way, would safe her life. But he was a good teacher, and she had picked up fast in the shooting range. But of course no one could rival Jack.

"Jack!! Kas!! Anyone able to get to the abanded hospital, pronto?"

She murmured, into her earpiece as she pressed the button. Why would they not reply. She had used the Torchwood communiction thing three times now. She wished she had her ammeter now, to be sure that there was no more aliens in the hospital. But she had dropped it to chase the girl, and her bag that was half unzipped, which meant all her stuff would be everywhere. Her folder with her information about weevils, her lab coat, her pencils and pens, her magazines (gun magazines). She should have zipped it up, after getting the ammeter out, but the door had opened and.... Thinking about this it made her think about what could be in the hospital. What good would it do if some creature popped out and attacked Carlie. She was no good to Torchwood dead. Carlie longed to have Jack and Kas next to her, able to help her talk this alien to stop running.