You stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the hard ground. Dust gathered at your feet and the sun beat down hotly onto you. Although you had just slathered on a bunch of sunblock and wore jungle boots, you felt at a loss compared to this habitat. Never in your life had you ever even remotely dreamt of going to Africa, much less one of the poorest countries in the world. Whatever made the man think you’d like it here was beyond you. You could already feel a dreadful sunburn on your shoulders.

“Ah, Rhodesia. What a lovely day for some adventures.” the Doctor stated, stepping out of the TARDIS as well. “I’m pretty sure we came in the afternoon so all the ferocious animals have already had lunch.” he checked his watch quickly. “We did, it’s approximately 4:15 PM. Perfect timing.” he added. He shaded his eyes and looked out into the distance, searching for something. There was nothing surrounding you but thin trees, sandy rocks, and birds flying above. What was there to look for?

“What are you looking for? I found a rock over there, if that helps.” you joked, going to stand under a tree that offered a bit of shade. He rolled his eyes and pressed his lips into a thick line, concentrating on finding whatever he was looking for.

“I’m looking for train tracks. Do you happen to see any?” he asked. You laughed, not believing that such modern technology could be found here. Just as you were about to make another joke about there being nothing here, the man spoke up once more.

“A-ha! Found them!” he had turned around and pointed towards a pair of albeit rusty but still usable tracks. You raised your eyebrows in surprise, not expecting much a thing to be here. You walked towards them, following the Doctor’s footsteps.

“Are we just going to follow them until we find something?” you asked, stepping onto the raised side and walking on it like a balance beam. You put your arms out at both sides, attempting to keep your balance. Quickly, the Doctor pulled you down from the tracks and put your by his outer side.

“Be careful, trains still use those! And yes. I’m looking for a certain town, so these tracks should lead us right to it. I don’t know how far away we are, so it could be a while. You brought extra sunblock, right? You’re going to need it.” you groaned and zipped open your backpack, checking to see if you actually did. When you felt the cool bottle at the bottom, you breathed a sigh of relief. 

“And water?” he added. You again rummaged through your backpack, before discovering that the bottle was on the side. The ice in it had already melted but it was still semi-cool; good enough for the time being.

“And sunglasses? And a snack? because the food around here isn’t as appetizing as you would think.” he stated, chuckling quietly to himself. You titled your head in confusion. Are they cannibals here?, you thought. Or are we in China and I’m just horrible with geography? You looked at him cluelessly, expecting an explanation.

“You see, the people here eat wild animals. But I don’t think your palette is used to zebra or elephant. And sometimes, since cooking isn’t all that efficient down here, it isn’t fully cooked. Makes you sick. To be honest, I wouldn’t even eat it.” he explained, making a disgusted expression. You decided to ask the stupid questions that were running through your head.

“Are they cannibals too? And just out of general curiosity, where the hell are we?” He laughed, smiling down at you from your side.

“No, not to my superior knowledge. And you don’t know where Rhodesia is? It will be renamed Zimbabwe a few years from now. Does that ring a bell?”

“That makes sense! I thought that we were in China for a moment there.”

“Does China even have zebras?”

“I don’t know, but when you said unappetizing food the first country that comes to mind is China. Not Zimbabwe.” you replied, rolling your eyes at the man. He scoffed at your remark and kept walking, shaking his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The two of you had arrived at a small town that was obviously very poor. There was little to no sanitation, the houses were poorly built, and the people didn’t look happy. Many were carrying water to their houses and carving wooden figures and the children were out running in a field nearby. After observing what the town looked like, you wondered what the hell the Doctor could need here. Just as you were about to pose the question, the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver began beeping softly from inside his coat jacket. Why he was still wearing that stupid thing was beyond you, but maybe Time Lords just didn’t get hot.

He quickly pilled it out and examined it, pointing it towards the town. Carefully he began to take steps forward, still holding the screwdriver in front of him. You followed him without a word, both curious and afraid of what could be going on in this small town. He stopped at what appeared to be the town building since it looked to be in the best condition of all the houses and was also the largest. He peered through the window and titled his head towards the door, motioning for you to move. You mouthed if it was safe to go in and he shook his head furiously in the negative. Just as you were about to ask why, you heard voices from inside the building.

“Non-human presence detected. Evaluate the premises.” a familiar voice commanded. The doctor took your hand and dashed to a nearby barn, hiding in a makeshift safehouse composed of hay. As you sat down, very much out of breath, you waited for the man to explain what the plan would be. You had encountered those creatures, the Cybermen, several times before and it was only standard procedure now to devise a plan.

“I bet you’re wondering what the hell we’re going to do. Well,” he thought for a moment. “we’re going to distract them into the pond we walked by. If there’s one thing that hasn’t advanced in those damned Cybermen it’s that they still aren’t immune to the good ol’ H2O.” he whispered with a smirk. You covered your mouth and let out a soft giggle, laughing at how these intelligent creatures still weren’t resistant to water. You agreed to jump out when you heard them coming and to lead them to the pond. 

“The worst that could happen,” the Doctor said, “is that we get drenched and have to run back into the TARDIS. But on a day like today, a little swim couldn’t hurt anyone. Well, besides for the Cybermen.” 

Soon enough, you heard the loud, metal footsteps of the Cybermen. The two of you jumped from your hay hideout and out into the open, waving your arms like two idiots. The Cybermen immediately noticed you two and began running towards you, aiming their arm lasers towards you. They continued to shoot lasers at you as you swerved and dived away from each firing, caring less about your speed and more about your constant movement. Not quickly enough, you saw the pond appear in the distance and your heart began pounding in relief. Or was that fear? You looked to the side of you and saw that the Doctor was clutching his arm tightly, wincing as he ran with you. He looked up towards you and nodded weakly; even forcing a smile to push you forward. You wanted to run over to him and take care of him, but there were more important things at stake. Like your own life. You pushed forward into the final sprint, the pond not too far away now. The Doctor was still running quickly, however was clearly lacking due to the pain in his arm. 

You had never felt so much relief than when your feet touched the cool water, and it only grew as you sank deeper into the pond. You watched as the Doctor walked into the water, being careful to cradle his arm so that it didn’t touch the water. The Cybermen continued to chase the two of you, only feet away from the pond. The two of you quickly made your exit, not wanting to be electrocuted by the electrical waves. 

You got lucky when your foot left the water as the first Cyberman’s foot entered it. You turned around to watch it shake vigorously before falling headfirst into the waterbank. Soon the six others followed suit and all of them were soon dead, piled on top of one another. Where you finally felt safe, you diverted all of your adrenaline towards’s the Doctor’s obviously wounded arm. He lay on a rock, supporting his arm with the other like a cast.

“Are you all right?” you asked worriedly, biting your lip in nervousness. The man sighed loudly and his arm, whimpering softly at the touch.

“I’ll be fine, it’ll heal within an hour. Just for now I’ll be in pain. I have to man up; it’s just been awhile since I got hurt enough for it to take as long as this to heal.” he replied, looking up at you. “Anyways, great job back there. You were more of a distraction of me as I was letting up. Had you not run as fast, I probably would be dead right now. Or, rather, another man.” he chuckled. You punched his good arm lightly, not appreciating the small joke.

“Yah, you nearly gave me an anxiety attack when I saw you hurt! I only ran because I wanted to tend to you faster-otherwise I would have collapsed within the first minute! You’re crazy to think that I could run that fast, you just got lucky that I had that adrenaline rush!” you responded, pouting at the man. He laughed and stood up, walking past you to head back towards the TARDIS. You followed by his side, staring down at your feet.

“So, where to next? Rhodesia is so five minutes ago.” you finally spoke up a few minutes later. The man laughed up at the blue sky, looking over at you with a wide grin on his face.

“I don’t know. Where would you like to go? France? India? Mexico? Yo he oido que el tiempo es muy bonito este tiempo del año.” he stated, boasting his Spanish skills.

“What did you just say? I don’t speak Spanish.” you rolled your eyes.

“I said that I have heard that the weather is very nice this time of the year. Which I have. We could go and eat tacos and guacamole and whatever else they eat there!” his eyes widened in excitement, his mouth immediately turning into a smile. You giggled at his childishness and gave in only because you felt bad about his arm. When you agreed, he let out a joyful squeal and started running to the TARDIS. You took your time, wondering how such a young personality was kept inside such an old man. Maybe after so many years he simply aged backwards. That certainly wouldn’t surprise you.

As you opened the blue doors to the TARDIS, you say him already at work flipping levers and pressing buttons on the console. You watched as his eyes were full of adventure and knowledge, knowing precisely which key to press and which knob to turn. There was something amusing about the way he worked, and you couldn’t quite put your finger on what is was. It was almost like a unique aura that you had never seem before. It was beautiful and completely his own; maybe it was infatuation. Was it? You didn’t know. Compared to that man, you knew nothing. You were simply a girl with a taste for adventure and a horrible track record. There must be something that he saw in you like you saw in him.

He looked over in your direction and gave you a warm smile, inviting you over by his side. You brought yourself away from your daydream and skipped over by his side, looking up at him expectedly.

“All right, you get to do the honors. Pull the yellow lever there and we’re off.” he instructed. You smiled brightly and placed your hand upon the lever, gripping it tightly. In your head, you counted down from five. Five, four, three, two, one! You pulled it and suddenly the two of you were spiraling into another country at another time for another adventure.