Title: Four Winds
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Black, 5_prompts
Prompt: A murder of crows
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor stood quietly at the edge of a large field, looking out over the empty wilderness. The only thing visible on the shorn grass was a murder of crows, all cawing and pecking at the ground as though there was something there to catch their interest.

What had been there? the Time Lord wondered. He wouldn't be surprised if there had, at one time, been a body lying in that deserted field, face down, arms outstretched, a mute witness to whatever act of horror had emptied out this small town.

Whatever had happened here, it obviously hadn't been recent; this place had been a ghost town for a long time, from what the Doctor could see. It looked as though there had been no human habitation for years, possibly even decades. It was completely deserted.

He almost expected to see a tumbleweed roll by in the breeze, but that would be ridiculous. You've seen too many of those Old West movies, he admonished himself, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking around, as if he might spy someone in the distance.

But he didn't, of course. There was no sign of life, nothing but the crows cawing and pecking in the field. There seemed to be more of them now; why in the world had they decided to congregate around that one particular spot?

He didn't want to move towards the birds; if he did, he was sure that they would scatter into the sky without a single clue as to why they'd suddenly come to ground in that one place. But he coudn't stop himself from taking a step forward, then another.

At his slow approach, the crows scattered within seconds, black wings flapping as they lifted themselves into the air with loud caws of reproach. Startled at their sudden flight, the Doctor stepped back, his eyes widening as he watched.

After a few moments, only one crow remained on the ground. It stood there, tilting its head and looking at him without making a sound. After what seemed like a very long time, it emitted one loud caw, but still didn't take to the sky with the rest of the birds.

Why was it staring at him? the Doctor wondered, feeling uncomfortable. It reminded him of that Stephen King movie, the one where the devil had been able to transform itself into a crow so that it could be all the scenes of destruction it caused.

What had that film been called? He frowned as he tried to bring the title to mind. Oh yes, The Stand. For some strange reason, that film had made him uncomfortable; that demonic character had seemed too much like the Master for his taste.

Finally, the single crow that was left flapped its wings and launched itself up into the sky; the other birds had already scattered to the four winds, and only a few were left in sight. He couldn't help but wonder where they had gone to so quickly.

Maybe that was exactly what the inhabitants of this town had done, the Doctor told himself, pivoting to look around him at the deserted buildings again. They'd all scattered to the four winds of fate, leaving this place behind them one by one.

He'd looked inside the houses; people obviously hadn't been suddenly spirited away without any warning. There had been no signs of personal belongings left behind, no indication that anyone here had been taken to another place against their will.

No, it was perfectly obvious that the people here had left of their own accord, choosing to vacate the place where they had all lived together and making their own ways in life. They had scattered to the four corners of the Earth, letting the winds blow them in various directions.

What would make people do that -- leave a town that they'd apparently lived in for quite a while? the Time Lord asked himself as he trudged back towards the center of the town. Yes, it was a small place, but it wasn't too far from the nearest city.

He would never know the answer to that, would he? There was no way that he could choose to go back in time to observe the actions of the people who had once lived here -- because he had no idea when their migration away from this place had started.

And even if he did, there would be no way to find out just what had motivated them to leave unless he had a way to talk to all of them -- because, surely, they didn't all have the same idea. They'd left for different reasons, each choosing to take different paths in life.

They hadn't left much behind them, from what he could see. The town looked as though it might have been still and lifeless even when there were people here; it seemed a cheerless place, made even more so by the lack of any human life to brighten the vista.

If only he could somehow find out what had happened here, the Doctor thought, surveying the empty town again. He'd simply stumbled across this place by landing here while he was wandering, but now that he'd seen it, he'd like to know exactly what had made everyone leave.

With an ominous flap of black wings and a loud cawing, the crow that had been the only one remaining after the rest of the murder had taken to the sky flew past him, perilously close to his head. The Doctor ducked and raised his arms, his breath hissing through his teeth in surprise.

Was that the crow's way of telling him that he shouldn't be here? The creature certainly seemed as if it was watching him with a gimlet-eyed stare from its perch on the terrace of a deserted house, letting him know that he was a trespasser here.

Maybe it was time for him to take his leave of this place, the Doctor told himself, turning back to where the Tardis waited for him. But he would be back at some later date -- and he would find the answers to the tantalizing mystery of why this town had been abandoned.

***