THE LEADER OF THE PACK

Chapter Ten

The Doctor finally reached the outskirts of the forest and entered it. He had no clue where to begin, the forest was large and thick but he was going to do everything he could to save Rose from the werewolves, if there really were werewolves here. The Doctor shook his head wondering what was it with him and werewolves lately. He'd just got done defeating one werewolf and now here he was trying to find Rose before several of them got to her. He let out an angry sigh wishing he had a mobile and Rose still had hers so he could just ring her. He never needed a mobile before but now he was seriously considering investing in one so he could keep track of his companions when he needed to.

He walked for about an hour, going deeper and deeper into the forest but still no sign of Rose anywhere. He let out a frustrated growl, thinking it was exactly that sort of thing that you'd use the needle in haystack cliché. He was afraid to turn another direction since he figured if he did that, with his luck Rose would be right in front of him. He debated whether to take another course before he decided to just keep going straight ahead and trust that Rose went the same direction.

Another thirty minutes went by and he saw several large rocks through a cluster of trees. He stepped through them and headed for the rocks. He slowly went around the rocks and froze when he saw several blankets and sleeping bags on the other side. He jerked his head around, looking for signs of life.

"Rose?" he called out. "Are you here?"

"No, but I am."

The Doctor spun around and saw a Middle Eastern woman holding a large rock. Before he could react, she slammed the rock into his forehead as hard as she could. The Doctor grunted and lost consciousness. Rachel held the rock up while she checked him. She looked over her shoulder when everyone else came out from behind the trees.

"He said Rose, I think he's looking for her," Rachel said to Ian as he came up beside her.

We'll tie him up and blindfold him and let Rose deal with him when he comes back. She'll tell us if he's friend or foe," Ian said. "John, run to the house and get some rope and something to blindfold him with."

"And gag him," Rachel added. "If he has friends, we don't want him alerting his friends that he's here."

John nodded and took off through the woods towards the house. The others stood around him, guarding him until John returned.

Rose laughed as she and Max shopped for food in Marks and Spencers.

"So, where do you work in here?" she said to him.

"Cash register. Boring job but I can work flexible hours," he said to her. "What do you say, steak for supper? We can eat it raw," he said, holding up a wrapped package of meat.

"Um, no, I think I want something different tonight," Rose said while he put it back.

"Different as in…what? Caviar? Lasanga? Sushi?"

"Pizza?"

"Don't have an oven. The house has no electricity. We basically build a fire in the fireplace and use the great outdoors for the loo.

"Well, how about sandwiches and crisps then?" Rose said.

"Sounds good to me, Alpha Female," he said.

"Rose?"

Rose turned and saw Maggie coming towards her. Rose smiled and embraced her.

"Good to see ya again," she said to Maggie.

"And you. Thought you were going into the woods," she said.

"I am but I met a friend and we're getting some groceries," she said.

"Oh. Well, someone was looking for you a couple of hours ago, came to the house and showed me a photo of you."

Rose froze, her heart racing.

"What…did he look like?" she said, already knowing the answer.

"Tall, skinny chap, wild sort of hair, brown eyes. I told him you went off to the forest and he thanked me and headed that way."

"Doctor," Rose whispered.

"Doctor? The one you left behind?" Max said.

"Yeah. I s'pose he wants to speak to me," Rose said.

"Sounds like he still wants a relationship with you if he's willing to go into the woods to find you," Maggie said.

"Thank you, I'll find him. I'm sure he'll find me first anyway," Rose said.

They talked for a few more minutes before Maggie waved goodbye and went on with her shopping. When she was out of earshot, Rose turned to Max.

"The others, they won't hurt him if he comes across him, will they?" she said.

"I don't know, Rose. We're leery of strangers. If he's out in the middle of the forest yelling for you, the others will probably ambush him and try to find out what's going on and how he knows you."

"Let's get something to eat then and hurry up," Rose said. "I don't want the Doctor getting hurt because he's looking for me and stumbles onto our camp."

Max nodded and they scrambled to find sandwich stuff, crisps and pop so they could get back to the forest.

The Doctor groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He had an enormous headache and it took him a moment to work through the pain and realize he was blindfolded. He tasted cloth on his tongue and knew he'd been gagged. He also knew he had been tied to a large tree. He mumbled loudly through the gag, trying to get someone's attention. Then suddenly the blindfold was pulled off and the Doctor shut his eyes, wincing when the light of the setting sun hit his eyes and intensified the pain of his headache. For a second, he saw the Middle Eastern girl with other men and woman standing behind her.

"I want to talk to you," Rachel said to him as he kept his eyes shut. "I'm going to loosen the gag but if you yell, it goes back on along with the blindfold, got that?"

The Doctor nodded his head and felt hands going behind his head. He leaned his head up so they could untied the gag. Rachel loosened it and pulled it down around his neck.

"Thank you," the Doctor said, keeping his eyes closed. "Perhaps you should have tried this before slamming a rock into my forehead."

"We don't trust strangers," John said. "We defend ourselves whenever possible."

"Is Rose with you?" the Doctor said, opening his eyes a crack.

No one said anything.

"Look, I mean her no harm. Do you know Rose, yes or no? I'm looking for her."

"Why?" Ian said.

"Because she's my dearest friend and I'm concerned about her and so is her mother. I came here to find out what was going on because she took off for the countryside in a rush."

There was silence and the Doctor cracked his eyes a bit and saw the men and women were sharing glances.

"Is your name the Doctor?" Rachel said.

"Yes. And you are…"

"She spoke to us about you," Rachel said, ignoring his fishing for her name. "You were her boyfriend?"

That gave the Doctor pause. He never called himself Rose's boyfriend and he wondered if Rose really did think of him in that way or if she was just calling him that as a way of explaining their relationship. He decided to answer in the affirmative to keep the conversation going.

"Yes, I am," he said. "Is she here?"

"No," Rachel said.

"Where is she then?"

"Why do you want to talk to her?" Ian said.

"Because we had a misunderstanding," the Doctor said, opening his eyes a bit more, "she left abruptly without giving me a chance to find out what was really wrong and I want the truth."

Again, he noted the look that passed among the people in front of him.

"What's going on, has she told you the real reason why she left me?" he said.

There was silence and the Doctor sighed.

"Look, I…"

He got a sudden thought.

"Wait, you're not the werewolves, are you?"

He realized that was the wrong thing to say because instantly the group panicked. The Doctor tried to speak and calm them down but Rachel pulled the gag back up and Ian tied it tight behind him. He watched while John grabbed the blindfold and he glared at him while he tied it back over his eyes.

Me and my big gob, he thought as everyone fell silent.

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