SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Chapter Two

"So let me get this straight," Jack said while they waited for the TARDIS to stop. "You two were going dinosaur hunting for laughs?"

"It was her idea," the Doctor said, pointing to Rose.

"Yes. But you came here," Jack said while Rose giggled. "So apparently you were taking her up on her dare."

"I was bored," the Doctor said with a shrug.

While they made small talk, Jack noticed that the Doctor wasn't as skittish as he had been but he still seemed to be keeping his distance. Jack had to fight to keep his anger in check knowing that the Doctor knew about his condition and didn't offer to stay and help cure it. He wanted to know why he left him behind but for the moment he and his friends had more pressing matters to deal with. The Doctor checked the monitor and told them they were still being carried.

"Can't you electrify the outside then and make them drop it?" Jack said.

"Yeah, isn't there a way to get them to leave us alone?" Rose added.

"The answer to Jack's question is no, the answer to your question…"

He walked to the door and opened it. He could see through the trees straight up to the sky but he couldn't see who was carrying them.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Whoever is doing this, put my ship down now!"

The TARDIS stopped and there was a short pause before the Doctor felt the TARDIS being uprighted and set down. The interior compensated this time and they stayed upright while the TARDIS was put on the ground.

"Thank you," the Doctor said when it was on the ground. "I…"

He trailed off when the people who carried the TARDIS came to the front and the Doctor was shocked when he saw eight large velociraptors staring at him. Each raptor had a gold collar around its neck that had a small gold box attached to it. The box had a little green light on it that was blinking slowly.

"Rose, here's your raptors," the Doctor called out over his shoulder.

Jack and Rose came up behind him.

"They were carrying the TARDIS?" Jack said while the raptors chittered in a high pitched voice and stared at them.

"Well, no one else has shown themselves so at the moment, I have to assume they did," the Doctor said.

"They're not attacking us," Rose said while the raptors peered at them with their reptilian eyes.

"They're wearing little collars," Jack said, pointing to one around the neck of the nearest raptor. "Are they being controlled?"

"Either that or they're just very thick and they don't know we're prey," the Doctor said. "Who is your leader?" he said to the nearest raptor.

The raptor cocked his head and chittered at him. To Rose and Jack's surprise, the Doctor chittered back.

"Oh, bullshit, Doctor. You cannot speak raptor," Jack said.

"Apparently I can," the Doctor said over his shoulder before going back to his conversation with the raptor.

The Doctor and the raptor chittered back and forth for a few minutes before the Doctor turned to his friends.

"We're being…"Invited" to participate in a tournament," he said to them.

"And Mister Jurassic Park told you this," Jack said.

"Yeah, he did," the Doctor said smugly. "They work for a man who is gathering together some of the greatest fighters in the universe and making them fight each other to the death."

"And this is why I was snatched from my office and my morning cup of java?" Jack said. "To fight to the death for the amusement of raptors?"

"The raptors aren't in charge, they're the slaves of the real man in charge," the Doctor said.

"And the real man in charge is?" Rose said.

The Doctor went back to his conversation and Jack sighed.

"Apparently the TARDIS doesn't translate dinosaur?" he said to Rose.

Rose shrugged. She was glad the raptors weren't attacking them but the whole fight to the death thing didn't sound good. She frowned when the raptor in front seemed to point at Rose and chitter. The Doctor looked behind his shoulder at her, confirming the raptor was pointing at her. The Doctor then gestured to her and chittered back.

"What's going on? What are you saying about me?" Rose said, folding her arms over her chest.

"You're a surprise to them," the Doctor said, turning to her. "Apparently, they were expecting just me and not you. So the raptor is confused because he doesn't know what should be done with you."

"Let me live for starters?" Rose said.

"Working on it," the Doctor said before turning back around.

"Working on it?" Rose said to Jack. "Oh God, they're going to kill me?"

"No, because if they make a move towards you, we close the door," Jack said.

"No need. They say you can live if you participate," the Doctor said, turning back to Rose.

"Fight to the death? You mean, I gotta try to kill you and Jack?" Rose said.

"Apparently so. And I have to try to kill you and Jack and Jack has to try to kill us. It's last man standing sort of thing…or woman," he added.

"And if I don't do this, I get ripped apart by them?" Rose said, pointing to the raptors.

The Doctor nodded and Rose sighed.

"Tell them I'll do it then. What choice do I have?" Rose said.

The Doctor turned back and Jack put a hand on Rose's shoulder and gave it a squeeze while the Doctor finished his conversation with the raptor.

"Rose, I should tell you something," Jack said to her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm immortal now. I can't be killed. I can die but not for long."

Rose's eyes boggled.

"What? How'd that happen?" Rose said.

"Don't know. I died on the Gamestation and then I suddenly woke up and later on, I got in a fight on Ellis Island and a man shot me and I woke up from it and it keeps on happening. I can't die."

"So basically in this whole thing, no one can kill ya and you win," Rose said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Jack said.

"Brilliant, just brilliant," Rose said, throwing her arms up. "I wish I'd never mentioned dinosaurs now."

"Don't worry, we'll figure a way out of this," Jack said. "I'm not about to kill you or the Doctor."

"And on top of that, if we kill him, he just regenerates and gets back up again," Rose said. "So I'm basically screwed now!"

"No, because as Jack said, we're finding a way out of this," the Doctor said. "But for the moment, we're leaving the TARDIS and following the raptors."

"Um…is that wise? You see the size of their claws?" Jack said.

"Yes. But apparently we're not the only ones forced to do this. There are others who have been captured and I want to help them if I can."

"How? Killing them?" Jack said. "Just saying," he added, holding up his hands when the Doctor gave him a dirty look.

"This man is extremely powerful. He pulled us off course and took Jack out of his office in Cardiff. If we run, I have a feeling he'll find a way to bring us back. Besides, whoever it is needs to be stopped."

"But…leave the TARDIS?" Jack said.

"I don't want my TARDIS falling into the wrong hands. These raptors are allowing me to put it a second out of sync with time so it can be hidden. Just as long as we come with them, I won't have to give up my ship to whoever this person is that's doing this."

Jack sighed and put his arm around Rose.

"Don't you wish sometimes you never met the Doctor?" he said to her while the Doctor walked back to his console.

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