THE HIDE AND SEEK COMPETITION

Chapter Six

"Who are you? What are you?" the Doctor said as the fanged Doctor slowly walked towards him. "Show your true self."

"I am you and this is my beloved, she will stay with me…forever," the fanged Doctor said, gesturing to Rose.

"Whoever you are, you sent one friend into a coma and tried to attack my other friend. That was a big mistake!"

"You will join me here, forever," the fanged Doctor said.

"No, I think not. Back away and let us pass or you'll live to regret it."

The fanged Doctor chuckled and opened his mouth wide, ready to lunge at the Doctor. Just then, Tarana lunged at him and pushed him back.

"There, you can put Rose down now," Tarana said to the Doctor while the fanged Doctor struggled with her.

"Much obliged, my friend," the Doctor said, quickly laying her back on the corpses. "Be with you in a mo, Rose! Got something to sort…OUT!" he said, yelling the last word as he spun around and raised his fist.

The fanged Doctor grunted when the Doctor's fist slammed into his nose. The fanged Doctor let go of Tarana and she raked her claws across his face, slashing his other cheek open. The Doctor whipped out his screwdriver, turned it on and instantly the disguise faded to reveal a large hairy spider-like creature with several black eyes on its head. The spider creature hissed and showed them its fangs which didn't change with the disguise. The rest of the body was black and covered with stiff black hairs. The creature had human-like legs and arms and he raised his black hands to choke the Doctor. The Doctor and Tarana dodged it and the Doctor grabbed the creature from behind when it tried to go to Rose. The Doctor noticed Rose was stirring and he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the antidote was working.

Tarana got in front of the creature and hit it hard in the face with the back of her hand. The Doctor began to back away, forcing the creature to get away from Rose while Tarana kept hitting its face. The creature hissed at the assault and tried to get free of the Doctor's grip. The Doctor let go but quickly grabbed around the creature's neck, putting it in a headlock. By now, Rose was moaning and moving her head from side to side as she struggled to wake up. The Doctor kept the headlock going until finally the creature lost consciousness and slumped in his arms. The Doctor let go and let him slide to the floor. He stepped over the creature and went to Rose. He and Tarana knelt down beside her and the Doctor put his hand against her cheek.

"Rose? Rose, wake up," the Doctor said.

Rose's eyelids fluttered and she slowly opened them. It took a moment for her eyes to focus and then she gasped when she saw the Doctor.

"No, it's me. It's really me. The other me was a spider creature disguised as me," the Doctor said.

"Doctor," Rose said softly.

Tarana smiled as the Doctor embraced her.

"How did you find us?" Rose said as he and Tarana helped her to stand.

"I told ya I'd find ya within ten minutes," the Doctor said.

Rose snorted. She looked around at the corpses and the unconscious spider creature and made a face.

"Glad I was unconscious during all this," he said as they helped her walk out.

Rose was appalled when she walked past all the corpses.

"Bloody hell, this thing had an appetite," she said, looking around.

"Luckily, you didn't end up in the pile," Tarana said.

"Yes," Rose said. "Don't fancy being that thing's lunch."

"So…we get outside, get back and win," the Doctor said. "Told ya I find ya in under ten minutes."

"No, it was more than ten minutes," Rose said.

"Okay, found ya in eleven minutes then," the Doctor said.

Tarana laughed when Rose looked at her and rolled her eyes.

"You see," the Doctor said as they walked along, "I figured you lot would choose mile 100 and also north since that's the most popular direction. I was off by three but…"

"Hold on, we didn't choose north, we chose south," Rose said.

The Doctor stopped and the women stopped with him.

"This isn't 97 north?" he said.

"No, it's 97 south," Tarana said.

The Doctor was taken aback. He looked at his teleporter.

"I think, my friends, that there are modified time agent vortex manipulators and when they modified them, they went all wonky. I shoulda gone the opposite direction from you but I didn't. In light of recent events, I'm glad it went wrong and I landed up here. We need to get back to the arena though. I no longer care about winning; I care about Rose receiving proper treatment. Let's hope the teleporters work outside."

"They don't work?" Rose said, alarmed.

"Not in here, we haven't tried them outside yet," Tarana said.

"Great, what else could go wrong?" Rose muttered. "I thought we joined this game to have fun not end up killed."

When they reached the ladder, Tarana went up first. The Doctor gave his companion a concerned look when he saw she was a bit ashen.

"I wonder if he took a bit of blood from you when he bit you," the Doctor said. "You're very pale."

"I feel sick," Rose said. "Whatever he put in me, it's making me feel a bit woozy."

"Don't worry, we'll get you back to the arena and get you to an infirmary," the Doctor said. "Think you can climb up?"

"Not sure, I'll try," Rose said.

"Just take your time, I'm right behind you," the Doctor said.

Rose slowly began to climb. She took the rungs slowly, looking up while Tarana gave her a concerned look from above. She was so glad that her lover and her friend were with her. She shudder to think what might have happened if she had come here alone. When she neared the top, Tarana grabbed on to her arm and help steady her while she climbed the few remaining rungs. Once she was up and out, Rose sat down on the ground to rest and get rid of the woozy feeling while the Doctor went up. The Doctor came up out of the hole and checked her with a scan from his screwdriver.

"You seem to be recovering but you still need medical attention," he said as he read the results.

They helped her to stand and walked out with her. The more she walked the stronger Rose felt and by the time they reached the mouth of the cave, she didn't need to lean on them anymore. She shielded her eyes when she stepped out into the sun, grateful that she was alive to see the sun now. She stayed near the Doctor while he prepared himself to go back to the arena.

"I'm gonna try to go back by myself and if it works, I'll come back and the three of us will go together," he said. "Here goes nothing."

He inputted 0 and pushed enter. The women groaned when nothing happened.

"Bollocks, I hate modified tech," he muttered as he took out his screwdriver.

The women watched while he ran his screwdriver over the display several times. Then he tried it again and growled in frustration when it still didn't work. He had a thought and tried 99.5 south. The women gasped when he vanished from view.

"Hey, this still works," they heard his voice drifting down from the top of the canyon as he yelled back at them.

There was a flash and the Doctor appeared at their sides.

"So, we can travel out of here but not back to the arena for some reason," the Doctor said.

"Maybe that guy gave us the wrong instructions?" Rose said.

"Maybe you have to put a direction with the 0," Tarana added.

"Yes, but if the arena is at the heart of everything, which direction would you choose?" the Doctor said. "No, there's something off about this teleporter. Damn it, I'm gonna have a word with these people once we get back to…"

Suddenly, without warning, the teleporters on everyone's wrists activated and the Doctor, Rose and Tarana were teleported away from the canyon to another part of the game area.

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