River of the Universe- Chapter 4

The Doctor was pouring over the copious notes, he was starting to get frustrated.

He angrily slammed the lid shut and rubbed his eyes under his glasses, with a sigh he lay down on the couch, hands behind his head.

A tidal wave of agony suddenly hit the Doctor, pulling and tearing at every fibre of his body.

The pain was like a molten river that poured into his mind, searing and burning as it went threatening to consume him.

***************

Martha couldn’t sleep, she was glad of a bed but her mind was too alert.

She heard a scratching, it must be the dog.Perhaps this was his bed, and with a smile she got up and opened the door.

The dog didn’t run in as she had expected but dashed between the door and the stairs, it began barking when she didn’t move.

Susan opened her door and stifled a yawn, the dog began running between the both of them and ran down two or three steps.

The two women looked at each other and then they dashed down the stairs the dog barking excitedly.

They found the living room empty, they felt the draught from the kitchen and hurried in. The back door was wide open and rain was soaking the door mat, but there was no sign of the Doctor.

*******************

At that very moment the Doctor was stumbling blindly, not knowing or caring where he was going.

Water was dripping from his sodden clothes but he felt far from cold;in fact he was burning,fire running through his veins.

He could feel the pull of that power, could feel it dragging him under, and knew that he had to stop himself from drowning.

He staggered as another wave washed over him.

Crying out in a mixture of pain, frustration and fear, he fell to his knees.

Frustration gave way to anger, anger at failing to control his fear and the pain. With a roar he pushed the pain and the power from his body.

Exhausted he collapsed onto the muddy path and was deathly still.

********************

Martha bit her lip, they had come to the end of the muddy road and were at the junction where it joined the main road.

Susan’s’ dog had been running ahead of them and was now running back and forth in front of the car.

“Of course, your dog, if anyone can find him, he can!” Martha almost jumped up and down herself.

Before Susan could stop her she was out of the car and running towards the dog.

“Good boy, you know where the Doctor is don’t you?”

The dog barked and set off back down the track and disappeared into the bushes that fenced of the road from the moor. Martha was about to follow when Susan grabbed her arm.

“Martha, no don’t, that place is treacherous after dark.”

Martha shrugged off her hand. “The Doctor is out there somewhere I know it. If you don’t want to go,fine,I’ll go on my own.”

“I can’t let you, I can’t look for both of you. It’s not as if we can call the rescue services. Wwe’re wanted remember, we’ll have to come back when it’s light.”

*****************

Darkness started to give way to light as the Doctor opened his eyes and regretted it.

“Oww, that hurts!” he exclaimed.

He lay on his back for a few minutes, his whole body ached; a bone deep ache.

He sat up much to the protest of his limbs and looked round in surprise.

“Now, how on earth did I get here…?”

His thoughts were interrupted by the shaggy form of a large brown retriever that threatened to flatten him.

“Hello boy, come to retrieve me, eh?” he rubbed the dogs’ ears.

The dog whined and licked the Doctors’ hand as if to say “let’s go.”

Gingerly he got to his feet.

Flashes of last night were seeping back into his mind, this was not good. Whoever had the second power source was now using it, and now it was not just affecting the TARDIS, it was affecting him.

The dog stood patiently a few yards away. “Come on then Charlie boy, show me the way home.”

*******************

Martha sat on the grass looking glumly at the scenery; she spied the figure of the professor.

Her heart sank when she didn’t see a familiar figure with her and the look on Susan’s face confirmed what she already knew.

“No luck, I’m really sorry Martha, the only thing we can do is hope that he can make it back to the house. It’ll be pointless trying to search any further, not without help.”

“Help which we can’t ask for,” Martha sighed.

It was then that she spotted two figures approaching, probably walkers.

She then noticed Susan backing away and screamed when she felt a hand clamp on her shoulder.

**************

The Doctor stopped and tilted his head to one side, he was sure he heard a scream carried on the wind.

With sudden realisation he knew he had heard Martha scream.

He took of at a sprint, every muscle protesting.

He skidded to a halt and spun in a circle, eyes scanning as he turned. All he saw was empty space and no Martha.

He dropped to his haunches, there were signs of a struggle. He recognised Martha’s’ boot print;they were mixed in with several man sized prints.

Anger began to rise, molten in his veins. “No, no, no, no…..” he muttered to himself “if they’ve hurt you…”

***************

Martha tried to make herself as comfortable as possible on the floor; she had no idea how long they had been unconscious. She could hear Susan shuffling beside her, at least she wasn’t alone, and they had each other for moral support.

“Martha, is that you?” a voice inquired in a whisper.

“Susan, they got you too, are you alright?”

“I think so, I feel a little woozy, it smelt like they used chloroform to drug us.”

Susan shuffled over and touched Martha, to reassure herself that she wasn’t still drugged and hallucinating.

“Do you think they have the Doctor too?”

*****************

The Doctors’ mind boiled with anger. He could understand the desire for power, every sentient creature craved power, it was only natural.

However, kidnapping was a mystery to him, and adding this to the end of everything he held dear was just plain insanity.

He sighed wearily and rubbed his temple. At first the answer had seemed easy, thing always got complicated around humans.

He took the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and turned in a circle. He smiled coldly, lucky for Martha he had insisted on storing her brain patterns, he had a signal, weak but a signal.

“Think, think, need to get closer, can’t use the TARDIS….” and then he spied something in the distance, a idea slowly entered his head.