Hey guys. I've gotten really into Doctor Who lately and have been really enjoying some of the fanfictions I've read. I had an idea and after writing nearly 2000 words of a plan, I finally managed to translate my ideas into this chapter. The is a bit of a 'dive into the deep end' chapter, although the next few chapters give a bit more of a background and character study. Also, apologies for any OOC-ness of the Doctor in this story, in general.

Alright then, hope you enjoy the story and please tell me what you think :)

Chapter 1 - Meeting the Doctor: First Contact

Unfortunately, Reselda had never much been one for running. Oh, she'd done fine in PE at school and she'd aced whatever her father taught her, but running had always been the weak spot. She was beginning to regret it now. She'd been on the run for three weeks, making her way across the country, lying low and trying not to be caught as she tried to make her way to Glasgow, where her mothers cousin was expecting her.

She never made it that far.

They caught up to her one night, 23 days after they'd killed her parents, in a small village on the outskirts of Cheshire. She'd already been there a night and was planning to leave the next morning with the sun rise and the earliest train out of there. She'd chosen that village specifically because of the low population, rural setting and the Shaman that protected its people. He'd agreed to mask her presence there for the two nights she planned to stay in exchange for a bag of herbs she kept specifically for this purpose. However, the Shaman's fairly strong wards around the village ended up being nothing against the Aoubgerl, a warrior race from the Althosian system who, once they caught the scent of something, didn't give up until they'd caught their prey. With Earth being a level five planet, this sort of hunting was banned but, as she'd found out fairly quickly, the Aoubgerl weren't interested in listening to the Shadow Proclamation, something she'd been silently despairing over for weeks now in an attempt to ignore her grief. If they were the sort to listen to galactic laws, she never would have been in this position in the first place.

"Thanks." Reselda said to the bartender as the older woman put a glass of lemonade in front of her, smiling politely. She'd spent the night in one of the rooms above the pub and, over the last day and a half, had gotten to know the bartender pretty well. She'd just picked up the glass to take a sip when a man burst through the door.

"The-th-these things just came through the woods! They've already shot Darren!" The man was waving his arms about as he shouted, getting everyone's attention. "We have to leave, they're heading straight for here! Get out, now! RUN!" He didn't wait around much longer after that, running back out the door, presumably to go tell everyone else in the vicinity to run. The pub was left in a state of chaos, with everyone running for the doors as quickly as they could; after the ghosts-turned-Cybermen a few months ago and as a superstitious lot anyway, they knew better than to ignore a warning to get out and get out fast. Reselda was one of them, only, instead of running in the opposite direction of the woods with everyone else she veered off to the left, circling back towards the woods and where the man had said the 'things' were. It didn't take long till she found them. They were tall, taller than most humans at about 6'6, with long hair that looked like it had been sprouted from everywhere on their bodies. The only thing you could see through the hair was their dark red eyes and their hands, which were holding peculiar-looking guns. They were the Aoubgerl, as she'd feared - the Shaman's wards hadn't been strong enough against the experienced warrior race, despite what she'd hoped.

"Gggrrr - hmp - grr"

She startled at the loud noises coming from the aliens and almost cried out in shock when she saw that they'd grabbed hold of a family, a man and woman holding their two kids behind them fearfully, all of them shaking from head to toe. The Aoubgerl were attempting to communicate and the humans couldn't understand a word they were saying, although she had some idea, seeing as they were after her. Seeing one of the aliens raise their gun towards the family, Reselda took a deep breath and prepared to step forward, ready to give herself up. If it meant saving this family, this entire village, she'd let her three week run be in vain. After all, they were there to kill her, although she'd be damned if she didn't take them with her into the afterlife.

She never got the chance.

All she felt was a breeze as someone ran past her, a blue and brown blur hurtling towards the captured family and the Aoubgerls.

"Hey now, there's no need for that is there?" The crazy man seemed to admonish the Aoubgerl as he got nearer. She sneaked around the corner she'd hidden herself, trying to get closer to the crazy man and scared family without being seen by the Aoubgerl. Almost as if the man knew what she was doing, he began talking again.

"You know, it is really illegal for you to be here - Earth is a level five planet and this goes against the Shadow Proclamation." He took a rather loud breath. "Only, you don't care about that, do you? You're warriors, hunters. You've caught the scent of someone you want and you're not going to stop until you've caught up to them." His eyes flicked quickly to hers, so fast she almost missed it. "BUT!" The Aoubgerl almost seemed to jump at the loud noise and the scared family behind the crazy man definitely did. "That's illegal too. And now, I've got to stop you."

She had just reached the family and caught the eye of the father as the man continued his speech, effectively distracting the Aoubgerl. She jerked her head towards the back and started walking backwards slowly, still crouched low to the ground so she remains unseen. The father quietly ushered the children towards her first and they easily take her hands when she holds them out. Slowly, silently, she begins moving away, towards the relative safety of the buildings before she looks back to find the mum and dad moving back really slowly, waiting for a chance to get away. The mum catches Reselda's eye as they continued to move to the side and the desperation in her green eyes was almost enough for Reselda to go and give herself up to the Aoubgerl despite the crazy man putting a wrench in her plans. But then she remembered she had the couple's children and had to get them to safety first; that was the priority.

"And now, I'm sorry about this, we're going to have to leave you."

She'd gotten the children behind a house at this point and turned around just in time to see the crazy man point a small metal stick with a blue glowing end at the aliens. She almost shook her head at him - that wasn't going to fool them.

And then the leaders gun blew up.

In the smoke and noise that followed, the crazy man ushered the man and woman in their direction, even though he couldn't have possibly known that was where they were, and the three adults began running. Not wanting to wait and see just how long the little explosion had stunned the Aoubgerl for, she picked up the younger child - no older than five - grabbing the older child's hand and running as fast as she dared.

"Just, stay quiet, alright? We don't want them catching up." She told them quietly.

The child in her arms sobbed, snuffling wetly against her neck.

"Hey, it's alright, little one. Your parents are right behind us." She whispered in his ear. She didn't dare look back to make sure, however. She just kept running.

They were almost to the pub she'd ran out of what seemed like lifetimes ago but couldn't have actually been more than fifteen minutes when the three adults caught up to them. The little girl who had been running steadily beside her ran straight for her father, not seeming to care about the destruction around them now her parents were in sight. The little boy in her arms, however, didn't notice his mother moving closer as his head was still buried in her neck, until she jiggled him slightly in her arms.

"Hey, little one, your mummy's here. I think she wants to see you."

His head snapped up at her words, his face scrunching up as he continued to cry, reaching his arms out towards his mother. She took him into her arms gracefully, already rocking side to side to calm him down.

"Thank you." The mother whispered gratefully, looking up at her with tears shining in her eyes.

"Oh, its - " Reselda couldn't help but avoid her gaze. "It's fine, honestly."

However, when she moved her eyes from the older woman's, her gaze was inadvertently caught in that of the crazy man with the glowing stick. Quickly, she looked back at the reuniting family. His eyes were too old; much too old for his face.

"Right then!" The sudden clapping of hand startled all of them and they all looked over towards the crazy man. However, before he could talk, the father stepped up, his daughter cradled securely in his arms.

"Excuse me, sir, but do you know what those monsters are?" He was scared, they could all tell, although the feeling was mutual.

"Ah, weeellll..." The man seemed to debate whether or not to tell them, tilting his hand side to side as he muttered to himself, too quietly for any of the others to hear.

"Um, sorry, but shouldn't we still be running?" She couldn't help but interrupt, keeping her gaze over the mans shoulder in the direction they'd all just run from.

"Oh, we've still got about three minutes before they recover. The smoke released from their guns is a paralytic - brilliant, right?" His grin was like a little kids, looking for approval from their parents. "Anyway, those are Aoubgerl, from the Althosian system. Boy, are they a long way from home."

She couldn't believe he seemed almost excited about the prospect of Aoubgerl on Earth.

"But why are they here?" The father questioned.

"Well, they're a warrior race, very interested in blood sport." When he saw confused faces staring at him, he elaborated. "They're hunters - they use scent to find something - or someone - they want and hunt them across the galaxies. They must be after someone in this town."

She couldn't stop the agonised gasp escaping her mouth at that - she had done this. Of course, she already knew that, but to hear it from someone else's mouth just made it worse. This town was under attack, people had been hurt, because she'd stopped here. It was her fault.

"Who are you, to know such things?" The mother asked this time, still holding her son close.

"Oh, right. I'm the Doctor."

They didn't have a chance to react to his declaration as immediately after, he looked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes and seemed to see something she couldn't.

"RUN!" Then he started running.

Automatically, Reselda took off after him as fast as she could, only turning back once to make sure the family was following them. The crazy man - or Doctor, as he called himself - was right behind her and as she faced forward once again, forcing herself to run faster, she felt him grab her hand. Looking over, she saw a wide grin that split his face directed towards her and she couldn't help but laugh at him. His grin only grew wider at the sound. As they continued to run, she let him lead her as she studied him as quickly as she could. He was wearing a blue - almost navy, but not quite - pinstriped suit with a long brown coat and red converse shoes. It was an outfit that definitely suited his 'crazy man' look.

She was startled out of her observations when the man - the Doctor, came to an abrupt stop and she banged into his back, her head suddenly aching as it hit a shoulder bone. When the Doctor didn't even make a sound at the impact, she closed her eyes, feeling a sinking feeling in her gut. Swallowing the fear that threatened to consume her, she slowly peaked around the Doctor's arm, tightening her hold on his hand subconsciously.

"Well... wasn't really expecting this." He quipped.

Seeing the group of Aoubgerl in front of them, she cast her mind back to their first encounter with the aliens at the woods.

"There were only eight of them." Reselda whispered. "They hunt in two groups of fifteen - the scavengers and the hunters. There were only eight of them at the woods - these are the other seven."

"But where are the other fifteen?" The Doctor whispered back to her.

Not deigning to answer, she changed her grip on his hand so she could be the one to pull and began to run to the right, away from the group in front and the group undoubtedly approaching them from behind.

"The other group is still around here somewhere, you know." The Doctor didn't seem worried, however, despite his statement. "And we left that family behind a little while ago." That statement is what brought her up short, before she shook her head and resumed running.

"There isn't another group; they're dead." She told him as coldly as she could. "And the Aoubgerl won't go after the family anymore." She hoped he'd leave it at that.

No such luck.

"And why not?"

"Because they've found me."