Chapter 10

Take The Blame

I'm in charge of a bloody pack, Ashley thought worriedly, looking around at the thirty-plus people who were waiting for her orders. How the hell does this happen?

Jill was nearby, a long thick pole with a sharpened end held tightly in her hands. They had tried to give Ashley one, but she wouldn't have known what to do with it. She just hoped that, if the time called for it, she could just stomp on the spider thing before it had a chance to jump on her face.

'What do you want us to do?' Jill asked her.

Ashley didn't have a clue. Besides just wandering around aimlessly looking for a spider… she didn't have a clue. 'Maybe we should split up.' She shrugged. 'Into groups of five.'

They all looked at her blankly.

'Right…' Ashley sighed. 'Counting. Haven't got to that yet, have you? Okay… just get into small groups. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything small and spider-like, okay?' She hoped what she said wasn't distasteful, but no one picked up on it. She pointed at four of them at random, including Jill. 'You lot come with me.'

The four of them quickly joined her side. The rest of them sectioned off and headed in different directions. Ashley looked around at her own group, taking in their faces. She nodded to them all.

'Let's get going then.' she sighed, but she was thinking, I'm going to get these people killed.

They had been searching for about twenty minutes. The men in the group were becoming restless and twitchy, but they didn't speak. Jill walked alongside Ashley, her icy eyes scanning every possible hiding place. For the millionth time since leaving the village, Ashley wondered what the hell she was doing. There was no way they were going to find this thing. They needed the Doctor. She needed the Doctor.

'Where is the Doctor?' Jill asked almost as if she had been reading her thoughts.

Ashley looked to her in bewilderment. 'He um… He's looking somewhere… else.' She lied. She didn't want to tell them that he had gone back to the ship. Not sure why she didn't want to tell them though.

Jill nodded. 'Have you mated yet?'

Ashley looked to her, instantly flushing red. 'Excuse me?'

Jill looked at her curiously. 'He would provide good children. As would you.'

Ashley gawped at her. 'Wha… No! Of course I haven't!' She turned away, highly embarrassed. 'For starters I haven't really known him that long and… and he's too skinny.'

Jill continued to look at her. 'I'm sorry if I offended you…'

'Yeah well I'd appreciate if you didn't bring that up again,' Ashley replied. 'It's not a subject I'd particularly want to think about let alone talk about.'

Jill nodded, but she still looked thoughtful. She opened her mouth to say something else but Ashley held a finger up to her lips.

'I know what you're going to ask,' Ashley said quickly. 'And keep the nookie talk for later, okay? I don't think this is the time.'

Jill frowned faintly, but nodded obediently.

Ashley glanced to her with a faint frown. 'Shouldn't you be more concerned about your brother anyway?'

'These things happen.' Jill replied simply.

'Well I don't think I've seen that happen to anybody I know.' Ashley mumbled.

Jill stopped and turned to Ashley, resting one hand on her hip. 'I know you're implying that I don't care for my brother. I love my brother. But I have already lost five siblings. I can control my grief.'

Ashley immediately felt guilty. She looked away. 'I didn't mean…'

'What was that?'

Ashley and Jill looked around to the man who had spoken. He was hunched, staring forward into the surrounding foliage. Everyone followed his gaze. At first, Ashley couldn't see anything, but then she saw three thick, black legs creeping over the top of a rock. Jill started forward. Ashley stuck her arm in front of her.

'Watch it.' she warned. 'You've seen what it can do.'

Jill nodded. She approached slowly, as did the rest of them. Before they were close enough to strike, the creature whipped away into the bushes with a hiss. They raced after it.

Ashley cursed as tree branches nicked her skin. The others sprinted almost silently, but Ashley bumbled and stumbled like a drunk. If she had been on her own, she would have lost that thing straight away. But she hadn't been alone, thank god. She followed them into a clearing. They were standing around, scanning the area.

'Where did it go?' Ashley asked, practically wheezing for breath.

'In there.' Jill replied, pointing at an opening in the side of a rocky crevasse. The others approached it. Ashley wiped the sweat from her forehead.

'Great.' She muttered. 'More dark caves.'

The Doctor had watched five more feeds. Most of them were of him. By now he understood perfectly well where the cave paintings had come from. Shortly after the ship had crashed, the villagers had come down to explore. Finding the two survivors, they proceeded to explore the ship. They must have found a way to turn on the feeds. They probably didn't understand a word that was spoken, but they saw enough for it to be their mythical story to be passed on for a few generations.

Although he found nothing on Ashley.

And there was no more mention of Crowe.

The Doctor scowled at the thought of Crowe. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of him in the first place. He had probably anticipated that the Doctor would go looking for her. He had followed the Doctor because he knew that eventually he would lead him straight to her. If he had just left her alone, perhaps he wouldn't have had to take her out of her home at all.

Perhaps all this would never have happened.

Not for the first time in his life, the Doctor came to believe that this was his fault.

With a grimace, he shut off the feed. He felt sick with himself to think that he had came here to watch these feeds instead of go and help search for the creature that could quite easily mark the end of civilisation before it had even properly began. He was just heading towards the door when another feed came on automatically. He turned. His eyebrows rose.

Now he knew why they referred to her as the Deity.

The cave was dim, but not completely pitch black. A few meters in and they could still see well enough to continue on. Jill led the way. Ashley found herself envious of her bravery. But then again, the girl probably ran about hunting animals, whereas Ashley found it a task walking around to the corner shop to buy herself a Cornetto.

It was amazing to see just how lazy the human race had become.

Something scuttled between her legs and she whimpered. Jill looked around, wide-eyed. The three men stood ready to attack, their spears out in front of them.

Next time, just stomp, Ashley told herself. You stomp on it as hard as you can. You're wearing Doc Martins. You stomp it good.

However, when it scuttled past her again, she only yelped. Jill turned around, frowning. She put a finger to her mouth. Ashley nodded and was about to apologise, but all the air caught in her throat. She noticed something on the walls that made her heart speed up.

'We're too late.' She mumbled.

The others looked around, stricken. The walls were covered in a thin, filmy grey membrane. Small, rodent sized spiders were crawling out of it, scuttling up the walls and ceiling. Their eyes now adjusting to the dimness, it became clear that there were dozens of them.

'How is that possible…?' Jill muttered. 'So quickly…'

Ashley looked ahead, her eyes widening so much that she thought her eyes would just fall out. Even though that was a pretty inappropriate description. In the blackness ahead, eight shiny eyes gleamed. The creature stepped out of the shadows, flaps of skin curling back and baring sharp white teeth. The ends of its heavy legs clicked on the stone floor.

The Doctor had been wrong. Ashley had never seen a ten-foot tall hamster before.

The creature sprang forward. Ashley saw it rushing towards her, the hissing sound ear piercing. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the impact.

A lot of updates today - I hope I didn't get on anyones nerves lol! About three chapters left of this one, I hope you're all still enjoying :D And again, for the zillionth time, thanks for reading :p