The silence throughout the forest was foreboding to all and any who spent enough time wandering the ancient grounds, the lack of animals added to the unease, but there's a reason for their absence — they've been hunted until there was none left within the forest.
These weren't animals hunters atypically went for, no, these were animals said to be of legend, nightmares to tribes that once lived and hunted on the edges of the forest.
Hunters felled to these creatures over the centuries, until he came along.
Having hunted the toughest and boldest creatures throughout the worlds over, the hunter claimed them for his own collection.
Through various means, the hunter successfully took down animals that no other hunter managed, earning praise and fear among his peers.
Once, he spent a week in the dense jungles of a remote planet, hunting what the locals termed, the Nightmare.
A muscular panther-like creature, the last of its kind, murderer of dozens, felled to his hands after a week straight of him going through the humid jungle, attempted to kill him in the night, hence its moniker.
The hunter found it in its den during the night after tracking its bloody paw prints throughout, shot it dead, brought its bloody carrion back for all to see, there the natives praised him to their very core.
Though he should've been happy, no other hunter having the claims he did, he wasn't.
Animals become too predictable for him.
The cleverest of them couldn't help falling into the same predictable patterns after a while.
Even the very animals he claimed in this forest became predictable overtime despite their reputations.
Eventually, the hunter grew bolder, taking on different hunts.
It started with desperate people wanting money, something he had, but spent almost all of it on his hunts, that he tricked them into agreeing to be his quarry, on the promise that at the end of the hunt, he'd award them money.
No one ever gotten that far and it proved beneficial for the hunter's lust for a good hunt, the tantalizing efforts led by the quarry.
Even if someone did, the hunter wouldn't give up the opportunity hunting them, it's simply difficult finding worthy quarry.
That was then, the hunter grew bored drawing the quarry with the dream of money.
They've become predictable, like the animals.
Inexperienced, they fell for the same problems he found with the animals attempting to escape him, some ending up killing themselves mistakenly to gain an upper hand.
So, the hunter turned his attention to the dreck of society for another opportunity satiating his growing hunger for a worthy hunt.
The worst of the worst, the scum that the worlds won't miss, that he could hunt in peace, promising them a feeble attempt at their freedom if they won his game.
During the short time he hunted them, there was a reignited love for hunting, the criminals proved worthy in his eyes, the hunter tracked them all over the forest that he's hunting in, now, having brought game here to hunt.
The joy he felt, the adrenaline that coursed through his veins, since he took up his trusty arm, it was the first time in a long time, he felt invigorated.
Oh, these criminals tried killing him, multiple times, but all systematically failed in their attempts, and at the last shot with the final criminal laying dead at his feet, the hunter's hit with a realization.
He'll never get the feeling again should he find more criminals to hunt.
Falling back into his lull, the hunter scoured for something worthy, something to give him thrill, and after a long time, he found what he was searching for.
Whispers of a man who destroyed countless creatures, worlds, destabilized governments, and what have you, stronger than any creature that the hunter ever hunted, smarter than the criminals, threatening appearance.
It took time, but now the hunter has his quarry.
This one wasn't like what he envisioned, he didn't come after him, no, watched his every move, tried to lure him with blood from that girl.
No point having her, the hunter deemed, for his quarry to set out against him, he tracked and found her injured state hidden in a cave behind the waterfall.
Euthanized her, left her to be found.
No choice, she was dying from a reaction to one of the hunter's tricks, a blow gun with one of many blackened thorns he took from his hunts in the jungle during the time he hunted the panther creature.
Natives swore by these thorns, using them in their own hunts, and the hunter took them for himself after the last native died to his hands.
They're lethal to humans, that he reserved them for occasions like this, where he forced his quarries hands.
Now that the girl's dead, the hunter eagerly hunted for the man, he's somewhere in the forest, but the hunter's tracking him with ease.
On the hunter's mind, he yearned for a worthy hunt, that he hoped this fabled man provides him.
There must've been a trick of the mind, the hunter swore hearing the man's voice close to him, but as he cautiously walked, he didn't see him, and there weren't any fresh footprints in the forest ground.
A faint whisper, sounded like a threat, hard to say, the man sounded like a gnarling beast.
Good.
He's angry about the girl, which meant for the hunter he has his wishes granted, now the hunter's becoming the hunted, and the adrenaline pumps once more as the thrill returned to the hunter's mundane life.
Curiosity in what the man will do now that the hunter killed the girl drew the hunter's imaginations.
Traps, fashioning weapons, name it, the hunter's mind hungered every opportunity.
And the hunter's quarry delivered!
Hunting him up and down the forest, attempting traps at every turn, but the hunter avoided them with ease, even took shots at the man, but he shrugged off every bullet.
There's blood, but the hunter found the man wasn't hiding his wounds from him, not even using it as traps, anymore.
Not out of tiredness or other, the quarry's sufficiently motivated, and the hunter thrilled.
He continued to hunt the man throughout, shooting at him, avoiding his devastating traps, everything made the hunter enthralled.
Night drew in the forest, difficult to see because of the density, but the hunter knew the time, and though his quarry averted his attempts, the hunter's pleased with the goings of this hunt.
Returning to the camp, the hunter recovered by the warm campfire, drinking out of his thermos, no care in the world, giddy that he finally found a worthy hunt.
Death defying traps that almost killed him, the quarry coming after him directly, all those things, just made the hunter filled the rush of adrenaline as it continued to course through his veins.
He hunted his quarry until near exhaustion, by tomorrow he'll be ready to try again, and the hunter couldn't wait.
Sitting by the fire, drinking his thermos, the hunter listened to the silence around him, having hunted so many humans, he's become conditioned to knowing when they're about.
The man didn't have a gun on him, not his style, though the ingenious weapons he fashioned out of what he found in the forest proved dangerous, nonetheless, quite the intelligence on him, indeed.
Once morning breaks, the hunter planned on coming for him once, again.
It wouldn't be fun if he simply found the man in his den and shoot him.
"You killed her…" he heard that whisper, again.
Looking around, grabbing his machete as he scanned the surrounding areas, but he heard nothing except a voice in his head, that wasn't his.
"You… killed… her…" the whisper turned to a hiss.
Confused, the hunter looked around, continuing to listen for the man, but he wasn't among the lush evergreen.
The fire flickered as a breeze went through the forest, the trees wavering in the breeze, stiffly as leaves rubbed against each other, there's not a sound from the man.
"I'm… going… to… kill… you!" the hunter heard the hiss become a roaring thunder.
Alarmed, the hunter raised his machete, scouring for the man, thinking he attempted to overtake the hunter in the night.
Searching, the hunter sees the flames raise a few inches, showing the silhouette of a man's lower face.
On his lower face, not a scowl, teeth bare, a strangely neutral look.
All that the hunter remembered before his mind became fuzzy, the man emerged from his hiding spot.
"Hnnng! Hhng!" Theodore's eyes fluttered opened, thrashing in his place, his large hands wrapped around the headset stuck to his head, wrenched it off it, threw it as hard as he could throw it.
When his mind finally caught up to him, his icy blue eyes took notice at Lila's presence, the emotions he felt forced him from his place on the hard steel, sending them crashing on the ground as Theodore stared down at her, tears in his eyes as he exclaimed in happiness.
Lila wasn't dead!
He felt her warmth as he looked into her shocked chestnut eyes, he nuzzled her with his nose, stole kisses, as he wept with joy.
"Kid! You got out!" Theodore heard Al appear adjacent to them, taken aback at the sight as Theodore landed on top of Lila.
Looking up at him, Theodore goes, "What?"
His senses coming back, Theodore pushed himself away from Lila, standing up, helping her stand, clinging to her as Al informed him that they had been working on getting him out of the simulation.
"You don't remember?" Lila looked up as Theodore caressed her in his arms, swaying them.
Shaking his head, Theodore admitted that he didn't remember much, and Al brought him up to speed.
Some big game hunter used illegal simulations to hunt people for his own personal uses, got wind of Theodore's exploits, tricked him into coming to this abandoned lab, got him strapped to the headset.
"We couldn't just rip it off your head, either, he had it where if we tried, your brain would fry," Al tells him as he smoked his cigarette.
Neither could get to the hidden chamber where the hunter was laid up in the simulation, he has it locked down that even Al couldn't proceed to hack it open.
"You're alright?" Theodore shared looks with Lila.
Nodding, Lila tells him the hunter didn't want anything to do with her, that she wasn't what he wanted, didn't think much of her, as Theodore held her close to him, feeling her warmth.
"What happened in there?" Al asked Theodore with interest as to what happened during this ordeal, but Theodore opted not to tell him.
Following them out of the lab the hunter used to nab him, the trio went towards the locked-up portion of the hidden laboratory, where it inexplicably opened for them, despite Lila and Al having trouble prior.
When the doors opened, all they heard were screams.
Violent screams.
Lila clung to Theodore as they continued inside, followed all the tubings, when they reached the hidden area, the hunter plugged himself into, seeing the man wrenching in his spot, screaming bloody murder.
This continued until the heart monitor above showed his heartbeats becoming lessened, until it finally stopped, and the screaming finally ended.
Al says he died from a heart attack induced by the simulation.
"What'd you do?" Lila softly asked Theodore.
Shaking his head, Theodore mustered, "Not enough. Come on, I'm done here."
He led them out of there, returning to the safety of the TARDIS, bringing them somewhere else, there, he was able to fully discuss the situation with them.
"Yep, there's a reason those simulations have a life sentence if you get caught with them," Al summed as he watched Theodore relax on the steps, Lila with him.
The simulations used had too many concerning issues that the Federation sought their banning out of fear of what might've happened, but of course, their intrepid hunter sought them for that reason.
"Big game hunter like that, couldn't hunt anymore, on the run from the law, this was his last chance," Al shrugs as he tells Theodore about the hunter becoming addicted to the thrill of the hunt.
At the end, the hunt got him.
Rubbing his back, Lila nuzzles Theodore's neck as she comforted him, giving him ample proof that he's in the real world, that she wasn't dead like he'd thought.
She noticed a look in Theodore's icy blue eyes and a surprising request from him to Al, asking him if he'd give the two some privacy.
A light shrug, Al disappeared, and as she situated herself, Lila heard Theodore ask her, "Lee?"
Nodding, Lila goes, "Yeah?"
There's a curious look in his eyes, something unusual, and she hears, "Where… do you see ourselves in the near future?"
A pause, Lila thinks to herself, before saying, "I… would say we would be dealing with political intrigued… but… I don't think that's what you're talking about, is it?"
Shaking his head, Theodore brought her close to him as he then admitted to her, "I… he got me thinking… I… how…"
God, man, you graduated at the top of your classes!
"Lee… I… I love with both my hearts and I cannot see a moment without you…" Theodore struggled to force himself through this, "if… if you… don't… feel the same way… I…"
Lila lightly jabs him as she reminded him, "Spaceman, I didn't come all this way just for this "maybe" crap."
A smile on his face as Theodore boldly asks her, "Will you marry me?"
It's a jarring question coming from someone who'd been trapped in an illegal simulation, but Theodore explained his reasonings for broaching this topic suddenly.
It'd be on his mind for a while and he could never get himself to say it.
Almost forty and the man couldn't even ask his longtime girlfriend to marry him, the absurdity of it!
Losing her in the simulation awoke something in him, that he couldn't let his insecurities get in the way of it.
"What about the melding-thingy?" Lila brought up and Theodore affirmed that if that's what she wanted.
Sitting beside him, Lila grew quiet.
Theodore felt the jolt as Lila wrapped her arms around him, sending him to the grated ground as she told him that she's been waiting for him to say something.
Sure, she would've said something sooner, but she didn't want to put him on the spot like that.
It'll be an interesting conversation to have with her family, but at this point, they've grown accustomed to the weirdness that comes with traveling with Theodore, that it wouldn't mattered.
Daphne would flip, though, the whole marriage thing, more with the melding.
"Lee… you make me, happy," she heard the joyful Theodore as she pulled him close.
THE END