Chapter Six

Rose entered the house through a wide hole in the wall. She looked around.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" she said.

She got no response. Praying that the house wouldn't collapse on top of her, she headed towards the back. As she went through what was left of the kitchen, she paused and her stomach turned when she saw a couple of mangled, decayed corpses lying on the floor. Her stomach turned even more when she noticed one of them was a little girl. Forcing herself to look away, she headed into the next room. As she explored the house, she kept hearing the explosions outside. Thankfully though they seemed to be slowing down and Rose hoped that meant the fighters were growing tired or running out of ammunition.

She entered what she guessed was the bedroom. There was a long, low table with a long cushion on top of it. She sat down on it and found it comfortable. She rested a moment while she tried to figure out her next move.

"If the Doctor is out there somewhere, I gotta figure out some way to signal him." She said to herself.

She flinched when she heard another explosion.

"Oh God, Doctor, please be alright." She whispered. "Please don't die now."

She jumped when an explosion went off close to the house.

"Right, I can't stay in here for much longer, that's for sure." She muttered. "But if I go outside, I wanna be sure I'm going in the right direction. If the Doctor's looking for me, I don't want to go further away."

She reached up to her neck and felt the silver collar there. She gave it a couple of tugs and cursed when it didn't budge.

"Bang goes that idea then." She muttered.

She shook her head.

"Probably wouldn't matter anyway. The Doctor would need the TARDIS to track the energy and I'm sure he's left it by now."

She gasped when another explosion shook the building. Getting up from the bed, she hurried out of the room towards the hole in the wall. As she ran through the kitchen, she stopped short when she saw a man rummaging through the cabinets. The man spun around and Rose gasped when she saw his face. He was humanoid, but his face resembled a bat's. He bared his fangs at her and put the cans of food he had collected on the counter.

"Who are you?" he said advancing towards her. "What are you doing here?"

"I…I was just hiding from the bombs." Rose said backing away.

"Really? And what's a pretty little girl like you doing out here in the middle of a battle?" he said.

He narrowed his eyes.

"I bet you're a Lox spy, aren't you?"

"No." Rose said. "Honestly, I was put out here by the Arcadians. You've heard of them, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I've heard of em. Their planet was destroyed in the Time War and they were wiped out with it, so your little explanation doesn't fly. Now, being a Lox spy, that sounds much more plausible to me. Especially since the Lox are known for using whores to gather their information for them."

He grinned.

"And that's what you are, isn't it? A whore? I tell you what, you turn a few tricks for me and I might consider letting you walk out of this house in one piece."

"Boy, you better be glad the Doctor isn't around to hear you say that." Rose said to him.

She backed up towards the door.

"Come on, ducky, don't be shy." The man said. "I won't hurt ya as long as you can satisfy me."

Rose looked around at the door. She looked back at the man and then ran for it.

"Come back here you whore! I'm not finished with you yet!" the man yelled behind her.

Rose ran for her life as the man pursued her through the house. She looked back and saw that he was gaining on her, a lustful look in his black beady eyes. Suddenly, there was another explosion directly beside the house. The man grunted as a huge chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling onto his head knocking him out. Rose paused long enough to catch her breath and then ran the other way towards the hole in the wall.

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"Hang on a minute, I gotta rest." Donna said to the Doctor.

The Doctor paused and put his hands in his pockets as Donna and Martha both bent over and caught their breath. It had been a couple of hours since they had started towards the battlefield. They had gone about two miles and the fast pace had exhausted both women. Both of them looked up and saw the Doctor glancing impatiently ahead of them. They knew that he was thinking it had been a bad idea to let them come along, but also knew he was too nice to tell them that directly. So, both Donna and Martha tried to recover as quickly as they could so they could get moving again.

The Doctor stood and waited patiently for his companions to get their breath back. As he stared at the battlefield ahead of him, his thoughts turned to Rose. He still couldn't believe she was back. It seemed so surreal to him, like a dream. He kept on wondering if it was. It just didn't seem possible that she was back. After all, hadn't he told her that if he crossed the void to get her, both universes would collapse? The only explanation for her return was that the Arcadians had somehow figured out how to cross the void safely. If they had, then they would be one of the very few species to manage it. But, never mind that. Rose was in the same universe once more and the Doctor couldn't be more thrilled. He had missed her company, the feel of her hand in his, her laughter. She still looked as beautiful as ever. And best of all, he finally got to tell her the words that fate had cheated him out of on that day. She now knew without a doubt that he did love her. He hoped that would give her the strength to hold out until he could get to her.

He winced when he heard another explosion echoing in the distance. If Martha and Donna weren't with him, he would have run across the field by now. He still wasn't convinced it was a good idea bringing them along. Yes, Martha's medical training could prove useful, but the Doctor wasn't planning on getting hurt in the first place. And Donna was just another person to watch out for out here. He understood why they needed to rest a moment which was why he was allowing it, but at the same time precious seconds were being wasted. Rose might be in peril and if they didn't move soon, she could end up hurt or worse.

He glanced back over when Martha and Donna came up beside him.

"Ready?" he asked them.

To his relief, they both nodded.

"Let's get going then." He said.

They headed off again towards the battlefield.