Chapter 11 – Another Suitcase Full of Bad

Flashback…

It was precisely 2:00pm when the Doctor passed out, according to Jack's manipulator. Rose had been dabbing at his forehead with the cloth when he'd opened his eyes one last time, giving her a weak smile before he slipped into a coma. For ten more minutes she continued to dab at his face, tears blurring her vision, but she forced them to recede.

Suddenly the door burst open behind her and she jumped to her feet in surprise, spinning around to meet Jack's anxious gaze, panting heavily.

"Rose," he gasped. "The bandits are back – I dunno how but they've completely healed themselves!"

And within that moment, screams of terror and pain erupted from beyond the church walls, the sound of bloodlust roars died out by the sound of stampeding footsteps hammering up the aisle of the church towards them. Rose stepped between the door and the Doctor as did Jack, his fists raised. They both tensed, ready to give their lives if it protected the Doctor as the stampede got closer… and closer… and closer…

"We have to protect the Doctor!" Martin's voice yelled as the door burst open to reveal him, Father Jace and Larec at the head of a pack of villagers. He made towards the unconscious body on the bed but Jack jumped in the way, arms outstretched to form a barrier.

"Where're we gonna take him?!" he demanded.

"Out of the village!" Larec answered urgently, constantly checking over his shoulder at the entrance of the church. "He's not safe here!"

"All the routes are covered by bandits!" Jack countered, refusing to step aside as Rose moved back over to the Doctor, resting her hand on each of his hearts in turn. Both were still beating. Good.

"No," one of the villagers suddenly stepped forward. "There is another possibility. We can distract them whilst you affect an escape."

Jack was speechless, torn between his love for his best friend and the lives of these innocent villagers. He looked back at the comatose Doctor, to the villagers, back at the Doctor, and then bit his lip. "You might die," he finally said.

They all nodded affirmation.


During the course of her so far brief yet enthralling travels with the Doctor, Donna had been in a million and one different cages. Big cages, small cages, round cages, box cages, silver cages, black cages, brown cages, blue cages… but every time she had been chucked in she had always known the Doctor would get her out, every time.

But this time, she didn't have that comfort. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver had been stolen from him as they had stripped him of his coat and jacket, raiding the pockets for any valuable goods before tying his wrists, ankles and knees together and throwing him in the cell with her and Joshua. An hour had passed before the bandits had returned and had dragged the Doctor out into the open.

That was when the beatings started.

After a while Donna had noticed there was a definite repetition: a bandit would appear in front of the cage, give a few threats, unlock the door and dragged the Doctor out. Their choice of place varied, but usually they would opt for the stake in the middle of the encampment just in front of the cage so Joshua and Donna got the best view of what happened next. They would secure the Doctor to the stake, pick up their preferred weapon and begin their relentless ten-minute attack on their helpless victim. It was very precise timing – one of the bandits standing at the side would call out when the ten minutes were up, after which the tormenter would untie the Doctor, drag him back to the cage, lock it up and, with his accomplices, would disappear. A brief, two minute pause before the entire process was repeated, never stopping.

The Doctor had managed to bite back his screams to begin with, but after an hour of this repetitive schedule he could hold it back no longer and his screams of pain only seemed to cease in the two minute breaks, where Donna would obediently be the gentle touch he so desperately needed before he was taken back out again.

Each time he returned to the stake Donna would turn Joshua to face her and cover his ears in some kind of desperate attempt to stop him knowing what was happening to the Doctor. The horrible thing was, every time she tried to fight back, to protest, to put an end to the torture, they would simply threaten her and Joshua. She didn't really care about what they'd do to her, but if Joshua was hurt in any way, never mind how the Doctor would react, she'd never be able to forgive herself.

The Doctor became less and less coherent as the sessions passed until he reached the point where he wouldn't even speak in the breaks before being taken back out again.

Three hours passed when he was thrown back into the cage after another session, blooded, bruised and broken. Donna instantly moved forward and took him into her arms, simply holding him like she always did. Joshua silently took his most injury-free looking hand. The Doctor didn't speak for thirty seconds as Donna mentally catalogued his injuries for signs of any new ones, but the bruises were now so plentiful he was beginning to look like one big bruise. A few broken bones were pretty obvious even to Donna; she had heard the cracks, she could see the deformities… But she was no doctor and she didn't even know where to begin.

To her surprise his eyes opened ever so slightly, those dark brown pools looking up through slits at Donna under bruised eyelids. She smiled briefly at him, trying to reassure him that everything would be okay. He managed a small grin at her before his eyes slipped closed again, back, Donna presumed, into the world where pain didn't exist.

"My daddy'll save us," Joshua suddenly said, his first words since they had been thrown into the cage. He was still holding the Doctor's hand, his teeth gritted in belief and determination for his father.
Donna nodded. "They'd be wondering where we are by now. They'll come and find us."

"Rose…" the Doctor suddenly croaked, startling Donna more than anything else. She looked back but his eyes were closed, flickering beneath their lids. He was dreaming. "Is that you, Rose?"

Caringly Donna brushed back his hair that was matted with blood. It wouldn't be long till the next round of this one-sided match began.

"Rose?" he asked again. "Is that you?"

He was talking to her, Donna realised. He was so delirious he couldn't tell the difference.

"Rose?" he asked again.

"Yeah it's me, Doctor. It's Rose." She afforded a glance up at Joshua who was just staring at her, confused. "I'm here."

"Rose," he whispered for another time. "Have they hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine, Doctor."

"Good," he whispered. "If they hurt you I would never forgive myself." His eyes closed once again, content in Donna's arms.

A shadow cast itself over the cage, the air around them instantly cold and foreboding. Donna looked up to find a bandit towering over them like so many times before, a dirty, toothless grin on his scarred face.

"Break's over," he grunted, moving to unlock the cage. Donna felt the anger boil up inside her at the idea of it all, but she knew if she did anything Joshua would be the one to pay the price. The bandit grabbed the Doctor's bound ankles, dragging him like a sack of potatoes through the wet mud to the world outside.

Suddenly all hell broke loose.

Joshua was screaming, running across the cage to the Doctor and throwing his arms around the Time Lord, holding desperately onto him.

"I won't let you!" the boy screamed, "I won't let you!!!"

"Joshua!" Donna's eyes were wide and terrified, reaching out to grab the boy to try and pull him off of the Doctor, but he wasn't letting go any time soon.

"Let him go, boy!" the bandit demanded, seemingly caught off guard by the child's sudden change in demeanour.

"No! No! I won't let you take him! I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

The bandit growled a low, a menacing sound. With a single throw of the bandit's arm Joshua was sent flying back into the cage, hitting the metal with a thud. Within seconds Donna had thrown her arms around him but he was already fighting her off, determined to break free. The bandit continued to pull the Doctor out, heaving the Time Lord's unconscious body over his shoulder and reaching for the key on his belt to the cage door with a sense of urgency. Before he could manage it Joshua had slipped out of Donna's grasp and through the gate, ramming the bandit's leg. If the bandit hadn't been so surprised maybe he would've been able to keep on his feet, but the shock of the impact was enough to send him flat on his back with the Doctor slipping from his grasp.

Suddenly a stampede of bandit footsteps were coming towards them as the camp turned from calm to chaos within a matter of seconds. Donna ran out of the cage and towards Joshua without a moment's thought for herself, the bandits almost upon them. Joshua had grabbed the Doctor's most unbroken-looking arm and was pulling him using his entire body weight, stumbling in the wet mud. Before she could reach them both, the bandit rugby-tackled to the ground by the child grabbed her from behind and held her in restraint.

"Not today mate!" she yelled, swinging her heel between his legs with crunching impact. He was on the floor in seconds and Donna was off again, calling to Joshua.

"Attack!" a voice suddenly yelled from afar and suddenly the camp was being showered by arrows. Donna tensed up and threw herself around Joshua – but the arrows weren't aiming for them. Beside them bodies hit the floor, and it wasn't long before she heard a familiar voice calling to them.

"Joshua! Doctor! Donna!" She turned to meet the gaze of Larec, his eyes wide. "Here!"

"No!" a bandit grabbed the Doctor and wrenched him out of Joshua's grip, who stumbled back into the mud. Donna took the boy into both arms who was kicking and screaming in protest, carrying him over and handing him to Larec. "Don't let go of him!" she yelled over the commotion of combat, "I'm getting the Doctor!"

Then there was a roar, and the arrows seemed to stop.

"Watch him die."

She turned back to the sound of the voice, her eyes widening at the sight as her heart skipped a beat. The one remaining bandit held the unconscious Doctor upright, knife resting against his throat. Mere seconds after Donna had turned the bandit gave a toothless grin, and he drew the knife across skin.

Donna wasn't the only one screaming as the Doctor hit the floor.

A/N:Is there such a thing as too much whump? :o Naaaaah...