"Could been a bear, for all you know!" Rebecca tried telling Paul as they stared at Samuel's metal detector, he had used it to defend himself against his attacker, but subsequently failed, either dropped it, or it was flung when his attacker took a swipe at him.
Turning his head slightly, Paul asked Rebecca had she heard anything about bears in the forest, leading to her to concede that she hadn't heard of anything wandering the forest.
After the war and the abandoned landmines, the wildlife outside birds have taken to staying away, though enough have accidentally triggered the landmines that it unsurprisingly caused a change in the wildlife's behaviour.
"Even then, there's always a chance," Rebecca pitifully tried not to frighten herself at the thought there was creature that's a face eater somehow getting by without setting off landmines.
Slowly shaking his head, Paul informed her that in his and Taylor's line of work, they have to look at everything in an objective matter.
Conceded, Rebecca gestures as she asks Paul how they're going to find Samuel, now.
His angel eyes falling to the ground, Paul studied the forest floor, watching his steps, as he then spotted frantic footprints embedded into the ground.
Samuel seemed on the heavier side given the embedded lines from his boots, that should give them a chance finding where he gone after his confrontation with the face eater.
Alerting the women, Paul tells them that they'll follow Samuel's footprints, see where he went, go from there.
With Rebecca helming her metal detector, they began following Paul's lead as he carefully looked for Samuel's footprints.
Having spent time outdoors and learning about tracking people and animals from his grandfather and uncles during the summers, Paul picked apart old footprints from when Samuel started tracking the face eater to his recent foray into the forest in his search that led to the confrontation.
There weren't blood spatter or indication the face eater successfully killed or wounded Samuel, but Paul knew better to make conclusions early.
His angel eyes slowly moved until the piercing noise of the metal detector going off stopped him in his tracks as he froze in horror as Rebecca alerted him to the landmine that was almost a meter away from him.
For a moment, there was a jolt in his two hearts, but Paul quickly recovered, before using his Sonic Screwdriver to disable the landmine from where he stood.
Once he did, the metal detector goes back to beeping in the background, and he relaxed.
Feeling Taylor's hand on his back, Paul turned his head to see her giving him a look.
A smile on his face, Paul assured her that he wouldn't be careless the next time, solidifying it with a kiss on her nose.
"You said that the last time!" Taylor countered with a knowing look.
Not the first time he promised her, nor the last time he failed to keep it.
Rebecca spoke up, breaking their conversation, when they turned their heads, she gestures as she asks them, "How did he avoid the landmines without his metal detector?"
They haven't found any that gone-off, Samuel blown to smithereens, any indication he tagged the spots he found landmines.
Pondering this, Paul agreed with her points, without the metal detector, Samuel was a dead man, but he wasn't, not that they found.
Checking around the area near the landmine, Paul didn't find a marker, something to indicate that this was here.
Understandably, with the number of hidden landmines, having markers everywhere would prove counterproductive, but yet for someone like Samuel, it wouldn't make sense for him not to mark every landmine close to his camp.
He'd been here for three days, should've been enough time for him to cover his ground, but he didn't.
Curious as to why that is, Paul referred back to the journal, having Rebecca read through it, again, wanting to know why he hadn't placed markers on the known landmine locations.
Reading under her breath as she went through the pages one more time, Rebecca stops when she read a passage, "… on the second day, I realized, it knows what I am doing, and is getting rid of the markers I leave for the landmines. I do not know why, but I am frightened as to how it knew."
Her brown eyes filled with fear, Rebecca turned towards Paul for guidance, but he couldn't tell her anything, as he didn't know what the face eater exactly was, leading Taylor to question the legitimacy of the mythical doctor.
It was no coincidence that the face eater "stole" the face of Samuel's daughter and the stories about some mythical doctor living in an abandoned hospital out in the middle of the forest filled with landmines.
"But… people who found the doctor came back!" Rebecca tried saying, swearing she heard people finding the doctor coming back after the procedure, they didn't encounter the face eater.
This curious adventure led cogs turning into Paul's mind as they continued their trek through the forest, wanting to find what became of Samuel and the answers to their burning questions.
"If it's removing the markers and knows about the landmines, this face eater's quite intelligent," Paul privately shared his thoughts with Taylor as she subtly nodded in agreement.
She then added her own thoughts, "Why would it remove the markers?"
Didn't make any sense until Paul pointed out, "It would seem our face eater wouldn't want people getting a lay of the land, my dear Taylor."
Only reason someone or something would go out of their way removing markers indicating buried landmines, outside regulatory bodies getting snippy about placements.
"And you think there's a correlation between this doctor and the face eater?" Taylor broached with Paul, and he affirmed his suspicions that this wasn't coincidental.
Seeing the skies in between the intertwining branches and leaves, Paul frowns as he noticed time slipping away, the skies reddening, before motioning with his hands as he tells the women that they ought to head back to Samuel's camp, they couldn't chance becoming lost in the forest.
When morning breaks, they'll attempt to find Samuel or what remained of him.
"What about the face eater?" Rebecca worried that they risked getting caught by it, with the forest becoming different at night, they'll be at a disadvantage.
Pondering this, Paul responded that they'll come up with something.
For now, they needed to return to the camp, henceforth.
Retracing their steps, the three returned to Samuel's camp, where Taylor helped relit the fire while Paul retrieved wood for them to burn, as they felt the air around become bone chilling.
Rebecca shared protein bars she brought with her, wanting to keep herself going when she attempted to look for the doctor, but now with their situation, wanted to stay alive.
Munching on the chewy protein bar that tasted like an edible eraser but with a fruity flavour, Paul kept watch in every corner of the camp.
Having figured out that there was a creature in the forest, Samuel made sure that it couldn't surprise him in his camp, but because of the creature knowingly taking his markers laid out for the landmines, no doubt he worried what else the creature's capable of doing.
Darkness swept over the forest in time, the birds have calmed, gone to roost, only silence.
Paul encouraged Rebecca to sleep, they won't be able to leave until morning, though she stubbornly refused, fear about the face eater, he coaxed her into trying, and she curled up in her bedroll.
Sitting beside him as she nibbled on her protein bar, Taylor heard the crackling of the wood as the fire broke it down, silence elsewhere.
"Are you warm, dear?" she heard Paul ask her, feeling his arm around her waist as he brought her closer to him, feeling his warmth shared by the fire.
A smile, Taylor replied, "I am, now."
Keeping her close to him, Paul smiles as he nestled his face near hers as they kept warm by the fire.
Brought back memories of when he was younger, when he went camping with his uncles and grandfather during the summers, something unexpected for someone like Paul, normally considered bookish, but he always felt a drive of being outdoors time-to-time.
His mother claimed that he got it from his father, but his father says contrary.
Oh, the nights he spent with his uncles and grandfather, sharing meals together, telling stories, sharing laughter to the roar of the fire.
Wished he could've spent more time with Uncle Hammond, but since he traveled as the Doctor, himself, Paul seldom sees him, though Uncle Hammond always tried to make it up to him in someway.
The fire swayed as a cold breeze went through the forest, the leaves quivering, it's enough to cause the pair to slowly fall asleep.
Laying on the ground on his back, staring up at the the blotted skies above, Paul pulls Taylor closer to him.
Resting her head on his chest, their long coats acting as their weighted blankets, Taylor listened to the calming sound of Paul's two hearts, beating in unison, as her emerald eyes slowly closed gently nestling her face into Paul's chest as his left arm draped over her side.
