Chapter 10: The Quest
The Doctor woke to a relatively cool morning. Embers crackled lazily in the fire pit. Golden leaves stirred and hopped through the grass with the breeze. He sat up and stretched, physically feeling the best he'd felt since that day in the execution chamber. He shuddered at the reminder.
Reaching to his side, he found his spear and used it to haul himself into an upright position. How he had slept so well on the jungle floor, he would never know. He chalked it up to exhaustion. To his surprise and delight, he had also managed to retain all of his meal. In fact, he had not vomited for two days now. Maybe his stomach was finally starting to settle.
Speaking of meals, his stomach rumbled. He had removed the pan and left the rest of the fish to smoke all night over the glowing coals. It was now dried out like jerky, exactly how he wanted it. This way he could carry it with him without worrying about spoilage.
He stuffed a few pieces into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Today was the day he was finally going to leave his little campsite. Even though he felt relatively better, he was still in serious condition. He needed to find medicine. Perhaps he could break into a house or hospital and steal some.
He packed the rest of the jerky into the pouch he had fastened from the robe. He grasped the handle of the shield and kicked dirt over the fire. Greedily, he picked up his hollow log full of boiled water and drank deeply. He had found a way to seal off the hole in the log with thick leaves soaked in pitch so it would not leak. By tying a long strip of fabric to each end, he created a strap. He slung it over his shoulder.
Satisfied, he felt as prepared as he was ever going to be. Once again, something in his gut told him to follow the river to the north. He knew that cities generally followed rivers, so he hoped that he would find civilization soon.
Leaving his makeshift home behind, he set off along the muddy bank. The river skipped and babbled over stones. Double sunlight caught the ripples and gleamed like diamonds. The current quickened as it tumbled down a small decline in altitude. The Doctor stared at the ground, carefully avoiding roots and rocks in his path. The way had become steeper and the last thing he needed was to trip.
Small animals scurried away at his steps. They kind of looked like rabbits except that they were scaly and only had holes in the sides of their heads for ears. Perhaps fur had never evolved on this hot planet. They screeched as they ran, diving into the thick undergrowth beneath the canopy of trees.
Colorful bird and monkey-like creatures called out to each other from the treetops. Jeweled beetles climbed up the bark of a nearby tree, only to get snapped up by a winged snake. He had been too out of it before to appreciate the beauty of the jungle. If he hadn't been in this situation, it would have made for a nice walk.
Hours passed and there were still no signs of people. The Doctor began to grow impatient. He kicked a pebble and watched it tumble down the sheer rockface before him. The river cascaded down the cliff with a roar. Mist sprinkled over him, cooling him off from the heat of the bright afternoon suns. He peered over the edge, grumbling.
All he could see beyond was a valley filled with even more jungle. To his dismay, he could see no cities or houses past the skyscraper trees. Still, his gut told him to continue this way. It wouldn't make any sense to turn around and end up going in circles. He was bound to run into something eventually.
He stared down the steep grade and gulped. Trees and vines dotted the slope, providing him with a way down if he was careful enough. Mustering up his courage, he skittered his feet down the pebbly mountainside until he encountered the first tree in his path. He gripped it and held on against the pull of gravity. He rested against it for a moment before continuing on to the next tree. Small rocks bounced down the slope with his movements. Dust kicked up into the air. He coughed, almost choking on it.
Deciding he would sustain less risk of injury by sitting down, he sank to his knees and then to his bottom and shuffled downwards. He scooted from tree to tree, using branches and vines as rappelling ropes as he went along. He had to stop frequently to catch his breath. His hearts fluttered like a hummingbird's in his chest. The suns beat down onto his exposed skin, threatening to sunburn his raw skin if he ventured away from the shade of the trees.
Finally, the bottom of the rocky cliff came into view. He slid down the gravel until he reached level ground. He tumbled down onto the leafy forest floor, his descent halted by the thick underbrush. He panted heavily, staring up at the mountainside. He must have climbed down at least a few hundred feet at a very sharp grade. He laid on his back for a moment, trying to regain his energy. The suns were beginning to shift near the end of the horizon. Before too long, night would fall. He needed to find a place to make camp.
He glanced to the base of the cliff and noticed something dark. Curiosity getting the better of him, he got up and approached it cautiously. The waterfall roared and hissed behind it, splashing down into a great calm pool. The trees were more sparse here, so he could see further into the distance. As he got closer to the dark object, he realized that it was a cave.
He beamed. It was the perfect place to settle down for the night. He picked up his pace, eager to set down the heavy shield and spear he had been carrying. He reached the entrance and laid his stuff onto the ground. He inspected the dark cavity. It seemed to be made of solid rock, probably eroded away by the waterfall nearby. It extended deep into the cliff but was too dark for him to see further than about ten feet in front of him. He stayed back and poked at the ceiling sharply with the butt of his spear. Sediment rained down but nothing collapsed. Satisfied, he began gathering sticks scattered around him to build a fire.
Deep in the cave, owl-like golden eyes watched him. The creature they belonged to was shaped like a bear, thick and stout with ebony scales and long burrowing claws. Its eyes were huge like dinner plates to help it see in the pitch darkness. It was perfectly adapted to life in the caves. It licked its large canines. Something had trespassed into its domain.
Oblivious, the Doctor turned his back. The creature growled lowly, and before the Doctor had a chance to react, it pounced. It roared like a lion, tackling him to the ground. The Doctor screamed. He rose his arms up to protect himself. The great beast slashed at him with its claws, tearing gashes into his forearms. He yelped in pain, rolling away as far as he could. Blood pooled on the cave floor. The Doctor crawled back to his spear, just out of reach. He managed to leap backwards before the beast landed another blow and recovered his weapon.
The creature reared up for another strike. Slobber dripped from its gaping maw like it was rabid. The enormous eyes fixated on him and the Doctor had never felt more in fear of his life. It stood on its haunches and towered over him. Back against the wall and nowhere to run, he raised his spear towards the animal's chest, planting his feet against the ground.
The beast lunged forwards. With a loud squelch, it impaled itself on the outstretched spear. It recoiled sharply, slamming itself into the cave walls. It wailed in agony, flailing around. The Doctor let go of the spear and scrambled away from its panicked motions. Dark green blood spurted from the wound, coating everything. The spearhead had gone straight through its heart.
The creature panted laboriously, drawing its last breaths. With a final growl, it swiped at the Doctor again. He barely managed to dodge out of the way, feeling the claws catch on his robe. With a loss of balance, the beast fell forwards. On impact, the spear burst out from its back with a sickening crunch. It stuck up in the air like a spike, buried deeply in the prone body. The beast gurgled out a death rattle and finally laid still.
The Doctor breathed heavily, wheezing in the dusty air. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like lightning. His hearts thumped wildly in his chest, almost drowning out the sound of the crashing waterfall outside. What the hell just happened? He kicked at himself internally. He should have known better than to not check the cave for animals.
He prodded the body with his foot cautiously. It did not move. Blood had stopped spraying from the exit wound and he knew that its heart had stopped. The air was raunchy with the smell of copper and viscera. He retched, fighting to keep his breakfast down. Disgustedly, he gripped the bloody spear and yanked it the rest of the way out of the creature's back.
Inky green blood coated his hands. He watched it trickle down his knuckles and drip down to the cave floor below. Memories of being covered in that woman's blood flooded back into his brain. His chest tightened. He shook the memory from his head. He had more important things to worry about right now.
He picked up a handful of rocks and threw them as far into the dark as he could. He heard them hollowly impact the far wall and knew that the rest of the cave was empty. The stones clacked against the ground, echoing eerily.
Chest heaving with effort, the Doctor finally managed to catch his breath. Adrenaline wearing off, a sharp burning sensation began to emanate from his forearms. Horrified, the Doctor stepped into the light and realized that the creature had fileted open the dorsal side of his arms. Scarlet blood trickled from the wounds and he knew that he was in trouble.
He ran outside and retrieved his hollowed log full of boiled water. He poured it over the lacerations, trying to wash out the blood and dirt. He hissed sharply. That bloody HURT. Blood and water trickled down his legs to the ground and eventually seeped into the rippling pool. It turned brown with the mixture of red and green blood together.
With the gore washed out, he could see that the cuts had not extended into the muscle or tendons. Thankfully, the wounds were relatively superficial. The skin and subcutaneous fat glistened with the welling up of more blood.
He noticed that part of his robe was torn where the creature's claws had snagged it. He tore it the rest of the way. He ripped it in two and wrapped a strip around each arm tightly, trying to tourniquet off the bleeding. His face paled. The world spun around him like a top. He sat down before he could fall down. He grit his teeth in anguish. Squeezing hard, he applied pressure to both arms tightly. Gradually, the bleeding began to slow.
Finally, it stopped. The Doctor cautiously released his grip. He reached for the log and drank the rest of his water to get his blood pressure back up. Within moments, his head began to clear. Gingerly, he shuffled over to the riverbank and dipped his container into the cool waters. The weight of it pulled on his flayed arms. He returned to the cave, hunched over in pain. Blood coated almost the whole interior after the first eight feet of the entrance. It dripped from the walls, the ceiling, the stalactites above.
The Doctor wrinkled his nose at the smell. He retrieved two small pieces of flint from his pouch and got to work striking them against each other. He had gathered the sticks into a little tent and bundled up some rags coated in resin underneath them. With a well-placed spark, the flammable pitch ignited. The Doctor blew on it steadily and watched the flames grow. He piled more sticks on top. They crackled with the heat, twisting in all directions. White smoke billowed into the cave before wafting out through the opening.
Figuring that the fire had enough fuel to last a while, he ventured off to the forest edge for logs. He found a few that seemed dry enough and dragged them back to the cave. His arms burned with the effort. The straining yanked on his barely scabbed-over wounds. They began to ooze blood again and the Doctor knew he had to be quick. He added the wood to the fire and finally took a break. He rested his back against the wall and passed out.
When the Doctor woke hours later, the fire was only coals. His arms throbbed with every heartbeat. Clumsily, he threw more pieces of wood into the fire until it caught flame again. He wrested some rocks from the walls and set them up like a tripod around the fire. Carefully, he laid the shield on top and poured water into it. He needed to keep his fluids up with the blood loss he had sustained.
It was nearly pitch black outside. The only light came from the crackling fire and the triple moonlight outside. It seemed dimmer than usual, perhaps they were in a new moon phase. Or perhaps his vision was dimmer.
Before long, the water boiled. He tipped the pan into the empty log. The log had been dirty with the acquisition of fresh river water, but he figured that the heat of the boiling water would sterilize it. Waiting for it to cool, he pulled some jerky out from his pouch and gnawed on it. His tongue felt numb and the fish did not taste nearly as good as it had that morning. A sour mood descended upon him. Everything had just been going too well. He should have known the universe would throw another thing at him.
When the water cooled enough, he sipped at it gingerly. He removed the shield from the fire. Dancing orange light lit up the cave once again. He turned towards the creature and finally got a good look at it. It appeared to be some scaly combination of a bear and a sloth, complete with long digging claws. Perhaps it had burrowed this cave into the cliff itself.
Its enormous eyes stared at him blankly. He frowned and reached out to shut them. On one level, he felt bad for it because he had invaded its home and it was only defending itself. On another level, he hated it. It summarized all of his misfortune during this hellish week.
Something glimmered on the wall. It reflected the firelight into the ceiling in a fractured pattern. The Doctor reached for it out of curiosity. It was smooth with sharp edges and came to a peak. He snapped it off from the wall and brought it to the fireside so he could see it better.
Kapponite. Of course it was. He chuffed at the irony. All of his troubles had come from his search for this one little thing, and now he had found it without even trying to. Speckled with pink and golden flecks, the gem was too impure to be useful. He slammed it down against the stone floor, shattering it into millions of pieces. To hell with it.
Angry, the Doctor brushed the shards away from one of the walls and laid down uncomfortably. The hard surface jutted into his bumps and bruises. Tossing and turning, he tried to find a comfortable position. He needed to get some sleep. He had to keep moving. Tomorrow, he would set out again on his search for intelligent life. Mercifully, exhaustion overtook him and he fell into a deep slumber.
The morning announced itself with blistering sunlight shining from the north and searing into his eyelids. For a moment, the Doctor thought he was back on that platform baking in the suns. He brought a hand up to shield his face and groaned. As he woke up, the pain returned. He hissed sharply through his teeth. His arms burned like a branding iron. He took a couple sips of water and decided that he needed to wash his soaked bandages of the blood.
Carefully, he unwrapped the bits of torn fabric from his swollen forearms. The gashes had scabbed over, but red lines began to track upwards from the edges, the telltale sign of infection. His hearts shot into his throat. The beast's claws had been full of dirt and the germs had not been thoroughly washed out with merely water.
Suddenly, his mission to find medicine had become more dire than ever.
He poured some sterile water over the strips of cloth and rubbed them between his fingers until the water ran clear. He dried them by the dying fire and then re-wrapped them around his gashes. He boiled a fresh batch of water and refilled his log. He sealed it off with the waterproof pitch and hung it over his shoulders. He ate a quick breakfast, bolting down the last of the fish jerky. He gripped his spear and his shield and set off again towards the rising suns.
Miles passed and still he saw no signs of sentient life. The morning suns beat down overhead and he could feel the beginnings of fever overtaking his system. He shivered violently. Sweat dripped from his nose. Pink bloody pus began to ooze from the bandages. He was in deep trouble.
Finally, he managed to reach a clearing. His vision swam but he swore he could make out something unnaturally rectangular in the distance. It almost looked like a building. He hobbled towards it, leaning heavily on his spear. He abandoned the shield and slung off the heavy water log from his back. Delirious, he could not think straight.
As he approached the object, he realized that it was indeed a building. Finally, a sign of civilized life. His fatigued hearts leapt in his chest. He no longer cared if the people inside were hostile or not. He needed help. The feeling in his gut grew stronger as he drew closer. Somehow, he knew he was meant to be here.
His legs buckled from underneath him and he had to resort to crawling. He clambered over the dirt and leaves slowly. He may have been losing his mind, but he knew one thing. He had to make it to this building or he was finished. His weakened body could not fight off the raging infection consuming his system.
Finally, he reached the concrete doorstep. He glanced up through watery eyes at the printed sign on the door. "Clara's Diner" it read. He flashed a slight smile. He knew a Clara. His hearts ached for her company. He only wished he could see her again.
He tried pulling on the door but it was locked. The paper "Closed" sign faced him mockingly. He knocked on the glass. Perhaps somebody was inside. He had to try.
Hearing no response, he collapsed into the dust. With the last of his strength, he knocked again. After a moment, he heard the sound of window blinds clattering and then a shriek. The door opened inwards with a cheerful ring.
His vision swirled. He could no longer make out discernible objects, only shapes. Something grabbed at his shoulders. He moaned, feebly trying to swat the offending presence away. He just wanted to be left in peace.
Just before unconsciousness took him into its deep abyss, he swore he heard someone calling his name.
A/N: Stay tuned and don't forget to leave a review! 3
