The Doctor (8 page)

‘Okay, there’s a small possibility of that. Now what’s going on here?’
 

Tez frowned and sighed heavily. ‘Place is swarming with
servas
. Backup are on their way and I’ve scoured half the grounds. No sign of the furry one.’

‘Where was the last victim found?’ I asked, trying to piece together what had happened. We moved a little further away as a group of police came within earshot.

‘They found a security guard in the cemetery of one of the rides; Haunted Tower something or other. Sounds like he was the last one to be hurt. Police have checked the ride out but didn’t find anything,’ Tez said.

‘I say we check it out again. They could easily have missed something,’ I said, hoping I was right. We had to find the wolf before backup arrived. The ribbing we would receive about this whole day was going to be bad enough without backup having to find the damn werewolf for us too.

‘Agreed.’

We made our way across the park, trying to attract as little attention as possible. Luckily the police were talking to the reporters outside the entrance and seemed to be generally ignoring us as much as they could. I hoped they weren’t saying too much. Tez had picked up one of the park maps and was attempting to direct us.

‘They didn’t want to let me in,’ Tez said quietly, ‘But I brought my
other
badge. They couldn’t say no to that. Told them I was in charge, and I should be informed of any developments immediately.’

I laughed. Tez had swiped the ‘other’ badge a while back. A couple of
serva
high-ups had tried to override his authority at a crime scene. That was the last they saw of their badges, and I was forced into updating their memories to keep Tez out of trouble. It was not something I was happy about and Tez knew it, but I think that just made it more amusing for him.

Tez was frowning at the park map now, turning it around in his hands. I sighed and swiped it off him. Navigation was not his strong point. I’d learnt that the hard way. Turning back on ourselves, we took the next left and followed the path towards the Haunted Towers ride. Glancing nervously around, I realised we had a disadvantage. The werewolf could be anywhere, hiding amongst the many buildings, rides, stalls, and decorations that were scattered across the park. He may already be watching us. Telling myself sternly that the wolf would not be silly enough to stand around waiting to be caught, I concentrated on moving as quickly as possible to our destination.
 

Thankfully, when we reached the ride it looked empty, no
servas
in sight. Maybe our luck was changing. We walked through the cemetery quickly; I never had liked cemeteries, not even fake ones. My eyes swept from side to side, making sure there was no one hiding behind any of the tombstones waiting to pounce. Tez looked equally uncomfortable. He hadn’t said anything but I was certain he was still shaken from the last werewolf incident. I knew I was.

We made it safely across the cemetery and through the doors into the Haunted Towers ride. This was going to be rather difficult.

‘It’s dark in here, can’t we get some lights on?’ I asked, squinting.

‘Something’s up with the wiring apparently. Here, have a torch,’ Tez said, handing me a tiny one from his pocket. I flashed my new torch around the room, crossing over with Tez’s much larger light beam.

The look of disapproval on my face didn’t go unnoticed, and the grin on his face was unmistakable, even in the small amount of light I now had. Frowning, I looked around as best I could. It seemed just like a normal empty ride, no damage was visible to suggest a werewolf had been through, and I couldn’t hear any bangs or crashes overhead of a wolf trying to escape. I did hope this wasn’t another werewolf that knew how to hide. My mind searched carefully around; I could sense something, but it seemed distant and I couldn’t get a lock on it.

‘He’s here somewhere,’ I muttered to Tez, ‘not in this room, but definitely somewhere in the building.’

Tez nodded and we started to circle the room looking for any clues to his whereabouts. My hands traced the walls as we moved, feeling for any exits off the room. The
serva
police had already searched all the rides, so I doubted he was hiding in plain sight. They weren’t the brightest
servas
I’d seen, but it’s pretty hard to miss a great big werewolf. I figured there had to be something hidden, something they’d missed.

‘Hey Jack,’ Tez said in a loud whisper from the other side of the room, ‘there’s something here.’

I hastened over to where he stood, and ran my hands over the tall, wooden slats that made up the wall. The gap between two of the slats was deeper than the rest.

‘You’re right,’ I said quietly. My fingers traced the indent in the wall, lit by Tez’s torch. ‘That’s a door. I take it the
servas
didn’t search through here?’

‘No, I was in here when they looked over the place. They barely spent any time in this room. I’d have seen it if they’d had the damn lights on, but in the dark it just looked like part of the wall.’ He sounded frustrated.
 

‘Better that there are two of us here anyway. We need to see what we’re dealing with,’ I told him.
 

I ran my light over the wall looking for a handle. There wasn’t one, but what I did find was an indent about half way down. I hooked my fingers through it and pulled gently. The door made a loud creak as it opened towards us, and I peered through the gap, shining the light with my free hand.

‘There’s a passageway back here,’ I whispered to Tez, ‘Can’t see much though. Looks like there might be a door at the end.’

‘Can you sense him?’ Tez asked, tapping his torch absent-mindedly.

I felt around, reaching for his thoughts. ‘Possibly,’ I said, ‘It’s hard to tell but I think… wait, yes, I think I can sense him a little better now. Come on.’

Carefully stepping through the doorway, we walked softly down the passageway making as little noise as possible and headed towards the door at the end. As we got closer, we heard rustling sounds coming from behind the door. I motioned Tez to stop, and silently asked him to hold the people inside back. My ability was much stronger face to face, but as long as Tez knew where to aim, he could restrain most suspects instantly.

Tez concentrated for a moment, the rustling stopped and I heard the lock click as he manipulated it. He nodded to me indicating it was safe, and I pulled the door open.
 

The scene in front of me would have been comical if we had been looking in from the outside. The werewolf was stood up on his hind legs, stretching up to the ceiling. He looked like he was in the process of falling over backwards. Tez had a good hold on him so he couldn’t move, but the look in his eyes was quite clear. We wouldn’t be standing here right now if he had his way.

A whimper in the corner brought my attention to the girl. Her eyes were red and puffy and her long brown hair lay tangled around her face, her clothes were crumpled and even torn in places, but otherwise she looked unharmed. That was very strange. I’d never seen a werewolf lock themselves in a room with a victim before, and that victim make it out alive, let alone with no major injuries.

The girl seemed to falter for a moment, then she got up and ran over, throwing her arms around my waist and crying onto my shoulder. I gingerly patted her back, quite unsure what to do. Werewolves I could handle. Women, not so much.

‘What am I, chopped liver?’ A disgruntled Tez was mumbling to himself. I gently manoeuvred the girl to him, and turned back to the werewolf.

The werewolf clearly was not a paranormal before being turned. I found the boy inside too quickly for him to have been. I tried hard to bring the boy back to the surface and push the wolf away, but something wasn’t right, I couldn’t force the wolf back in. That was not a good sign. Luckily my telepathy allowed me to talk to the boy even if he was still trapped inside.

‘What’s your name?’ I asked the boy, still trying to fight against the wolf. I’d always managed it before. The wolf must have overpowered the boy inside so much that he had no fight left in him. It was strong, that was for sure.
 

There was a moment’s pause before I got a response. ‘Daniel,’ he replied, ‘I can’t get rid of him; I tried so hard. He’s taken over before, but he always goes away in the end. Not this time. I couldn’t stop him. He… he killed Rex.’

I could feel the despair coming from him, the sensation was so strong that it was making me feel ill. I steadied myself, leaning against the wall.
 

‘Daniel, I need you to calm down. I’m Jack, and I have control of the wolf. He can’t harm anyone whilst I’m here, but I can’t seem to push him back. You said he killed Rex, was he your friend?’

‘Y—Yes.’ His voice was trembling.

‘I need you to focus on that. Focus on what you don’t want to become. I can control the wolf, but only you will be able to remove him. I’m going to ask my colleague to let you go now. You’ll be able to move but please stay calm. Don’t run.’ I said the last two words very carefully. Tez wouldn’t hesitate to attack him if he tried to run.
 

I motioned to Tez to let Daniel go. He hesitated, but let go slowly. The girl moved closer to the door, hiding behind Tez, and not quite letting go of his arm. Daniel sank to the floor and sat up once he was free of Tez’s hold.
 

Behind me, I could hear Tez asking the girl if she was alright. Beth, her name was. Her voice was shaking but Tez seemed to be having a calming effect on her.

I had the wolf subdued, but I knew he would come back within seconds if I left the vicinity. The wolf imprint had taken over Daniel’s mind much further than I had seen before. It gave me some hope; maybe there was a chance he knew more about the Doctor than the others had.

‘Daniel, can you think back to when you first knew you had the wolf inside. Think carefully of any moments that are missing from your memories around that time.’

I could tell he was trying hard. Flashes of images appeared in front of me, and I grabbed hold of them, trying to ease further into his mind. Some of the images were slipping away before I could even get a chance to look, but others were stronger. I needed to see more.
 

It took a while, but eventually I found something. A memory hidden deep within his mind, one I was sure he didn’t even know was there.
 

It was dark and the rain was coming down hard, bouncing off the tarmac. I was standing at the edge of a garden, looking out on to the street. It looked familiar somehow. There were no houses in front of me, just empty fields, lots of them. I squinted though the rain and tried to see more. There were a couple of street lamps down the street, but not close enough to give me much light. I turned around. My heart practically stopped as I looked up at the house towering in front of me. The windows were boarded up, tiles were falling off the roof, even one of the walls looked a little lop-sided. Why were we here?

When the memory faded I was sitting on the floor, sweating and clenching my fists. Tez was kneeling next to me holding onto my vest. I must have collapsed. Promising Tez I was okay, I got back to my feet and looked at the werewolf in front of me. The image of his memory came back to me.

I knew that place, that house. I knew where to go.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Daniel

‘When you get a second chance, grab it with both hands and don’t let go.’
 

Bewildered wasn’t even what I was feeling right now. The wolf had taken over, been on a rampage, killed one of my… And now I was sat here in a hidden room having taken Beth captive, with two people who had somehow come out of nowhere and stopped the wolf from being in complete control. Maybe it was just a dream. Nightmare actually.
 

‘Tez, I saw the place, I know where he is, but I have to go. Now,’ Jack was saying urgently. I didn’t understand what was going on, but at least the wolf was under control for now.

Beth was standing right behind the other man, Tez, looking tiny in comparison. She was staring at me, wide eyed, keeping herself hidden behind the newcomer. I couldn’t stand the look on her face. She was frightened. All because of me. I hated this; I hated what I’d become. I’d lost everything I’d ever cared about in less than 24 hours.

Tez was standing up, looking distinctly unhappy. ‘I don’t like this, Jack. Why now? Why this boy? Every other victim we have found had no memories whatsoever. Now suddenly you’ve seen where the Doctor is?’

‘What Doctor?’ I asked. I still couldn’t communicate with anyone else other than Jack, and I wasn’t quite sure how that worked either.

‘I’ll explain later,’ Jack responded, without moving his lips. Who were these people?

‘We may never get this chance again,’ Jack said, focussing on his colleague. Tez looked like he was ready to argue. Maybe he was just arguing with himself.

‘Tez, I need you to create a distraction. I have to take Daniel with me, I may need to access his memories again, and anyway, he’s a danger to himself if we leave him alone.’

A danger to myself? I think you mean the wolf is a danger to me.

‘I’m coming with you,’ Tez said clearly. I saw Beth grip hold of his arm a little tighter at this statement. I wish I could talk to her. Explain everything. But even if I can make it out of this prison, I don’t think she’ll ever speak to me again.

‘No,’ Jack said, ‘I need you and Beth to make a diversion. The place is swarming with
servas
. Those reporters won’t let a werewolf just walk through their midst.’

What on earth were
servas
?

‘Non-paranormals,’ Jack replied. I didn’t even realise I’d asked the question. I’d have to try and work out this whole mind connection thing he had going on. And, wait, did he just say non-paranormals like that was a normal thing to say?
 

‘Then we call for backup to go with you,’ Tez said, his voice determined. He wasn’t backing down. Jack moved closer and put his hand on the guy’s shoulder.

‘Tez, you know as well as I do that backup will shut the whole thing down. There’s no way they’d let us go off with Daniel. You and I both know they think I’m obsessed with the Doctor.’