Part 11 (2/2)

His sonic screwdriver flared into life, casting a bright blue glow into the gloom, and the Doctor dived inside.

Rose ran faster than she could ever have believed possible. She made no attempt at concealment; she just wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and the nightmare in the library. When the thing had opened its eyes Rose had felt such fear and dread and total despair that she thought her legs were going to give way beneath her. As the cold, black gaze had swept over her, every nightmare and every bad moment of her life had bubbled up from the places in her memory where they had been hidden. She had started to shake uncontrollably, too frightened to cry or to scream. All warmth had left her, all hope; she was cold and empty and alone, abandoned, at the mercy of this thing.

She had screwed her eyes up, waiting for the final blow, for teeth and claws to tear into her flesh, but that blow never came. She forced herself to open her eyes again, physically flinching under the silent gaze of the towering monster.

The eyes were dead. Vacant. Nothing had glimmered in those cold black orbs: no intelligence, no life, nothing. The creature was a sh.e.l.l, a vessel. It couldn't see her, but somehow that made it even more frightening.117.

And so Rose had run. She had turned and fled from that room, tearing down the long corridor, throwing open the window and escaping into the night. She had almost broken her neck on the fire escape. The metal was wet and slippery and her feet had slid away from her a couple of times, sending her tumbling down the steep stairs. She had hit the courtyard running and hadn't looked back, diving headfirst into the tunnel.

Only now, in the cool dark, did she finally start to slow down, aware that if she carried on in her manic flight she was liable to fall headfirst into the mud and brain herself on the wet brickwork. She dropped to her knees, oblivious to the freezing water, her breath coming in great ragged gulps. She hated herself for running, hated herself for being unable to stand her ground. After all she'd been through! But most of the things she had faced somehow paled into insignificance beside the terror she had felt in the library.

'What are you up to Morton? What the h.e.l.l are you up to?'

Ali sat in the dark tunnel, banging her torch against the palm of her hand in frustration. The blinking light from the LEDs had been fine when she'd reached the safety of the tunnel, but as she'd progressed further and further into the inky depths it had started to falter. Now she could only get any light if she turned the torch off and then back on again, and even then it only lasted for a few seconds. Hunkering down against the tunnel wall, she unscrewed the back of the little keyring and carefully pulled out the two tiny watch batteries. She clasped them in the palm of her hand, trying to warm them up. Whenever the TV remote control had failed at home, she had seen her father take the back of the handset and roll the batteries back and forth in their housing to get them working again. She desperately hoped that warming the torch batteries would give them enough power to get her to the end of the tunnel and safety. She squinted, trying to make out any shapes around her, but the blackness was total. She had been walking for four or five minutes when the torch went out so she figured she was about halfway down the tunnel.118.

Even though she was more frightened than she had ever been in her life, Ali was hugely proud of herself. She knew that she'd have some explaining to do to her mum, and she didn't even want to think about how angry her dad was going to be, but the rest of the gang. . . They were going to be well impressed, and there was no way that Dai Barraclough was ever going to be able to tease her again, not after he'd run off like a startled rabbit.

In the dark Ali allowed herself a little smile. But that swiftly faded as the sound of something further down the tunnel reached her. Had one of the monsters entered the tunnel behind her? The noises were getting louder and louder. Whatever it was was coming fast. Ali clambered to her feet. She could hear splas.h.i.+ng footfalls echoing down the tunnel and the sound of laboured breathing. She started to back away, fumbling with the batteries. The tunnel was too small to hide in. In her panic the batteries slipped from her grasp. She heard them splash into the water that trickled through the drain. With a cry of despair she dropped to her knees, fingers raking through the slime. The noises behind her were getting closer and closer. In terror, Ali abandoned the batteries and started to run. She could see nothing and her feet threatened to slide from under her at every step. She ran with her arms outstretched, desperately trying to balance herself against the wet walls. Her ankle caught on something and she went flying, bouncing off the tunnel wall and diving headlong into the freezing water. Sharp pain shot through her s.h.i.+n, but ignoring it she scrambled to her feet and continued her headlong flight. She didn't care what her parents or friends thought of her now; she just wanted to get out of this tunnel, out into the open air and away from whatever horror was in here with her.

Her eyes blurred with tears. As Ali made to brush them away with her sleeve, she cannoned into something tall and dark. And screamed.119.

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Ali bit and screamed and flailed at the thing that had caught her, las.h.i.+ng out with her fists and feet. She could see nothing as the darkness was total, but the thing that had her was tall and gangly and she could hear it gasp in pain as her blows connected.

'Ow! Careful! You're going to do me some serious damage.'

It was a most un-monster-like voice.

Ali stopped struggling and an electric blue light lit up the tunnel. Rose's friend the Doctor stood there. He held a slim tube, like a torch, and the blue light was flaring from its tip.

'You're stronger than you look,' he said, hunching over, wincing in pain and rubbing at his knee.

Ali slapped his arm. 'Ow! What was that for?'

'You scared me!'

'Well, you scared me too!' The Doctor was indignant. 'Honestly. Charging about like that. Took years off me.'

He crouched down, looking her full in the face. Ali suddenly realised what nice eyes he had.

'What were you running from?' His voice was gentle and full of concern.121.

Ali pointed down the tunnel behind her. 'Something down there. Something behind me. I can hear it.'

'Can you now?'

The Doctor c.o.c.ked his head to one side, listening. In the quiet dark the splas.h.i.+ng footsteps were clear.

'Hear it?' whispered Ali. 'I think it's one of the monsters.'

'Do you? Well, it's your lucky day.' The Doctor stood up, pulling his coat straight. ''Cause I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing that I do well, it's monsters.'

He held out the silver tube, pointing the glowing tip down the tunnel. Ali huddled behind him, staring into the shadows cast by the bright blue light. The splas.h.i.+ng was getting louder and louder. She could just make out a shape in the dark. She screwed her eyes up, wondering what exactly the Doctor was going to do.

'Rose!'

The Doctor's voice was like a gunshot in the dark. He stood in the glare of the blue light from his sonic screwdriver. Ali's face peered out from behind his legs.

The little girl was drenched with filthy water, but the relief on her face mirrored that on Rose's own.

The Doctor splashed forward and gave her an enormous hug.

'h.e.l.lo, you! I was just coming to get you!'

She hugged him back gratefully.

'Talk about leaving it until just after the nick of time.'

'Sorry. Got a bit caught up.'

Ali hurried over to them and Rose tousled her hair. 'I thought I told you to get out of here.'

'My torch packed up.'

'She thought you were a monster.' The Doctor grinned. 'Personally, I think that's a bit harsh. . . '

'Hey!' Rose frowned at him.

The Doctor winked at Ali, then caught Rose by the arm, leading her a little way down the tunnel.

'I've been worried about you. We had some. . . interesting visitors out on Black Island. Some old friends conjured out of the ether. Slith122 een, Daleks, that sort of thing. . . ' All flippancy had gone from his voice now. 'Do I gather that Mr Nathaniel Morton has been a less than perfect host?'

Rose nodded, and proceeded to tell him everything that had happened since she had made it into the cellar, grateful for the chance to finally unburden herself to someone who might understand what was going on.

The Doctor listened, his face hard and his jaw tightening as Rose described the mind-scan that Morton and the others had subjected her to. When she finally reached the thing in the library, she lowered her voice so as not to alarm Ali. The little girl had already been through enough; she didn't need to know that the worst monster was still to come.

The Doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully. 'Cynrog. That's not good.'

'You've met them?'

'Not met them, but know them by reputation. Not a very nice reputation either.'

'And they've got a thing about frightening children, have they?'

'No, that's the bit that's puzzling. The equipment is nothing that the Cynrog aren't capable of. But they're behaving oddly. All this sneaking about, hiding under masks. . . not like them at all.'

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