Doctor Who_ Deep Blue - Mark Morris [63]
‘I see,’ said the Brigadier, scratching absent-mindedly at his itchy arm before noticing the curious looks of the Doctor’s two companions. ‘And where is this creature now?’
Turlough shrugged.
‘Maybe the Doctor’s found out,’ suggested Tegan helpfully.
‘Hmm,’ said the Brigadier. ‘Ah well. That creature has got to be found before it does any more damage.’
Tegan hesitated, before announcing decisively, ‘If you’re going down to the beach I’ll come with you.’
Turlough nodded, though he looked unenthusiastic. ‘Me too.’
They left the hotel and crossed the road where the crowds were being dispersed by a combined force of UNIT troops and policemen. They weaved through the phalanx of ambulances, army trucks and police cars and headed towards the nearest set of steps down to the beach. The armed UNIT sentry whom Benton had stationed at the top of the steps exchanged nods with the Brigadier and the three of them descended on to what Turlough had termed the battlefield.
It was an apt description. Perhaps three-dozen bodies were strewn on the sand in spatters and trails of blood. So frenzied had the creature’s attack been that the dead had had to be left to bake in the sun for the time being so that all efforts could be directed towards preserving the lives of the wounded. As the Brigadier led Tegan and Turlough across the battlefield, Turlough tried not to look too closely at the decimation around him and concentrated instead on the Brigadier’s back. On the periphery of his vision soldiers, policemen and paramedics bustled about their business, trying to impose some kind of order on to the chaos.
As two ambulance men cut across their path, bearing a stretcher, the Brigadier stopped and barred their way with an outstretched arm. A young semi-conscious woman was groaning in pain, the bottom half of her face flecked with blood. Nearby, the burly sergeant whom Turlough recognised from that morning’s meeting was issuing orders, directing operations. Standing at his shoulder was a glum-looking man with a pockmarked face, hands thrust into the trouser pockets of his baggy blue suit.
The sergeant saluted when he saw the Brigadier.
‘What’s the situation, Benton?’ the Brigadier asked without preamble.
‘It seems the creature came out of the caves at the far end of the beach, sir. Fourteen people are confirmed dead, twenty-five injured. Most of the injured have deep puncture-wounds. Eye-witnesses say the creature’s got a dirty great sting in its tail, like a scorpion, which it kept jabbing in to people. The Doctor reckons it was injecting them with a more concentrated form of the stuff that we might have been infected by.’
Of course! The fish! The alien contamination! The Brigadier suddenly remembered with a jolt what the Doctor had told him that morning, and which had been eluding him all day.
For a moment his head swam; he imagined strange poisons working their way through his system, clouding his mind.
With an effort he pulled himself together and asked, ‘Where’s the Doctor now? And more importantly, where’s this damn creature?’
‘Well, there’s the Doctor,’ Tegan said.
The Brigadier followed her pointing finger. The Doctor was crouched by the shoreline as if deeply engrossed in something he had found washed up on the beach. The tails of his cream coat trailed in the sand. His white hat with its red band was jammed on top of his head.
‘What’s he doing?’ the Brigadier said, irritated. ‘Collecting seashells?’
Benton shrugged with the air of one who had long ago stopped trying to work out the Doctor’s motives for anything.
‘He said he was just going to take a look around, sir.’
The Brigadier pursed his lips in disapproval, his moustache bristling. ‘Right,’ he muttered. ‘And the creature?’
‘It was last seen heading towards the fairground, sir. I’ve sent some of the lads after it. I’ve given them orders to report back if they find it, and to keep it under observation. The Doctor did ask us to avoid harming it if we could.’
The man in the baggy blue suit spoke at last: ‘Some of my boys should already be down