Doctor Who_ Illegal Alien - Mike Tucker [50]
Oh, God, thought Ace.
'They're after me!'
'Say what?'
She broke the gun open. 'Have you got any more cartridges?'
'Same place.' He scooped a handful from under the bar.
Ace thrust a heavy cartridge into each chamber and snapped the gun shut. She thrust it at Mama.
'What? Aw, no... I hate these things,' he moaned.
'It's easy. Just point at the biggest group and pull. You saw what happened when I did it. They all froze up for a moment. It's like... the shock messes up their lines of communication, or something...
She smiled to herself for a moment. The Doctor would have been proud of her.
'You fire. I'll jump the bar and leg it. They'll follow me, I think.' 'But '
'Now! They're about to attack!'
Praying under his breath, Mama raised the gun, closed his eyes, and fired.
Ace bounded across the bar and leapt for the door. She had to put some serious space between her and them before they got their wires uncrossed. That would be about now Her feet pelting against the road, she glanced behind her. Yes, the first of the swarm was scuttling out through the door.
She gritted her teeth, eyes wide, and tried to run faster. A glance back. They were gaining on her. She was exhausted.
She had been attacked, chased, and nearly drowned for as long as she could remember. She was slowing down.
She swung left on to a major road, and her heart surged.
London Transport to the rescue. A solid, red, doubledecker London bus sat, engine purring, at the roadside. She felt obscurely happy. The future she knew and, in her tortured way, loved would survive. She would make sure of it.
Inside the bus she could see the silhouettes of passengers. She could feel the first of the Cybermats nipping at her heels. The bus began to pull away. She jumped, sailed through the open back of the vehicle and skidded to rest at the foot of the stairs.
Leaning back out of the bus she could see the Cybermats already coming to a halt, then turning and disappearing revoltingly into gutterwashed drains.
She turned. The passengers were all silent, staring at her. Mostly men, a few women. They were all in uniform.
'Whwhat's going on?' Ace asked nervously.
'ATS,' said one of the men sternly, rising to his feet. 'This isn't the number seventeen to Walthamstow, you know.
We're on ackack duty. Did you really expect to catch a bus during an air raid?'
'Please, said Ace, 'where are you going?'
'Well... 'The man shuffled uneasily. 'Belsize Park, since you ask. We're going up on to Hampstead Heath.'
Ace smiled. Perfect. Peaceful Belsize Park. George Limb. Her final hope.
'But you can't stay on here,' the man continued. 'We shall have to stop.'
There was only one thing for it.
Surrendering to the inevitable, Ace collapsed into a heap on the floor of the moving bus.
CHAPTER 13
The passenger door was already open as the powerful, black police Rover screeched to a halt across the road from Mama's Bar; the Doctor was already half out of the car They had endured a nightmare journey, the path of the bombs forcing them further and further north, away from Mama's.
Mullen had tried over the radio to rustle up some other, closer units, with limited success. London was taking another pounding; there were casualties everywhere.
They, too, had felt the force of the explosion that had floored Ace. Mullen had struggled to keep control of the wheel.
'What in God's name was that?' he had sworn.
'Nothing to do with the Luftwaffe, I'll tell you that much, Inspector,' the Doctor had replied quietly.
The car had sped on through the night. Their attempts to navigate through the chaos were constantly thwarted; collapsed buildings, raging fires and floods from the fractured drains and sewers sent them weaving across chaotic, convulsing east London.
'It's like bloody snakes and ladders, this,' Mullen had said, performing another threepoint turn in the road.
'Chess...' The Doctor had sounded half