Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [75]
towards the interior door. The creatures’ huge, glistening Vijay gave a relieved sigh. ‘Well, if you think...’
bodies flashed green, then white in the glare of the consoles Shattering cracks echoed through the room as the main as they careered across the room.
window imploded. Vijay and Trevithick threw themselves Vijay hauled Holly through the door and pulled to the floor as shards of glass streaked through the air. The Trevithick by the hand till he too was through.
floor was suddenly thick with glittering particles. Vijay
‘Chairs! Anything! Quickly!’ Vijay shrieked as he crunched towards Holly and pulled at her shoulders. ‘Hol!
slammed the door on the creatures. A mandible caught in Come on, back this way. Come on!’ He jerked her round but the jamb and there was a terrifying howl as it shattered into she continued to stare at the gaping window which opened a bloody stump.
like a burst eye on to the terrifying sight beyond.
Lungs bursting, Holly and Trevithick reached the TV
Standing in a staggered line, their black carapaces glinting room in thirty seconds flat, and dragged three chairs and a in the moonlight, were half a dozen of Trevithick’s monsters.
table back down the corridor. Vijay slammed the table Holly felt her skin crawl as one cocked its huge head and under the door knob as the woodwork began to splinter. A glared at her with compound eyes, liquorice-black mucus mass of spindly mandibles erupted through the frame.
spilling from its mouth.
Trevithick hurled the wooden chairs at them.
One, a good foot taller than the rest, jerked its muscle-
‘It’s no good,’ cried Holly.
bunched legs forward, crushing glass beneath its feet. It 210
211
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
‘Listen,’ said Vijay, grasping Trevithick by the shoulders.
He grasped the fire extinguisher and hugged it to his
‘This is a big place. Lose yourself. We’ll have to split up. If chest, then sprinted as best he could towards the lift and you can get outside, you might stand a chance.’
pressed the summons button. There was a distant clunk.
‘But surely...’
Couldn’t be far up, he thought. Perhaps most of the
‘There’s no other way.’
complex was underground? Or perhaps - he felt his heart The door shattered and three massive insectoid heads sinking -the lift ran all the way to the telescope dish?
punched through. Without another word, Holly, Vijay and He turned and felt sick as the creatures scrabbled around Trevithick turned and ran into the darkness of the corridor.
the corner like monstrous crane flies, their clawed limbs The old man skidded as he reached a corner and held on to skittering against the walls and floor. Trevithick hammered the wall for support, spluttering for breath. His chest felt on the lift doors.
tight and painful. He was too old for this. Far too old.
‘Come on! Come on!’
Holly and Vijay had gone in the general direction of their The taller creature crouched low and began to bound rooms. Trevithick glanced after them and headed right, down the corridor towards him. Once it had just been a man catching sight of a lift at the end of a long corridor.
in a rubber suit. Now it was real, a flesh-and-blood killer.
There was a tremendous clatter and disgusting twitter as There was a gentle ping and the lift doors sprang open.
the creatures burst through the door and flooded in.
Trevithick fell inside and stabbed desperately at the buttons.
Trevithick threw himself down the corridor, banging into a The doors began to slide closed with agonizing slowness.
fire extinguisher which thudded on to the floor. He stopped The creature slammed into them, its massive head beating at sharply and pounded his fists against his temples.
the metal and its mandibles thrashing in fury.
Think. Think.
Trevithick crashed the extinguisher to the floor of the lift A triumphant roar boomed down the corridor. Trevithick and aimed the nozzle at the beast. A torrent of spray fell to his knees, hands clapping on the floor tiles, and erupted into its maw and it howled in protest, head scrambled about