Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [81]
to the end.
It came again. An insistent scraping like a dog demanding Holly had slept better than Vijay and this troubled him. It to be let outside.
was as if she had found an easy escape route from her Lawrence looked down at the door. It was shaking troubles, blocking out the horrors by refusing to accept slightly.
them.
‘Lol?’
Vijay stood up stiffly, carefully resting Holly’s head on his His name. Stated in a dry, dead whisper.
discarded blanket, and tiptoed through the piles of rusted
‘Lol?’
junk towards the door.
He bent down and stared at the door. Something was Daggers of icy wind slipped under the door. He opened it pawing at the broken lower panels, pleading to be released.
and grimaced as the harsh white daylight dazzled his eyes.
Quaking with fear, Lawrence put an eye to the splintered He could scarcely see the moor which stretched out before wood and peered through into the room.
him. Dense fog and heavy clouds had blended together, He caught his breath. Then a laugh resounded through his forming a freezing envelope around the station.
mind. A hearty musical laugh he’d first heard on a faraway Then he noticed the fence and dashed outside, slamming summer’s day...
the door without thinking.
The perimeter fence, whose impregnability had so Vijay
opened
exhausted
eyes,
lifted
head
impressed Dr Hawthorne, lay broken and smashed. It was experimentally and found his neck to be stiff and painful.
how Vijay imagined a prison camp to look after a mass 226
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DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
breakout. The steel mesh was beaten down and each post Vijay stood up. ‘We’ll drive into the village. They must was missing or broken off like a cemetery pillar.
have some idea what’s going on by now. Maybe we can do Vijay spun around, the telescope dish looming overhead, something.’
and took in the devastation. Something extraordinary had
‘I think we should find the Doctor.’
happened during the night.
‘Yeah. So do I. But let’s get away from here first, eh?’ Vijay Holly appeared, rubbing her face. She seemed a little hooked his arm around her and held her chin in his other brighter, kissing her lover full on the lips and hugging him hand. ‘I love you, you know.’
close. She saw the fence over his shoulder and gasped.
She smiled sweetly, squeezed his hand and set off for the
‘Think it was those things?’
Land Rover.
Vijay shrugged. ‘Can’t have just been them, the whole Vijay pulled open the door and leant across to open the fence is down.’ He peered across at one of the posts. ‘Hang passenger side. He stiffened as a low groan murmured on.’
through the air. Holly looked at him through the Holly pulled her blanket tightly around her as Vijay windscreen and shrugged. Vijay got out of the Land Rover.
wandered over to the fence. She watched him feel about in The groan came again, stronger this time. Vijay pushed the heather for a moment then look around himself again.
Holly away from the truck and pricked up his ears. It was
‘Holly!’ he called.
coming from underneath the vehicle. Gingerly, he squatted She wandered towards him, stepping over the remains of down and blinked into the shadows.
the fence.
‘Christ! Holly! Give me a hand!’
‘The ground’s uneven,’ said Vijay, wonderingly.
He thrust his arm under the chassis and pulled at the
‘Subsidence?’
prostrate figure lying there. The grizzled hair was matted
‘Must be. The fence hasn’t been knocked down, the with blood and the fierce blue eyes flickered weakly.
ground itself has been disrupted.’ He squatted on his
‘Dr Cooper!’ cried Holly delightedly, shunting her haunches and indicated the heather. ‘And look at this.’
colleague into a sitting position against the wheel.
Holly bent down. ‘It’s scorched.’
Cooper lifted an eyelid. ‘Holly?’ She inclined her head.
Vijay nodded and swung his arm around in an arc. ‘All
‘Vijay?’ A sigh bubbled from her lips. ‘Thank God.’
the way round, I reckon.’
‘We thought you were dead,’ said