Doctor Who_ Return of the Living Dad - Kate Orman [77]
The Navarino does a cartoon skid, nearly losing his balance on the polished floor. He brings his gun to bear. ‘No!’
shouts the Doctor.
Something follows Benny and Jason into the hall.
Albinex is distracted for the moment it takes Jason to grab Benny and wrench her to one side. He looks at the monster bearing down on him. He puts all the bullets he has left into it and bolts from the hall, jumping over the body.
Roz yelled and leapt backwards, smashing into a rubbish bin full of plastic balls. They went everywhere as Ace went for her throat — with her teeth for Christ’s sake!
Chris, reacting fast, thank the Goddess, landed a heavy double-handed blow between the girl’s shoulders. Roz pulled at Ace’s hands, trying to get her fingernails away from her eyes. God, she was strong. Roz’s face was bleeding. She pushed hard, to get some distance between the girl’s mouth and her carotid.
Chris wrenched Ace off Roz and threw her at the wall, hard. Bats and balls and stumps flew everywhere as she rolled hard down to the floor. When she got up, he picked her up and threw her again, harder this time.
It didn’t stop her. She snaked out from under his grip and snagged his leg in her teeth, shearing through cloth and skin.
He kicked her loose, his trainer crunching in her ribs. She shot up off the floor at Roz again.
Roz broke a hockey stick across the monster’s face. It didn’t stop her. She grabbed Roz’s shoulders with both hands and sank her teeth into the woman’s neck. The pain pierced straight to her heart, shocking the breath out of her, trying to rip her life loose.
Roz screamed.
Chris reached down and twisted Ace’s neck until it broke with a resounding snap.
‘Christ!’ said Roz, trying to clamber out from under the body. The ripped flesh of her throat and shoulders was bleeding copiously.
Chris pulled the corpse off her and tossed it aside. He knelt down. ‘You all right?’ he said, and the tenderness in his voice broke her heart.
Benny looked between the body of the demon Doctor and the real Doctor. Jason was still holding her off the floor.
The real Doctor turned and ran back to the stage. Isaac had already jumped up there, and Ms Randrianasolo was picking herself up.
‘Jason,’ said Benny, ‘put me down.’
He dropped her. They both ran to the stage.
Joel was lying awkwardly on his side, where he’d stopped rolling. The Doctor had already sliced open the arm of the boy’s T-shirt with his Swiss Army knife. Blood was spattered across the stage. ‘It doesn’t hurt,’ Joel said panickily. ‘That’s a bad sign, right? Am I okay?’
‘You’ll be fine,’ said the Doctor firmly. ‘You’re in shock now. Don’t worry, it’ll hurt later.’
‘Great,’ said the boy shakily.
‘Medikit,’ said Ms Randrianasolo, passing it to the Time Lord.
‘That son of a bitch,’ said Joel, his eyes filling up with tears.
‘Where are Chris and Roz?’ said the Doctor, not looking up from where he was bandaging Joel’s arm.
Isaac flipped out his handscan. ‘Downstairs in a large room. Probably the gym. I’ll go.’
‘You stay right here,’ said the Doctor. ‘Benny, Jason, go and see if they’re all right. Be careful. Albinex’s signal was masked, so there’s one more person in the building besides us.
Benny looked between Isaac and Joel. The boy was looking up at the Admiral, trying not to cry.
‘Right,’ she said. Her father passed her the handscan.
Jason followed her down from the stage.
Behind her’ Isaac said, ‘Good lad,’ and reached down to tousle Joel’s hair.
Benny picked up the handscan from where they’d dropped it. Jason stepped over the felled door and looked into the room. It had been torn to pieces, broken furniture everywhere, pictures ripped down from the walls. Only the security bars on the shattered windows had kept the monster in.
‘What the hell was that thing?’ he said.
Benny shook her head. ‘We’ll get the exposition later,’
she said ‘Come on.’
Jason picked up a severed chair leg. He fell into step behind her, trying to keep an eye out in all directions at once.
The gym was silent, their footsteps echoing like tiny gunshots. ‘Here,