Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [60]
It spun round and bellowed its defiance. Ace could see the police sergeant from the balcony silhouetted in the doorway of the restaurant, the pulse laser cradled into his shoulder as he unleashed another barrage of fire into the bar.
With astonishing speed the Krill launched itself forward. The guard barely had time to scream before he was enveloped in a mass of the creatures, their hooked claws flicking blood across the tiled floor.
Ace stared at the wall of fire. It was already beginning to die down, doused by the torrent from above. She flicked wet hair from her eyes and grabbed Rajiid’s hand.
‘Come on!’
The two of them sprinted for the exit, scrambling over tables and chairs, broken glass crunching underfoot. The heat from the flames was intense and choking smoke was beginning to rise in thick clouds. The high-pitched roars of the Krill mingled with screams of terror and death.
Ace could hear someone screaming at her. Screaming her name.
Tables suddenly shattered behind her as a Krill burst through the flames.
She felt the rush of air as its claws sliced past her. Her heart was pounding. She could hear Rajiid’s breathing as he ran alongside her.
They hurled themselves through the door and collapsed. Ace struggled for breath. Behind her there was a harsh clang as a security door slammed down cutting off the bar.
‘Come on, Ace! COME ON!’
Someone was hauling her to her feet.
The Doctor.
She opened her mouth to speak but he pushed her forward. ‘Later, Ace. Those doors won’t hold them for long.’
117
As he spoke the security door buckled under a series of terrific blows. Claws punched through the metal. Over the blaring alarms Ace could hear the creatures hissing and screaming.
Holding on to the Doctor’s arm she stumbled out of the hotel into the square. Hysterical people were streaming from the hotel. She could see Rajiid being bustled away.
Gunfire and roars rang through the colony. A group of colonists, unfamiliar pulse lasers in their hands, hurried forward, ushered on by a member of the security force. Their guns were trained on the hotel doors.
One of them waved the Doctor over. ‘This way! Come on, move it.’
The ground suddenly shook with a series of muffled implosions. Ace staggered and caught the Doctor’s arm. ‘What the hell was that?’
‘Hopefully that’s Brenda stopping any more Krill getting in.’
‘You know about the dolphin tunnels?’
The Doctor nodded. ‘It occurred to us all at roughly the same time.
That explosion should have blocked off the main entrance.’
Ace smiled grimly. ‘So now we just have to deal with the ones that got in...’
On cue the door of the hotel burst open and the Krill spilled out into the square. They clambered over one another, never resting on their powerfully muscled legs, their claws striking sparks from the tarmac.
They were identical, each a perfect copy of the next. Each pale bluish head glistened with slime, each pair of yellow eyes was wild and staring.
Ace and the Doctor clamped their hands over their ears as two dozen pulse lasers flared into life, cutting a swathe through the creatures. In seconds the steps were littered with flesh, the thick ichor of Krill blood splattered over the whitewashed walls.
Ace watched in horror as several of the creatures pressed forward, despite gaping ragged wounds. One was missing its arm, its shoulder a mess of ragged tissue. The arm itself thrashed on the floor struggling to reach the soldiers. Ace felt sick. These things were unstoppable.
The lasers blazed again, streaks of brilliant light tearing into the screeching pack. Only when the monsters were torn into glistening lumps did they finally stop moving. In the doorway to the hotel, more and more of the creatures were massing. There was a brief lull in the deafening noise then the lasers roared again.
Grasping Ace by the arm the Doctor hurried across the square to the admin block. Suddenly a hotel window burst outwards in a spray of glass and a Krill landed wetly on the flagstones of the square. The Doctor pushed Ace behind