Doctor Who_ Storm Harvest - Mike Tucker [65]
Ace ran forward, kicking out at the vile fish-like head. With a metallic wrench, the railing buckled and the Doctor slid further over the edge.
‘Ace! Here!’
The Doctor thrust his penknife into her hands. Ace began sawing at the harness straps. The Doctor kicked at the Krill. Its other arm caught on the balcony edge and with a hiss of rage it began to haul itself up.
Bars began to snap out of the railings. The entire structure was folding over like a row of dominoes. The Doctor slid further over the edge, dragging Ace with him. She continued to saw at the straps of his harness, cursing him for owning the bluntest penknife in the galaxy.
The Krill scrabbled frantically at the collapsing ironwork and they slid further. The Doctor twisted his head and began to struggle wildly.
‘Ace!’
Ace stared up in horror as another Krill hauled itself on to the balcony, towering over them, its razor claws raised high.
A harpoon caught it high in the shoulder, spinning it off balance and sending it tumbling over the edge. It vanished with a screech of pain and rage.
Ace punched the air. ‘Yes!’
Brenda nodded grimly at her from the doorway and began to reload the gun.
There was a sudden screech of metal and a cry from the Doctor. The balcony railings collapsed completely and the Doctor vanished over the edge.
‘No!’ Ace screamed and flung herself forward. She skidded to the edge of the balcony and looked down.
The square was six storeys below them, littered with the bodies of the policemen and colonists who had tried to hold the monsters back.
The Krill themselves clung to the walls of the admire block like huge, pale leeches. Hauling themselves upwards, their hissing breath formed 126
nightmarish melodies, their eyes reflected her face.
The Doctor hung in mid-air, his umbrella hooked in the tangle of twisted railings. The Krill was still clinging on to the harness, caught like a fish on an angler’s hook. With each jerk of the creature’s body the Doctor’s face twisted in agony.
With a cold shock of realisation Ace stared down at the knife in her hand. The Doctor couldn’t release himself. As she watched he finally managed to wriggle his arm out of the harness. With a tearing snap, the rest of the harness disintegrated and the screeching Krill tumbled to the ground below.
Ace’s relief was short-lived. The creatures clinging to the wall below the Doctor began to climb faster. The Doctor tried to pull himself up, but the railings twisted again, dropping him towards the advancing monsters.
He started to swing himself back and forth, pushing out from the wall with his feet, swinging far out over the square, his feet inches from the monsters’ outstretched arms. Ace’s heart jumped into her mouth as one of them caught his shoe a glancing blow.
The Doctor swung towards the wall again and with the sound of shattering glass he disappeared from view.
‘He’s in the medical centre.’
Brenda was at Ace’s side, the harpoon gun in her arms. As they watched, one of the Krill tried to squeeze its pale bulk through the window that the Doctor had vanished through.
Brenda took careful aim with the gun and a barbed rod of steel tore through the Krill’s head, punching it away from the wall and sending it cannoning into the creatures below. They hit the ground with wet thuds and, abandoning the twitching body of their comrade, immediately threw themselves at the wall again, their claws gouging chunks out of the concrete.
Brenda shook her head. ‘They don’t give up, do they?’
The Doctor shook his head and hauled himself painfully to his feet.
Glass crunched underfoot and he was bleeding from several cuts on his palms. He looked up. He was in a ward in the medical bay. Two frightened nurses were staring at him. He picked up his umbrella.
‘Good afternoon. I’m the Doctor.’
One of the nurses screamed and pointed at the window behind him.
The Doctor spun in time to see the harpooned Krill vanish from sight with a scream of rage. He peered after it. It wouldn’t be long before the monsters reached the window again.
He turned to