Doctor Who_ The Bodysnatchers - Mark Morris [106]
All at once the little girl, her legs going faster than she could cope with, lost her footing and fell to the ground, her hand wrenching free from her mother's grasp. The woman's momentum carried her forward several steps before she realised what had happened and spun round. At the sight of the Skarasen bearing down on her daughter she screamed and froze, her hands flying to her mouth. The little girl lay on her stomach, crying but seemingly oblivious of the monster behind her, as if her greatest concern was not the prospect of being eaten alive but the pain of her grazed knees.
Before she even realised he had gone, Sam saw the Doctor running up the street. 'Hey!' he shouted, trying to attract the Skarasen's attention.'Hey!'
Everything was happening so fast that he had almost reached the woman before it occurred to Sam that she ought to go after him. In contrast to the Doctor's legs, hers seemed to move in slow motion. The Doctor had bypassed the woman and reached the little girl now. He was fumbling in his pocket as he clumped to a halt. From Sam's position, fifty yards up the street, he appeared to be standing right between the Skarasen's two front paws.
'Hey, Fido!' she heard him shout.'Catch!'
He whipped what looked like a canister from his pocket, twisted off the top and hurled it into the air.The Skarasen's head whipped round to catch the canister as it came level with its lace. Its jaws came together and Sam heard a crunching, splintering sound. As the Doctor scooped up the child and ran for the shelter of a nearby building, there was a muffled boom and green smoke began to curl from between the Skarasen's jaws. The monster shook its head from side to side like a dog which had eaten a slug.
Then it threw back its head and roared, enraged rather than harmed.
Despite the fact that her child had been rescued, the woman was still standing in the same spot, staring up at the Skarasen, hands clamped to her face, frozen in terror.
'Run!' the Doctor shouted from the shelter of the building within which he had taken refuge.'Get away before it recovers.'
The woman did not move, did not even acknowledge him. Sam came to a halt still thirty yards away, unable to do anything but watch what was about to happen.
Muscles flexed in the Skarasen's neck and its head suddenly lunged forward and down, knocking the woman flat on her back with its snout. She lay there, looking up at the creature, not making a sound. It leaned down and sniffed at her, then nudged her with its snout once again.
It's playing with her, Sam thought, sickened, remembering how she had once seen a cat batting a squealing mouse with its paws, tossing it into the air. She had no desire to see the woman killed, but she couldn't simply turn away.
She was so mesmerised by what was happening that she didn't register the clattering behind her until the Doctor shouted her name. His voice jerked her from her trance and she spun round. She found herself standing in the path of four galloping and evidently panic-stricken black horses which were pulling a large, driverless carriage behind them. The carriage was bouncing on the rubble-strewn surface, its wheels leaving the road and then crashing back down. With the horses bearing down on her, Sam forced her legs into action, running and then diving to the side of the road. As the horses and the carriage thundered past, she caught a glimpse of the animals' crazed eyes, their shiny black bodies lathered in sweat.
The horses suddenly seemed to register what was in front of them and tried to change direction, their terrified whinnies sounding distressingly like human cries. However, the carriage, unused to such treatment, was unable to turn as abruptly as the horses wanted to. There was a screech of metal as the carriage teetered on two wheels,