Doctor Who_ The Bodysnatchers - Mark Morris [66]
Jack grinned at Albert again, evidently enjoying himself, and holding the jemmy at shoulder height, crept towards the alcove. Looking round, Albert noted that there seemed to be no other way in to the cellar apart from a large grille in the corner of the room that presumably led down to the sewer beneath the factory. Perhaps diere would be nobody down here then, after all. Perhaps they would find a mysteriously flickering candle and nothing else. His vain hope was short-lived, however. Jack reached the alcove before him, and as he did so, Albert saw his grin widen, saw him raise the jemmy a little higher above his head.
A moment later he was standing at his friend's shoulder, looking down at a well-dressed, grey-haired man who was crouching down, attending to something on the floor, his back to them. So far the man was unaware of their presence. But then Jack stepped forward and struck the seeping stone wall savagely with the jemmy. Even before the loud clang had begun to echo in the confined space, the man had spun round and jumped to his feet. 'So! Unveiled at last!'Jack snarled.
The man who had been revealed to them was around sixty. He had rather refined features and a neatly clipped grey moustache. Albert felt a measure of relief. If this was their employer, then he was not as fearsome as Albert had been expecting. His eyes were cold, certainly, but their effect appeared diminished when the entirety of his face was uncovered. For the first time since Jack had proposed it .Albert began to see the sense in his friend's plan. The man stood there in a semi-crouch, his teeth bared, a look of intense hostility on his face. Jack laughed.'Have you nothing to say for yourself, sir?'
By way of reply, the man raised his hands, palms out, towards them. Albert thought that he was about to throw himself on their mercy, but then, to his horror, he saw strange, bloodless wounds open in the man's palms, and the next instant vicious thorns were springing like tiger's claws from the apertures.
Albert saw the expression on Jack's face change immediately from supreme confidence to wide-eyed disbelief. Showing remarkable agility for one so old, the man suddenly sprang forward, hissing like a snake. Jack, veteran of many a street brawl, reacted instantly, stepping aside and swinging the jemmy at the man's grey head.The man staggered as the jemmy caught him a glancing blow, but rather than halting his attack, Jack merely succeeded in deflecting it.
Albert tried to dodge out of the way as the man lunged at him, but the alcove contained so little space to manoeuvre that he could do no more than step back smartly into the stone wall, banging his head. Next second the man was on him, his thorned palms tearing at Albert's face. Albert screamed as he felt his skin part like paper, then screamed again in a far shriller voice as he felt the wounds begin to sting and burn horrendously.
The burning sensation seemed to rip into his body, and for a few agonising seconds his veins were full of fire.Then he felt the fire closing around his heart.There was a sudden crushing pain, then blackness...
Jack, for his part, saw the thorns in the old man's palms shred Albert's cheeks.The next instant green stuff, bubbling and hissing, was mingling with Albert's blood. Albert was screaming with fear and agony, but almost immediately his screams tailed off, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he hit the floor like a sack of coal.
Jack had no time to react to his companion's death.The instinct of self-preservation, always strong in him, had hold of him now. Before the old man could turn his attention away from Albert, Jack waded forward and struck him twice more across the crown of his head with the jemmy. Then, almost calmly, he extracted a long-bladed knife from his jacket, reached around the man's body, and with expert precision plunged the knife in to his heart.
The man gave a high, warbling scream in a voice that did not sound even remotely human. Jack shoved him violently away.The man stumbled,