Doctor Who_ The Hollow Men - Keith Topping [85]
„Jack‟s sent them,‟ wailed Joanna. „We‟re all going to die.‟
„Not if I can help it,‟ said Ace with a grim determination, glancing at Steven. „Come on, let‟s get to your parents‟ place.
We should be safe enough inside.‟
Steven grimaced. „I‟m glad you‟re so confident.‟
„I‟m not, I‟m optimistic,‟ replied Ace, honestly. „But they don‟t know that.‟
The harvest had begun.
The stickmen dragged the weak and vulnerable from their beds and on to the green, where alien fronds reached out hungrily. Jack ate what he could, and what he could not eat, he used. His hollow men then turned to the wicked and the arrogant.
Jack i‟ the Green was a kindly father, longing to shower gifts upon his children. Now, at last he could - the gifts of death and screaming insanity.
All the while the black stain grew, tentacles pulling themselves from the ground, flailing blindly in the air, then burrowing down again. The scarecrows marched relentlessly as Jack expanded, reaching out towards the surrounding villages.
Bob Matson woke with a start. It was as if he‟d had a sudden dream of falling from a great height, but the only images that penetrated his fogged unconscious were of the stickmen and the spreading black stain.
That hadn‟t really happened, had it? He hadn‟t really been... expelled?
The mattress beneath his back was thin and hard, the sheets provided little warmth.
Bob Matson sat up on the park bench, the dirty pages of newspaper falling from his legs like layers of sloughed skin.
Where the hell was he?
Matson looked around him at an unfamiliar expanse of short grass and flower beds. Beyond the park were tall buildings and countless rows of red-brick semis. A feeling of claustrophobia, such as he had never experienced in Hexen Bridge, washed over him.
He had been banished. He remembered now with grim clarity the flight from the scarecrows that had pursued him until he was well clear of the village. And, if his dream was to be believed, he‟d been granted only a temporary stay of execution.
He was so alone.
He pulled the shirt collar up around his neck and stared at the first light of the rising sun, shivering.
Eventually the noise, the incessant ringing in his ears...
faded.
Denman picked himself up from the floor, cradling his throbbing head and swallowing down the feelings of nausea.
He was surprised to find himself the last to wake. The Doctor paced the room while Trevor sat, minus handcuffs, comforting a clearly distressed Rebecca Baber. Hatch‟s chauffeur and Bevan, the surgeon, were closely questioning the Doctor about their employer.
„Multiple personality disorder?‟ asked Bevan. „I‟ve seen similar cases.‟
„No,‟ said the Doctor. „Nothing so simple.‟
Denman tried to get to his feet.
„Ah, welcome back to the land of the living,‟ said the Doctor brightly.
„We‟ve got to get after him,‟ said Denman in a slurred voice, and promptly fell down again. The Doctor helped him to stand.
„We‟ve been unconscious for over two hours,‟ said the Doctor. „It‟s almost dawn. I hardly think another ten minutes is going to make any difference. Hatch will probably be in Hexen Bridge by now. So, just take your time. Psychic energy is a very potent weapon.‟
„You talk as if you‟ve seen this sort of thing before,‟ said Bevan incredulously.
„Oh, I have,‟ said the Doctor. „Several times.‟ He moved across to Trevor and Rebecca and squatted down beside them. „And how are you, my dear?‟ he asked.
„Bloody sore,‟ said Rebecca angrily. „Do you know what that man did to me?‟ she shouted, pointing at Bevan.
„I told him how painful and undignified the process of extraction was,‟ said Bevan defensively, „but Hatch insisted.‟
„I think it would be best if you both left now,‟ said the Doctor addressing Bevan and Slater, nodding towards the door. He watched the men leave with grim detachment.
„They‟re in it up to their necks,‟ said Denman, his words still having to force themselves