Doctor Who_ The Nightmare of Black Island - Mike Tucker [45]
The Doctor beamed at Billy Palmer. ‘But what happens if we stop them going to sleep? No nightmares, no monsters.’
Mervyn snorted. ‘Don’t be daft, man. We can’t stop them sleeping indefinitely!’
‘Not indefinitely.’ The Doctor rounded on him, looking him full in the face. ‘Tonight. Just keep them awake for tonight and I will finish this once and for all. Keep them awake long enough to clear the woods of monsters, long enough for me to get to the rectory. Then I will rescue my friend and your daughter.’
Beth Hardy clutched at her husband’s arm. ‘Mervyn. . . ’
Mervyn looked down at the frightened face of his wife for a long while, then nodded. ‘Promise me this will work, Doctor.’
‘It will,’ said the Doctor. ‘I promise.’
‘What do you want us to do?’
The Doctor turned to the crowded pub. ‘Go home, all of you. Go home and wake your kids up. Tell your neighbours to do the same. 106
Get hold of anyone who has children and let them know. Get the kids out of bed. Let them watch television, drag out all their toys, play tiddlywinks with them, make them dance, make them sing.’
The Doctor bounded over to the jukebox, hauling a handful of coins from his pocket and pushing them into the machine. He punched at various buttons and ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees started to blare from the speakers.
‘Play them records, give them chocolate, fizzy drinks, enough Tartrazene to have ’em bouncing off the walls! Anything! Just don’t let them sleep. Starve Morton of what it is he needs!’
The Doctor crouched down next to Billy Palmer. ‘This tunnel of yours, how do I get there?’
107
Roseeasedthedooropenandpeekedoutintothecorridor,checking to see if the coast was clear. Motioning to Ali to stay put, she stepped on to the landing, padding cautiously over to the banisters. The old house was dark and quiet, the only sound the muffled beep of the medical equipment from the dining room.
Rose peered down into the hallway, clutching at the banister rail for support. Her head was still spinning, the drugs that Peyne had pumped into her making her dizzy and nauseous. All she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep, but she had to take the chance that Ali had given them. They weren’t going to get a second go at this. She had splashed handfuls of water on to her face from the little sink, desperately trying to shake the lethargy from her limbs. She had hoped that they might be able to escape through a window, shinning down a drainpipe or something into the garden, but the windows were shut tight, glued into their frames with year upon year of paint. Even if they had been able to open a window, it was a long way down and Rose wasn’t sure that she’d make it in her current condition. It was more likely that she’d end up flat on her back with a broken leg or something.
109
No, they had to take the chance of getting out the same way they’d come in: down to the cellar and back out through the tunnel. Then she had to find the Doctor and let him know what she had found out. Which wasn’t much. Other than discovering the truth about the masked nurses, she was no closer to finding out what Morton was actually up to.
She suddenly felt a surge of anger. Where the hell was the Doctor? Surely he had finished looking over the lighthouse by now? Surely he had noticed that she’d been gone hours?
‘Rose?’
Ali was peeking through the crack in the door. As Rose turned to tell her to shut up, her foot caught on something and she nearly fell. She looked down to see what she had tripped over. Cables snaked up the side of the staircase, cutting across the polished wooden floor of the landing and vanishing down the corridor. Rose knelt down, puzzled. The cables wound across the hallway and vanished with a tangle of others through the wall into the dining room. She frowned. Most of that wiring made its way down to the cellar, so where did this one go? As Rose started to follow the winding cables, there was a squeak from Ali.
‘Where are you going?’