Doctor Who_ Wonderland - Mark Chadbourn [24]
They both rolled over and threw up the pills, which were still whole. 'That should have done the trick,' the Doctor said. 'The effect will be minimised ... and let's hope the more sinister side will be curtailed.'
We helped Ben and Polly to their feet; from the way their eyes darted around the room, I could tell they too were experiencing the illusion of things moving. 'Colours,' Ben said with a note of tension.
Polly nodded forcefully. 'Colours ...' Her eyes grew fearful, fixed on one spot. I could see a shadow of something in the same place. Brightly coloured stars appeared to be bursting within it. I think Polly could see it more clearly because the drug had had longer to reach her system.
I remembered what the girl had said, the man undergoing the hideous transformation. 'The Colour-Beast,' I whispered. Polly stared at me with wide eyes and nodded.
'We need to get out of here very quickly,' the Doctor said. 'I fear something very unpleasant is about to take place.'
It felt like there was a rat loose in my head. I had the horrible sensation that somebody else was inside me; I convinced myself I could hear their thoughts crackling next to mine, merging, writhing in and out with lashing tails.
Somehow we stumbled into the next room where the music thudded madly and the lights streamed like rainbows. It was like a scene from hell. The people that had been slumped all around were in the throes of the terrible transformation we had witnessed earlier. They were at different stages: some were rubbing their hands over their faces and hair in terror, while others staggered around as their flesh peeled back or their capillaries unravelled; a few were bone and clothing. Others simply winked out, leaving an impression, like starlight on my retina, but I felt that once the trip took hold, I'd be able to see them again. The noise of their torment was so terrible it even rose above the music.
'Is this going to happen to us?' Polly shrieked. The Doctor took her hand and pulled her so she could look into his eyes; she calmed instantly.
Ben was scratching at his scalp as if he were trying to tear something out of his head. The Doctor turned his attention to Ben and managed to ease him too.
We backed into the smaller room as the shapes raged around with increasing craziness; even with the room half-empty we could still hear the violent movement of many bodies careering off each other, attacking each other. Disembodied howls made me feel sick; made me want to cry.
The Doctor slammed the connecting door shut. Ben was not so far gone, and the more he focused, the more I could see him shucking off the effects of the Blue Moonbeams.
Polly slumped in the middle of the floor, her head in her hands. 'What's happening?' she whimpered; the drug had touched her emotion centre just enough to send her feelings wheeling out of control.
I could see they both, secretly, felt like me. Even with such a slight touch of the acid, would we go the way of the people in the other room?
And so we waited, for an hour or more, until all the sickening sound in the other room had died away. And even then I didn't dare enter, but the Doctor took control. As he strode into the silent room and looked around, I thought: Don't you feel anything at all?
'Where have they all gone?' I asked. No one answered.
'I think we're going to be all right,' Polly said tearfully.
'Not like those poor beggars,' Ben mumbled. I looked around the seemingly empty room and saw four bodies lying in the shadows where the swirling lights didn't touch. I inspected the closest. He had torn the shirt from his back – the remnants were still clutched in his dead fingers – and the marks of his own nails raked his torso.
I don't know what prompted it, but I felt an instinctive tingling. I pulled the tattered shirt free and held it up. The light played over it, red, green, red,