She had no idea why the Doctor had chosen to follow the group of dogs led by Doomclaw and Blackmore through the hole, but she just went with it anyway.
Now she was standing in an area surrounded by skyscrapers and blue trees and all around her was chaos. People were screaming and there were growls and shouts and guns being fired around her feet. In the chaos she had lost the Doctor and was now on her own.
She felt herself pushed to the floor as a mass of colours trampled over and around her. She tried to get back to her feet, but she was knocked down again. She felt a bolt of energy whiz past her face and blacken the ground next to her.
She turned just as one of Doomclaw’s dogs dropped down on top of her - dead.
She panicked as she struggled from underneath the heavy corpse, it’s blank, dead eyes still seemingly looking at her.
She knew any minute now she’d burst in to tears. This wasn’t something she’d done for a while. Ever since Steve had left her and her baby had mysteriously disappeared, she had stopped herself from getting emotional. She had made herself strong. Even cold, perhaps.
But this was too much for her. She was a checkout girl from Thornsby, and this wasn’t what life was supposed to be like.
She scrambled to her feet, turned and ran as fast as she could. She didn’t know where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get to safety and to shelter.
She ran past the fountain and across the square, dodging energy bolts fired randomly from dogs dressed in steel armour and growling, savage dogs. She closed her eyes as she saw Jawlock about to rip an arm of one of the blue-robed dogs and just kept running and running.
When she stopped running she found that she was surrounded by low, blue-leaved bushes. She crouched down and drew her knees in tight, keeping as quiet as she could. All she wanted right now was to go home. To go back to her job at Hypersave and to never see that bloody TARDIS ever again.
A little time passed and she was determined not to move from the spot when she suddenly heard footsteps approaching. She was about to get up and run again when someone fell over the bush directly next to her.
She scrambled to her feet and backed away, expecting to see another dogs body lying dead. It wasn’t a dog or a body at all. It was a slightly bewildered and bloody Danny.
“Oh my god!” yelled Caroline in disbelief.
Danny, looking shell-shocked, stared at Caroline. “Caz!”
Caroline smiled, grabbed Danny by his t-shirt and kissed him right on the lips.
Danny, even more shocked, pulled back. “What was that for?”
“Sorry,” said Caroline, trying to re-compose herself, “I just…I thought I’d never see you again.”
Danny smiled, sitting up next to her. “It got a bit crazy out there,” he said.
Caroline smacked him on the arm. “Next time, don’t dive over bushes that I might be sat under.”
“I didn’t even see them,” said Danny, looking around. “I was just running blind.”
“Me too,” said Caroline. All of a sudden she felt much better that Danny was here. She didn’t feel alone anymore. “It was just…madness out there.”
“Where’s the Doctor?”
“I don’t know. He dragged me through the opening and I never saw him again. We got separated.”
“Yeah, same as me and Alison.”
“The kid from the ship?”
“Yeah. Once that savage dog came in everybody started panicking. The guards turned up and started shooting at the pack and that’s when we were separated. We’ve gotta find the both of them. We need to get out of here.”
“I agree,” said Caroline, “this planet’s a lost cause.”
The Doctor, meanwhile, had entered one of the buildings surrounding the square. He had attempted to go back and find Caroline, but in the nightmare outside she had disappeared. He had chosen his least favourite option - not go back for Caroline, but try and find the source of the Shroud and destroy the technology before Blackmore got a hold of it.
He had found the science building and once inside the deserted building had located the Shroud generators. They were underneath the square. Except there was a huge problem. This was one of many generators. The information screen he had located had told him that there were many more generators in different cities around the planet. Even if he disabled this one the others would still keep running and Blackmore would be able to simply travel to another city and take the technology from there.
The other problem was that if he shut all of the generators down whilst there were people still in the wastelands, they’d all be killed. There were the children in the Pythagoras ship and there were other dogs around the planet and no matter how savage and dangerous they were, they didn’t deserve to die.
He was out of options. And then he heard footsteps behind him.
“You work quickly,” came Blackmore’s voice from behind him.
“I can’t let you take this technology,” said the Doctor.
“You can’t stop me.”
“Why do you need it anyway?”
“To better-”
“Yes, to better Humanity. I’ve heard that one before.”
“The Eyeglass need it because they need it. That’s all we need to know.”
“No,” said the Doctor, shaking his head. “It’ll be used for all the wrong things. It’ll be used to hide armies while you invade planets. It’ll make the Human race a dangerous force.”
“So be it,” said Blackmore with a smirk.
“The Human race is just one race in the universe. What gives you the right to believe you should be better than”
“Surely it’s the duty of all races to better themselves?”
“Not by threatening others!” said the Doctor, rounding on Blackmore.
“And that’s why no other race has ever bettered us.”
The Doctor closed his eyes and laughed. “I love the Human race. I’ve made Earth my second home, but I’ve also seen it’s downfall. I’ve seen aliens invade and destroy your kind and I’ve seen the end of your planet.”
“All the more reason why we should fight for ourselves.”
“It’s not about fighting for yourselves. Throughout history you’ve fought and survived, and that’s absolutely brilliant. The difference here is that you’re actively looking to turn the Human race into an army. You’re actively looking to go out there and cause war.”
“Eliminate the threat before it strikes,” said Blackmore calmly.
“No. No. You need to stop this, Magnus.”
Blackmore calmly walked over to the Doctor. “All I need is one of the generators and I’ll be on my way.”
“If you disconnect this, part of the Shroud will start to collapse. You’ll be hurting those children in the Pythagoras.”
Blackmore stopped for a moment. His eyes flicked from side to side and then he looked straight at the Doctor. “Then you better go and save them.”
He made a move to get past the Doctor, but he stood firmly in his way.
“I advise you to move,” said Blackmore calmly.
“No. Not a chance.”
Blackmore grabbed the Doctor and pushed him to the side. The Doctor staggered and then threw himself forward. Blackmore grabbed him around the throat and forced him up against the wall.
“You’re weak. You don’t think I noticed that about you,” snarled Blackmore. “You can’t fight me.”
“I can’t let you do this.”
“Go and save the children!” he growled and threw the gasping Doctor to the floor.
The Doctor looked up, clutching at his throat, but Blackmore had gone through a door to the lower levels, locking it behind him.
Scrambling to his feet he made his way towards the main reception area of the building. He knew he couldn’t stop Blackmore on his own, and he needed to save those children.
Danny and Caroline popped their heads up from behind the bushes that had proven useful as a makeshift cover. The sound of fighting had faded a little. The battle was spreading through the streets, moving away from the main city centre.
“What do we do now?” asked Caroline.
“Go and find the Doctor, Alison and get out of here.”
They were about to move when they heard running coming towards them and a man, panting and out of breath. A rotund figure was emerging out of the shadows. It was Tointon. He stopped to catch his breath, bending over slightly and wheezing.
“Tointon,” hissed Caroline. “Arthur!”
Tointon looked up, fear in his eyes. “Who’s there?”
“It’s us,” said Caroline, rising slightly from the behind the bush. “Caroline and Danny.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” said the old man as he stumbled over to them.
“Get down!” said Danny as more footsteps could be heard in the distance.
Tointon quickly scrambled behind the bushes and they waited for the running to pass them.
“They’re everywhere. There’s more of that Doomclaw’s minions than I thought,” said Tointon, mopping his brow with a handkerchief.
“Did you see any sign of the Doctor or the little girl, Alison?” asked Caroline.
“No. I’m afraid I got caught up in the chaos. I couldn’t make out anything or anyone. I just kept my head down and ran.”
“Same here,” said Caroline glumly.
“We need to find the Doctor,” said Danny. “My bet is he’s still in the central area.”
“Yes, probably looking for a way to stop this horror,” said Tointon. “I’m still not sure what’s going on here. Where’s Hideo?”
“Dead,” said Caroline glumly. “Those things ate him.”
“Oh, goodness me,” said Tointon, mopping his brow again. “What a nightmare this is turning out to be. And those poor children on the ship. All alone.”
“We need to keep calm,” said Danny. “We’ll find the Doctor and get off this planet with the rest of the kids.” Danny looked over the bushes again. “It looks calmer out there now. Come on, we’ve got to go.”
The three of them scrambled to their feet and made their way down one of the side streets.
When they eventually reached the square they found themselves standing amongst bodies. Some of them were Doomclaw’s, armour-clad followers, but most of them were the peaceful, colourful-robed Trixatins and the metallic-armour wearing security forces.
Sitting, cowering beside the fountain was the white-cloaked Director Villa. Her robes were splattered with blood and she was trying desperately to wash the blood from her hands.
“Villa,” said Danny, crossing over to her. “Where’s Haltrix?”
“Keep clean. Keep clean,” she rambled, keeping her face turned away from the other three.
“Villa, we need to find the Doctor or Haltrix. Or somebody!”
“They made me. They made me. They made me. Keep clean.”
“They made you what?” asked Caroline, crouching down next to the quivering Villa.
“They made me eat.”
“Oh no,” said Danny, pulling Caroline back.
“They made me eat.” Villa turned and snarled at them. Her snout was covered in blood and she was holding a leg bone. “They made me eat them.”
“We need to get out of here,” said Tointon. “Come on. She’s a lost cause.”
The three of them backed away as Villa returned to the fountain, still rambling.
They were about to turn and head across the square when they spotted the Doctor stumbling out of a large building. He was clutching his chest and looked to be in pain.
“Doctor! Are you okay?” asked Caroline, running over to him.
“I’m fine,” he said, managing a weak smile. “I just had a run in with Mr Blackmore.”
“Caroline told me all about it,” said Danny. “We need to find Alison. The young girl.”
“We need to get to the rest of the children. Blackmore’s going to shut down the generator. Part of the Shroud will collapse and destroy anything living in that area.”
“How do we do it?”
There came a cough and a clearing of the throat. Standing behind them was Haltrix, looking a little battered and tired.
“Haltrix,” said Danny, smiling.
“I believe I can help you,” said Haltrix. “We’re not a lost cause just yet,” he said, looking towards Villa, who was now a gibbering wreck, scratching at her own fur and skin beneath.
“We need to get there now,” said the Doctor, dabbing a cut on his cheek.
“We have skimmers.”
“Skimmers?” asked Caroline.
“Vehicles that can hover off the ground. We can take them through the barrier and get the children.”
“There’s no time for that,” said the Doctor. “It’ll take far too long.”
“Do you have any other ideas?” asked Haltrix.
“And where exactly do we take them?” asked Tointon. “This city is far too dangerous.”
“The headmaster’s right,” said Danny. “There’s no point in bringing them here.”
“We’re wasting time here, boys,” said Caroline, exasperated. “Let’s just get them out of the wastelands, yeah?”
They nodded in agreement. The Doctor and Haltrix headed for the skimmer depot whilst Caroline, Danny and Tointon sheltered in the foyer of the science building.
Ten minutes later the sleek, metallic craft they had called a skimmer was speeding across the desert at a tremendous rate, passing mountains and soaring over high dunes and narrowly missing rocks and boulders.
The Doctor was standing in the skimmer, letting the wind blow in his face. He looked like he was trying to hold back his joy at the rush. It was like being on a rollercoaster, but he knew that this was no time to be enjoying himself.
“Please, sit down, Doctor,” said Haltrix, hands firmly on the steering controls and looking grim.
“I can see better like this,” said the Doctor.
“What are you looking for?” asked Haltrix. “Surely we won’t miss a huge spaceship?”
“I’m not looking for the Pythagoras,” said the Doctor, shielding his eyes against the rising sun. “I’m looking for my own ship.”
“What? How’s that going to help us?”
“I don’t know if you’ve realised this, Haltrix, but we can almost definitely make the trip to the Pythagoras before Blackmore shuts down the generator.”
“Exactly. So what’s the problem?”
“Do we have enough time to get back to the city?”
A look of realisation dawned on Haltrix and he put his foot down on the pedal.
“Exactly,” smiled the Doctor, nervously. “We’ll never make it back in the skimmer. And how many children can this thing take? Not many I’d expect. If we get to my TARDIS - my ship - we can move instantaneously from the wastelands, to the ship and then back to the city in no time at all.”
Haltrix nodded in agreement. “This has definitely been an interesting day.”
Blackmore had reached the main generators located underground. This was the main hub were all the power came from and this was the equipment that he needed. Banks and banks of electronic panels and lights hummed with life. All sorts of colours illuminated Blackmore’s sweat-stained face.
Looking around him, he pulled out a piece of paper with a hand-drawn diagram on it. He then ducked down to a panel under one of the bigger banks. Inside was a large circuit board, but a glass panel prevented anyone from touching it.
Blackmore sighed and returned to the computer bank. He started typing in various numbers on a keypad, but a screen kept flashing the words “PASSKEY NOT ACCEPTED”.
With a furious growl he punched at the keypad.
“Problems?” came Annie’s voice.
“I didn’t see you,” said Blackmore. “Where’ve you been?”
“Here and there. Good job I had the codes from the General to get into this area. Thanks for locking the door!”
“You’re welcome.”
Annie shook her head. “It’s a nightmare out there.”
“A nightmare we created,” said Blackmore, his eyes fixed on her.
“A nightmare that was necessary. Let’s face it, these creatures had this boiling over for years. We just made them face up to what was needed to be done.”
“Maybe,” said Blackmore, “but that still doesn’t help us get this panel open.”
“I know,” said Annie, looking a little distant.
“What’s up now?”
“It’s the children.”
“Jesus Christ,” said Blackmore, exasperated. “For a ruthless killer, you certainly have your odd, caring moments.”
“I’m not a killer,” spat Annie. “I do what I have to do for the job. I don’t want those kids dead.”
“Well you’ll be happy to know that the Doctor’s on his way to save them.”
“He’ll never get back in time,” said Annie. “Not if we get through this panel.”
“We can wait a bit.”
“No we can’t,” said Annie, pointing to a monitor on the wall behind them.
The grey, flickering screen showed a squad of armed Trixatins, weapons at the ready, heading through the corridors to their position.
“I locked the door again,” said Annie, “but it won’t hold them for long.”
“Then we have to crack this thing now,” said Blackmore, a stern look on his face. “And let’s just hope the Doctor gets to the kids in time.”
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