Scream of the Shalka by Paul Cornell

Author:Paul Cornell [Cornell, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563486190
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2004-02-16T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The Doctor Takes a Chance

The Doctor ran through the crowd, ducking the ones that grabbed for him, throwing others so that they collided with each other, weaving with the grace of a dancer, never taking his eyes off the point ahead of him where Alison marched, flanked by a sort of honour guard of burly men, including Joe.

He hadn’t thought about her being here. Had kept it out of his mind. It was obvious, of course. All these people were from Lannet. But it was still a shock to see her.

The sound was coming from her, he realised. Underneath all of this noise. She was the control point, the source of the vibration. He felt suddenly tense again, haunted once more by the fear of what had happened so long ago. But he would not let it stop him this time. He would not let her be hurt. He ducked a punch meant for his head and sent the assailant tumbling backwards over him. Not for nothing had the Doctor been a Rugby Blue at Keble in the 1930s.

‘Alison!’ he cried as he ran. ‘Alison!’

He’d just got to her when Joe turned, saw him, and with unwilling limbs grabbed him and attempted to wrestle him to the ground. ‘Doctor, I’m sorry!’ he shouted. ‘I can’t help myself!’

‘I know, Joe, I know!’ yelled the Doctor back. He broke free of his grasp and felled him with a perfect uppercut.

He didn’t see where Joe collapsed, he was already through to Alison. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to turn around and look at him.

Then he saw the Shalka in her head, the bloody lump broadcasting the shrill cry. ‘What have they done to you?’ he whispered.

The battle was going badly. The soldiers were having trouble dealing with an enemy that was shouting to them for help, that was crying and screaming while grabbing for their eyes. The Green Jackets had successfully formed a barrier between the civilians and the warehouses, but the barrier was retreating, step by step. The soldiers were having to wrestle clear of, or club back, numerous assailants that kept stalking towards them, pleading not to be hurt.

Greaves fired into the air once more. ‘We’ll shoot if we have to!’ he yelled at a balding man with blood on his hands.

He was hoping to get through to some basic survival mechanism inside the man.

‘It’s not us doing this!’ the man cried back. ‘Please!’

Bursts were going into the air all around. It was only a matter of moments, Greaves realised, before his mates would start firing into the crowd. They had held back this long only through vast discipline, but once their backs were against the warehouse walls, then the will to survive would take over.

‘Hold your fire!’ Kennet was yelling. ‘Hold your fire!’ He was looking to the Doctor, who was standing beside that girl that had popped up at the side of the road. ‘Doctor?’ he called.

It sounded like a desperate cry for help.

The Doctor had only seconds.

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