Shadows of Time and Death
Chapter Three
The Doctor held onto Donna's hand as they ran with the torch beam bouncing as he tried to find the way though the darkness. "I don't understand this! Why is it so dark and so quickly?" He muttered as he kept his friend close to her.
Donna held onto his hand tightly, fighting to keep up with the long legged Time Lord. She kept looking side to side, hearing the strange screaming and crying all around them, "W-what is that?" She replied breathlessly.
The Doctor glanced around, using his torch and shook his head. "We've got to get to that hotel, we're almost there" He said, slowing his pace down a little before they ran into a metallic chain link fence.
Crawling all along the fence, using the chain links as foot and hand holds were small baby like figures. The torchlight shone on them, revealing that they were dark grey in colour with beady yellow eyes making them flinch and wonder what kind of creature that was.
"Doctor" Donna muttered as she held his hand tighter, moving them both to stand in the middle of the alleyway that they were running through seeing the fence either side of them.
"Just keep close Donna, we have to be close" The Doctor replied juggling the torch in his hand to pull his coat closer to him, actually doing it up for once before picking the pace back up as he wanted to get them both to this hotel quickly.
Harriott screamed and ran, grabbing a pipe and swung it as she continued to run through the darkness. Her lighter had burned out and now she just wanted to get inside but each door she had tried was locked. She tried to smash the windows but she saw the small grey monsters were there in every way she went.
She crashed into the fencing and screamed again feeling her throat being torn by her own voice, swatting away at the monsters and was shocked to feel her hand pass through them.
Harriott gasped and continued to run, bouncing off the fencing until she crashed through one of the gates. She gasped her breath and looked up at the building, "Oh please let me in there" She muttered and ran ahead almost crying when the door opened and let herself in.
She slammed the door closed behind her and found a small light sat in the corner, rushing over to it she was happy to discover that it was a small bicycle light that would clip on her jacket pocket.
Using the light of her new torch, she was able to look around seeing that it was a trashed lobby of a hotel. There was a small office to the side, she held onto the pole tightly in her other hand and slowly made her way across wondering what was inside the office.
The Doctor brought his torch around in a swing, knocking one of what they decided to call ash babies aside as it covered them in dust.
They had started leaping at them, covering them in the ash that they were made up of.
"Must be the TARDIS, she is protecting us still" He reasoned as they stopped outside a tall building, using the torch to try and find where they were.
"I-is this it?" Donna muttered looking at where the torch was lighting up the faded writing on the side of the building.
"It has to be! Come on" The Doctor replied pulling her towards the gate, giving it a swift and powerful kick seeing it give way before leading the way inside.
They quickly worked on locking the door and heard the dull thuds of the ash babies hitting the thick doors, Donna sighed and turned around sinking down onto the ground feeling her legs throb.
The Doctor used the torchlight to look around to see where they had landed, he saw that the stairs leading up to the higher levels were clear but as he walked closer to them he discovered that they were closed off. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, feeling a little tired from this puzzle since receiving the message from the TARDIS.
"Stairs are no good" He told his friend and walked over to try the door to the rooms on the ground floor, throwing his shoulder against it a little. "Doors are locked and barricaded"
"Seems the area is closed, anything here?" Donna asked, getting back up onto her feet fishing in her pockets for her phone. She used the pale light to search the reception desk, shifting through the papers checking them briefly while the Doctor climbed around to search around the area.
"Nothing that I can see so far, there has to be something... if we got pushed this way" The Doctor replied and listened closely.
"Are you hearing that?" Donna asked, looking up at him from where she searched the papers letting them fall back onto the table.
The Doctor nodded and walked over to the main entrance, slowly pressing his ear against the door with the torch shinning down at his feet. He listened and backed away, "There's something on the other side, quick grab that bench! We'll have to push it up against here and hope for the best"
Donna quickly pulled up the bench, he quickly ran over to help her and they pressed it against the door. "What if it's someone else?" She asked and gasped when the door shuddered violently making them jump back before pushing against the bench and the doors.
The Doctor shook his head and held onto the bench, feeling his feet slipping on the ground. "I don't think they're friendly Donna" He replied, fighting to keep his weight against the bench as the door kept shuddering violently with each blow.
Donna pushed against the bench, "You think spaceman!" She groaned.
The door shuddered a few more times before the air was filled with the siren once more, making the Time Traveller and his companion cover their ears and soon the door stopped with light filling the hotel lobby.
The Doctor sighed and sunk onto the floor, sitting on the bench heavily. "Remind me to change my shoes once we get back to the TARDIS, these have worn down" He muttered, his head in his hands with the torch forgotten on the floor.
"Wonder what that was" Donna muttered looking back at the door as she joined him on the bench. "At least the darkness has gone" She added and got up to continue searching the lobby in the better light.
"For now, it will be back... something just feels wrong here Donna, I can barely sense her through all this confusion" The Doctor said softly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I don't know what it is but that just now... but it was like the darkness just took over, all could do was keep calm and work through one problem at a time"
Donna stopped and looked over at her friend, "Are you alright Doctor? Maybe we should try and find the restaurant to get you a drink" She said walking over with a file in her hand and sat down on the bench, rubbing her hand up and down his back.
The Doctor sighed, "I'll be fine Donna, once I can figure out what is going on here" He said with a small forced smile.
"OK Doctor, try and not and think about that at the moment... how about explaining it to me what Silent Hill is?" Donna suggested as she continued to rule his back in a small soothing circles.
"I don't know much because I don't believe in the paranormal but the stories are that this use to be a thriving town... a mining town but then one day a accident happened and caused a fire" The Doctor explained with a sigh and got up to pace a little.
"That fire, or so the stories go, still burns today but that doesn't explain all of this! To why this town seems to be alive, twisting reality and space"
"It just feels wrong! I can feel the planet still spinning under my feet but time has seemed to have stopped... just hurts to feel that! And the TARDIS.... my poor ship, I can barely feel her in my mind" He continued to speak, his coat his coat flowing around him as he continued to pace with his hands spiking his hair up.
Donna let the file fall to the floor and got up onto her feet, "Doctor, it's OK we'll get through this" She said stopping his pace and pulled him into a hug. "We'll find the TARDIS and we can go anywhere you like! I'm sure your ship is fine"
The Doctor sighed and returned the hug, hiding his head in her hair. "Thank you Donna, I'm so sorry that I dragged you into this" He muttered and looked down at the file on the ground.
Looking down at the file, it had fallen open to reveal a few printed emails and a colourful map of the town. "What is that?" The Doctor said softly, breaking free of the comforting hug and bent down to look through the file.
He retrieved his glasses and pulled the map out, "It's just a map, you've got one in your pocket haven't you?" Donna asked, looking over his shoulder.
"But this one is different... I just..." He got up and wandered over to the table, he stared at the map wondering why it was different to the one he had in his pocket.
