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Chapter 3 – Necrosis

"How come Doppelganger Doyle over there has a five o' clock shadow?"

The Doctor spun round and saw the problem. Doyle did indeed have a large shadow which, based upon the present angle of the sun was far too large to be natural. Something had latched onto him. Something lurking from within the shadows.

"I'm sorry," he exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, but I think you had a stowaway in the escape pod." He scanned the shadow with the sonic screwdriver. "There's very little I can do."

"So that's the end for me!" said Doyle bitterly. I've seen what they do and it's far from pleasant!"

"Personally, I'm surprised that it hasn't killed you already," replied the Doctor. "They can strip the flesh from a person in seconds."

"That's never happened before," said Doyle, sounding puzzled.

"Well, let's hope they don't make an exception with you," retorted the Doctor. "I'll be back in a sec."

He headed back to Aaron, who was looking at the escape pod in awe.

"So what's happening Doctor?" asked Aaron.

"Aaron," the Doctor said. "Do you trust me?"

"Why?"

"If you choose to, then forget about this. Go home, have a normal life and forget about…"

His words were drowned out by a heart wrenching scream. Both the Doctor and Aaron turned round to see Doyle writhing and convulsing in pain.

"This isn't how it happens'" thought the Doctor amidst the screams of agony. "This is not typical Vashta Nerada behaviour."

Then the screams stopped.

Doyle was still there, but he looked different. The clothes that he was wearing were now considerably darker. His skin was paler with black veins coursing through his arms. Then there were the eyes. Pure black. No iris, no sense of colour. Just soulless black voids. A twisted grin split across his face, revealing considerably sharp fangs.

"I expected something a bit more profound for his last words," hissed the figure that, until recently had been Conrad Doyle. The voice was harsh, yet soft at the same time. Like a whisper, but nowhere near as comforting. "Instead I get childish screams."

"You killed him!" shouted the Doctor. "You're wearing the skin of a dead man! How have the Vashta Nerada sunk to such despicable habits?

The figure laughed again. "We have evolved beyond the capabilities of the primitive Vashta Nerada. We discarded our ability to strip flesh from the bone. The body as a whole is of more use to us."

"So you possess living beings and turn them into the walking dead?" The Doctor sarcastically clapped three times. "Despicable!"

"It's more than they deserve!" shrieked the creature. "You broke your promise Time Lord."

The Doctor frowned. "What promise?"

"Remember the Library? So many years ago. You promised us the library in return for those people. A few years later, time agents investigated our forest. The library was torched."

"I had nothing to do with that."

"We escaped with our lives," the creature continued, ignoring the Doctor. "Travelling for centuries through space. Mutated through cosmic radiation. Making us stronger, faster, smarter. We looked you up Doctor and your title is true. You really are the destroyer of worlds!" The figure shouted, pointing an accusatory finger towards the Time Lord.

"What are you?" shouted the Doctor.

The figure continued grinning like a maniac. "We are what we always have been and yet we are so much more. The age of the Vashta Nerada is ending. With its retreat into the shadows, brings the beginning of our era." Dark energies emanated from his hands as he adopted a fighting pose. "We…" it hissed "are the Necrofears."

The figure lunged toward the Doctor, uttering a harsh battle cry. The Doctor dove to one side, narrowly missing a roundhouse punch. Unfortunately a second punch caught him off guard, knocking him to the ground and sending the sonic screwdriver flying a considerable distance away. The Necrofear stood over him, its right arm transforming into a lethal blade.

"It will give me a great sense of pleasure in killing you Doctor," the Necrofear hissed maniacally. "Killing you over and over again will greatly appease my primitive ancestors."

The Doctor scrabbled away in an attempt to retrieve his sonic screwdriver. The Necrofear lifted his boot and stomped on the Time Lord's wrist.

"Not this time!" it taunted, lifting the blade to make the final blow. "Any last words?"

"Just seven," the Doctor replied, noticing something in the corner of his eye. "Rule one of combat, watch your back."

The Necrofear began to turn around, but was too slow to prevent the consequences. Said consequence was a rather large rock that Aaron was about to use to strike its skull.

Contact never came.

At the crucial moment, the Necrofears entire head dissipated into a mist –like vapour and Aaron's hand, still holding the rock, passed through thin air. The mist then began to reconstitute itself. Reforming itself back into the head of the Necrofear. It gave another fanged grin.

"Rule two of combat," it retorted, turning to face Aaron. "Don't give away your strategy to the enemy!" It grabbed the young man by his throat, slowly choking the life out of him. Aaron tried to cry for help but the ever increasing pressure that was being forced upon his trachea resulted in a garbled mess. The Necrofear briefly paused, intending to savour its impending victory.

"What was that?" it mocked. "I didn't quite catch that."

"What part of watch your back didn't you understand the first time?" asked Aaron in a rather sarcastic tone. The Necrofear glanced behind him, only to come face to face with the Doctor.

"I should have killed when I had the chance!" it hissed.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," responded the Doctor as he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the creature's forehead. As a blue emanated from the screwdriver, the Necrofear recoiled in pain, releasing Aaron from its grip. He looked up to see the Time Lord offering him a hand up.

"I thought I told you not to get involved," said the Doctor sternly.

"I think I kinda got involved when I came across another me in what seems to be an extraterrestrial version of the Prince and the Pauper," replied Aaron as he looked at the convulsing alien. "What did you do to it?"

"Enhanced the electrical impulses in its brain. Overactive synaptic pathway, causing a minor neural spasm. It'll recover though. Not much different to a typical hangover." Sure enough, the Necrofear was starting to recover. Clutching its head and moaning. "Anyway," he continued, "we can finish this lecture in the TARDIS."

"The blue box? It's tiny!"

"Oh, just shift!"The Doctor didn't have time to argue. As the Necrofear got to its feet, it noticed the two figures running towards the blue box. Like its head before, the blade arm dissipated into mist and reconfigured itself into an arm with lethal black claws. Taking careful aim at the box, the claws projected like bullets, screeching towards their destination. Three of the shadow claws impaled themselves in the wooden door. The other claw shot threw the window just as the Doctor was closing the door. Within a few seconds the box dematerialised, accompanied by a characteristic wheezing noise. The Necrofear shrieked with rage as his enemies escaped his clutches. However, it was not a total loss. He had the body of the soldier that escaped the Malachite. With any luck, he still had the plans somewhere. This was just a minor setback.

"Shadow scout, are you receiving me?"

The Necrofear focused itself. For now, it would have to adapt to using a humanoid mind.

"Yes Shadow commander. I have located the Malachite survivor. He has been assimilated, and I am sure he still carries the plans."

"Excellent. What of the time capsule? Was it him?"

"Indeed Shadow commander. The Doctor has returned. It is unlikely that he will show lenience."

"Our employer expects much of us and will not tolerate failure. We will traverse the anomaly. Try to hinder the Doctor's progress. Assimilate any inhabitants you require. The Necrofears will have their revenge."

Please R&R