(A.N.) Two months without an update? Bleerrgh! Back on the horse! Chapter 4:


"The president said all the survivors were holed up in the compound," said Ryan.

"So who are they?" replied the Doctor, finishing Ryan's thought.

They were standing between two groups of men. The closest were a band of about five who had climbed out of the hatch that the barbed wire fence protected and, like everyone else they'd met since landing on this troubled world, were thin and pale, clothed in many layers of ripped and tattered rags for warmth. These men, whilst looking very surprised to see strangers out in the open, were still motioning for Ryan and the Doctor to come towards them as quickly as possible.

The other group were far greater in number. Ryan counted at least a dozen of them, but they were too far away for him to be sure. Unlike those that had risen from the hatch, these men were not calling out to the Doctor and Ryan. In fact, it was impossible to tell what their emotions were: both the distance and the sun shining in Ryan's and the Doctor's eyes made it hard to make their facial features out. But something about their posture seemed very off to Ryan. They backs were arched forward ever so slightly, and he couldn't shake the word 'wild' from his mind.

"Doctor," he said.

"Yes," the Doctor replied. "Something's wrong, I know. If we could just get a closer look. Ooh, hang on."

He turned to the TARDIS excitedly, placing his palm upon the side of the box and, to Ryan's bemusement, started feeling around for something in the wood. Then he lightly banged on the side of the box with his fist, and seemed surprised when nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" asked Ryan.

"There should be a periscope here," said the Doctor, banging on the wood again and looking at the spot with a frown. "It's supposed to pop out when you knock!"

Not to be denied, the Doctor started to knock repeatedly on the TARDIS, again and again and all to no avail. While he did this, Ryan looked back at the men who had climbed out of the hatch. They were beckoning frantically now, pointing at the other group and trying desperately to convey something that was being lost across the gap that separated them.

"Doctor," he said. "I don't know who those other people are, but the guys from the compound clearly don't think we should be this close to them."

"Come on, come on," the Doctor whined, still banging on the TARDIS. "I just want to get a look."

Ryan heard footsteps. The strange men had moved a few careful inches towards them, almost as though testing Ryan and the Doctor's reaction.

"Doctor, I really think we should go," said Ryan, feeling a pinch of fear now.

"Just one second," he said stubbornly, bending slightly so he could look closely at the spot where the periscope was supposed to pop out from. "It's been a long time since I used this thing, it's probably just stuck."

The strange men had taken another step forwards, seeing Ryan and the Doctor make no attempt to move, which unsettled Ryan even further.

"No, really though," he pleaded with the Doctor. "Come on!"

"Just give me a second!" the Doctor insisted.

"Doctor, for God's sake," Ryan snapped. "Whatever it is, it's broken. It doesn't work, so just leave it!"

To illustrate his point, Ryan leaned over the Doctor and whacked the side of the box. BANG! A folded up periscope shot out of the wood and smacked the Doctor in the face.

"Ohhh!" the Doctor wailed, hands flying to his nose. "Oh my… Silurians-on-a-stick, that hurt!"

"I'm sorry!" said Ryan quickly. "Oh, Doctor, I'm so… I didn't even think there was anything in there, honestly, I - whoa, that's a lot of blood!"

The Doctor looked at him, with wide eyes and a tidal wave of blood flowing from his nose. "Am I bleeding? Really?"

"Err, just a bit," Ryan lied. "It's nothing, it's a scratch. Look, we should get moving, 'cos those people… uh-oh."

"What?" said the Doctor. He turned towards the group of strangers whilst simultaneously tilting his head back to try and stop the heavy flow of blood coming from his nose. "What's happening? I can't see!"

"They're running," said Ryan, nodding towards the men in the shadows. At the sight of blood, they had dropped all pretences and started sprinting in their direction. "They're coming right for us."

"What do they look like?" asked the Doctor.

As the wild men quickly closed the distance between them, Ryan got a good look at them, and didn't quite know how to answer the Doctor's question.

They were bald, save for a few tufts of hair still hanging on to a head that was mostly made of scabs and open wounds; pieces of flesh had been ripped in places and then simply hung there afterwards. The skin was like this all over, from their fingers with only one or two nails left on them, right down to their bare feet which were pounding into the dirt as they raced towards the Doctor and Ryan. But worst of all was the eyes. Initially, Ryan though they were all wearing some sort of red mask above their nose, but then he realised it was actually blood. He could see no cuts or gashes around the eyes, no visible source. The blood seemed to just be seeping out of the eyelids, covering the entire eyeball and dripping down their faces.

"Zombies," said Ryan finally. "They look like zombies! And they also look very eager to meet us."

"Go," said the Doctor, giving up on his own wound and pushing Ryan towards the compound. "Run, now!"

They started running towards the compound, where the men waiting for them had drawn wooden stakes out of a holster around their waists, and were brandishing them like swords.

The zombie-men were fast. Ryan had initially thought that he and the Doctor had a good start on them, but all too soon he could hear a dozen scabby footsteps behind him, and a disturbing sound that was somewhere between a gargle and a wheeze. One or two were running on a limp leg, and if Ryan had looked closer he would have seen a broken bone peeking out of the thigh, which the creature ignored completely, choosing instead to drag the defective limb along behind them.

As they were running, Ryan saw the Doctor take a handkerchief from his pocket, rub it against his bloody nose, then toss it over his shoulder. If the zombies saw it, they paid it no mind. They continued barrelling towards their intended targets, with the grace of apes and the speed of lions.

The men at the compound could only watch anxiously, not even considering raising the fence and leaving Ryan and the Doctor to be devoured, and yet silently wondering if Ryan and the Doctor would make it to them in time for the fence to even be raised.

Fortunately, Ryan eventually jumped over the barbed wire as it lay on the floor, and came to a exhausted stop at the hatch.

"What's he doing?" one of the men asked him. It was only then that Ryan realised the Doctor wasn't next to him.

He was standing at the very edge of the fence, staring at the zombies as they still ran full force towards him.

"Doctor!" Ryan cried. "Come on!"

But the Doctor wouldn't be swayed. He was searching for something in those bleeding eyes. He was looking where they were looking. He saw his handkerchief on the floor behind them, forgotten.

Then, just as Ryan was about to run and get him, the Doctor turned and hopped over the barbed wire. As he ran towards Ryan, he pointed his sonic at the fence the barbed wire was attached to, which raised off the floor just in time for the zombie-men to collide with it. In horror, Ryan watched as the wire pierced into their skin. But there came no scream of pain. They simply pulled away, and the flesh tore from them as they did.

For a moment, the Doctor, Ryan and the other men just looked at the creatures.

"Will they make an attempt to scale the fence?" the Doctor asked.

"No," said another of the men. "They've learnt they won't survive the climb in one piece."

The Doctor nodded. "I think they're out of breath anyway." This drew Ryan's attention to one of the zombie-men's chest, where he could make out a cracked rib cage, peaking through a rip in the skin. He watched the man's lungs heaving in and out.

"Out of breath?" he asked. "Doctor, they should be out of life! How did they even manage running?"

The Doctor took a step towards the fence, and the men immediately held him back.

"Okay, mister," said one of them. His dirty face looked tired and troubled, and Ryan could tell he didn't have time for any of the Doctor's Doctor-ness. He placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and guided him towards the open hatch and the ladder inside it. "Enough excitement for today. Get inside."

After climbing down a very long ladder, Ryan's feet finally hit a concrete floor and he was standing under a dim light in a small room that used to be the entrance to the mining facility that the survivors had made their home. Instructions and warning signs for mine workers still hung on the wall, and directly opposite the ladder was what probably once was a reception, but in reality was a tiny compartment with a desk behind a window. Inside was a large man who was looking in alarm at the group who had come down the ladder. Whether he was alarmed about being cramped into an area far too small for his large frame, or alarmed about the unfamiliar faces in the Doctor and Ryan, was another matter entirely.

"What happened?" said the large man. "I didn't raise the fence, it just came up on its own."

"Sorry," said the Doctor, smiling brightly. "That was me. Listen, any chance of a towel? I've bumped my nose."

The man gave him a bemused nod, squeezed out of his office, and left the room through a heavy steel door.

"Right then," said the man who'd led them down the ladder. "Welcome to safety, or the closest thing to it. My name is Gallagher, and I suppose I'm in charge here."

"Suppose?" asked the Doctor, whilst looking around the room with interest.

"Well since my predecessor died violently, there was no official torch-passing ceremony," said Gallagher dryly. "And no one had told me otherwise, so we'll just go with it."

The Doctor, again, merely smiled pleasantly. Gallagher didn't return it.

"This way," he said, and walked to the same door the large man had left through. Ryan and the Doctor shared a look, then followed.

The light in the first room had been dim, but past the steel door it was practically darkness. Ryan could only barely make out that they were walking down a long and dirty mineshaft. There was a tiny light bulb attached to the muddy wall every few feet, but the mobile phone in Ryan's pocket would have given off more light.

"The medical bay is just up here," said Gallagher as they walked through the 'corridors' of the compound. "Well, I say medical bay. It's a bench and a man who used to be surgeon back when hospitals still existed. But he'll see to your face."

"That's very kind, thank you," said the Doctor.

"Sleeping quarters are down there," said Gallagher, pointing to a left turn as they passed it. They mineshaft had turned into a maze of darkness now, with cut offs and turns in every direction. Ryan wondered how Gallagher knew where he was walking, especially in the absence of light. "We'll get you some blankets, but if all the beds are taken just set yourself down in whichever corner you like. We're making food last, so there's only one meal a day. And we'll bring it to you when its ready, so don't ask."

"Sorry," said Ryan politely. "I think there's been a mistake."

"Yes," said Gallagher, not even turning to look at Ryan as he spoke. "The sun died. Fairly big mistake, as they go, but we're making the best of it."

"No, you don't understand," said the Doctor, coming to a stop. "We won't be staying long. And neither will you."

Gallagher turned his filthy face to stare at them, weary and un-amused.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"We're not here to stay, Gallagher," said the Doctor. "We're here to save you."


"Ow," the Doctor flinched.

The former surgeon tending to the Doctor in the medical bay prodded again at his nose, eliciting a similar whimper from the Time Lord.

"It's not broken," said the surgeon, wiping the Doctor's blood off of his fingers with a rag. "Just keep pressure on it and you'll be fine."

"As fine as a mad man can be," said Gallagher, standing against the wall and glaring at the Doctor.

Ryan rolled his eyes as the surgeon excused himself.

"He's not mad, Gallgher," he said with a sigh. "Well, no. He is mad. Completely off his head. Madder than a gunfight in a fireworks factory."

The Doctor smirked at his companion. "Nice."

"Thanks," Ryan replied, then turned back to Gallagher. "But he is telling the truth."

"A little box," said Gallagher, repeating their own words. "Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, that can magically jump from the surface down into the compound. And it's going to whisk all of us to safety? Forgive me if I find it hard to take you seriously."

"We were sent by the President himself," said the Doctor, his voice muffled by the surgeon's rag that he held against his nose.

"So you keep saying," Gallagher fired back. "But without proof, how can I believe you? We find you both, appearing out of nowhere, running around on unstable ground and playing chicken with a gang of hell-born carnivores. For all we know, you're a couple of nutcases that want to draw us out onto the surface so we can get torn to bits and you can watch!"

"Actually," said Ryan, raising a finger. "Sorry, just while we're on the subject of those hell-born carnivores…" He paused for effect, and looked to the Doctor. "…Zombies."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes."

Ryan stared at him expectantly. The Doctor stared back, and since Ryan felt his point hadn't been heard, he spoke again.

"Right, but… zombies!"

"I know," said the Doctor, nodding again.

Ryan shook his head, still unsatisfied with the Doctor's response.

"No, no," he said impatiently. "Zombies!"

"I know! I saw them, Ryan."

"Yeah, far closer than I would've liked!" Ryan cried angrily. "Look, I'm all for saving a load of stranded people, that's grand. But I did not sign up for zombies."

"Yes, you did," the Doctor countered. "The moment you stepped into my box."

"Well you should put that on the front door, not directions on how to use the broken phone. And anyway, I'd expect it from you, you're a lunatic. But how did the President forget to mention the minor detail of flesh-eating zombies!"

Gallagher let out a derisive snort of laughter.

"You'll be waiting a long time for a warning from our dear President," he snarled.

"Why's that?" Ryan asked.

"Because he won't admit they exist; none of the council will."

Ryan and the Doctor shared another look, their inkling of suspicion regarding the council come bubbling up again.

"What are you talking about?" asked the Doctor, removing the rag so he could look at Gallagher properly. "How can they not admit they exist?"

"We don't know," said Gallagher truthfully. "They first appeared not long after we set up camp here. Men were sent out for firewood and never came back. They kept their distance at first, we could only get glimpses. We sent messages to the council and we were told we were imagining things. Then they started getting braver. Now we only go on one search a week because if the fence is down for too long they try their luck. We've sent descriptions, we've sent audio recordings of their howls. And still the council will not acknowledge them. 'Calm yourselves', they say. 'Ignore it. Your mind is playing tricks on you. It's nothing'. Well, nothing keeps coming back, and in greater number. The Nothing, as we call them, might be the end of us all."

There was small moment of silence, until the Doctor rose from the bench and met Gallagher's gaze.

"All the more reason to let us save you and never give them the chance."

Gallagher stared back. There was still contempt and distrust in his eyes, but it had been joined by a small glint indecision.

"The ground this compound sits in is not long for this world," the Doctor told him. "It's going to collapse and you have no idea of knowing when. Days, months, or ten minutes from this very conversation. But nobody here has to be crushed to death, and you certainly don't have to be eaten alive. We can save all of you."

Gallagher looked for a second to be hearing the Doctor's words, but then shook his head sadly. "I can't put the fate of everyone here into two people I don't even know if I can trust."

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but stopped. He looked up to the light that hung from the ceiling, which had started to swing to and fro; first only slightly but then with increasing speed. The walls started to tremble, the bench on which the Doctor had sat made a tappingnoise against the floor as it juddered, and small pieces of the ceiling began to break away and flitter to the floor. Then, as quick as it had started, the walls settled, and everything stopped. Ryan looked to Gallagher, who seemed unsurprised and un-alarmed at the mini-quake, leading him to guess this must be something that happened often.

There were voices from outside the door, as the people trapped inside the compound called out to each other to make sure they were alright. Gallagher heard this, so did Ryan. The Doctor, however, bent down and picked up some of what used to be the ceiling between his fingers.

"With the greatest of respect," he said, holding the debris up to show Gallagher. "I don't really think you have much choice."


End of Chapter Four