Sarah Jane frowned as she felt around on the inside of the empty grave. Everything was normal, the scanner watch wasn't detecting anything.

For some reason, the body was just… gone.

"Sugar?" Elliot suddenly asked, looking down into the grave from above.

Sarah Jane looked up inquisitively.

"In your tea." The boy elaborated.

"Oh, yes, thank you." Sarah Jane kindly replied.

The boy nodded, and turned to go, before he frowned, seemingly considering something. "There's only one explanation as far as I can see."

"Oh?" Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow obligingly. "What's that?"

"The graves eat people." Elliot said. "Devour people whole. Leaving no trace."

"And what makes you think that?" Sarah Jane inquired.

"They didn't get in from above," Elliot replied, "They couldn't have gotten in from the sides… Only other place is underneath."

"Underneath." Sarah Jane had already considered that, but it'd take some serious digging equipment. The cost would far outweigh the potential benefit for any body thieves.

Elliot shrugged. "Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Sherlock Holmes." Sarah Jane looked back around the inside of the grave.

"Know it?" Elliot asked.

"Know him." Sarah Jane corrected. "Don't let Sir Conan Doyle's portrayal fool you, the real man's a right blithering idiot. On a good day."

"Sherlock Holmes is fictional." Elliot tried to refute.

"Well, the name maybe. But there are about three or four people he took inspiration from." Sarah Jane replied. "One was a man named Henry Gordon Jago, another was a woman named Vastra… But the main one, the one Conan Doyle took most of it from, was a friend of mine."

"No way," Elliot shook his head, "You're not that old."

"I'm not." Sarah Jane conceded. "But he is." The woman paused for thought, suddenly considering something. "Come to think of it, his daughter was probably the inspiration for Enola Holmes too."

Elliot looked ready to debate her on that. "Enola Holmes was Sherlock's sister. And not canon."

"Is too." Sarah Jane argued.

"Conan Doyle didn't write it, so it's not canon." Elliot replied.

Sarah Jane chuckled quietly. Come to think of it, what were the Doctor and El doing?


"Is that what happened to Mo?" Tony questioned, looking to the patch of soil that had pulled El down. "Are they dead?"

"They had better not be." The Doctor growled, pacing back and forth. "It's not just quicksand. It wanted her, it pulled her in, and once it had her, it stopped."

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen incredulously questioned.

"The ground, something in control of the ground." The Doctor replied. "You said earlier, the soil was dormant this morning… when the drill was stopped. You turned it back on, the ground, or whatever's controlling it, became active again."

"So, what, the ground wants us to stop drilling?" Nasreen demanded.

"You never listen, do you? You…" The Doctor shook with fury. "STUPID APES!"

"Excuse me!?" Nasreen recoiled.

"I keep saying, but you're not listening!" The Doctor hissed. "Something's down there, controlling the ground. It's bio-programming, excitation of the organic molecules in the soil to make it behave in certain ways. But there's something else that's important; why are you lot drilling here?"

"Drilling?" Nasreen questioned.

"The ground's only attacking because of that damn drill, so why are you here!?" The Doctor demanded. "Wait!" He held up a finger. "Hold that thought." He fell to the floor, pressing an ear to it. "You said you stopped the drill, yes?"

"Yes." Nasreen confirmed.

"So, why can I still here drilling?" The Doctor asked, glancing back, before shooting to his feet. "Whatever you disturbed down there is on its way up here. The same thing that caused the ground to attack. Now," He snapped his fingers, pointing, "Big drill, why?"

"We're geologists." Tony answered.

"Geologist, so, it's a 'doing it because we can' sort of thing." The Doctor recognized. "But why Wales?" He asked, going over to the laptop computers nearby.

"Hang on, what are you going?" Nasreen demanded as the Doctor soniced his way into the laptops' systems.

"Uniting all the sensor data you've recorded." The Doctor answered, as the screen changed to show the drill's borehole. "21.009 miles!? I thought after the disaster that was the Inferno Project, drilling past twenty was outlawed."

Back during his exile on Earth, a deep drilling project called the Inferno Project tried drilling deeper into the earth to access a newly discovered natural gas. Unbeknownst to the people in charge, however, the gas was being generated by a primordial ooze. When the Inferno Project hit the ooze, it seeped back to the surface, and began transforming humans on the surface into feral, mutant creatures. During that time, the Doctor had been trying to repair the TARDIS himself, accidentally ending up on an Earth where the Inferno Project was much farther ahead.

When the Doctor arrived on that other Earth, he'd tried to get the project shut down… to no avail. The drill hit a pocket of the ooze and ignited it. Which ignited the next pocket, and the next and the next… Before long, the surface of Earth was totally uninhabitable for human life. The Doctor managed to get back home and shut down the Inferno Project there, but his failure to save the other earth weighed on him for quite some time.

Come to think of it… maybe that was the alternate earth that the portal from Hawkins led to. It would certainly explain why there was no human life, and time seemed to be stopped in the late 70s to early 80s. It would certainly be a funny coincidence.

"We received special permission to drill." Nasreen explained. "We found patches of grass on this site, containing trace elements that haven't been seen for… twenty million years."

"The blue grass?" The Doctor replied, earning a confirming nod from the woman. "Oh, Nasreen." The Doctor patted her on the shoulder. "Those patches weren't 'x marks the spot,' they were a warning. 'Stay away.' Because I've already told you, while you've been drilling down…" The Doctor suddenly pointed to the laptop screen, showing three red dots moving towards the surface. "Someone's been drilling up."

"Good God." Tony breathed, looking at the dot moving up. "Whatever that is it's moving fast."

"How many people live nearby?" The Doctor questioned.

"Just my daughter and her family." Tony answered. "The rest of the staff travels in."

The Doctor clapped his hands, pointing at the laptops. "Grab that equipment and come on."

"Hang on," Nasreen said, "What are we doing?"

The Doctor sighed, turning around. "That noise isn't drilling. It's transports. Three of them. Moving upward at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour, that gives us about…" He checked his watch, counting his fingers. "Twelve minutes." He shut one of the laptops, taking it. "Whatever used the bio-programming on the earth is on its way up, now!"


"How can something be coming up when its only the earth's crust down there!?" Tony questioned, he and Nasreen running behind the Doctor.

"You saw the readings!" The Doctor replied.

"Who are you anyway?" Nasreen questioned. "How can you know all this?"

The air suddenly whooshed, wind blowing as air particles were displaced, a red field of electricity appearing into the sky.

"Whoa…" Nasreen temporarily stopped, looking up. "Do you see that?"

"No, no, no!" The Doctor frustratedly shouted. He ran up to the top of a nearby hill, grabbing a bit of gravel, before placing it in a slingshot he'd produced from his pockets, firing the rock straight up. The field crackled as the rock bounced off, landing harmlessly.

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver, pointing it up as he held down the button. "Energy field originating from inside the earth!"

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane suddenly approached from down a short road, being followed by Elliot and Ambrose. "Something odd's happening here. People inside the graves are just disappearing."

"Hold on a tick!" The Doctor replied to the woman. "Particle membrane." He recognized the red dome of electricity surrounding the area. "We can't get out, nothing from the outside can get in."

"Okay," Sarah Jane stated, "What about the TARDIS."

Nasreen cocked her head. "The what?"

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc on the circuits." The Doctor answered. "With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got," He checked his watch, "Nine and a half minutes."

Sarah Jane held up a finger. "Until what?"

"We're trapped in here." Nasreen quickly explained. "And something's burrowing to the surface."

"Typical trouble." Sarah Jane commented. She suddenly frowned, looking around. "Where's El?"

"Sorry?" Elliot tilted his head.

"Different El." Sarah Jane replied, before turning to the Doctor. "Where is she?"

"…gone." The Doctor answered. "But we're going to get her back. Get everyone inside the church." He ordered, running into the building.

"Back?" Sarah Jane questioned.

"The floor tore open and the ground pulled her in!" The Doctor replied, as they marched toward the building.

"The graves!" Sarah Jane suddenly pointed.

"Sarah, we don't-" The Doctor began.

"Doctor, listen!" Sarah Jane ordered. "Bodies have been disappearing from the cemetery, the graves totally undisturbed from all sides! The only way the bodies could've been stolen is from-"

"The bottom." The Doctor finished. "And whoever's stolen the bodies, taken El… they're on their way up now."


"So we can't get out," Ambrose recited, "We can't contact anyone, and the same thing that's taken my husband, has taken your daughter, and it's on it's way up here?"

"Well, yes." The Doctor answered. "But, if we move quickly enough, we can be ready."

"No." Ambrose pointed. "This has gone on long enough. I mean, what is this?"

"No, you stop!" The Doctor snapped back. "I lost my daughter to that thing as well, so don't patronize me!"

Ambrose recoiled slightly.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot suddenly asked.

"Yes." The Doctor answered, turning to him as well. "But I need you all to trust me." He looked to Ambrose.

"So tell us what to do." The woman stated.

"Thank you." The Doctor spun around. "Okay, we've got eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring me every camera, every phone, every piece of recording equipment you can get your hands on, chop chop."


"Every motion sensor, every light!" The Doctor ordered, helping Sarah Jane and Ambrose wire up the outside of the church. "Every square inch of the outside needs to be covered!"

The two nodded, wiring up cameras. They also wired up the motion sensors, and a series of lights to activate where the sensors would be set off.


"Alright!" The Doctor strode into the church again. "I need a map of the village where the cameras are going!"

"I-I can't do the words." Elliot stammered. "I'm dyslexic."

"That's okay, my daughter's twelve years old and she's still reading at a pre-k level." The Doctor replied. "Just draw. Draw like your life depends on it Elliot."

The boy nodded, and ran off to do just that.

"Six minutes forty." Tony informed, as the Doctor began wiring up some electronics.

For the next three minutes, the group of people hurriedly worked. There was a little hiccup when the Doctor had to stop Ambrose from passing out guns, but other than that, it went smoothly.

The clock hit three minutes as Elliot came back, holding the map.

"Hey hey!" The Doctor looked at the map approvingly. "See? Dyslexia never stopped da Vinci or Einstein!"

"I still don't understand what you're going to do." Elliot admitted.

"Two-phase plan." The Doctor replied. "First, the sensors and cameras tell us when something arrives." He tapped the screen. "Second, I use this," He held up the sonic screwdriver, "To send a sonic pulse through that network of devices temporarily incapacitating whatever the culprit is."

"Knock 'em out… Cool." The boy commented. He swallowed, looking to the Doctor. "Is it monsters coming?"

The Doctor turned to the boy. "Yeah."

"Scared of them?" Elliot asked.

"No." The Doctor instantly denied. "They're scared of me."

"…will you really get my dad back?" Elliot asked.

"No question." The Time Lord replied.

Elliot slowly nodded. "I left my headphones at home."

The Doctor jerked his thumb quickly, the boy running off, before he turned to the timer.

One minute left.


"How are we doing?" The Doctor asked, running outside to Sarah Jane.

The woman looked up, dark splotches covering the dome. "It's getting dark."

"They're increasing the field density, preventing exterior photons from penetrating the shield." The Doctor explained, as the area darkened like night had fallen. "Isolating us in the dark, which means…" The ground began to rumble. "It's here." He turned to Sarah Jane. "Come on! In!" He shouted, running over to the church's entrance.

"I can't get it to open." Ambrose grunted, trying to push the door open. "It keeps sticking, the wood's warped!"

"Right, one three. One, two, three!" The Doctor, Ambrose, and Sarah Jane rammed the door, sending it open, allowing them inside the church. The Time Lord slammed the door shut behind them and hopped over to the laptop. "See if we can get a fix!"

The Doctor furiously typed at the controls, objects all over the room falling as the area quaked, before the equipment suddenly sparked, and the power died.

The room went deathly still, before Tony went over to the wall, trying to get the power working again.

"No power." He reported.

"It's deliberate." The Doctor responded, rushing around the dead technology.

"Well, what do we do?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Nothing!" The Doctor frustratedly threw his hands in the air. "We've got nothing! They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems.

The ground began to rumble, the entire church shaking.

"Doctor…?" Sarah Jane inquired.

The Time Lord crouched, feeling the ground, as the quaking let up. "It's here…"

Ambrose suddenly inhaled, looking around anxiously. "Where's Elliot!? Has anyone seen Elliot!? Who counted him last, who saw him in?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "…I did."

"What!?" Ambrose turned to him.

"He said he was going to get his headphones."

"And you let him go!?" Ambrose demanded. "He's out there on his own!"

"Mum!" Elliot suddenly banged on the door from outside. "Grandpa Tony! Let me in!"

The group rushed over, working to pull the piece of old, warped wood open, freezing.

Elliot wasn't there.

"Where is he!?" Ambrose sprinted out first. "He was here… he was here! Elliot!" She took off across the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off!" The Doctor shouted.

"Ambrose!" Tony took off after her.

The remaining three stood there on the top of the hill, looking around, before the Doctor could hear Ambrose howl.

The Doctor broke into a sprint, running down the graveyard. "What happened!?"

"My dad's hurt!" Ambrose answered, as the Doctor caught up.

The Doctor quickly looked over the man, who was holding a hand up to his neck, rocking back and forth in pain. "Get him into the church, now!"

"Elliot's gone!" Ambrose looked to the Doctor. "They've killed him, haven't they?"

"I don't think so." The Doctor replied. "They've taken three others when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Ambrose, there's always hope."

"Then why have they taken him?" Ambrose cried.

"I don't know." The Time Lord admitted. "But I'm going to find out. But first, I've got to stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."

Ambrose nodded, helping Tony up towards the old building.

"So," Sarah Jane turned to the Doctor, "What now?"