Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC.

Monsters

They were the classic sort of evil, the kind she'd seen on telly and in books when she was a kid, the kind you could tell were evil just by looking at them, they made her shiver. Rough and scaly, with large jaws, teeth showing through their lips, and claws, their skin was brownish, as if to camouflage themselves on the earth's surface. Somehow, though, they seemed vaguely human, possibly more so than the mutations. They had clear eyes, and sharp senses of smell and vision.

Sarah backed up the short tunnel, and stood up as quickly as possible. She leant against the heavy door, and wondered what she should do. She could hardly go back, and she hadn't seen any other passages on her route that would take her somewhere else.

Suddenly, the decision was made for her. She hadn't seen it come, though she must've been looking right at it, but one of the creatures was right in front of her, some sort of space gun trained on her forehead.

Sarah tried to remember the figure that had taken her the last time. She'd thought it was just one of the human mutations, but now she realised it had been one of these. Dark and thin, tall, human looking. She supposed it wasn't that hard for one of these to pose as a mutation for short times.

The creature pushed the door open, and motioned for Sarah to go through. She walked backwards into the room, and was backed into a corner.

"Who is she, Kilburn?" One asked Sarah's kidnapper.

"Get Terral. He will wish to see her." He replied.

Soon, Terral, clearly the leader, stalked over.

"Is this the girl you let slip?" Terral asked Kilburn, scornfully.

"Yes, sir." Kilburn admitted.

"It seems we've underestimated you, my dear." Terral addressed Sarah. "I heard of your role in saving the Arc from the Wirrn, although I'd assumed that was foolishness more than bravery." He smiled, sickeningly.

"You've made an alliance with the Wirrn?" She asked.

"Yes. They were to destroy any threat from the Arc dwellers, though they failed. It does not matter. We shall destroy the other humans when they return. The Wirrn shall feast on their corpses, and we shall get the resources from this little planet. Now, tell me, what is your business here?" He asked.

Sarah didn't reply.

"Are you alone?" He tried again, his smile becoming a scowl, "Answer me."

Sarah didn't know what to say. If she said she was alone, they would probably kill her without a qualm, but if she said she wasn't then she may be kept alive as an insurance policy, a way of forcing the Doctor's hand, but that would put the Doctor and Harry at more risk. She stayed silent.

"Yarl," Teral addressed another creature, a much smaller one, also armed with a gun trained on her, "Yarl, take her to a cell, and stay with her, do not let her escape, or you will also be killed." Teral pulled a gun from his belt, and shot Kilburn, her first guard, through the head. He turned to another, "Take his body to the Wirrn swarm leader, he will house their young and feed them until we can give them humans."

-

Janis made his way over to a panel set in the floor. It moved upwards, taking him through the ceiling of the bunker.

"Is he allowed to do that, then?" Harry asked.

"Janis? They let him do what he likes. Strictly speaking, he's our Prime Minister." Thea said.

"Oh? You said Warren was your leader."

"Yes. Warren's ancestor was the leader of the armies, he acted as emergency leader in the last days, when we were left behind by the Arc people, so he's viewed as leader. But the Earth High Minister, as her title was, refused to go on the Arc, and so, at least by Arc records, she basically abdicated. They viewed it as suicide, and ridded her of her duties. But down here, she's still a hero. Janis is her descendant, therefore he's the High Minister, as we've not had an election since we went underground." Thea said.

"So why hasn't Warren tried to have him killed yet?" The Doctor wondered aloud.

"He has. He's seen as a threat to Warren, so at least once a month, they say, as leader, he should go to the surface, and normally he comes back from a gas attack, or with broken bones. He's got the backing of the people, you see. People roughly know what he wants, that is, to get back to the surface. We'd all do anything to get back out there. Anyway, even if they did kill him, they wouldn't get rid of the threat."

"You'd carry it on?" The Doctor asked, quietly.

"I'd have to."

The Doctor continued to look through the box, until he came across a photograph along with birth certificate, of a young man.

"Yale's file." Sayal said, quietly.

"Yale?"

"Also in the patrols. 3 months ago, he was pronounced missing, presumed dead. After a sand and wind storm." Sayal said, sadly. The Doctor found a death certificate underneath more papers.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, apologetically, looking closely at Thea, who refused to meet his eye, staring at the floor.

"Doctor, what about Sarah?" Harry asked, agitatedly, when the pause became too long for him to bear.

"Harry, to my knowledge, Sarah doesn't get lost deliberately, does she? No, I'm guessing, we find what's trying to destroy the human race, and we find her." The Doctor reasoned.

"Wish it wouldn't take so long, though." Harry said, frustrated.

Janis sprinted over.

"Come with me. We can get you up there. Just us and Firen. I couldn't see your friend up there, I'm afraid, but Thea and Sayal'll ask about for you." Janis said, quickly, leading them over to the panel.

-

Yarl took Sarah Jane's elbow, and lead her through the bunker, down a thin passage way, leading parallel to the wide one she'd come up. He took her into a cell, similar to the first one she's been in, though one wall was barred rather than solid brick. Yarl locked the door behind them, and sat on a low bench that lined one wall. Sarah sat opposite, on a hay bale. Yarl lowered his gun, and laid it across his lap, he put his elbows on his knees, and cupped his chin in his hands, staring closely at Sarah.

"You cant be from the Arc," He said, after a while.

"Why?"

"The yellow mac. It's hardly their uniform, is it?"

"Doesn't mean anything. You're smaller than all of them, no one's questioning weather you're an alien." She shrugged. He just smiled at her, smugly.

-

Warren eyed Janis's party with suspicion. They worried him. He was sure they knew more than they should, and he didn't think the Doctor was the sort of person to sit on his hands, if he found out something hidden. And he'd be risking the survival of the human race.

Warren beckoned to Drake.

"Should I send a sniper, sir?" Drake asked, quietly.

Warren nodded, looking apologetically, as Janis lead the Doctor, Harry into the tunnel. Firen stood at the opening, watching Drake and Warren. He knew what the orders would be. He ducked inside the entrance, and closed the door.

"Janis, he's sending a sniper." He said, quietly.

"We can avoid him," Janis shrugged the news off, evidently used to attempts at killing him.

Slowly they made their way up miles of tunnels. Fired lead the way, moving much faster than Janis. Firen, the Doctor realised, was much more used to travelling by the tunnels, being a patroller. Janis came up to the surface rarely, and normal civilians only came up when it was deemed safe, only for them to be driven back under a few months later. Janis' fingers were shorter, lighter, less tentacle-like, much more used to holding a pencil than a gun, also, Janis, as had Thea and Sayal, and many of the other civilians, had less obvious defects, and, now he looked, he saw they had no gills at all, and clearer features. In fact, they didn't look much different from the people on the Arc at all. They were lower underground, he realised. Less prone to damage from radiation and Ultraviolet waves, causing mutations in the cells.

Finally, they reached the surface. Firen pushed up a surprisingly simple and unimpressive trap door. He pushed the gun up, and peered out, checking the coast was clear. What he was expecting to see wasn't clear.

"D'you think he knows there's something up there?" Harry asked the Doctor, quietly.

"Evidently. Weather it's a sniper, monster or windstorm, he knows there's something up. It is his job, after all." The Doctor replied.

Firen hoisted himself up out of the tunnel, and helped Janis out, into the open.

"Thanks, keep an eye out for.. anything." Janis said. He had an uneasy feeling that today something would happen. Not just another assassination attempt, they didn't worry him. He sensed that the Doctor would be able to uncover something, more than any normal expedition to the surface could, he seemed to know what he was doing, anyway.

The Doctor went over to one of the channels. It was easily deep enough to be filled with water, but it was dry and dusty. He climbed down into the ditch, and started scuffing the sand up, digging with his hands, sonicking patches of the ground with the sonic screwdriver, trying to reveal anything that could give him a clue as to what they were dealing with.

"Doctor?" Harry joined him in the ditch, "What're you doing?"

"Looking for traces," he said, distractedly.

"Of what?"

"Anything!"

-

"He knows, Sayal, he knows something's up!" Thea whispered, panicky.

"Does it matter? He wont do anything to put his friend Sarah in danger, we're safe.."

"What do we do, then? D'you.. Do we bring him back, then?" Thea asked, hesitantly

"Yes.." Sayal replied, shortly.

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