Everywhere they run, they see the destruction of the Master's gothic castle, the cracks appearing throughout as the men fled for their very lives, the dead zone collapsing around them after the Master's machine was destroyed.
Their legs wobbling as the earth-shattering quake went through the gothic castle, almost lost their footing escaping the chaos as they see tearing in the walls, bright light burning through it.
Attempting to retrace their steps back through, the men found that the reality breaking down resulted in the Master's castle becoming incomprehensibly different than what it was when they went through only moments ago.
They had to look up to see that they're now walking on the ceiling and the floor's below them.
"Can't we open a tear and get the hell out of here, that way?" David panicked as he looked towards Theodore for guidance, but Theodore responded that he doesn't think it's possible, the dead zone's likely to interfere with their attempts, send them somewhere else completely, kill them at most.
William shouts for them to watch their steps, the ceiling they're running on started cracking, the deep gashes illuminating with bright lights, the temperature fluctuating to the point it's instantaneous death for them if they happened to fall through by mistake.
"Catherine says the TARDIS moved her and the others away, it's becoming increasingly difficult for them to stay here!" David shouted, warning them that their respected TARDIS had no other choice but to leave, the distortion of reality's becoming dangerously impossible to calculate.
William's dark green eyes wide, he asks, "Then how we're supposed to get out of here?"
David quickly responds with, "If we can get to a point in this hellhole, they can come back, swoop us in!"
That point's somewhere near the crags forming in the floors where they needed to reach and use their Sonic Screwdrivers like they're data discs, then they're home free.
"You make it sound like a leisurely stroll!" William accused David of downplaying the severity of their situation, to which Pete reigned them in as he mustered, they can't argue with each other, now.
Once they're safely away from this hell, then they may argue like children.
Until then, run!
They're alarmed by a shout as Theodore's struggling to free himself from the rotting hands that grabbed his legs, attempting to pull him towards the deepening crag of light in front of him.
Mustering his strength, Theodore couldn't escape if he tried, the more he resisted, the tighter the rotting hands gripped his legs, tearing his trousers with their finger bones turning into claws that started touching his skin.
"Hold on, son!" Pete shouted as he ran back to help the entangled Theodore, the other men running behind him as they went to aid Pete.
Seeing the rotting hands, William asks, "What the hell are they?"
Pete answers, "You don't want to know!"
Hamon told him enough about what kind of insidious things the Master's capable of doing, this's one of them, and it's better for the others not to know, because had they known, they'll likely never get a good night sleep, again.
Trust Pete on this!
"You're worse than a groopy!" David shouted as he stomped on the arms of the hands relentlessly pulled on Theodore towards the crag they came out of, each hand a different state of decay, some only skeletal.
Theodore yelped as he felt the claw-like bones began digging into his legs, he felt the blood oozing through his torn trousers, as the men worked together to assault the hands, until they finally began releasing Theodore from their grip.
Pulling him far from the crag as the hands slithered into it like snakes, Theodore exhaled sharply as he looked down, seeing the gouges in his legs, pieces of his muscles sticking out through the tears in his trousers.
"Come on, son, come on, lean on me," Pete ushered him as he helped the wounded man up from the ground, having him lean on him while David helped on the other side.
William helped guide them as they avoided the crag the middle of the ceiling, rushing towards the end where they turned, seeing they're now walking on the floor, once again.
Struggling, David and Pete helped Theodore walk as the sharp pains shot up his leg, the blood oozing through the wounds.
Every step he had to take was like a heated poker being forcibly inserted into the wounds as he couldn't help but shout in pain as it grew too much for him to bear.
Pete encouraged him to fight through the pain, they're almost at the end of this terrifying adventure.
… How he wished that was true!
"No!" Pete heard a wretched sound, echoing throughout the crumbling gothic castle.
The wall filled with banners tore open like paper, a robed figure pushed his way through, looking like a mix of the Crypt Keeper and a zombie, the lone lavender eye in the blackened skull focused on the men, hatred seeping through it, despite the eyelid gone.
"Oh! Oh! That's! Ohh!" William showed instant disguise at the sight of a rotting Master, shambling out of the crack in the wall, growling at them, having no lips left, his yellowed teeth broken in places and giving him the appearance of a jaw toothed zombie.
Should've saw that coming a mile away.
The Master didn't survive death once to let them do it to him again, stubborn is as stubborn goes, him.
Shambling towards him, his bony hands outstretched, the Master shouted, "You are not the Doctor!"
There's a sharp ringing noise penetrating the men's heads, the pain intense, as the Master's attempting to rip their minds apart in retaliation.
The pain too great, David and Pete were forced to release Theodore, gripping the sides of their heads as they shouted in pain.
"Suffer!" the Master gurgled as he shambled closer to them, "when I am finished, I'll finish what I started!"
Starting with Theodore's mate, whom escaped his grasp once, but after this, she won't have anyone else to save her from him.
He will kill her, in time.
His eyes filled with rage and pain, Theodore shouted, "No!"
Struggling to move on his own, the sharp pain shooting up his trembling legs, Theodore refused to let the pain stop him, determined to finish what his uncle started.
The stinging pain in his mind as he tried resisting the Master's telepathic assault, the violent images the Master showed him of what he planned on doing to Lila when he captures her, again, only angering Theodore further.
All the violent imagery with Lila screaming in agony drove Theodore to attack the Master, despite the sharp pains in his legs as they're attempting to heal from the gouging done by the rotting hands.
"No!" Theodore fought back, breaking the Master's concentration, stopping the assault on the other men and him, allowing them to regroup as they worked with Theodore to stop the Master once and for all.
So long as they keep him from concentrating, he can't use his telepathic attacks, and despite him being an eldritch abomination, he put up a fight, using his rotted hands as claws against the men.
"I am the Master!" the Master shouted as he insisted that he is the Master and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him, not them, not Medikus, not his former headmaster, or the abomination that escaped its demise when the Vanguard came to his lab.
Didn't deter the men as they put up an effort fighting him, punches, kicks, name it, they tried, but for a Time Lord that looked like he came out of a comic book strip, he still put up a fight, and they're not sure if they can stop him.
David and Theodore took much of the beatings, preventing Pete and William from taking them, especially Pete, as the older man wouldn't be able to rid the shiners the Master threw at David and Theodore within a timely matter, or worse.
"Good lord, doesn't he ever give up?" David questioned the Master's inability to exhaust himself as he assaulted him and Theodore.
Bruised and bloody, Theodore struggles as he says, "Apparently, not!"
Stubborn, this one.
The Master successfully gouged Theodore's chest with his exposed finger bones, gripping it tightly as he tried ripping the flesh from Theodore like in a horror movie.
Even moving backwards out of instinct caused the Master's finger bones to tear out pieces of Theodore's chests, causing him agony as he fought against the Master with the others aiding him.
"You will die here!" The Master declared to the desperate men attempting to flee the collapsing dead zone.
Struggling as the sharp pains went up his body, in desperation, Theodore slammed his heads against the Master's skull, hard enough it sent the lurching menace backwards, releasing Theodore from his bony claws, at the expense of pieces of flesh and skin stuck to the torn pieces from his shirt.
William and David caught Theodore as he stumbled backwards, holding his throbbing head while the Master stumbled backwards from the shock as Theodore risked his cranium to give enough force to stun the Master temporary.
Hammond always said he had a hard head.
Seeing how the Master's intentionally keeping them here, wasting their precious time escaping this unraveling hellscape, Pete quickly suggested the men a method of buying time.
Groggily, Theodore followed the instructions alongside David and William as Pete ordered them to tune their Sonic Screwdrivers.
They're going to use the decaying dead zone to give the Master a taste of his own medicine, it'll risk their Sonic Screwdrivers, but it's worth ensuring the Master won't escape a third time.
Struggling, the Master stood up, black ooze pouring from the dent in his forehead by Theodore's brazen attack, preparing to attack them once again, he's sent further backwards by energy shooting out of the Sonic Screwdrivers as the men held their respected Sonic Screwdrivers.