However meanly he had put it, Peter had been right about her being stood close to the hole.

The ground underfoot was slick and there was a slight downward incline that was impossible to see in the darkness. When Rose had stood up and twisted around to confront the lieutenant her legs had simply buckled from underneath her.

She found herself being swallowed up by the emptiness.

There was a flash of light as the torch she had been holding onto slipped out of her grasp and plummeted down ahead of her. Falling and falling, her limbs flailed uselessly as her arms clawed through the air in a desperate attempt of trying to grab onto something solid.

A hand reached out from nowhere and locked itself around hers.

The breath was knocked out of Rose as she came to a sudden, bone-jolting stop. Swaying there in mid-air as she reached up and clung onto the arm of the person who had just saved her life, she looked up to see who it was.

Her first thought was that it might have been the Doctor. But a pair of shimmering grey eyes instantly told her the identity of her rescuer.

Peter Argent's face was as red with anger as it was from the blood rushing to his head.

"What the hell did I just tell you!?" He bellowed down at her. "God, that was close!"

Despite his valiant effort, it was clear that his position was just as dangerously precarious. His climbing harness was only attached by a single carabiner clip. Without it and his other hand holding onto the rope, there would be nothing to stop them both from falling.

Suddenly, Rose felt as though she was beginning to lose her grip on Peter's hand.

"I'm slipping!" She cried. "Don't let me fall!"

Looking down, it was the worst possible thing she could have done. She could just about make out her legs as they swung out wildly. But beyond that, she couldn't see anything at all and it wasn't hard to imagine that a fall from this height would almost certainly prove fatal.

"Stop squirming!" Peter hissed down at her. "Rose, look at me. I've got you."

He had finally called her by her first name.

Rose found this oddly reassuring. She also knew that he was the single best person to be with her right now. The Doctor was many things, but superbly physically strong was not one of them.

Far above Peter, she could see a flurry of torch beams dancing across the roof of the cave, illuminating the hole she had just fallen through.

"Rose!" The Doctor's voice called out. "It's okay, we're going to pull you back up."

When his companion had fallen, the Time Lord had been stood right next to her. But it was Peter who had reacted first, diving in after her without a moment of hesitation.

He was already harnessed up but had not yet tethered the end of his climbing rope to anything and had tossed his lifeline to Stefan and Private Hart as he sprinted past them. It was a complete show of trust that they would be able to catch hold of it and be strong enough to take his and Rose's combined weight between them.

They were. But only just.

There was a horrible moment when both soldiers nearly toppled over and down through the hole after him as the slack pile of rope suddenly snapped taut.

Their boots scraped and slipped on the damp rocky floor, but they managed to find footholds just in time.

"Hart, move back!" Stefan ordered as he clung onto the rope, his face flushing red from the effort. "Sergeant, tie up the rope on that rock!"

Becker had come racing in after hearing the commotion. Being the strongest man available, he didn't hesitate in grabbing hold of the rope as everyone moved to pull it back. Finally, there was enough slack to allow the sergeant to secure it around a large boulder that was next to the entrance of the cave.

At last, it was safe for them to let go.

Catching hold of his breath, Stefan crouched down cautiously next to the hole and peered down.

"Line secure, Peter." He called down. "How are you doing?"

The effort it was taking for Peter to try and move himself up into a more stable position was obvious as he kept a tight hold of Rose.

"I can't swing myself up." He admitted. "Besides, I don't think the clip will take it."

The small metal clip was squeaking loudly in protest against the unusually heavy weight it was being forced to take. Every time he attempted to right himself, it sounded as though it was about to snap clean off.

"Lieutenant, we're going to pull you up." The Doctor added. "Nice and slowly."

"Yes, just don't…"

Rose looked up in alarm as she heard Peter trailed off and exhale out a deep breath. His face was beetroot red and she could see that he was blinking more often than was usual.

"What is it?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." He insisted. "It's just the blood running to my head, that's all."

But it was making him dizzy and there was now the real danger of him losing consciousness unless he became able to put himself the right way up.

How long could he last? Would he unwittingly let go of her at any moment?

"Hurry up!" Rose called out. "He's struggling!"

"Peter, talk to me." Stefan's voice called out. "We'll get you out of there, mate. Just hang on."

"I'm not going anywhere." He joked back meekly. "Rose, how you doing?"

"Y-yeah.… I'm okay." She replied shakily. "Thank you."

"Just don't do it again." He replied with a smirk. "It's not good for my back. You're heavier than you look."

"Oi! What are you trying to say?"

"I'm not saying…"

A soft grumble echoed through the cave.

Then came that distinctive sound of crumbling rock as sharp claws made their way across the roof. In the darkness of the cave, it was impossible to see it but everyone instantly knew what was there even before Stefan's torch beam found it.

Peter and Rose were not the only ones dangling down from the roof.

One of the creatures was just perched just meters away from them, clinging to the rocky surface as easily as the bat it so closely resembled.

But it did not attack them straight away. Perhaps it was surprised to find its prey here in the depths of its home and so easily available to it. Slowly, it began to circle them. Inching closer and closer with every circuit, it seemed unsure about what to do next.

"What's it doing?" Rose whispered. "It looks -"

"Shush!" Peter cautioned her. "Sound is how it hunts."

Even as they fell silent, however, the creature continued to inch towards them. Its pointed ears were pointed straight at them as it advanced forward.

"It's still heading towards us." Rose hissed. "It knows we're here."

"Yeah, figured that out already thanks."

Glancing up, Peter could see his sheathed knife clipped to his belt just inches away. But there was no way to reach it without letting go of the rope or Rose.

The creature had paused to sniff the air with its elongated nose. But it was getting bolder in its movements now as its hunger and desire to kill started to win over any initial suspicions.

Rose could now make out the two curved fangs on either side of its monstrous mouth.

Slightly smaller than the one that had attacked the base, this second creature was also not responsible for killing Tom Richardson. But knowing that another was still out there was of little consequence when this one looked poised to tear them apart.

Far above, Stefan and the Doctor were watching helplessly as they trained their torches on the creature.

"Doctor, now might be a good time for that device of yours." The corporal decided. "Stun the hell out of that thing."

"What about the lieutenant?" The Doctor countered as he obligingly pulled out the sonic screwdriver. "You weren't so keen -"

"Shut up the pair of you!"

Peter's anger did not waver as he turned his attention back to the creature. Swearing under his breath, the lieutenant looked down past Rose at the sheer drop below them both.

"What is it?" Rose asked him. "What are we going to do?"

The wince on Peter's face told her that she wasn't going to enjoy what he had planned.

"Something it isn't expecting." He replied. "I'm going to drop us."

"What!?" She screamed. "Are you crazy?"

Stefan was also quick to voice his protests.

"What the hell, Peter!?" He shouted down. "This is no time to joke."

"I can't fight the damn thing and hold onto Rose at the same time." Peter hissed back. "If I drop us both then at least I can deal with it on the ground."

"You can't!" Rose pleaded. "You don't even know what's down there!?"

"Yes, he does." The Doctor's voice announced. "Rose, you can trust him."

"But, Doctor -"

The creature was almost upon them now. She could smell the putrid breath coming from its monstrous mouth, and the moment it decided to pounce it would be too late for them to do anything to save themselves.

Yet Peter's solution was to send them plummeting to their deaths instead?

"Rose, you're just going to have to roll with me on this one." He told her. "It won't hurt, I promise. Just fall feet first and try to cross your arms across your chest and keep your legs stretched out straight."

"Peter, it's a twenty-meter drop headfirst," Stefan called out. "You'll break your neck!"

"I don't have a choice!" The lieutenant growled back through gritted teeth. "Right, Rose. We'll go on my count."

With a deep breath, he carefully slid the hand he was using to hold onto the rope down towards the clip. Instantly, they perilously shifted down the line a few inches as the attachment almost failed to keep them fastened to it.

But then it settled again, and now it would only take one swift flicker of Peter's wrist to snag it off and send them plummeting down. "One..." He announced. "Two..."

That was when the creature lunged towards them.

Pushing itself away from the roof with its powerful limbs, it stretched out towards them as far as it was physically able to. The first part of it to make contact with the fresh meat on offer would be its horrendous fangs and claws.

But Rose and Peter were no longer there.

Screaming all the way down, Rose didn't even realise that she had fallen into the water until she was underneath it. Freezing cold and pitch black, it surged into her open mouth and instantly silenced her cries.

Then instinct kicked in and she blindly began to kick towards the surface.

Just as her lungs were threatening to burst, she broke through and gulped in fresh air. Coughing and spluttering, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she could just about see the rocky edge of the large pool she had fallen into just a few meters away from her.

The Doctor's voice was echoing down towards her.

"Rose! Rose, are you okay!? Are you hurt?"

"N-no, I mean... Yes, I'm fine." She replied numbly. "What about the creature?"

Treading water, she began to turn in all directions as she searched for the huge alien. Through the hole, the two torch beams could be seen scanning the roof of the cave for it. But there was no trace of the creature, and they quickly returned to where Rose was floating in the water, illuminating her like a pair of dancing spotlights.

"I can't see -"

"Never mind that!" Stefan shouted over the Doctor, sounding furious. "Where the hell is Peter?"

Rose felt her stomach sink as she realised that the lieutenant was nowhere to be seen. She suddenly recalled Stefan's final words of warning to his friend and hoped that they had not come true.

"I... I don't know." She called back up. "I don't know where he is."

"What do you mean, you don't know!?"

"I can't see him, okay!?"

Upon hearing this, Stefan shrank away from the hole.

The soldier's face had turned quite pale as the realisation dawned upon him that the worst had happened. But then optimism and his training kicked back in as he swiftly recovered himself.

"Rose, I'm going to keep my torch on you." He announced. "You need to dive down and see if you can see him. He might just be under -"

Rose's scream cut him off.

"What happened? The Doctor shouted. "Rose!?"

Not noticing the bubbles that had started to rise up right next to her, Rose had shrieked loudly as something had burst through the surface. Fearing it was the creature, she immediately began to kick out madly with her arms and legs.

"Ow! Stop it!" Peter shouted as he held up an arm to defend himself. "It's me! It's me!"

"Oh my god!"

Throwing her arms around him before she realised what she was doing, Rose quickly felt herself being pushed away again as Peter let out a sharp hiss of pain. His face was contorted with discomfort, and it was the righthand side of his neck that seemed to be the cause of it.

"Ah!" He winced, clutching his shoulder. "Ow, damn it."

"Are you okay?"

"Never better." He quipped, spitting out a mouthful of water. "You?"

There was still a slight undertone to his voice that made the enquiry spiteful. But Rose chose to ignore it given that he had just saved her life twice within the space of a few minutes and had been injured for his troubles.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied. "But are you sure -"

Peter was no longer paying her any attention and was instead looking back up towards the roof.

"Stefan where's it gone?" He shouted up. "It made a jump for us."

"Gone for now." The corporal replied. "Scuttled back off to wherever it came from."

"Maybe it doesn't like water?" Rose wondered aloud. "Or maybe -"

"Maybe isn't good enough." Peter swiftly cut in. "It could be right under us for all we know."

His anger wasn't directed at her specifically, but the harshness in his voice had returned quickly enough to make Rose remember why she disliked him so much.

What kind of man was he that their lives had to be in danger for him to speak nicely to her?

"Well, I don't know where it is!" She retorted. "I was too busy falling and nearly drowning."

Peter turned to face her quickly enough to twinge his already sore neck.

"Oh, I am sorry!" He snapped back. "But let me tell you something, Miss Tyler. You had the soft landing!"

So he had hurt his neck in the fall. It was painful, and Rose might have ordinarily felt guilty over it given that she was the reason they had both been forced to make the jump in the first place.

But Peter's blunt rudeness was only making her angry.

"Did you even know that this pool was down here?"

"Of course I did!" He barked back. "Just didn't know the depth, that's all."

"What if it hadn't been deep enough? You could have killed us both!"

"Well, I didn't. I just saved your life! So maybe you should try acting somewhat grateful!?"

Turning his back on her, he began to swim for the shore.

By the time Rose reached it herself and managed to climb up onto dry land, she was trembling from head to toe as the icy temperature of the water started to take effect.

"Oh!" She gasped. "Oh…my god!"

For the moment she could do nothing but sit down on the ground and try to catch her breath as she continued to shake uncontrollably. A few feet away from her, Peter was already up on his feet and talking with his men on the radio as though nothing had even happened at all.

"Stefan, secure the rope and bring down the gear." He relayed. "There's a small strip of land at your three o'clock that you can swing onto."

"Copy that." Stefan's voice replied. "But what about the Doctor, he's insisting on coming down?"

Frowning, Peter looked down at Rose.

He was staring at her as though she were some persistent bug that he was struggling to swat away. She glared back at him, but it was all she could do right now as her teeth chattered from the cold.

"Fine. I suppose he'd better come down and retrieve his companion." He reluctantly agreed. "Becker and Hart, I want you two to stay up there, understood?"

"Understood, boss," Becker responded. "Still no sign of the creature?"

"It's vanished for now," Peter replied. "Eyes on though, stay alert."