Chapter 9

House knew what the Doctor was doing, and he hoped that he would be able to finish mixing the Methanol and Ethanol in time. But then he heard Rose gasp as the rest of the room went silent.

He spun around with his syringe full of the proper mixture to see the sight that had made Rose gasp. The Doctor was inside of the thing, screaming. But now it seemed that the thing was aware of their presence, it began to advance on them.

"You again," it said. "Though your pain is nothing compared to what I can inflict, it is rather tasty," it was saying. "A constant source of food is what I found in you. It almost seems sad to let it go to waste."

"You've been feeding off of me for weeks now, haven't you?" House said as he now realized why his leg had been particularly painful lately.

"Very good. I think that I deserve one final taste before I kill you too," it said. And suddenly the tentacles were wrapped around his thigh again and waves of pain pulled him to the ground. He could here Rose scream, but everything besides the pain seemed so distant. Vaguely, he knew that he held what could stop the pain, but he was having difficulty forcing his muscles to obey him.

Slowly, he raised his hand that held the syringe to the piece of the Gleryth that was wrapped around his thigh. Forcing all of his concentration on that one motion, he plunged the needle into the viscous liquid and depressed the plunger. He watched as the liquid of the syringe mixed with the thick liquid of the creature.

The thing howled in pain as it pulled away. It rushed backward, against the far wall, leaving the gasping form of the Doctor behind.

House lay on the floor, and watched as the thing began to turn from the shinny bronze that it had been to a dark brown, almost black hue. The Doctor was gasping as he tried to shake of the agony that he had just experienced. He noticed the thing; it was beginning to swell now as its howling rose in pitch.

He forced himself off the floor and took the two steps to where Wilson lay on the drawer and shoved him inside, closing the door. He nearly ran at House and Rose as he grabbed the man from the floor with one hand and took a hold of Rose's hand with the other. He pulled them out of the room and collapsed against the wall.

"What was that?" House demanded as he leaned against the wall, using it take the support off of his throbbing leg.

The howling was gathering in strength and pitch from inside the room.

"The formula…" he panted. "Causes a reaction… It's… going to… explode. It's composition has been turned… to acid."

Just then the howling suddenly stopped as brownish black liquid splashed against the inside of the door. It sizzled and began to steadily burn through.

"Wilson!" House cried as he tore open the door. The whole room was covered in the stuff. Steam was beginning to rise from the various objects that were beginning to melt.

"He's fine, for now," the Doctor said. "Lucky for us the thing put him in the drawer, I just had to close it."

House could see that the acid wasn't havening near the effect of the steel as it was on the rest of the room. Wilson would be alright until someone who could actually carry him could get to him. He stepped back from the door and collapsed onto the floor next to the Doctor.

"So, are all of your adventures like this?" he asked.

"Sometimes worse," Rose answered for him as she knelt down next to the Doctor, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Sounds like fun."

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"So now where are you going?" House asked as the Doctor and Rose entered the TARDIS.

"Well maybe we'll actually get to London now that you're crisis has been averted," the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, I'd say thanks for showing up, but I guess your ship had more to do with it than you."

"She says your welcome," the Doctor answered with his silly grin.

House shook his head. And backed away from the door. "Well, try and stay out of too much trouble. I think you could use a day or two off," he said.

"I agree!" Rose answered.

The Doctor smiled at her, "You knew what traveling with me would be like," he said.

"I know, and I love it. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to be able to just relax for a minute," She answered.

The Doctor couldn't help but just smiling at her before turning and waving to House. "Take care," he said. "And now you know what to do if another Gleryth shows up so hopefully I won't have to come back anytime soon."

"I thought you said that was the last one," House said.

"Well, I thought that they were already gone before that one showed up. I could be wrong," he smiled and disappeared into the TARDIS, door closing behind him.

House stood there as the light on top began to flash in time with a rumbling noise. The thing began to slowly fade from the room until it was completely gone and he was left in silence once again. He sighed and limped his way back out of the slowly disintegrating room.

As he stepped outside he heard his name, "House!" Foreman cried as he ran down the hall from the stairs he had just come down. "Where the hell have you been? What's going on?"

He sighed, this was going to be a long story and they were sure to take away his pills after this.