A/N: Poor David. I heard about his mum just yesterday, hope he's okay.

Chapter 13 – World's End Part 3

The Doctor's eyes were flashing back and forth between the zombie masses either side of them, pushing Rose behind him against the banister and protecting her with his own body.

She wrapped her arms around his abdomen, seeking reassurance that it was the Doctor, and if there was a way out he'd be the one to think of it.

The stench of both rotten flesh and petrol fumes was horrendous now, the zombies barely five metres from them. If they were any slower stationary objects would overtake them – not that the Doctor was complaining.

He saw the abandoned petrol can in the centre of the stairs where they were, on its side now so only the smallest amount of petrol leaked out the hole in the bottom of the can. Looking down at the stairs now he could see the wet trail that Rose had left in her wake from carrying the leaking can. The trail must've gone all the way down the stairs…

His eyes widened.

He instantly leapt forward from Rose, taking her by surprise as he dived for the petrol can. He grabbed it and unscrewed the top, careful not to spill a drop on himself as he poured it over the floor in the path of the zombies coming up behind them. Once satisfied, he carelessly threw the can over the banister and launched out a hand to one of the lights still standing on the banister – a glass sculpture of a fire on the end of a long stick as she'd seen before at the bottom, some form of light encased within shining through.

The Doctor took it, raising it above his head and bringing it hard down onto the stone banister. The glass instantly smashed into several thousand pieces to reveal a large flame burning brightly inside.

"Rose, stand back!" the Doctor warned, lowering the flame on the end of the stick to the floor, resting to the petrol.

The petrol ignited.

Rose had to admit – the Doctor was a complete and utter genius at times. She watched as the flames danced about infront of her eyes, following the trail of petrol she herself had created down the stairs. It was like watching a marble run down a spiral track, the floor lighting up and issuing with it more groans from the toasted zombies' lips. Her eyes followed it down the stairs, its pace like a speeding bullet.

Thousands of zombies were burning infront of her eyes, the fire claiming each of them of their existence…if it could even be called that. The fire had spread at the bottom now too, the dopey zombies walking straight into the flames.

Everything was ablaze.

"Rose," the Doctor was saying, something being thrust into her hand. The fire stick. She looked at the Doctor next to her, confused as he acquired a new one for himself. He nodded to the mass of zombies between them and the oaken door, and she found herself concurring.

"Three…" the Doctor muttered, "two…one…" He was off. "CHARGE!"

Left, right, left, right Rose swung her fire stick, screaming kamikaze at the zombies as she ran forward, inches behind the Doctor. If she wasn't climbing the stairs she'd have closed her eyes, the sight of more burning zombies suddenly unbearable after what had happened before.

She could feel zombie blood all over her as each strike took off a head or five, her free hand desperately trying to wipe the congealed blood off of her. Something grabbed her collar, making her emit a tiny scream of surprise as she suddenly found herself lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling.

"Get off!" she screamed, thrashing around with her fire stick still on hand – tens of rotted zombie hands suddenly starting to rest against her clothes, zombies face staring down at her, mouths open and dripping blood. "DOCTOR!" she hollered, "HELP ME!"

The zombie nearest to her neck seemed to be having all the fun, knowing it had the best viewpoint. She watched its disgusting one eyed face as it got closer and closer towards her…

Then its head went missing.

Rose screamed once more at blood cascaded onto her, closing her eyes and raising her arms up to her face as more squishing sounds ensued.

A firm hand grabbed her around the stomach as she suddenly found herself wrenched upwards off of the floor, her eyes opening to find she was slung around the Doctor's shoulders, one warm hand holding around her legs with the other extended towards a single remaining zombie, fire stick in hand.

"Stay back," she heard the Doctor growl, silently cheering him on as the zombie dared to start limping towards him, shuffling through the dead bodies of its fellows, arms extended. "STAY BACK!" the Doctor demanded, louder this time. He jabbed the fire stick in the zombie's direction threateningly. "I don't want to do this, I really don't want to do this, but if you take one more step…"

It took another step.

The Doctor raised his arm, and the fire stick went flying towards the zombie's head. It hit was such force the already weak bone of the skull cracked beneath it as the stick drilled in and straight through the other side, splitting its head in two.

It hit the floor.

After a small pause, the Doctor lowered Rose to the ground also, accepting her prolonged hug of pure relief as he looked around at the mess of charred zombies in the room. He had done this.

He looked downwards at Rose, to find she was looking up at him, shaking her head.

"They didn't ever exist Doctor," she reassured him, scarily able to read his thoughts from the grave expression on his face. "They were never real. You killed some pixels, nothing more."

He nodded, letting go of her and taking her hand instead to lead her through the oaken door.

A note was already waiting for them on a silver platter sitting on a podium. Beyond the podium was a flat surface, with eight box outlines carved into the stone.

Rose was the one to take the note this time, acknowledging the 'V'.

The journey is not over yet,

There is one more task to complete.

All letters form into words,

But in which way do they meet?

"Anagrams," the Doctor said instantly, "predictable. What've we got then?"

"R, G, O, M, two E's, a V and an A." She offered the slips of paper to him.

He slowly clicked his tongue, taking the proffered paper and setting them down onto the surface, spreading them out and staring hard.

"MORE…GAVE? GEM…" he muttered to himself, his fast Time Lord brain accessing every single option presented in these eight letters. "GRAVE…ROAM…"

Rose had been looking too. "Is ROVE a word?"

"In a minority..."

"MEGA ROVE!" she grinned, but his eyes were wide and shining as he realised what the letters rearranged to…

He lifted a steady hand, pushing the slips of paper into the outlines in a set order. As each letter was moved Rose's eyes also widened, the answer so simple yet so inconspicuous.

GAME OVER.