I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If you thought that this story was spider free...it's not. And, if you missed the first five disclaimers- I claim no ownership of Doctor Who whatsoever.

The Rather Ravenous Garden

CHAPTER SIX

The Doctor glances back to the spiders as he runs- they were catching up. He then looks back to Rose and Raechek who was running beside her. Tychek and Lenchek disappear somewhere ahead of them in the tunnel with a number of the other soldiers. The Doctor dashes ahead of Jack and Rose as he searches for the others in the dark.

"Where are the others?" he glances over to Raechek.

"They took separate tunnels which branch off of this one." she explains, "They are smaller, the spiders won't be able to find them."

"There aren't any more of those conveniently close by, are there?" The Doctor grabs for Rose's hand and pulls her with him as he turns a corner. His companion barely misses being swiped at by the bugs; she stares back at them in alarm as she runs.

"Please say yes…!" he adds hurriedly.

"I'm sorry. There aren't." Raechek gives a nod as she runs, getting ahead of Jack and Rose, "There is another shield. It is less than a quarter kilometer before we reach the next on-."

A shout cuts her off as it echoes down the tunnel from behind them, a Chekorin warrior had been taken. The clicking of the metal spiders stops for a moment and the Doctor turns back instinctively to run towards the scream, to help. Raechek reaches out to him, to hold him back before he can start off. He turns to face her at the touch.

"Let go!" the Time Lord pushes her hand off his shoulder, "I can save him!"

"You cannot!" she insists. "Come, please! We have to be quick- they will not be stopped for long!"

It takes the Doctor less than a second to make his decision before they were off again. The spiders were too.

They continue their sprint down the dark tunnel. The Doctor hears more clicking and looks back to Jack in alarm. Captain Harkness notices the noise too, of course; he turns back to see a group of three spiders not far behind him. He grimaces at the Doctor, the spiders get closer.

"Not again… Not here. I don't want to die." he bares his teeth as he runs, "Not by spiders."

"Run, Jack!" The Doctor shouts back to him. "Come on!"

"You know what?" The Time Lord notices a grin on the immortal's face, "This is some kind of payback for all those times I crushed little spiders in the shower isn't it? …Karma really sucks!"

The Doctor doesn't reply. He grins wildly over to Rose, who smiles. They speed up as they see what appears to be a shield station in the distance, a safe point. Rose smiles in relief. The only thing to do now was to get to the shield and get it up before the spiders reached them. Miss Tyler glances back as one of the arachnids' stops suddenly in the middle of the tunnel before leaping into the air towards them all.

"Run!" Rose shouts. "Jack!"

Captain Harkness turns back to look just as the spider reaches him. The robot lands on him and its weight alone pins him to the ground; the spiders silver fangs centimeters from his face. Jack wrestles the bug and tries to push it off. The spider gives a sharp hiss of static as it lunges for his face once more.

"Jack!" she shouts again.

Captain Harkness pushes the metal fangs away, "Get out of here!" he snarls.

"But-!"

"Ah!" he stops her, "Go on-!"

She watches as the other spiders surround him, blocking her view of the ex-time agent. Rose stops almost immediately.

"Jack!" she shouts, "Doctor, we have to go back for him!"

"We can't!" The Doctor glances back at the advancing spiders as he pulls Rose along, "He'll be fine."

"But Doctor-!"

"No, Rose!" he looks over to her sharply as they continue to run.

Raechek was a bit ahead of them in the tunnel; she faces the shield and hurriedly types away at the interface panel. The same red text kept appearing over and over again, as the database refused the command code. The Doctor and his companion reach the Chekorin's side, another two Chekorin warriors flee the spiders as they charge down the passageway after the group. Raechek gives the screen a tap as the outdated technology beeps in refusal. He whips his brainy specs out and puts them on before looking over Raechek's shoulder at the display. The Doctor watches the characters on the screen fly past and flash brightly.

"Doctor! They're getting closer!"

At Rose's voice, the Time Lord glances away from the screen.

They were, in fact, marching nearer. Another one of the spiders leaps through the air and brings a Chekorin to the ground with its weight. The spiders had their sights set on the last warrior, and the Doctor knew that after the last Chekorin fell the spiders would go after himself and Rose. He looks to the screen again in panic. The spiders were moving faster than the text on the screen. At this rate the spiders would have them before Raechek had a chance to get the shield up. At this rate he and Rose wouldn't… The Doctor's eyes widen, he licks his lips worriedly to try to bring his voice back.

"I'm sorry," the Time Lord interjects, looking quickly from Raechek to the spiders, "So sorry. But how much longer is that going to take?"

"I'm-" The Chekorin's voice breaks, she looks from the keys to the screen in frustration, "I- I do not know."

"Do you mind if I-?" he asks, moving to the side of the tunnel.

"No! Go ahead!" Raechek steps out of the way then glances over at the fast approaching spiders. "Hurry!"

The Doctor jumps over to the screen in a panic, hitting every key and pressing every button that the input board had. Rose watches as his face lights up at every sequence he enters. His eyebrows screw together in confusion as the display goes a bright red, the light reflects off his glasses. The screen gives a sharp buzz of irritation and the Doctor taps it in annoyance. Raechek watches as the Doctor reaches down into his pockets for something.

"Come on, come on!" he fumbles through the contents of his pockets, "There!"

He holds up the sonic screwdriver triumphantly. The Doctor turns toward the machine and the blue glow cuts through the dark of the tunnel. The whirring of the screwdriver is almost inaudible as the spiders draw closer. Raechek watches as the Doctor's device clears the screen of all text. The Doctor then looks up from the panel to the spiders, which were still headed towards them and then to the area where the shield should have been. It still hadn't come up.

The spiders continue through the dim tunnel.

"Come on." The Doctor mutters to himself. "Come on… Think!"

Rose watches as he reaches up and runs a hand through his hair, "What's wrong?" the Doctor continues, muttering to himself, "What did you do wrong?"

He grips the sonic screwdriver in determination as he turns to face the display screen again. The Doctor types hurriedly away at the keys. He stops all of a sudden and looks over to the section of the tunnel where a circle was cut into the stone from the ceiling to the floor and the walls in-between, where the shield should be. Rose follows his gaze and runs over to the wall with him.

"What are we looking for?" she asks.

The Doctor takes the other side of the tunnel, "Anything! Anything that would block the shield!"

Raechek watches as the two comb the sides of the tunnel, she glances to the spiders that were less than thirty seconds away. The spiders, all hissing as they charge towards the Doctor and his companion, get closer and closer. One runs ahead of the others and stops just in front of the Doctor. It throws up its front legs and gives a sharp hiss. The spider's sharp metal legs were extremely close to the Doctor's neck.

The Time Lord looks up and, as the hissing grows louder, says something under his breath.

This just wasn't his day.

This chapter is definitely better than the others. Or at least, that's what I think. I have a poll up for this story on my profile page, where you can tell me how I'm doing so far if you aren't the reviewing sort. And if you are, please leave some criticism or something of that nature- chapter seven will be up next Sunday regardless.

Amethyst