DOCTOR WHO: THE KEYS TO DEATH

Chapter 3

"Mobilise Emergency Help right away!" commanded Lieutenant Nail as he saw the devastation unfold for the Mini and its occupants minutes earlier. There were no signs of life from in there and he and Captain Benson immediately rushed over to assist. They opened the doors and found everyone was slumped in their seats and were very much lifeless.
"Oh my God..." cried Captain Benson. "Why would it attack them?"
"I think we've provoked it..." sighed Lieutenant Nail. "It remembered this lot were there when we saw it, so when it met them again, it just wanted revenge..." he continued as he looked over everyone. They all had cuts over them yet the glass in the Mini hadn't broken at all. Then, Captain Benson smiled.
"She's got a pulse!" she said proudly referring to Amy.
"So's this one!" smiled Nail as he checked over Rory. Soldiers soon came and took away Amy and Rory on stretchers to the support centre. From there, they would be looked after and cared for. Now, Nail and Benson checked over the Doctor and River. They found pulses easily and were delighted that they hadn't lost anyone, well not yet. As night began to take hold, everyone was more cautious than ever before.

"That was certainly something different..." groaned a groggy Doctor as he stirred and found himself awake in the UN.I.T support centre. Opposite him was River who was checking everything in her Diary was upto date, as it always was. "Where are we now anyway, River?" the Doctor then asked.
"London...I thought you knew!" she joked.
"You know what I mean..." smiled the Doctor. "In terms of Time-lines...have we done the Sea-Devils yet?" River looked on blankly at the Doctor.
"What's a Sea-Devil?" she asked.
"That answers that then..." muttered the Doctor to himself. River just looked up in her Diary and made sure she was following the right order for her, which was never right for the Doctor.
"We've done the Mr. Ulvercrest debacle and seen that Jack the Ripper was actually called David..." she began. The Doctor smiled.
"Dave the Ripper...who'd have thought that?" he then joked.
"Not the Wife obviously..." smiled River. "But we've still got so many things to do Doctor...and every time its just the two of us onboard that TARDIS, you enlighten me even more about your past..."
"How do you mean?" asked the Doctor.
"You've told me basically about all your previous incarnations and some of your former companions..." replied River before taking a sip of her coffee that was by her side.
"Why would I tell you about them?" asked the Doctor, puzzled.
"You never let go, but you most certainly can never forget..." she began. "I suppose I'll be the same too, like Amy and Rory aswell...do they know there's been others before them?"
"Amy does..." replied the Doctor. "Not sure about Rory...I'm never sure what I have or haven't told him...I do feel sorry for him though..."
"Why?" asked River.
"I know Amy and about her and her past quite well now with travelling with her for some time, but I just don't know much about Rory. I know he has a Mother, no idea if he has a Dad...or Brothers and Sisters...not a clue...I know he has that Mini, brilliant car, but that's all I know. I just feel awful about that..."
"You'll get to know him much better..." reassured River. "There's plenty of time left with the pair of them..."
"Somehow, in the back of my mind I just doubt that River, I don't know why..." said the Doctor solemnly as the pair then just sat in silence.

Elsewhere in the support centre Amy and Rory were recovering well and were just getting used to surroundings when Lieutenant Nail popped in.
"Neither of you have seen Miss Harrison, have you?" he asked.
"No..." they both replied. Lieutenant Nail then spoke into his communicator.
"No sign of her..." he said. "We'll just have to keep looking. Her car is here, so she can't have gone far..."

Alison wasn't really that far away, she was just inside the house starting the night investigations early because she was always impatient. Her Mother had told her that for many years, but she didn't care. With a torch in hand, she slowly walked round the cavernous Holmes House. In the fading light, it took on another persona altogether. In day, it was quaint, but empty. However at night it did just look and feel like the stereotypical Haunted House. Everything creaked and dust and cobwebs were everywhere.
"Could do with a good clean..." she muttered to herself as she continued. The story around these 'happenings' and the mysterious keys appearing was far beyond what Alison should be doing, but again she simply didn't care. Over the last few weeks she'd found several keys all with a note attached. They all basically said the same thing of 'get out now' but Alison, unlike others hadn't been fazed and had survived. As she carried on she then saw a key on the floor. "Oh my..." she said. "Which room do you belong to then?" she asked herself as like before, the keys all belonged to a room within Holmes House. There were over 50 rooms in the house but it could be any one of them. She picked it up and saw the number etched into it. It read 'No. 38' and Alison was on the right floor already and could see room 38 was just to her right. When she looked again though, there was a bright light emanating from the gap between the door and the floor. "What the hell?" she said as she moved over to it. As she got closer she then looked at the note attached with the key. It simply read 'Almost there...' and Alison couldn't work it out. So she put the key into the lock and slowly began to turn it. The glowing light was still there and when the door opened fully, Alison was horrified at what she saw. "Oh my God!" she cried. Before her was a mass of swirling pink and white light which swished and swayed like the breeze. She was speechless, but then she could feel something was wrong, she was being drawn in. "Oh my God! HELP!" she then cried, but no-one seemingly heard. Grabbing hold of the door, Alison hung on for dear life and cried out once more. "HELP!" and this time she was heard. Everyone around Holmes House could hear her and soon the Doctor got into action with River, Amy and Rory soon joining. Lieutenant Nail and Captain Benson joined the race for her too as slowly but surely Alison was being dragged in by the swirling mass. "What are you?" she asked but it didn't reply, it just pulled harder. If help didn't come soon, she'd be gone and then to make matters worse, Alison heard the door beginning to snap and fracture. "HELP!" she cried once more as everywhere then fell silent...