"Quick!" nine says, as all crouch instinctively lower to the ground, "to the cave." He leads them back to the indent that had served as his and Sally's camp. They huddle low into it, and Nine moves to the back, all the while the howling getting louder and louder.
"Doctor," Amy says to Eleven, next to her, "Look over there." She points to the entrance of the cave, where Lorna's body still lays.
"What about it?" he replies, only glancing at the body in his search above the cavern , just in case the wolves break through.
Amy nudges his shoulder and says, "Why is her body still there?"
"Hmm?" River says, overhearing.
"Yeah, isn't there usually the transmat that gets rid of them?" Amy asks.
After thinking on it a moment, Eleven replies, "Unless…"
"Did anyone hear," says River to everyone, "a canon go off when she died?"
Nobody replies, because, and it dawns on them all at the same time, that, in the chaos, none of them heard the blast to indicate she's dead. Lorna, while bleeding and broken, is still alive down at the other end of the cave.
"Someone will have to go get her," Ten announces.
A second later, he splits away, heading straight at the girl, just as, much to his companions' dismay, the first white wolf bursts into the cavern. It lets out a fierce howl, and barrels towards Ten, who, raising his sword, bats it away and keeps on running. Jeff grabs a spear, and plants himself out in front of the cave, as River joins him, brandishing her blaster, still with two shots left loaded on it. The wolves are streaming in, bypassing Ten, however, and running towards the others.
Christina, Jack, and Amy also grabs weapons to help defend, and Eleven looks back at Nine, who is sitting towards the back wall of the cave.
Eleven is about to join in the defense, but he notices Nine, sitting where he is. "What are you doing?" he cries, almost incredulous.
Nine turns around, revealing to his future self, a blue device in his hand. A sonic screwdriver.
His eyes widen, and Eleven says, breathlessly, "How did you get that?"
Nine smiles, and replies, showing a grey parachute in his other hand, "Mickey's not that much of an idiot." And he turns back to the wall. Eleven ignores him, deciding that, if he's as clever as Eleven remembered being, that Nine's plan, whatever it is, is doing just fine.
But outside the little cavern, the battle was raging. All the while, Ten trying with all his might to dodge and duck the wolves racing around him, slashing away at them. He's just yards away from Lorna, now, and has yet to hear that fateful cannon that announces it's too late, that his foolish attempt has been for nothing. He is twenty feet away, then feet away, then five, then three, and then… He reaches out an arm to touch her, just as a canon goes off.
Then another.
And another still.
Heart pounding, he feels for a pulse on Lorna's wrist, and, when he comes away disappointed, he blinks, and the body's gone. But he has no time to think on the events, for the next thing he knows, he's flying into the air, his shoulder seared with pain where the wolf has bitten down on him. Somewhere between finding Lorna dead, and landing on the ground, it begins to rain, steadily at first, then all at once. The water catches him by surprise as he thuds on the ground. He's been thrown halfway back to the cave, right in the middle of the fight, and the dogs are on him again, fighting, clawing, killing. It seems to be no use, though, there are too many, and not enough energy to fight. It seems to be all over…
"Come on, you lot!" Nine's cry comes from inside the cave. "Come in here!"
Without thinking, the remaining tributes turn from the wolves, and towards the voice, the promise of salvation. And, when they run into the previously miniscule cave, they hardly notice when, instead of running into a dull cavern, they run into a lit hallway, with geometric walls and lights in the floor and walls and ceiling, and designs running up the walls.
"What's going on here?" asks Jack, spitting blood from his mouth.
"There was a door at the back of the cave," Nine replies, showing his sonic screwdriver. "I just had to open it to see where it went."
At the opening, Eleven was ushering the last of them, Christina and Ten, into the safety of the cave. He's about to run and hide himself, when he can't help himself, and looks at the old battlefield, full of blood and bodies. His breath catches in his throat as he sees a brief glimpse of Amy's red hair, matted with blood and water, and sees her body, lying half-crushed beneath the corpse of a snowy white wolf. A flash of lightning— and her body is transmatted away. He turns his head to the side, and finds Jeff, lying at the bottom of the cliff wall, broken by an impact, just as he is also taken away. But the wolves have noticed that they lost their targets, and are running towards Eleven now.
He ducks into the cave, through the newly-opened passageway, and stands aside for Nine, with the help of the sonic, to close the door again. Eleven turns around, and takes in his surroundings, no time for grief to take him just yet. Everyone else has made it inside, he notices. He also recognizes the new setting, and announces to those of their party who remain, "Welcome," he walks forward and gestures to the walls, "To the Game Station."