Chapter 3 – Wing Chung
The rain slapped her in the face, forcing her to slow down and look where she was going. She looked across the car park at herself running into the building site, and chased after… herself…
Dani had to wait for herself to leave, and then she could find the Doctor, or things would change and he'd never be rescued.
Dani watched her past self run out of the site and threw herself into the construction immediately afterwards.
A rushed shadowy shape narrowly missed her and vanished back into the shadows of the mass of concrete blocks and pipes.
Hiding behind a small digger, Dani peered round the tracks, looking for the creature. She saw nothing but shadows, noise blotted out but the rising of the rain. Thunder rolled in the distance.
She saw movement, a high-vis vest on a construction manager who'd come by to check on things.
He wandered past her without event and stood looking at the cement mixer lying on its side in the middle of the open.
He went to pick it up when a darkness shifted overhead.
Dani stood and shouted at the man.
"Run! Get out of here or you'll die!" She started towards the danger, the man in the high-vis vest turned and stood where he was.
"What're you doing in here? Get out; it's dangerous for the likes of you!"
Teeth, rows and rows of it showed out of nothing, and Dani screamed while pointing, her true fear very evident.
The man looked up and screamed too, he tried to run, but wasn't fast enough. He vanished amongst nothingness and his cries were silenced.
The creature, seemingly made out of black smoke, turned on Dani then. She ran.
Leaping over blocks and pipes, and heading for the ladder next to some tall scaffolding.
She got up the ladder the fastest she'd ever moved, and kept on climbing.
Hissing signalled the creatures approach behind her, urging her to move faster, get higher.
The Doctor was nowhere to be seen, and despair filled up the corners of Dani's heart.
Reaching the top of the unfinished hotel, Dani ran across the open expanse of concrete that would one day make up the roof. Slithering followed her.
She reached the edge and looked down. No escape…
She turned back to face the creature, and couldn't see it anywhere, so she panicked a bit. She scanned all around her, and seeing nothing, had the chance to wonder where the Doctor was.
Hot breath blew across her neck and she froze, when had it got behind her?
She went on the defensive and ducked low, swinging her leg up to knock the creature aside.
Despite the seemingly gaseous nature of the alien, it was actually solid, and so her kick pushed it away from her.
Dani spun and went to work on the monster with huge teeth.
She'd done a little martial arts, another of her mother's forgotten hobbies, and had kept up the classes long after her mum had moved onto, 'bigger and better things.'
Dani went into her Wing Chung stance, and readied her defence.
The creature struck out, going for her legs, and she knocked it aside once more.
It seemed to grow cautious, thinking through its next attack, when Dani took her turn to strike!
She launched punch after punch, trying to force the creature back. It went to the edge of the roof… and fell, a horrid screech piercing the air, followed by a loud thud as whatever it was hit the ground.
"Hello Dani!"
Turning, her eyes furious, she rounded on the Doctor.
"Where the hell have you been? "
"Enjoying the view…?"
Dani sighed and realised she would never get a straight answer out of him. So she smiled at him and they clambered down the side of the building together.
Wisps of the creature fluttered away out of view, disintegrating into the smoke it had appeared to be.
"What was that thing Doctor? It ate someone…"
"Related to the Vashta Nerada, what you humans refer to as, 'The Monster under the Bed.' It's a Tavar Nian, like the next step up in the pyramid of shadowy creatures. I've never seen one so big before though…"
"What do you mean by 'you humans', are you saying you're an alien Doctor?"
The Doctor's silence answered her question.
They walked back to the TARDIS in the rain, not speaking still.
The Doctor opened the door and stepped inside, not looking back.
Dani smiled a sad smile and turned to walk away.
"Hey Dani! Where do you think you're going? I thought you were coming along with me?"
She halted and turned back to face him, shock apparent on her face.
"It's a time machine… you can choose where to go first if you want…?"
Dani ran to the Doctor and hugged him tight, looking around the control room in awe once more.
The Doctor shut the door and called out loud, "Where to Dani?" as the light atop the roof eased on and off and the screeching noise grew fainter and fainter along with the image of the little blue box.
(AN: The end. lol, I think that's the end of this tale, but not the end of Dani and the Doctor...)