Chapter 7: The Vashta Nerada

"What are we supposed to do?" Mickey asked Gwen. "We can't close the rift with those Weevils coming at us. Plus Regina's still here somewhere. Who knows what she's up to."

"Mickey, you've got to calm down." Gwen said. "Jack put us in charge of this because he knows we can do it. How far away are the Weevils from us?"

"I don't know." He replied. "Most of the cameras got damaged by the earthquake. I can't see all around the hub anymore."

"Eric." Gwen said

"What?" Mickey asked.

"We've got to get Eric before the Weevils do. We can't let him die." Gwen said.

"Don't you think we have more important things to worry about?" Mickey shouted.

Gwen ignored Mickey and ran over to the medical area. Mickey followed her. He couldn't stand to be by himself with carnivorous Weevils running around and the Evil Queen on the loose.

When Gwen arrived at the medical area of the hub, she found that Eric was not on the table anymore. He was on the floor and he wasn't moving. Oddly enough, he was still wearing his clothes that he wore when he originally left the Enchanted Forest. Regardless, she ran over to Eric and started shaking his unconscious body trying to wake him. Mickey watched in horror.

"Gwen!" He yelled to her. "Give it a rest. He's dead."

However, Eric's eyes started to open. The prince found himself being cradled by Gwen.

"What happened?" Eric asked staring into her eyes.

"The rift opened." Gwen responded gently.

"The rift?" Eric questioned.

"Don't worry about it. The point is that when it opened, it caused an earthquake. I think it may have thrown you from the table." Gwen told him.

Eric started to cry.

"No it's ok. You're safe now." Gwen said calmly trying to ease him.

This wasn't true. Outside of the hub was a Dalek, a Weeping Angel, and a Minotaur. Inside the hub were ferocious Weevils and the Evil Queen.

"No it's not that." Eric said. "My men are all dead and its all Regina's fault. I don't know why I even bothered to save her. I should've let her drown. Where is she?" Eric sobbed.

Regina soon arrived on the seen, surprised by what she was seeing.

"Oh Eric. What would Ariel say?" Regina teased.

"Ariel?" Mickey said.

"No way." Gwen said in shock. She remembered a certain film she'd seen when she was younger about a mermaid named Ariel who fell in love with a prince named Eric. She then looked down at Eric to question him. "Are you a prince?"

"Yes." Eric said as he broke free of Gwen's hold and stood up.

"The Evil Queen and Prince Eric are in the hub." Mickey said with great disbelief.

"What are you two?" Gwen asked Eric and Regina suspiciously. "You're just stories. How can you be real?"

Before either of them could respond, the roars of savage Weevils echoed throughout the hub.

"We have to move." Mickey said.

Gwen ran over to Mickey. Then, simultaneously they said. "Follow me."

Eric and Regina did not complain. Getting killed by Weevils was not part of the agenda. Gwen and Mickey were running side by side, with Eric and Regina running side by side behind them. Just slightly farther behind them were about fifty angry Weevils charging at them with hungry eyes and open mouths.

Gwen and Mickey suddenly split. Gwen ran towards the main hub area which had been attacked by the Minotaur just minutes ago. She knew a safe place there. However, Mickey ran away from this area and down the secret hallways and tunnels within the hub. Neither of them had realized that they broke away from each other. Regina and Eric did not have time to choose which Torchwood agent to follow as the Weevils were surprisingly fast runners. Eric followed Gwen to the main hub area and Regina followed Mickey through the mysterious halls of the hub. The Weevils were torn. They didn't know who to follow. So they split up as well, with twenty five Weevils running after Gwen and Eric, and twenty five Weevils hunting after Mickey and Regina.

Upon arriving at the main hub area, Gwen and Eric fled up the stairs to where the offices were. The Weevils noticed them from the ground and rushed up the stairs to attack them. Gwen opened the glass door to Jack's personal office. After she and Eric had run inside, Gwen shut the door and locked it. Seconds later, twenty five angry Weevils started banging mercilessly on the glass door and glass walls of Jack's private space.

"It's just glass. They're going to break through!" Eric shouted at Gwen.

"Eric...Prince Eric," she corrected herself. "You have to stay calm. This is special Torchwood glass. It's much stronger and safer."

Suddenly, the glass started to crack.

"What were you saying?" Eric yelled.

Gwen tried her best to stay calm and went over to Jack's personal computer, hoping to find something that could save them. It was at this point that she noticed Mickey and Regina were missing.

"Where are Mickey and Regina?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know." Eric responded,

Gwen had to assume the worst. They were dead. Tears went down her face, but she did not let them distract her as she continued to search the computer for something in the electronic files that could save them.

Gwen went through all Jack's files until she found one file that read "Hub Emergency". She immediately clicked on it. It was hard to concentrate with the sounds of the Weevils' screams and their endless banging on the walls. However, she did her best to stay focused. After clicking on the file, a hundred more smaller files appeared in the screen. Each one had a different title and contained information pertaining to a wide variety of hub emergencies. There were too many files and not enough time. So, Gwen picked the title that sounded strangest to her: "Vashta Nerada".

She clicked on the strange sounding file. Then, instead of a document with written information, a video started to play. Eric walked over to marvel at this strange sight. He'd never seen a video before. On the screen was non other than Captain Jack Harkness. He was sitting at his desk, but saying nothing. The video was frozen. Gwen started to panic and then realized that she needed to hit the "play" button on the screen in order for the video to begin.

When she clicked on the button, the video began and Jack started speaking.

"This is only to be used in the event of an emergency." Jack said on the screen.

Gwen and Eric mutually agreed that this definitely counted as an emergency. They continued watching the video.

"The Vashta Nerada are microscopic killers. Alone, they are harmless, but together they are more deadly than you can imagine. The Vashta Nerada live in the dark. They need it to survive. During World War II, a large group of Vashta Nerada came through the rift and thrived during the darkness of the Cardiff Blitz. Eventually, Torchwood captured them and trained them. They currently reside in the darkness under the hub and will only come out if they hear the noise from this whistle." Jack said as he pulled out a gold whistle from his pocket. "Once, the Vashta Nerada come out, they will fill the entire hub in darkness and kill everything in it. However, if someone is inside of a locked room, then they will not attack. All unlocked rooms will be taken over by the Vashta Nerada. That's what we trained them to do."

Gwen smiled. Jack had provided them with an escape from the Weevils. They were locked inside of Jack's office. She and Eric would be saved. First, they had to find the whistle. Gwen hastily searched through the drawers in Jack's desk until she found the golden whistle from the video.

The Weevils were growing more violent. Soon, they would break through the glass walls. Gwen had to blow the whistle now. She looked at Eric who was panicking to himself. She looked with a gleam of hope in her eyes. She managed to reassure the prince that everything would be alright without even saying a word to him. Without wasting another second, Gwen blew the whistle. There was no sound. The whistle made no detectable sound. However, the Vashta Nerada heard the whistle's low noise and started coming towards the hub.

Suddenly, the lights in the hub started to go out. The lights in Jack's office remained on. Gwen and Eric watched as the lights around the Weevils started to go black. Soon, the darkness consumed the Weevils. There were no more screams. There were no more bangs on the glass. However, there were a large number of thuds on the ground. Even though she couldn't see, Gwen knew what the thuds were. It was the bodies of dead Weevils hitting the ground.

Gwen then tried to find any working cameras in the hub on the computer. She found live footage of an empty hallway somewhere in the hub where the lights were still on. Suddenly, she saw Mickey and Regina run through the hallway followed by twenty five Weevils.

"No!" Gwen shouted.

"What is it?" Eric asked.

"I've just released deadly shadows into the hub." Gwen replied.

"Yes, and they've saved us." Eric replied.

"Only because we were in a locked room."

"So?"

"So Mickey and Regina are out there in the open. The Vashta Nerada are going to kill them."