Author's Note:
Alright girls and guys, another update, but, before you dive into it I have a couple of things I'd like to say! Firstly, I need to give a huge to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. You guys are absolutely awesome and I hope my responses to your questions/comments have been adequate so far! Secondly, I have to apologize. These next couple of chapters are, in my mind at least, rather filler-ish. But, because of that, I plan to update again on Monday just to get them out of the way. Hopefully I'll get enough writing done this weekend that it won't be too much of a gap after that!
Alright, that's me out of the way, on with the story!
Happy Reading!
Chapter Four
Corner of Your Eye
Wilf couldn't help the way his chest contracted at the look of horror which overtook the Doctor's face at those words.
"I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so sorry," the alien whispered, looking impossibly young. Silence followed the helpless statement, stretching on for several moments before the Doctor gave his head a quick shake, pulling himself back from wherever his thoughts had taken him. "I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now," he said firmly, his voice taking on the same authoritative tone Wilf knew from the face before.
The policewoman, who had turned to face him when he started speaking, glared. "I live here."
"But you're the police."
"Yes, and this is where I live. Have you got a problem with that?" the redhead snapped.
The Doctor stared at her for a moment before replying. "How many rooms?"
That earned him a bewildered stare from both the young homeowner and Wilf. What the hell was he on about?
The young woman seemed to echo his thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"
"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."
The redhead threw another glare the Time Lord's way. "Why?" she demanded.
The Doctor didn't even flinch. "Because it will change your life."
Giving him a look like she was thoroughly questioning his sanity, the young policewoman complied. "Five," she replied, pointing to each door in turn, "One, two, three, four, five."
But that wasn't right. There were two doors right side by side at the top of the stairs which Wilfred had been watching out of the corner of his eye since he'd first taken up hiding on the stairs, plus the other four the redhead had pointed out. "Six," he corrected softly, standing up without thinking to stare at the doors.
There was a single beat of silence in which the gravity of his mistake dawned on him and he slapped himself mentally, before –
"Who the bloody hell are you!?" the redhead yelled, spinning to face him, "And what the hell are you doing in my house!?"
"Never mind him!" the Doctor interrupted impatiently, "There's a whole room in your house you've never noticed and you want to yell at Wilf?"
"Wilf? You know him!?"
The old human groaned and shook his head desperately at the Time Lord in an attempted to shut him up but his efforts were ignored.
"Yes! But that's not the point!" the Doctor replied as he gestured with his free hand towards the sixth room. "There's a room you've never seen before. It's in your house and you've never seen it! Look!"
The redhead rounded on him once more. "Look where?" she shouted.
"Exactly where you don't want to look." The alien's voice had dropped considerably and he fixed the girl with a stare willing her to understand. "Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye. Look behind you."
Slowly, very slowly, and with the look of someone who was still planning the best way to make both men sorry they'd ever stepped foot in her house, the young policewoman did as she was told. The moment the door came into view her jaw dropped. "That's, that is not possible. How's that possible?"
"There's a perception filter all round the door," the Doctor explained, "Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it…"
"But that's a whole room," the girl whispered in disbelief, "You were right, that's a whole room I've never even noticed."
"The filter stops you noticing. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding."
And suddenly Wilfred understood. The concern for Amelia, because she lived here, all that shouting about Prisoner Zero…. "It's that Prisoner Zero, isn't it? That's what's hiding in there."
The Time Lord nodded. "Yep," he confirmed before turning his attention to the policewoman who was slowly walking towards the door, "And you need to uncuff me now!"
"I don't have the key," came the distant reply as the girl moved closer and closer to both Wilf and the door, "I lost it."
She lost it? A real copper wouldn't lose the key to their handcuffs, would they? The suspicion Wilfred had felt earlier reared its head once more as he stared at the young woman coming closer and closer.
"How can you have lost it?" the Doctor cried in exasperation, straining against his restrains, "Stay away from that door!"
But she'd already reached it.
"Do not touch that door!"
Her hand was on the doorknob.
"Listen to me, do not open that -"
Wilf hurried up the last few steps and moved to stop her but she slipped inside the mystery room before he could reach her.
The Doctor threw up his free hand in exasperation. "Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?"
Wilfred raised one eyebrow at him and the alien sighed.
"Again…" he amended, his hand diving into his pockets in search of something, "My screwdriver, where is it? Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?"
Glancing around, the old human offered his friend a shrug. "I don't see it, Doctor."
The Time Lord made a frustrated sound. "Get me out of these things," he moaned, tugging desperately against the handcuffs.
Wilfred hurried to his side and began inspecting the radiator but he could see no way to dislodge the handcuffs. "Can you get your hand out?" he wondered aloud, "No, I suppose not…"
"There's nothing here," came the policewoman's disembodied voice from within the room.
"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the room," the Doctor called back, an edge of desperation present in his voice, "What makes you think you could see it? Now please, just get out."
"Silver, blue at the end?" the disembodied voice asked, ignoring the Doctor's pleas to get herself out.
Despite everything, Wilf caught a flash of relief in the Time Lord's eyes. "My screwdriver, yeah."
"It's here," the girl called.
"Must have rolled under the door," the Doctor reasoned.
There was a paused from within the room. "Yeah. Must have." Another pause. "And then it must have jumped up on the table."
The Doctor froze. "Get out of there," he said softly, but there was no reply. "Get out of there!" he tried again, yelling this time, but still he was met with silence. "Wilf! Get her out!"
Wilfred didn't need telling twice. He ran to the door, ignoring his still present aches and pains, and burst inside. The young woman was standing next to a single wooden table with the Doctor's suddenly very slimy sonic screwdriver in her hands.
The elder men hurried forward and took the screwdriver from her, "C'mon, we've got to get out of here!" he told her as he began ushering her towards the door. They were almost there when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he froze without thinking. There was something behind them, he just knew it. One look at his young charge told him that she felt it too.
"What is it?" came the Doctor's voice from outside, "What are you doing?"
"There's nothing here," the red haired girl replied slowly, and Wilf was impressed by the fact that her voice was quite steady even as she looked around for the source of the feeling, "But…"
"Corner of your eye…" the Time Lord reminded them, though the old human could hear the dread in his voice.
"What is it, Doctor?" he asked softly.
"Don't try to see it," said the alien quickly, "If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it. Do not look."
Wilfred, already accustom to following the Doctor's instructions, stood very still but the young policewoman continued turning from side to side in search of… Whatever it was… And then came the scream. Wilf followed the screaming girl's gaze against his better judgement and came face to face with a creature the likes of which he'd never seen; a giant worm-like thing with long, needle-like teeth hanging down from the ceiling and staring right at them with its mouth wide open.
"Run!" he shouted, pushing the redhead towards the door, while the Doctor screamed at them to get out from his place in the hall.
They bolted for the door, emerging into the hallway together. The policewoman slammed the door closed behind them and the two of them skidded to a halt by the Time Lord's side.
"Give me that," the alien said sharply, grabbing the sonic screwdriver from Wilf and locking the door before setting to work on his handcuffs, but the screwdriver wouldn't cooperate, "Come on. What's the bad alien done to you?"
The red haired girl was staring, wide eyed, between the door and the two men in her hallway. "Will that door hold it?" she asked, her voice bordering on frantic.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course," the Doctor's voice was dripping with sarcasm even as he continued to work on his malfunctioning screwdriver, "It's an interdimensional multiform from outer space. They're all terrified of wood."
Two almost identical glares were sent his way but a bright light from within the room saved the alien from any verbal responses which may have accompanied them.
"What's that? What's it doing?" the girl demanded.
"I don't know." The Doctor was rubbing the screwdriver now and sounding more than a little tense. "Getting dressed? Run. Just go. Both of you. Her backup's coming, just go with them. I'll be fine."
"There is no backup," said the policewoman in frustration.
"And I'm not leaving you, Doctor!" Wilf added, then blinked, "Wait, there's no backup?"
The Time Lord looked equally as confused. "I heard you on the radio. You called for backup," he argued.
"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio." came the terse reply.
"You're a policewoman."
"I'm a kissogram!" Reaching up she removed her cap and the long red hair Wilf had seen her tuck away came tumbling out in all its glory.
"Oh good…" the elderly man muttered but all other reactions to the revelation were cut off by the door falling down into the hallway before them with a bang.
Wilf, who had been expecting the worm-like creature, was caught off guard for the second time that day by the sight of a man dressed in workman's overalls and holding the leach of a large, black dog, standing in the doorway.
"But it's just…" the girl began.
"No, it isn't," said the Doctor.
And then Wilf saw it. The human face was growling while the dog was perfectly still. "Look at the faces," he said softly.
The man chose that moment to bark loudly at them.
The policewoman – no – kissogram's eyes grew, if possible, even wider. "What?" she whispered and then turned to the two men, "I'm sorry, but what?"
"It's all one creature," the Time Lord explained, "One creature disguised as two. Clever old multiform. A bit of a rush job, though," he raised his voice slightly to address the creature, "Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"
The man stared at the three of them for a moment then opened his mouth, revealing the worm's long, needle-like teeth.
"Stay, boy!" the Doctor shouted, and Wilf could make out a slight tinge of panic in his voice, "The three of us, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for backup – "
"I didn't send for backup!"
The Time Lord groaned. "I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives," he muttered before turning his attention back to the creature. "Okay, yeah, no backup. And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had backup, you'd have to kill us."
"Maybe don't mention killin' us, Doctor…" Wilf hissed at him but any further comment was interrupted by echoing, disembodied voice which caused the old human to all but jump out of his skin.
"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded." The voice seemed to resonate from everywhere and try as he might, Wilfred couldn't distinguish its source. "Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."
"What's that?" the redhead whispered.
"Well, that would be backup," the Doctor whispered back then addressed the creature yet again, "Okay, one more time. We do have backup and that's definitely why we're safe."
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
The alien made a face. "Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration."
But the creature had obviously heard enough. Without so much as a glance in their direction it turned and vanished into yet another room.
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
"That thing's leaving!" the girl cried.
"Maybe it doesn't feel like bein' incinerated," Wilf quipped as he watched the Doctor fight frantically with his screwdriver.
"Come on, work, work, work, come on," the Time Lord murmured and at long last the handcuffs came free. "Run! Run!" he shouted, grabbing his two human companions by the hand and bolting down the stairs while the disembodied voice continued repeating its message for all to hear.