Doctor Who BBCN10 - The Nightmare of Black Island Read Online Free Page A

the path, pushing through the tangle of tree roots and brambles. Branches whipped at their faces, catching on their clothes. Behind them they could hear the frustrated roars of the creatures and the sound of trees crashing to the floor as the two monsters tried to tear their way through in pursuit.
    ‘They’re too big to follow us in here!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Keep to where the wood is dense!’
    The two of them struggled forward, ducking under fallen trees, scrambling up muddy banks. Finally they stumbled into a small clearing and the Doctor waved at Rose to stop.
    18

    ‘Slow down. I think we’ve lost them.’
    Rose slumped against a tree, breathing hard. She tilted her head back, letting raindrops from the leaves splash on to her face.
    ‘I’ll tell you one thing. Being with you keeps a girl fit.’
    The Doctor beamed breathlessly at her. ‘Fun to be with and good for you. Gotta be just what the doctor ordered.’
    ‘What were those things?’
    ‘Dunno. Nothing I’ve ever seen before.’
    ‘Something you don’t know. . . I knew there had to be something.’
    ‘It happens occasionally. Tell you what I do know, though. . . ’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘We’re nearly out of the woods.’
    He nodded through the trees. Ahead of them, about 200 metres away, yellow light glowed warmly.
    ‘Street lamps?’
    The Doctor nodded.
    ‘Civilisation, of a sort.’
    Rose smiled, then froze. The rain splashing on to her face had suddenly got warm. And thick.
    She wiped a hand across her face and saw strands of sticky slime trailing from her fingers. She looked up in disgust. And screamed.
    A huge centipede loomed over her, hanging from an overhead branch.
    It must have been over two metres long, its thick body bristling with hairs and thick slime dripping from razor-sharp mandibles. It lunged at her, hissing viciously.
    Rose stumbled backwards, her foot slipping on the wet earth. She crashed to the ground, the air punched out of her. The centipede gave a hiss of triumph and surged forward.
    Suddenly there was a sharp piercing whine and the creature dropped from the tree, writhing on the ground in agony, mandibles snapping uselessly at the air. The Doctor stood on the other side of the clearing, sonic screwdriver held out before him, the blue light at its tip gleaming brightly in the gloom.
    He darted forward, dodging out of the way of the squirming monster, and hauled Rose to her feet. He handed her a large spotted 19

    handkerchief and she wiped her face gratefully.
    ‘How many more of these things are there?’
    The Doctor nodded over her shoulder, his face grim.
    ‘Lots, unfortunately.’
    20

    TheDoctorandRoseharedthroughthewood,desperatetoreachthe distant lights. Through the trees behind them came monsters of every description: big ones, small ones, all colours and shapes. Some bounded forward on muscular legs, others skittered from tree to tree.
    They slithered, they crawled, some even flew, pursuing them through the dark, baying like a pack of hounds. The noise was deafening.
    Rose’s breath was burning in her chest. She fought the instinct to look back. She felt that any minute now one of the monstrosities behind them would reach out with a feeler or claw and snatch her into the middle of the howling throng. She remembered the blood pools on the beach, dark stains all that was left of a young man, and started to run faster.
    The lights ahead of them were tantalisingly close, but Rose just wasn’t sure what happened once they reached them. She glanced at the Doctor, who was racing alongside her. His eyes were fixed on the lights at the edge of the wood, his jaw was set. Suddenly she knew that it would be all right. He was the Doctor. And he had a plan!
    At that point something that looked like an oversized mosquito swooped at the Doctor’s head, its wings droning. It stabbed down 21

    at him with a wickedly sharp proboscis.
    The Doctor batted it away frantically and as it darted off, buzzing angrily, its long legs