UNIT:X (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Empty Houses)

The first thing that hit Richard when he stepped into the hallway of his rented house was how cold it was. Sure, it was cold outside, but in here it seemed bitter. It was almost as if nobody had lived here for quite some time. He reached for the light switch and flicked it – nothing.

It felt strange being back here. He had only been gone a short while, but to his wife he had been essentially dead for over five months at least. He never did find out when Roger Stark had told her he had died.

He turned left into the living room. It was as lived in as ever. Toys all over the floor and a half-eaten sandwich on the side next to a glass of gone-sour milk. He felt the bread – it was stale. He knelt down in front of the toys and picked up Molly’s Peppa Pig toy. That too felt cold. They had obviously left in a hurry.

He stood up and walked over to his favourite armchair and settled himself down. He closed his eyes and for a moment he thought he could hear the sounds of his children playing, but when he opened his eyes there was nobody there.

The house – and indeed the town – was silent.



The Doctor had reached a main road. Most of the cars were parked up, but there were one or two that had just been abandoned in the middle of the street, their doors left wide open. He crossed over to a small Fiat Punto and ran his screwdriver over it.

“No,” he said to himself, “just nothing.”

“Just nothing,” he heard a voice say. He spun around but there was nothing to be seen. Something sounded familiar about it.

“You’re going daft in your old age,” said the Doctor, tapping on his temple. “Silly, daft old Time Lord.”

He continued down the centre of the road. Not a single light shone out of a house. No streetlights. Nothing. This entire area of town – perhaps even the whole town – was totally deserted.

And that smell of eggs as well...

He was about to turn and go back when his foot hit something slimy. He almost went over but managed to steady himself.

He knelt down to examine it. It was a thick, black liquid – like slime – which had gathered in a three-foot diameter puddle. He ran his sonic screwdriver over it. It beeped angrily at him. He shook it and then stared at the readings.

“Interesting,” said the Doctor. He knelt down so his nose was just millimetres away from the slime and sniffed. “Very interesting. Eggs again.”

He was about to lick the slime when he heard the screeching of a car and a flash of headlights emerged from around a corner. He turned to his right and was momentarily blinded as a vehicle headed straight towards him.



Holly was on her knees now, her hands behind her head as the young soldier pointed the gun down at her.

“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“Holly. Holly Dangerfield,” she said. She looked up at him. “What’s going on here?”

“Have we met before?” he asked.

“What?”

“Answer the question!” he barked, gripping his rifle tighter. “Have we met before? Do we know each other?”

“No. No. Never!” she said quickly. “What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know,” said the soldier. “Why are you here?” He picked up a walkie-talkie. “Why didn’t you evacuate with everyone else?”

“Is the whole town deserted?” asked Holly.

“Answer the question!” he shouted again.

“Will you stop shouting?!” Holly yelled back. She waited until he was silent. “I haven’t been evacuated because I’ve just arrived.”

“Arrived from where?”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain,” she said. “An hour ago I was at a party with Agatha Christie.”

The soldier brought his walkie up to his mouth and pressed the talk button. “This is Corporal Pike to Double Zero.”

Holly frowned. Double Zero sounded familiar.

“Go ahead, Pike,” came a London accent on the other end.

“I’ve caught a civilian here in the vicinity of Maple Avenue. Says she’s just arrived. What shall I do with her, over.”

“Has she given you a name, over?”

“Holly Dangerfield, over.”

There was silence.

“Sir?” said the private.

“Don’t panic, Pike. Get her back to base ASAP. I think she’s with the Doctor.”

“You know about the Doctor?” said Holly. “Then you must be UNIT soldiers.”

“UNIT: X to be precise, Miss Dangerfield,” said the coporal. He had relaxed a little. “If you’ll come with me, Double Zero and Sentinel will fill you in on what’s happened.”

“But I need to go and meet Richard and the Doctor back on Littlefield Avenue,” said Holly.

“There’s no time for that,” said Pike. “It’s not safe out here.”

“Not safe?” Holly sniffed. “Apart from the eggy smell what’s not safe about it?”

“Come with me and you won’t have to find out.”



Richard had made his way to the kitchen with the intention of making himself a cup of tea before realising that there was no electric and even the water wasn’t running out of the taps. He sighed and went in the fridge. All of the food was going mouldy, but there were two bottles of nicely chilled water. Only chilled because it was so cold in the house. He grabbed one of the bottles and downed half of it straight away.

“Daddy...”

He turned around at the voice. That was definitely a voice. It was his son, Liam. He frowned. Liam was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m going mad,” he said, putting the chilled bottle against his forehead and closing his eyes. “Too long in Star Trek land.”

“Daddy...” it came again.

He looked up. In front of him was the back kitchen window which looked out into the dark garden. He could just about make out the kids red and yellow slide but nothing more. He walked up to the window and put his face closer to the glass. He stared as hard as he could. There was nothing.

“Daddy...” came the voice again just as a dark shape rushed past the window making him jump back.

“Jesus bloody Christ!” said Richard.

His first instinct was to get the hell out of the house right now, but this was his house and he felt obliged to at least try and protect it and make it feel secure. If there was someone prowling around in his back garden he was going to make sure they didn’t prowl anymore.

He took the backdoor key off the hook beside the chalkboard and unlocked the door. He stepped outside into the cold night air. Without the reflections of the window he could see a little more clearly. There was definitely something in the corner of the garden beside the shed.

He stepped forward a little more. “Alright, mate, what you playing at?”

The shape didn’t move.

“Come on, I haven’t got the bloody time for this. Show yourself.”

The dark shape began to turn around to face him. Richard felt a sense of calm wash over him. Why? Why was he feeling calm? He didn’t know who are what this was. But the thing continued to turn and when Richard saw the face he gasped.

The small, thin, pink face with big, blue eyes. It was his son.

“Liam?”



“Please be careful!” said the Doctor as the landrover pulled up beside him, almost parking in the puddle of slime.

The door opened and a woman in a leather jacket and jeans stepped out flanked by two soldiers in black combats. She was tall, blonde and in her late thirties. She smiled down at the Doctor and spoke with an Australian accent. “How’s my favourite Scottish alien then?”

The Doctor looked up at her and smiled. “Faith Crossland.”

Faith extended her hand and the Doctor shook it. “Good to see you again.”

“You too, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”

The Doctor got to his feet and brushed down his trouser fronts. “What exactly has been going on around here?”

“We’ve had to evacuate the entire town for starters,” said Faith, zipping up her jacket and shivering a little.

“So it is the entire town?”

“Just about,” said Faith. “And we’ve set up a five mile exclusion zone as well.”

“But what for?” asked the Doctor.

Faith opened the landrover door and indicated for him to get in. “I’ll explain when we get back to base. You can meet the rest of the team then.”

“But I need to meet up with my friends.”

“Holly, Richard and Lilly?” asked Faith.

“Yes, well, just Richard and Holly. Lilly and I have parted company for the time being.” He clambered into the vehicle.

“Sorry to hear that, Doc.” She shut the door and walked around to the other door. “We’ve already picked up Dangerfield and someone’s on their way to get Richard now.”

“But maybe I should -”

“No, Doctor,” said Faith. “You don’t want to be out on these streets alone.”

“Why ever not? Apart from eggs and that patch of slime I’ve not seen anybody else.”

“No,” said Faith, nodding slowly, “but pretty soon you will do. Pretty soon the monster will come out and play.”

“Monster?” said the Doctor, wide-eyed.

“Oh, yeah,” said Faith, nodding.

“Excellent,” smiled the Doctor.

To be continued...