UNIT: X (Chapter 11)

Chapter 11 (All Fall Down)

Richard was running. He was aware that something – possibly the creature – was chasing him, but he wasn’t going to stop now. He could hear the growling coming from behind him, but he was worried that if he allowed the creature to catch him it would destroy him. That wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to get out of this world. He wanted to get back to the real world.

“You cannot escape!” screamed the creature.

“And you can’t stop me!”

“Where do you think you’re going to go?”

“I have no idea really. I’m just hoping you have your mind on other things.”



Faith and the rest of the team were distracted when they realised that the Dream Catcher was no longer concentrating on the conversation between her and Taggart. It was instead looking down, but its blazing eyes were not looking at anything in particular. It looked as though it was thinking.

“What’s wrong with it?” asked Holly.

“Perhaps it’s going to sleep,” said Osborne, making sure he had a good grip of his rifle.

“No, that’s not it,” said Beth, stepping forward. “There’s something other than us causing it to concentrate. Its mind is on something else.”

Faith stepped away from Taggart and stood underneath the creature, its head hovering a few metres above her. She waved her arms about, but the creature didn’t even blink.

“We should kill it now,” said Osborne, stepping forward.

“No!” said Taggart. “You can’t.”

“You keep quiet, Claire,” said Faith, pointing back towards her.

The creature suddenly let out a frustrated yowl and threw its head back. Globules of black saliva, or what they assumed was saliva, dripped from underneath its chin and Faith stepped back quickly.

It thrashed about, looking like a fly caught in a spider’s web.

Faith stepped further away and looked at Osborne. “Cuff her,” she said, nodding to Taggart.

“You can’t do this, Faith. Please.”

“You betrayed us. You betrayed us all, Claire. You have to understand why I’m doing this.”

“And you have to understand why I did what I did.”

Faith stepped up to her again as Osborne took her wrists and fastened the cuffs. “I understand the pain of loss. I understand the complete, aching feeling at missing a person so much, but none of that would ever – ever – make me betrayed my team. No, sorry, I don’t mean team.” She straightened herself up. “None of that would ever make me betray my friends.”

The creature screamed again. Plaster fell from the ceiling.

“Is this place quite stable?” asked Holly.

“We should get out of here,” said Beth, looking up ominously at the ceiling.

“How do we deal with it though?” asked Faith.

The creature screamed again.

“You have to help me!” shouted Taggart to the creature.

The creature’s eyes suddenly stared straight ahead at Taggart. “I have already told you that the deal is off.” It screamed again. It was finding it hard to concentrate.

“What’s going on?” asked Holly. “Why are you screaming?”

“There is something within me trying to break out!” screamed the creature. “I cannot...I cannot concentrate.”

“You need to let me try again,” begged Taggart. “Please...”

“Shut up, Swift,” said Osborne.

Taggart saw her opportunity. She barged into Osborne and, with her hands cuffed, managed to grab the rifle from him. She lunged forward and aimed the weapon at the Dream Catcher.

“TAGGART!” yelled Faith.

“You said you’d help me!” shouted Taggart. “I want them back.”

“Pitiful creature,” hissed the monster, “do you really think I would have helped you?” It screamed again and threw its head back. “There was never...any....chance for...you...”

“Don’t lie. You were going to help me,” said Taggart, her hands trembling.

“I was never going to help you!”

Taggart’s face was red with anger. She screwed her face up, screamed and fired the rifle at the creature’s limbs. The ribbon of bullets cut through one of its arms and it dropped downwards a few metres, still suspended by one arm.

“Claire!” yelled Faith.

But it was no use. Taggart ran at the creature and continued to fire off a barrage of shots. Some of the bullets struck the plaster work on the ceiling causing more to sprinkle down. Some bullets ricocheted off the walls, but the main wave of them hit the creature square in the head. One hit its blazing right eye and it screamed in pain.

“We need to save those people!” yelled Faith, trying to stop her.

Taggart pushed Faith back and she fell to the floor. She continued to shoot over and over again.



Richard was aware that something wasn’t right. The creature was no longer chasing him, but the street was looking strange. It was glowing red and blurry. The buildings around him were slowly dissolving into nothing.

He turned his head to the right. His children, his wife and his sister, Ellie, were standing there looking sad.

“You could have been happy,” said Cheryl.

“I was happy. Happy with my real family,” said Richard sadly as the world around him dissolved.



The creature was now on the floor, writhing around in agony. Its head was smoking and its body looked like molten lava was threatening to burst from it.

Taggart continued to shoot at the creature as it howled in pain.

“Get her out of here,” said Faith.

Osborne, Beth and Holly managed to wrestle the gun from Taggart and drag her away.

“It’s gonna explode,” said Holly. “Get away from it Faith.”

“Release those people,” said Faith.

The creature lifted its head and narrowed its remaining glowing eye. “They will all die with me.”

Faith shook her head, closed her eyes and then turned to run.



The five of them managed to make it out of the town hall seconds before there was a huge explosion from underneath the building. What looked like a mini nuclear mushroom cloud rose into the air showering the street with masonry and rubble combined with bits of molten Dream Catcher.

The group were thrown to the floor and shielded their heads as the rubble rained down.

When all was still Holly lifted her head. All that was left was a huge pile of rubble where the town hall used to stand.

“I’m sorry, Richard,” she said, wiping away a tear.



The Doctor and Reikon watched on as the doors to the TARDIS threatened to burst open, but instead the light seemed to be subsiding. The Doctor crept forward and looked at the monitor. The light was indeed diminishing, the glowing casket slowly dimming until it finally went dark completely and the lid closed on top of it again.

“What happened?” asked Reikon, frowning.

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor, checking the readings. “Can you remember the legend of the Time Lord Slayer?”

“Well, like you said it is a legend, but I remember one of the books that I had as a child. It was called...let me think,” Reikon closed his eyes.

“The Slayers Last Stand,” said the Doctor.

“That’s the one,” said Reikon. “In the book the Slayer was finally captured. The Gallifreyan’s used the power of two time moons to trap it. It said that they managed to separate the regeneration energy from the body of the Slayer and send them both into the Void.”

The Doctor nodded. “The two of them were unable to survive without each other.”

“So, if the legend is true, then this is the regeneration energy. This is what Aldridge found between the dimensions.”

“If it’s true. And if it is true where’s the body – the physical Gallifreyan that was imbued with the regeneration energy?”

“Probably long gone. Long destroyed,” said Reikon, shrugging. “Without the energy the body would just be a weak, normal husk.”

The Doctor shook his head and sat down on a stool. “We were fools, Reikon.”

“But we both needed to know.” Reikon pointed to the TARDIS. “In reality that regeneration energy is pretty harmless on its own. We should be thankful the actual Slayer is long gone.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor. He took his own key out of his pocket and went to the TARDIS doors. “I’m putting the ship back into siege mode with the energy inside. But this time I’ll make sure I have a passkey to get myself in.”

“But it’s too dangerous. You have to destroy it.”

“I don’t think it can be destroyed. I think that’s why Aldridge kept it with him.” He sighed. “I think that’s why he gave it to me. So at least someone would be able to keep watch on it.”

Reikon nodded. “Bit of an anti-climax really.”



The Doctor smiled. “I don’t think this is over yet.”

To be concluded...