The Deviant Strain

by Justin Richards

  Jack nodded. ‘I’ll help Levin.’

  Colonel Levin sent one of his men off at a run to get to the base and bring more of the soldiers back to help with the evacuation. The rest of them – including Jack and Levin himself – headed for the village. The Doctor and Rose took charge of the civilians from the pub, and started the long, cold journey up the cliff path and across to the research institute.

  Rose took Georgi’s hand to lead him. He pulled away at first, then seemed to accept the help. ‘I know you,’ he said in his cracked, brittle voice. ‘The girl who came to see me when Nikolai died.’

  ‘Yeah, Rose.’

  ‘A pretty name.’ Georgi nodded, his white stick tapping ahead on the narrow pathway. ‘Don’t let him kill me,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Him?’ Rose shook her head, even though he couldn’t see. ‘No, it’s the things from . . . from underground. But we’ll keep you safe. All of you.’

  The old man gripped her hand more tightly. ‘Not them. I can feel them, I know they are there. It’s him I fear. The bad wolf. The man I see in my dreams – waking and sleeping. The man who will kill me.’ He turned as if to look at Rose, his eyes almost completely white in the night. The flames from the harbour below flickered on his pale face. ‘The man with the wolf on his arm.’

  They split up, running from house to house, trying to keep ahead of the creatures. Fortunately the village sprawled out from the harbour and the soldiers were able to get to most houses before the creatures did. Most, but not all.

  Jack saw one house all but flattened by several of the creatures. They oozed and squelched through the rubble, pulsing with renewed energy. He didn’t let himself stop to wonder where they had come from, how many people had died. He ran to the next house, hammering on the door, shouting into the night.

  And then on to the next house.

  And the next.

  A long line of tired, frightened people hurried through the snow, heading for the cliffs and out of immediate danger. But for how long, Jack wondered?

  ‘That’s it!’ someone shouted. ‘These are the last.’

  Several soldiers were leading a ragged group of people from the far end of the village. Dark shapes against the white snow.

  ‘You sure that’s the lot?’ Jack asked them.

  ‘Yes, sir. If there’s anyone else, it’s too late. Those things are coming at us from both sides now. We need to get moving.’

  Jack nodded. ‘Come on, then.’

  They hurried the few villagers along, encouraging and helping them. Further up the road, Jack could see Levin with another group of villagers and soldiers. Beyond that was the dark shape of the base. He turned and looked back – saw the fires still burning down in the harbour; the creatures moving through the village behind them, going from house to house as he himself had done . . .

  ‘Right, let’s get a move on,’ Jack shouted. ‘It’s not far now, then we’ll be safe.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’ someone wondered.

  ‘I’ve got a friend,’ Jack replied. ‘He’ll help me sort this out.’

  ‘Can anyone?’ another voice queried. ‘Can anyone sort out what is happening to us here?’

  Jack turned to the man, intending to reassure him. The distant firelight threw a pale-orange glow onto the man’s wrinkled face. It was a face he knew. A father who had already all but lost his daughter. Jack forced a smile and clapped the man on the shoulder.

  ‘Mamentov,’ he said, ‘you have been through a lot, I know. But believe me . . .’ He stopped, frowning. Jack had been glancing round at the other people as he spoke. But – he couldn’t see her. ‘Where’s Valeria?’ Jack asked quietly, feeling suddenly numb. ‘Where’s your daughter?’

  Mamentov held Jack’s gaze for a moment, then looked away. ‘I have no daughter.’

  Jack swallowed. ‘They got her? We were too late?’

  The old man turned back, his face set and determined as he spoke. ‘I have no daughter,’ he repeated. ‘Not any more. What use is she now? She does nothing – just sits and stares. I even have to feed her, and . . .’ He shook his head. ‘I have no daughter,’ he said again, quiet and sad and final.

  Jack just stared at him. Overlaid on the old man’s defiant face he could see the face of the girl – just as old and lined, but empty and devoid of emotion. Drained – everything taken from her. ‘You left her behind, didn’t you?’ Jack said. ‘You left her behind for those things to get.’ His mouth was dry and there was a tightness in his stomach. ‘You heartless, selfish moron!’

  ‘You can’t go back there, sir,’ one of the soldiers shouted. ‘You can’t go back!’

  But Jack wasn’t listening. He was running down the hill, towards the village and the sounds of destruction as the creatures moved through it. Hunting.

  He wasn’t thinking, just running. Hoping he could remember where Mamentov’s house was, skirting the village, keeping well away from the glowing creatures as they slithered and scrambled through the deserted streets. The mist was drifting in as the last of the street lights flickered and went out.

  A shadow detached itself from the darkness and flew at Jack. It caught him squarely in the chest, heaving him backwards – out of the way of the tentacle that slashed through the air where he had been a moment earlier. The tentacle slapped to the ground, pulled back, disappeared into the night. Jack could see the pale glow of the creature moving off into the distance.

  ‘Thank you,’ Jack gasped, winded, looking up at his saviour.

  ‘You deserved it,’ came the reply. Sergeyev was looking down at him. He offered Jack his hand and pulled him to his feet. ‘Now we’re all square.’

  ‘You got out of the sub, then,’ Jack said. ‘Obviously.’

  ‘Yes. Thank you.’

  ‘You’d better get after the others.’ Jack pointed into the darkness. ‘Colonel Levin’s evacuated the villagers, or as many as we could. They’re making for the base.’

  ‘But what about you?’

  ‘I’ll be there. There’s something I have to do first.’

  ‘Maybe I can help.’

  Jack met the man’s gaze. He remembered how scathing Sergeyev had been of Jack’s sympathy for Valeria – how that was what had sparked their initial row. ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Tell me,’ Sergeyev insisted.

  ‘The old man, Mamentov – he’s left his daughter behind.’

  ‘That mindless girl?’

  Jack nodded.

  ‘He saved himself and left her.’ Sergeyev turned to look into the darkness, towards the base and safety. ‘I understand.’

  ‘I thought you would,’ Jack snapped. ‘You’re as callous as he is.’

  But Sergeyev laughed.

  Jack gritted his teeth. ‘It’s not funny.’

  ‘No,’ Sergeyev said, suddenly serious. ‘You think I understand the old man. That isn’t what I meant.’

  ‘What did you mean, then?’

  ‘I meant that I understand you, my friend. Come on.’ He set off into the darkness, towards the village. ‘Let’s find her before it’s too late.’

  The villagers were hustled into the base, told briefly what was happening and asked to help if they could. Those who were not too old or frightened or inebriated joined Levin’s troops on the road. The Doctor left Levin to organise things, knowing that Jack would help when he returned from the village.

  They were building a bonfire. A huge pile of anything they could find that would burn. Drums of fuel oil were rolled round from the back of the institute where the generators were. Inside, the villagers and scientists ripped out anything flammable and piled it outside to be moved down to the fire.

  ‘We need to keep back enough to run the generators until we can get help,’ Levin told Lieutenant Krylek. ‘I don’t want to live through this only to die of the cold in a few days’ time.’

  ‘You think the Doctor’s plan will work, sir?’ Krylek asked quietly.

  Levin’s reply was just as quiet. ‘I really don’t
know. But it gives us something to do. And, crazy though it seems, I don’t have any better ideas.’

  The road was on a narrow, raised area of land at the point where they were building the fire. The sides were almost sheer – dropping away nearly twenty metres either side. The pile of debris stretched almost across the narrow plateau now. Fedor Vahlen had driven his digger up from the village. Its headlight cut through the misty night as he dumped load after load of broken furniture, ripped-up carpet, desk tops, anything that would burn, onto the pile.

  With the last of the villagers and soldiers arriving, Levin called everyone to the institute side of the pyre. ‘I want this roadway blocked off completely,’ he said. ‘No way through. If the Doctor is right and Georgi can lead these things mindlessly along and into the flames, then I don’t want any of them coming round the side.’

  The creatures seemed to be everywhere. Jack could hear them slithering in the darkness, could see the blue glow from them illuminating the sky ahead like the lights from a distant city.

  ‘That’s the house,’ Sergeyev said.

  They were almost there now. A quick dash across an area of open ground. Jack and Sergeyev crouched in the doorway.

  ‘Looks like we’re in time,’ Sergeyev said. ‘Go and get her. I’ll keep watch.’

  Jack flung the door open and leaped into the small front room of the house. It was empty. He didn’t want to try the lights – they probably wouldn’t work, and if they did would only draw the attention of the creatures. Back room – nothing. A small kitchen with the tap dripping. No sign of Valeria.

  ‘Quickly!’ Sergeyev called through the open door. ‘I can hear one of them coming.’

  ‘How close?’ Jack yelled back.

  Stairs – two at a time. Narrow and steep.

  ‘I don’t know. Can’t see it.’

  Top landing – barely room to stand. Three doors. First room.

  Empty.

  Second room.

  Empty.

  ‘My God – it’s on the roof!’

  A crash of breaking glass.

  Third room – the tentacle smashing through the window and lashing back and forth. Jack stood in the doorway watching, unable to get to the bed. Unable to reach the girl lying there, unmoving, staring silently at the ceiling. She was oblivious to the creature, the danger, the world around her.

  ‘Leave her,’ Jack thought. ‘I’ll have to leave her.’ And he dived across the room, under the tentacle, sliding along the bare boards towards the bed.

  Gunfire from outside. The tentacle hesitated. Then withdrew.

  ‘Sergeyev – I’ve got her. Get out of it, get away.’

  More gunfire.

  Then silence.

  Jack had Valeria across his shoulders, surprised how heavy she was. He stumbled out of the room, almost falling down the steep stairs. Out into the darkness.

  Darkness tinged with blue. Creatures all around, as if watching the house.

  And in the middle of them, outside the door, Sergeyev staring sightlessly at the night sky. His gun by his side and his face crumpled and pale like an old paper bag.

  Jack gritted his teeth. Reached up with his free hand to pat Valeria’s unfeeling head. ‘We’ll be OK. I promise.’

  Then Jack was running for their lives.

  Klebanov had suggested the Clean Room. The Doctor wanted somewhere isolated and quiet where Georgi could concentrate, away from distractions. The Clean Room was a glass cage in the corner of a large, bare room. Just a wooden desk and an office chair remained. There was a complicated electronic locking system on the double set of doors that acted as an airlock, operated from a numeric keypad. The glass was bullet- and blast-proof. The cage was empty apart from several gas canisters piled up at the back of the room. They were stamped with a red skull and crossbones.

  ‘It is where we used to work on contagious bacteria,’ Klebanov told the Doctor, Rose and Georgi.

  ‘We still have some, as you can see.’ Minin pointed to the canisters. ‘This seemed the best place to keep the stuff. With the doors closed it’s completely sealed.’

  ‘Can’t you destroy it?’ Rose asked. ‘Or, I dunno, send it back?’

  ‘No one wants it back,’ Klebanov told her.

  ‘Decommission it? Make it safe?’ the Doctor suggested.

  ‘The equipment for that went long ago,’ Alex Minin explained. ‘Traded for other supplies. More urgent things like food and oil.’

  Klebanov grunted, but did not disagree. ‘Will it do?’

  The Doctor grinned. ‘It’s great. Let’s find Georgi here a chair. Then I’ll have a little talk to him. After that we have a few other things to do while he gets on with it.’

  ‘Like what?’ Rose wanted to know.

  ‘Like checking on our bonfire. Like burning a few blobs.’

  Minin opened the door by tapping a code into the keypad. He carried the chair from the desk through into the area between the two doors, closing the outer door behind him. Then he tapped the code into the keypad within the airlock and the inner door clicked open. He put down the chair.

  ‘Let’s get started.’ The Doctor led Georgi to the door. ‘What’s the code?’

  ‘1917,’ Klebanov told him.

  ‘What else?’ The Doctor tapped it in and led Georgi through.

  Once he was seated in the chair, the Doctor spoke quietly to him. He put his fingers to the old man’s temples, relaxing him, putting him into a trance. Minin watched with interest.

  After a while, the Doctor stepped away. He put his finger to his lips as Minin made to speak and nodded at the door. The two of them left the cage, Georgi sitting inside, alone, staring at the glass wall in front of him.

  ‘Someone should stay with him,’ the Doctor said.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Rose replied at once.

  ‘No, I need you with me. Minin – can I trust you?’

  ‘I hope so, Doctor.’

  ‘I hope so too.’

  ‘What do I need to do?’

  ‘Probably nothing. Just make sure he’s all right. There a phone in here?’

  Klebanov went to the bare desk on the other side of the room. In a drawer he found a phone and plugged it into a wall socket. He lifted the receiver to check it was connected. ‘Extension 514.’

  ‘I’ll need the full number,’ the Doctor said. ‘Any problems, I’ll call you on Rose’s mobile. You can give Georgi new instructions to pass on to the blob things. He’s in a receptive state. You won’t know it, but he’ll hear you.’

  ‘Will it get a signal? None of the radios are working,’ Klebanov pointed out.

  ‘Super phone,’ Rose told him. ‘It’ll work.’

  Klebanov gave the Doctor the number. Minin sat on the desk, watching Georgi. ‘Will he just sit there, like that?’

  ‘I hope so. Come on, Rose – work to do.’

  Klebanov followed the Doctor and Rose to the door. Then he paused and turned back to Minin. ‘It could be a long night,’ he said. ‘Get yourself a coffee. I’ll wait here with Georgi till you get back.’

  ‘So what’s going to happen?’ Rose asked.

  They crossed the paved compound outside the institute and started down the road.

  ‘Georgi has managed to get on the same wavelength as the ship’s psychic communication with the remotes.’

  ‘Like when he saw what they were up to before?’

  ‘Right. Only this time he’s talking to them. I hope he’s filtering out the ship’s messages and adding his own instructions.’

  ‘So, he’s, like, hacked in?’

  ‘Yeah. He’s hacked in. And he’s telling them all to come here.’

  ‘To get us?’

  ‘Well, not really. That’s what they think – so far as they think at all. But they just do what he tells them now. And he’s telling them to come along this road and keep going. Into that.’

  The Doctor pointed to the massive pile ahead of them blocking the road and stretching across the narrow ridge.

  �
�And that’ll stop them?’

  ‘Will when it’s on fire. They like the cold. Any energy they draw doesn’t come through as heat because it’s passed straight on. The shock of a sudden temperature change as they go into the fire ought to deactivate ’em all. Can’t really kill ’em cos they’re not really alive, you see.’

  ‘Ought to,’ Rose echoed.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Bonfire night and a half, then.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘So when do we light the blue touch-paper?’

  ‘Soon as we see them coming.’

  They had reached Levin and his men, standing looking at their work. The colonel turned to the Doctor, hearing his last comment. ‘They’re coming now,’ he said. ‘Look.’ He pointed past the side of the pyre, into the valley below. A line of glowing blue was vaguely visible through the drifting mist.

  ‘Charges are set,’ Lieutenant Krylek reported. ‘We can light her up as soon as you’re ready.’

  The Doctor was looking down into the valley, watching the blue glow edge slowly closer, wondering where Jack had got to.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ he said.

  Uphill was bad news. Jack had to put the girl down. She could stand. She could walk. She just didn’t seem to know she was doing it. Just stared straight ahead into the misty darkness and let Jack lead her.

  Running seemed like too much to ask. She was a sleepwalker – no sign of consciousness, just one foot in front of the other. Her old face framed by young hair was devoid of expression. Her eyes showed no flicker of recognition as Jack urged her onwards. He held her by the hand, pulling her along as fast as he could.

  If he went too fast, she stumbled and fell. She made no effort to save herself, and her clothes were soaked from the snow, her face scratched, her hair dishevelled. Least of her problems, Jack decided.

  He was out of breath, nearly exhausted. ‘Not far now,’ he gasped, though he knew he was only saying it for his own benefit. ‘Just up the hill. Almost there.’

  But behind them he could see a line of the creatures starting up the road in pursuit. Were they really following? Did they know Jack and the girl were there – could they sense them? Or were they just making for the institute at the other end of the road?