PORTRAIT OF A NIGHTMARE
Chapter 8 The door to the inspector's private office was opened by one of the policemen guarding the door. The little girl came strolling in. She smiled up at the Black Guardian, whose face was still hovering over the desk. "Can I watch? Oh please daddy, can I?'" The little clone girl asked him eagerly, as if seeing a disembodied head hanging around the ceiling was an everyday occurrence for her. "Well look who's here. Hello, Lucretia. Somehow, I didn't think you'd be the sort of child who watches Blue Peter." The Doctor said flippantly. "Bitten the feet off of any Jelly Babies, lately? Cut the heads off your dollies?" The little girl turned to stare at the Doctor. Rory saw that she had a completely blank look on her face. As if her personality had been suddenly switched off. Or, as if she thought no more of them than she did the furnishings. "Never mind the Doctor, dear. Watch if you like. You can play with the human later, if you want." The Black Guardian gave another of his ghastly smiles. He indicated with his head the flickering image of Amy being lead down some dark tunnel. "And when Amy's gone, the Doctor can watch you turn Rory into a two-legged matchstick." He told her drolly. Rory instinctively recoiled as the little girl suddenly came to life. She stared eagerly, almost hungrily, at him. "Oh goody! Thank you, daddy!" The little girl clapped. Flashing Rory a malicious smile of anticipation, she then turned her attention back to watching Amy. There was audio as well as visual in the image hanging in the air. Cringing, Rory was abruptly mortally afraid for his wife, as the sound of the giant rat echoed through the room. Outside the door, one of the policemen turned to the other. "Blimey! You hear that?" "Maybe that mad bloke's gotten loose." The second policeman shrugged. "You'd better go and see, then." His partner told him officiously. "Me? Why me?" The other bobby asked. "Cos I'm senior." The first policeman sniffed. "Since when, mate?" The second policeman snorted. "You joined up, same day as I did." "Yeah. But I signed on a whole hour before you, didn't I?" The first policeman said, as if that settled the matter. Another strange squealing roar came through the office door. With a disgruntled countenance on his face, the second policeman barged into the inspector's office. "Ere' now, what's going on? You alright, inspec—" the second policeman gaped in shock at the head hovering above the desk. "—tor?" The Doctor took the instant when the Black Guardian's eyes were turned on the policeman, to try and escape. He flung himself out of the chair, and threw it at a window which was directly behind him. It broke with a loud crash. Without pausing, he bodily yanked Rory out of the chair. "Come on, Rory! What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation? Get the lead out!" The Doctor shouted as they ran with all speed towards the shattered window. "Stop them!" The Black Guardian shouted. The little girl stiffened. She pivoted away from watching Amy. Her right index finger came up. She pointed it at the Doctor and Rory, as they made their mad dash for the window. Unfortunately for him, at that very moment, the policeman got in the way. The sizzling bright blue bolt of energy from the girl's finger hit him with full force. Giving a hideous scream, the policeman burst into a ball of flame. The few seconds delay made it possible for the Doctor and Rory to successfully manage to jump through the window. Thankfully, the office was located on the first floor facing the street. Then, the second policeman came charging through the door. He had just a fraction of a second to witness the ashes of his partner falling to the floor. Then he too, was murdered by the clone girl. "You little fool!" The Black Guardian snarled at his clone 'daughter'. "I wanted a live Doctor, not pair of dead policemen!" The black arm shot out of nowhere. It struck the girl down, in the same way she had killed the policemen. Only, because she wasn't human, it took a few seconds longer and didn't seem to hurt her at all. As her body burned, the little girl smiled and said reverently, "I love you, daddy." Out on the street, the Doctor made for the quickest way to escape. In front of the police station, a shiny posh carriage was parked. The driver stood holding the horses' heads, while the groom opened the carriage door. He assisted a well dressed late middle aged man down to the street. Just at that moment, the Doctor gave a leap onto the driver's seat. Rory crashed to a halt. He groaned and rolled his eyes at the sight which greeted him. "Oh no! Not again, Doctor." Yet, he was given no choice. A shot rang out. Rory instinctively ducked, as a bullet splintered a hole in the side of the carriage. Someone shouted, "Don't shoot, you idiot!" However, being shot at was all the incentive Rory needed to clamber up beside the Doctor. Cracking the whip, which made the driver leap away from the horses, the Doctor then sent them into a mad gallop down the street. Leaving a stunned and furious Lord Dunsmore standing on the pavement, watching his carriage being stolen for the second time that day. "You do realize Doctor, that you've just turned me into a serial carriage jacker?" Rory asked dryly, raising his eyebrows. Before the Doctor could reply, they heard the pounding of hoofbeats on the cobblestones directly behind them. Looking back, Rory spied a mounted policeman giving chase. He held out a pistol. There followed the crack of a shot, and the Doctor drove the horses on faster. Sparks flew from their pounding hooves, as the Doctor careened through the streets. Thankfully, it was just past tea time and there was but little pedestrian traffic. The Doctor had entered a warehouse district near the Thames. All of the sudden, a large coal wagon shot out from a side street ahead of them. They heard the policeman cursing the coal driver, as he was abruptly cut off from the pursuit. However, close at hand, there were now also the sounds of raised shouts and police whistles being blown. The noise was coming from somewhere in ahead of them. Being left with little choice, the Doctor drove through the wide door of a big, long warehouse near the docks. There was another wide open door on the other end. The Doctor steered the horses for it, reining them in to a slow canter down the center aisle of the warehouse. Several workmen heading home for the day, yelled at him to stop. "Sorry. Late for teatime!" The Doctor shouted back at them. To Rory he grinned with delight and said, "OK. Get ready to jump!" Gripping on to the carriage for all he was worth, Rory gave the Doctor an incredulous stare. "Have you lost your flippin' mind? Wait. Don't answer that. I already know." Rory sighed. "Funny, Rory." The Doctor shot back. "When you get out of prison, you'll make a fortune in the music halls." With his whip hand, he indicated a wide low beam running horizontally across the warehouse. "Now, unless you want to spend the next twenty years wearing black and white pyjamas, and showering with some big ugly bloke whose nick-name is 'Killer', stand up and grab on to that beam as we go past." "I wanna' do what?" Rory gulped, eyeing that beam very unhappily. Maybe the Doctor said for him to grab onto his dreams? Rory shook his head negatively. Nah. Who was he kidding? This was the Doctor. He'd probably heard right the first time, unfortunately. As they neared the beam, Rory saw a policeman emerge up ahead. He was struggling to slide shut the big door at the rear of the warehouse. It was their only obvious escape route. The horses were loping on towards it, with no sign of stopping.
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