Doctor Who_ Eternity Weeps Part 18

'A big concrete block.' 'Perhaps it's a bunker.' 'Beneath a two-thousand-year-old artefact? I doubt it.' 'Do you suppose Bernice could be inside?'

I held back my fear that the woman I loved was as dead as the soldiers lying on the ground all around us. 'For G.o.d's sake let's find out.' We scrambled down for a closer look.

Chris noticed the blood first. There was a lot of it. Someone had been killed here. 'This looks like blast damage. From shaped charges.'

'So where's the body?'

He nodded. 'Good point. More evidence for a matter transmitter?'

I didn't answer. I was busy searching the rubble for some sign that the person who had been killed was - or wasn't - Bernice. I searched for a long time but I found nothing.

Giving up the search, I climbed on to the block. Chris had been studying the blast debris. 'You know, from the spread of the rubble here I'd say there was more than one charge - probably as many as four - and they were all placed on top of the block.'

'So?'

'Well - look at the destruction around us. You can bet they were military charges. Very intense. But the block itself is undamaged.'

I had to admit he was right. But it left neither of us any closer to an answer to the puzzle. And to be honest I didn't really care. I just wanted to find Bernice and get the h.e.l.l out of there. The longer I was here the more tense and nervous I was getting.

'Look. Can we just try and find a way inside this thing? If Bernice isn't here we need to know, right?'

Chris didn't argue. Together we examined the block. We were hasty but Chris at least was thorough. By the time night had fallen we realized there was no way into the block. And the only markings we could see. on it were a set of grooves located in the upper surface.

Chris said, 'If you want to go on with this search I suggest we go back to the chopper and get flashlights.'

Reluctantly I agreed. It hurt me to leave the site without some definite knowledge of what had happened to Bernice. But what could I do?

We clambered out of the crater and I began to walk back to the chopper?

Chris didn't move.

'Chris?'

'The chopper.' 'What?'

'The engine's stopped.'

I went cold. 'Do you think someone's there?'

'I don't know. Get down and keep quiet. I'll check it out.'

Despite being told to stay still and quiet I followed Chris back to the chopper. It was hard to keep him in sight. It was also hard to walk without knocking against stones. The sound of my feet crunching in the dirt seemed deafening in the cold night, though I'm sure the noise travelled no more than a few feet at most.

I levelled the rifle I had held since we had set out from Dogubayazit. In the gloom I could see Chris had drawn the dead soldier's gun.

Beyond him the chopper was a bulky shadow squatting on its rocky shelf. It was still and silent. There was no movement. No light from the c.o.c.kpit.

Cautiously Chris approached. Even more cautiously I followed.

Ten feet from the chopper something scuffed the rocks. The sound came from my right. I whirled, the gun jerked in my hands. In a matter of seconds I emptied a whole clip into the darkness. There was a scream, the sound of a falling body, then silence. .''

'Chris?'

His voice was uncharacteristically harsh. 'What are you playing at, Jason? I told you to keep down and keep quiet!' 'Sorry., Shaking his head, Chris took the hot rifle from my hands. 'Now for G.o.ddess' sake stay here and stay quiet, like I told you.' He moved towards the source of the scream. I held back, more afraid of what he might find there than in deference to his instructions. Chris clambered over a low ridge of rock and disappeared into the gloom. I waited. Nothing. I waited some more. Nothing. Where was Chris? Had there been more than one a.s.sailant? Had Chris been captured or killed? Should I go and help?

While I dithered there was the sound of someone moving in the darkness.

'Chris?'

'It's OK. It's me.'

'Did you find out what was -'

'Yes. You shot a sheep.'

After a moment I realized I was laughing. 'I shot a -?'

Chris put his finger to his lips. 'Jason, shut up. We still have to find out who -.

He was cut off by a terrible scream from the crater behind us. This time the scream was clearly human. A woman's scream.

'Bernice!' I turned and began to stumble over the rocks towards the sound.

I scrambled up the low ridge of dirt and rubble caused by the explosion, my head whirling with nightmare thoughts. Bernice. That scream. Why hadn't we seen her there? What were they doing to her?

The scream went on for what seemed like for ever, before dissolving into gulping, agonized breaths. At the top of the ridge I hesitated. What if it was her. What if she was dying? How was I going to deal with that? What was I going to - Chris pushed past me then, scrambled down into the crater. I followed as if dragged in the wake of a large s.h.i.+p. We reached the block seconds apart?

Chris grabbed my leg and boosted me on to the top, then leapt upwards himself, grabbed the edge and swung himself up.

We crouched in the darkness, listening.

The gulping noises had reduced to a terrified whimper. Now they rose once again into a terrible scream. The scream went on for about as long as I could hold my breath before lapsing once more into the awful, gulping breaths.

I peered into the gloom. The block stretched out before us, a pale shelf against the darker rubble beyond. About twenty feet away something moved in the darkness. The sound of someone moving - no, writhing. The scream came again? The body jerked.

'Bernice?'

Gulping breaths. 'Benny? Is that you?'

A ragged half scream.

The breathing lured me forward. Dimly I was aware of Chris moving slowly, circling the body, hugging the edge of the block. I moved slowly forward in a crouch. Right then I wished I had a gun more than anything else in the whole world.

'Benny? It's Jason. I'm here to help.'

Just the agonized breathing. And a smell. Something sharp, painful. I sneezed once, twice; the smell was gone.

I moved closer to the figure. I reached out a hand to touch it, s.n.a.t.c.hed the hand back with a cry.

'Jason, you all right?'

Chris - his voice tight and low in the darkness.

'My b.l.o.o.d.y hand. It burns. There's something on the body. There's something on it Chris. Acid. Something. Christ, that hurts.'

Chris worked his way closer. I sat down and waited for him to arrive. It seemed to take him for ever to cross the few metres that separated us.

When he got close he examined my hand as well as he could in the gloom.

'You're right? Smells like hydrochloric acid. A weak solution.' A moment.

'We need water. There'll be some in the chopper. Can you reach it?'

'I'm not going anywhere. I have to know.'

If it's Bernice that's dying right in front of me. Chris nodded, moved closer to the body. 'Don't touch her!'

'Don't worry.'

The sound of breathing intensified then, just for a moment. As if someone was drawing breath.

'- infected -'

The voice was rough, gurgling, unmistakably female. Chris stopped a few feet from the body. 'Can you hear me? You have acid b.u.ms.'

'- virus -'

'You must stay still. We'll get -'

'- infected - '

I went cold. Something in that whispering death-voice made me want to scream and run. My hand was burning. I felt sick. My arm was burning.

Something metallic fell with a clinking noise on to the block.

'-serum -'

'What is it? Chris? What did she drop?'

'It's a hypospray. A medical hypospray.'

'What does she mean - infection?'

'I don't know.'

'Chris ... my arm's killing me. Not just my hand. It's spreading. And I feel sick. I can't - I gasped for breath. My skin was on fire. I rubbed the sleeve of my jacket. It just made the pain worse. 'Chris! Jesus, it feels like my arm's on fire!'

'- two doses. Thought I could contain spread of . . . use hypo or you'll -' Her voice was an agonized whisper. Through my own pain I wondered how she could hold it together enough to speak rationally at all, let alone give advice.

Suddenly I leapt forward, wrenching off my jacket and flinging it away as I went. I groped for Chris in the darkness. I found him, wrenched the hypospray from his grasp, pressed it against my arm and triggered a dose.

My arm went numb.

I fell over, fought the urge to be sick. 'Chris - seems to have -'

I was sick then.

Chris picked up the hypo, turned to inject the woman.

'- no! Too late for . . . contagion! Infection! Inject yourself or -'

Another scream.

Dimly I was aware of Chris hovering, uncertain in the darkness. 'For Christ's sake! Give her the serum! Bernice -'

'We don't know it's -'

'- only one dose. I'm a vector! Inject yourself. Kill me -'

'Chris! Dose her!'

'Jason shut up!'

'- shoot me -'

'Chris it's Benny!'

'What if she's right?'

'-please -'

'What if I'm -'

'- kill me -'

'- infected I'll -'

A scream. A terrible scream. Not her. Me.

Chris injected himself.

I crawled towards Chris. I don't know what I intended to do. Hit him? Hurt him? Something. I could hardly move. He was on his knees, fighting the urge to be sick, gun drawn, placed at her head. Oh G.o.d. No. Not that. Not Benny, Not my Benny. Please not that! Her voice was a whisper, her plea for death a wet gurgle.

'Chris, it's Benny. Don't shoot her!'

'Christ, Jason, she's dying can't you see that? Smell it?'

He repositioned the gun.