|
|
  
Nick buckled but the Doctor caught him before he hit the ground. Nick took a deep breath and steadied himself. He looked at the Doctor, and saw the sympathetic smile. ‘The implants?’ the Doctor enquired. Nick wasn’t so sure. It usually is the bloody implants! They are never sure what they prefer. Sometimes they cause me pain when I walk, sometimes when I run. But the pain that caused him to buckle was not to be attributed to the implants. The stabbing pain affected the implants, but it never came from them. Where did it come from then? ‘I don’t know, Doctor. Honest. Ain’t got a scooby.’ The Doctor nodded, then blinked. ‘A what?’ ‘A scooby. Scooby-Doo. Clue. You know.’ ‘Oh. Rhyming slang. Okay. Well, come on, let’s university.‘ The Doctor smiled at his own cleverness but Nick only looked confused. ‘University don, move on. Get it?' Nick smiled and raised his eyebrows. ‘You made that up.‘ ‘I did not!’ The Doctor was indignant. Nick laughed, folding his arms. ’Yes you did.’ ‘I... Did, yes.’ The Doctor cleared his throat and glanced down to the pavement below him. He looked up with a cheeky grin. ‘Right. You fit enough to carry on?’ Nick practiced running on the spot. ‘Yep, all systems go.’ ‘Come on then, Nick.’ Nick held back for a few moments as the Doctor continued on the way back to Highgate Cemetery. He frowned. Something about that pain seemed very familiar, as if he had felt it before. Nick scratched his goatee beard, and shook his head. It was going to bug him until he found out. *** A short distance away the young man in a PVC outfit watched as Nick ran to catch the Doctor up. His wide eyes narrowed. And so stage three begins. Soon you shall be with us again, he thought. *** The rest of the walk to Highgate Cemetery was uneventful, but that all changed once the Doctor and Nick entered Egyptian Avenue. They passed the obelisks that gated the shaded lane, and Nick pointed to one of the nearby tombs. On the wall next to the iron door hung an inverted torch. ‘What’s with the torches, Doctor? I’m surprised they are not the right way up. Let’s face it, if they were then they would be quite useful at night time.’ The Doctor shook his head. ‘Oh no, Nick, not at all. Those torches are not for use. They are an ancient symbol of death. Indeed, according to old Earth mythology...’ He tailed off and sniffed. ‘Can you smell that?’ Nick turned from the tomb and sniffed. ‘An electrical fire?’ ‘Exactly like that smell we got wind of when we first arrived here.’ Nick clicked his fingers. ‘Another of those portals we saw?’ The Doctor grinned. ‘I suspect so. ‘ He set off at run. ‘Let’s hope we get to it before it starts closing this time!’ he called back. Nick watched him hare off and groaned. Why does he need to run around so much? Bracing himself for the pain, Nick set off at a brisk jog after the Doctor. His route took him through the two rings of catacombs. As soon as he emerged from the inner ring Nick came to an abrupt stop. The Doctor was stood there, a look of total disbelief on his face. Nick looked beyond the Doctor to the portal that hung before the massive cedar tree. A man was standing by the portal, looking around as if dazed by something. He was dressed in clothes that came from a simpler time, but his face looked familiar to Nick. Fine bone structure with dark hair. The Doctor stepped forward and held a hand out. ’Bradley?’ The young man turned to look at the Doctor. ‘Erm, hi,’ he said. ***
|
