Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rose turns towards the pile of bodies and gags.
"Oh... God..."
She puts her hands over her face and keeps them there.
"We don't have to dig through them... do we?"

"Good eye, Doctor," Nate responded. With a bit of exertion, the two were able to push the secret door ajar. "I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be this difficult to open the door. Could mean the electricity's out. Anybody got a flashlight handy?"

Before anybody could respond, a loud clanging sound rang out from the room, as if something metallic had fallen to the floor. Nate's eyes quickly turned to Lt. Flibble's scanner to see if it was detection anything inside, but it's screen had gone completely blank. He pulled out his cell phone; it was dead as well. Nothing electronic appeared to be functioning...

"Damn, it's another one of those monstrosities!" Nate yelled, firing his assault rifle at the tentacle throttling Lt. Flibble. He watched as the penguin was dragged away into the room. "Bullets don't seem to be affecting it! Doctor, the black cryst... ggggghh!!!"

His sentence was cut short as another tentacle issued out from the room, yanking the legs from under him. As he was being pulled inside, the Doctor's stolen diary fell out from beneath Nate's coat, landing next to Rose's feet. She and the Doctor heard the Captain scream in panic... and then silence.

"What?" Rose is about to argue when there's another scream from the shadows, she growls, "Fine! I just hope you know what you're doing Doctor!"

Half angry, half scared, she snatches the fallen book and hurries into the TARDIS, slamming the door shut behind her.

Inside the TARDIS was gloomy and cold. It always seemed to get that way when the Doctor left... Rose flicked on a lamp and slumped down into a chair, staring at the book in her hands. She turned it over. 900 year diary.... yes, that sounded like something the Doctor would have. But, if it was his, why had Nate been carrying it?

She felt a flush of anger. Obviously he'd nicked off with it when he'd been snooping round earlier. Stupid military lot. They were all the same.

She flicked through a few pages but found she couldn't really concentrate on the words. She was too worried. There were monsters out there. And army men who couldn't be trusted. And... um... penguins.

The Doctor couldn't just fix everything on his own.

She felt the weight of the stone he had given her in her pocket. It had destroyed the other monster. No reason why it shouldn't do it again. She'd be fine.

She checked the scanner. The Doctor had vanished. There was no sign of the monsters, Nate or Lt. Flibble. No sign of anyone. She crept to the door and looked out. There was nothing but darkness and silence. She ran back inside and scrabbled around in the drawers for a torch. She found one. She looked at the diary on the chair... She'd better take it, in case Nate tried to take it again. Had the Doctor seen him take it? He hadn't seemed that surprised to see it fall from his pockets, but better safe than sorry. She tucked it into her jacket pocket and walked out of the TARDIS.

Nate managed to free himself of his coat just as the Doctor arrived. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of the creature holding both himself and Lt. Flibble... an evil, noisome sight too horrible to describe. He tossed his flaming coat at the creature; it landed atop its body, and the creature instinctively let go of Lt. Flibble and Nate to remove the burning article of clothing.

Now free, Nate rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames spreading over the rest of his body. He had suffered some serious burns, and was in terrible pain. He had to stay awake... had to help the Doctor fight off the monster... had to...

The UNIT officer passed out, leaving Flibble and the Doctor alone to take care of the tentacled monstrosity.

The Doctor stopped by Nate and checked him. "Captain, come on don't black out. " After several gentle pats, he slapped the soldier across the face. "Wake Up!"

Rose switched the torch on and tentatively looked round. To one side was the hole where the Doctor and the others had gone and in front was the pile of bodies. She stared at it, now less horrified and more... curious. It just didn't seem real... So many dead people. It was like a movie.

She gasped as one of the corpses suddenly raised a hand. It's fingers flailed about in the air as if looking for something to grasp onto. An injured soldier... She moved forward to help him but stopped as his hand suddenly latched onto the shoulder of the corpse above and pulled himself with surprising strength up and out of the pile. He was certainly not alive. His head hung at a disturbing angle and his eyes were grey and lifeless. Gashes across his face were surrounded by chunks of peeling skin and as he moved his body jerked and writhed - almost as if it had no bones at all. Each movement was accompanied by an odd crackling sound that made her throat itch.

Rose took a step back and then yelped as more hands began rising from the pile, clutching madly at the air. Corpses slid across one another as they scrambled to arrange themselves into some sort of order. A path was clearing through the bodies. Lifeless soldiers were bending their broken spines and battered limbs into an archway...

Rose turned and ran for the TARDIS. She scrabbled around, desperately searching for the lock. Why had she closed it behind her? Stupid, stupid, stupid idea to go outside...

She was just pushing the key in when something cold and strong grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her round. She prepared herself to struggle but was caught off-guard as there was nothing there. Nothing but an empty tunnel. However, she could now see the full morbid splendour of the archway. It beckoned her in. The bodies faded away, becoming only blurred outlines to something more powerful... She felt something calling... Desperately calling...

Her torch and key dropped from her hands as she walked forwards through the archway, transfixed.