Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [075] - The Time Travellers by Simon Guerrier

Author:Simon Guerrier
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563486336
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2005-11-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The air roared past Abigail Ali as she dropped into the fray, firing down at the insect-sized soldiers on the ground, who scurried about and took pot shots at them. The English were short on resources, and only had crude, old-fashioned guns. Still, sometimes they were lucky – a dead man in a shredded ‘chute dropped suddenly past Abi’s left. He hit the side of one of the pristine skyscrapers, windows smashing around him. Broken glass and gore rained down onto the heads of his killers.

Abi and her comrades fired back in force. Column after column of brilliant blue energy rings swirled down to decimate the English men and defences. As she got steadily nearer, Abi could be more discriminating. She hit one of the English soldiers as he tried to find cover, the arc of blue light puncturing his forehead and exploding his brains out the back of his neck. She swallowed, unable to look away. This was an invasion, and they had no call for more subtle weaponry.

She tugged on the control straps hanging by her head, determined not to let the crosswinds drag her into the massed English ranks. Some of her comrades had been killed that way, too keen on shooting to control their descent. She aimed for a wide expanse of courtyard, littered with fewer clumps of charred masonry and bodies, and downwind from the backs of retreating English soldiers.

Ten metres from the ground, then five, and Abi yanked back hard on the control straps. The ‘chute responded, lurching her upwards again by a metre, slowing her rate of descent quite drastically. She got one booted foot onto the ground and clicked the release, rolling out from and under the ‘chute as it was given up to the breeze. Gun in her hand, Abi leapt into a deserted gun post, nestling down behind the cover of sandbags. She peeped her head out to see her parachute billowing, picking up speed now it was free of her weight. The great sail swept across the courtyard and caught itself up in some of the fleeing men. They struggled to extract themselves, one man screaming hysterically like he’d seen the funny side. They were sitting ducks and Abi picked them off one by one.

The main action was some way from her now. Explosions sounded a block or two westwards. Heart hammering, Abi checked all round before venturing into the open again. She could see no one around. Taking a breath, she bolted in the direction of the voices and fighting.

After a frantic sprint across open ground, she emerged onto a street strewn with the dead of both sides. The English had clearly suffered the worse losses. Some of the bodies still moved, the wounded crying out for aid that would not be coming soon.

‘Drive them into the river!’ That was Wu, just a street away, his authority clear over the relentless vlorty! vlorty! of South African guns, and the sporadic rattatat! in reply.

Another street, and Abi emerged into the battle.

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