In The Realms of the Unreal

Chapter 25

When the TARDIS touched down, the group stepped out and found themselves in an old cobblestoned alley at what was almost certainly the middle of the night. The air was chilled and more than a little misty.

"Here we are!" the Doctor said as he stepped out. "London circa 1877! The industrial revolution is in full swing and it's a very exciting time for the British isles!"

Jerry sniffed "It stinks"

"Sorry about that" the Doctor replied "Unfortunately the sewer system in the British capital still leaves a lot room for improvement"

The group looked around for a few seconds. Then Emma spoke

"So I suppose we'd better start looking for that rune"

"That's what we're here for" Mulder replied

Scully folded her arms "But where's it going to be? London's a very big city and-"

Before Scully could follow up the and in her sentence, an agonising scream ripped through the alleyway. Without missing a beat, the group sprinted off in the direction it came from.

A couple of seconds later, they turned a corner and were met by a rather unusual sight. A tall figure was standing over the body of a young woman who was barely moving. However the dim light and fog prevented them from seeing exactly who the tall figure was.

"Hey!" Mcclane yelled "Get away from her!"

The tall figure however turned and bounded off into the darkness. Mcclane and Mulder sprinted off after it while the Doctor and the others rushed over to the body on the ground.

As they ran through the streets of London, Mcclane instantly knew something wasn't right. The tall figure was running at a speed much much faster than any human he'd ever seen and to make things worse, both he and Mulder were having trouble keeping up with it. As the figure turned into another alleyway, Mcclane whipped out his pistol and in a desperate attempt to stop them losing their target fired a bullet.

The bullet grazed the figure's shoulder causing him to let out a yell that sounded very unhuman, but it didn't slow him down one bit.

By the time Mcclane and Mulder reached the alley, the figure had disappeared into the mists of London.

Mcclane snapped his figures "Shit!"

"Hey!" Mulder pointed to the ground "Look at that"

Sure enough, a small green object was sitting on the cobblestones. Mcclane bent down and squinted.

"What the hell is it?" he asked.

Mulder bent down and took a look "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looked like scales." Mcclane raised an eyebrow "You mean like fish?"

"Yeah" Mulder nodded "It must have come from our tall friend when you shot him in the shoulder" Mcclane held his head in confusion "Ok man, this is getting really fucking weird! Why would a random guy in London be made of fish scales!?"

"I don't know" Mulder carefully scooped up the scales and put them in his pocket "But I think we better hold onto them. I've got a feeling they're gonna come in handy"

While this was going on, The Doctor and Scully had rushed over to the young woman they'd seen being attacked. When they got a good look at her, Jerry practically vomited. Her clothes were extremely violently shredded, but that was the least of her worries. Much of her body was covered in raw bloody wounds.

"What the hell did this?" Scully examined the wounds "Whoever did it would have to be a maniac!"

"That's not all" Emma looked over Scully's shoulder "These wounds weren't made by a blade or a similar weapon"