☆ Alone in this world ☆ Book 2

☆ The Eaters Of Lights ☆ Part 2

The Doctor and the others run up to a woman who now lays lifeless and boneless on the ground of fallen leaves.

"It's getting stronger again. It's strong enough to feed. Every hour of sunlight that feeds it makes the world darker and the beast stronger." The Doctor says.

"We've got very little time,"

"I have to stop it. This is my fault. I'm the keeper of the gate. I have to put this right." Kar says.

"So, you were supposed to guard the gate while everyone else went off to war. But you had strangers at the door, and a guard dog in the attic. So you let the beast come through." The Doctor summarises.

"It was the only thing that could defeat them." Kar protests.

"So you thought the Eater Of Light could destroy a whole Roman army?"

"It did,"

"And a whole Roman army could weaken or kill the beast?"

"Yes," she nods.

"Well, it didn't work. You got a Roman Legion slaughtered and you made the deadliest creature on this planet very, very cross indeed. To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world." The Doctor stares.

☆ Time Skip ☆

"One man. You think one man can save us all?"

"Come and meet him. He came here to meet you. He's met loads of people like you- the terrified, the desperate. And he always helps. He always makes a difference." Bill explains.

"There are painted barbarians up there. They out numbered us. There is a beast of darkness that laid waste to an entire Legion in less than an hour. No one man can make a difference to that." Lucius spits.

"Maybe that's what you don't learn when you think it takes 5,000 highly trained soilders to slaughter a bunch of Scottish farmers. Yes, one man can. And he's here." Bill says.

"If you're calling us cowards, carry on. We already ran away - we know."

"You're not cowards. You're scared. Scared is fine, scared is human. But I'll tell you what it isn't. It isn't a plan." Bill shrugs, looking at them all.

"She's right," Lucius says.

"Why are you even listening to her, grandad?"

"Because no one else is saying anything." Lucius says, pushing past the others angrily and now determined to get out.

"We need a plan. A real commander would have a plan." Lucius says, looking away in thought.

"Why did he call you grandad?"

"They always call me Grandad. I'm the command, I'm the oldest one left." Lucius explains.

"How old are you?" Bill asks.

"Eighteen," he says. Bill shakes her head in disbelief before walking back to the others.

"Right, listen to me. All of you. I'm going up there to find my friend. If you come with me, I can't promise that you won't all die. But I can promise you this. You won't all die in a hole in the ground." Bill says.

☆ Time Skip ☆

"We have to drive it back through and close the portal behind it. Now, the gate only opens when the dawn sun hits it. Whys that?" The Doctor asks out.

"Our ancestors couldn't close the gate completely, but they built the Cairn to control it."

"Like venting an oil gush. If they let the portal open a few moments every year, they stop the whole thing ripping apart. Yeah, it's quite clever, really." Nardole smiles proudly with himself.