Suddenly, Mae gasped. ‘Oh my God! I’ve just realised what those things are.’

‘What things?’ asked Clara.

‘The things sticking out of the walls and the ground,’ cried Mae. ‘They look like rocks and lumps of stone, but they’re not. They’re bodies!’

Clara looked out of the window and clamped a hand over her mouth. Mae was right. There, protruding from the grey rock was a shoulder and the back of a head.

The Doctor sighed. ‘Warren,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to hand over your “putting the shivers up other people” crown, I’m afraid. We have a new champion.’

Clara spun in her seat to face him. ‘You knew they were bodies?’

‘I’ve been to Pompeii,’ the Doctor said. ‘Both on the big day itself, and again years later. The figures covered in ash from Mount Vesuvius looked a lot like these poor folk.’

‘But who are they?’ asked Mae. ‘I mean, who were they?’

The Doctor took a moment to choose his words. ‘They’re victims of the Shroud,’ he said eventually. ‘They must have brought some people from their previous planet with them on the journey. Like a packed lunch. These are the leftovers.’

The colour drained from Mae’s cheeks. ‘That’s terrib—’

Flash!

Suddenly, Mae was no longer sitting in the back of the ambulance with Warren. In fact, she wasn’t in the ambulance – or the wormhole – at all. She was in a small, dark room, hammering on a metal door.

Flash!

Mae jumped in her seat and screamed. The Doctor hit the brake and spun round, sonic at the ready. ‘What is it?’ he asked.

Mae’s eyes darted back and forth. Her breathing was ragged and she could feel her heart thumping in her chest. ‘I … I don’t know. I wasn’t here. In the ambulance, I mean. I was in some kind of room, but I couldn’t get out.’

The Doctor scanned her with the sonic. ‘Well, you didn’t physically move,’ he said, checking the results. ‘It must have been a mental jump of some kind. Maybe you picked up on some psychic residue left behind.’

Mae looked horrified at the suggestion. ‘You mean I felt what one of those people out there went through before they … before they died?’

The Doctor nodded and continued driving. The shimmering exit to the wormhole was clearly in sight ahead of them now. ‘The closer we get to the other planet, the stronger the connection with its victims. It could be the reason the wormhole looks like an actual tunnel. It holds the remains of the Shroud’s prey – both physical and as psychic energy. It can’t close in on itself like it should.’

Warren reached over to take Mae’s hand. ‘It’s OK,’ he said, ‘I’ll make sure that—’

Flash!

Warren was running down a corridor, fighting his way against hundreds of people swarming in the opposite direction, trying to find a way through. ‘Orma!’ he cried. ‘Orma!’

Flash!

Warren jerked back in his seat, surprised to find the others staring at him. ‘What?’

‘Who or what is Orma?’ the Doctor asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Warren admitted warily. ‘Why?’

‘You were just shouting it,’ said Clara.

Warren let out a deep breath. ‘It happened to me as well,’ he said. ‘For a second, I wasn’t here in the ambulance. I was trying to force my way through a crowd of people. Everyone around me was terrified.’

‘OK,’ said the Doctor, turning back and shifting the engine into drive and flooring the accelerator. ‘The sooner we get out of here, the better. There’s a lot of psychic flotsam and jetsam floating around.’ The ambulance began to judder as it bounced over the lumps in the ground. ‘Just try not to think about what we’re driving over.’

‘But what if it’s like that when we arrive on the other planet?’ asked Clara. ‘What if we get there and all we can—’

Flash!

Clara sat bolt upright in bed. The room was dark. Even the electro-gleam had gone out. ‘Mother!’ she called out. ‘Mother, are you there?’

There was no reply. Nervously, Clara pulled back the thick blankets and stepped onto the smooth metal floor. It felt cold against her bare feet. She reached for the lamp that always sat on her bedside table, knowing that it wouldn’t have much oil left in it – not at this stage of the season – but it should be enough to give her a few minutes of light. She found a match and struck it, trying to hold the flame steady in her trembling fingers to allow the wick to catch. After a few seconds, it began to glow and she found with relief that she was still in her own bedroom.

No, thought Clara to herself. This isn’t my bedroom. My bedroom is back in London. But this room – with its painted metal walls and dressing table made from the remnants of an old travel capsule – seemed like the most familiar place of all to her.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. No, more than a knock. Someone had hammered on it. Who could be outside? It had to be late, perhaps even the middle of the night.

‘Who’s there?’ Clara asked, her voice cracking. Then she froze. That wasn’t her voice. She was much older than that voice sounded. Holding the lamp out in front of her, she made her way over to the dressing table and peered into the piece of polished steel that served as a mirror. Looking back at her was the face of a young girl. A girl of maybe 9 or 10 years old. Clara raised a hand to her face and touched her lips – and the girl in the mirror did the same.

Banging at the door again – only this time, the door moved. It opened inward, just a few inches, but it was enough to terrify Clara. Blowing out the lamp, she leapt into bed and pulled the blankets over her head. Maybe this was all a nightmare. Maybe if she could fall back asleep, everything would go back to normal.

The bedroom door crashed open and Clara jumped beneath her blankets. Whoever had been knocking was now inside her room. She could hear their footsteps clanking on the metal floor. They were obviously wearing boots. Then the intruder pulled back her blankets and shone a bright light in her eyes. A bright, green light. And there was a noise, too. A kind of a Vreeeeeeeeee!

‘There you are!’ said the Doctor.

Flash!

Clara jumped in her seat. She was back in the ambulance – only Warren was now driving and the Doctor was squeezed between them, his fingers pressed against her forehead.

‘What are you doing?’ she cried, pushing his hands away.

The Doctor looked confused for a moment. ‘I was saving you.’

‘You went inside my mind?’

‘Yes. To save you.’

‘You went inside my mind without my permission?’

‘Again, you seem to be missing the “I saved you” part.’

‘Don’t ever do that again!’

‘What? Save you?’

‘No. Go in there without my permission.’

The Doctor nervously fiddled with his bow tie. ‘OK,’ he said.

‘Unless you absolutely have to do it to save me, of course,’ said Clara. Then she gasped as the memory of what she had seen hit her. ‘We have to find the girl!’

‘Which girl?’ asked the Doctor.

‘Didn’t you see her?’ asked Clara. ‘She was … well, she was me.’

The Doctor shook his head. ‘The only person I saw in that room looked like you.’

Clara sat back, clearly distressed. ‘She was so alone.’

They drove in silence for a few minutes, then Warren spoke up. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘End of the road, folks.’ The shimmering end of the wormhole was rushing towards them.

The Doctor climbed into the rear of the ambulance with Mae and sat on the stretcher. ‘Good luck, everyone,’ he said, gripping onto an oxygen bottle fixed to the wall.

Then the ambulance burst through into another world.

Chapter 10

The ambulance exploded through the shimmering portal at the end of the wormhole where it landed on an expanse of ice and began to skid sideways, its wheels spinning as they desperately tried to find some traction on the slippery ground. Warren pumped at the brakes, dragging the wheel in the opposite direction to the skid in an effort to slow the vehicle’s momentum. After turning in two full circles, it slammed side-on into a tall snowdrift. The engine sputtered and died.