grip like steel.
‘Ow. You’re hurting me.’
Miss Peyne nodded and they relaxed their hold. Rose rubbed at her bruised arms, staring at the masked figures that surrounded her.
‘All right. You don’t have to keep up the surgeon act. I’m not conta-gious. There’s no need for the masks.’
‘Quite right, Miss Evans. I think we’ve worn all our masks quite long enough.’
Each of the warders reached up in unison, grabbing their surgical masks and peeling them back. There was a horrible wet sucking noise.
Rose stepped back in shock. It wasn’t just the masks that the warders peeled away, but their entire faces!
Miss Peyne gave a leering smile.
‘Now, isn’t that better?’
She grasped her own chin and pulled. Her entire face came away with the same wet sucking noise, revealing dark reptilian skin and gleaming malevolent eyes.
Miss Peyne and all the warders were aliens!
76
Rose stared in horrified fascination at the aliens that surrounded her. They were without doubt among the most unpleasant-looking creatures that she had come across.
Each of them was a dark green-grey colour, their skin wrinkled and ridged like decaying fruit. Short tufts of greasy hair sprouted from around a flattened, pug-like nose and their eyes were yellow slits, like a cat’s. The mouths were wide and studded with sharp protruding teeth and a ridge of transparent spines ran over the tops of their heads, vanishing into the collars of their surgical gowns.
To Rose, Miss Peyne looked the most bizarre of all. From the neck down she was still the stick-thin, prissy woman who had greeted them at the door, her tweed jacket still buttoned neatly beneath her lab coat, her shoes still clean and polished. But the head was now slimy and lizard-like, a thin tongue flicking through yellowing teeth. The effect was like that children’s game where you mix up various heads, legs and torsos.
The aliens jabbered to themselves in hissing tones, their human masks hanging grotesquely in their hands.
77
Miss Peyne shot them a vicious look and instructed them to be quiet.
Then she turned to Rose, her mouth widening unpleasantly.
‘Well, my dear, I’m impressed. You seem to be taking all this in your stride.’
Rose tried to sound more blasé than she felt.
‘Well, you know. When you’ve seen one alien species that disguises itself as human, you’ve seen them all. You’d get on well with the Slitheen. You can trade fashion tips.’
‘Ah, the dear Raxacoricofallapatorians. They do try so hard to integrate themselves seamlessly into society, but all that gas, it’s so undig-nified.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Ah. Direct. Good.’ The lizard tongue flickered out. ‘We are the Cynrog. I am Peyne Tek Verlap, Priest Commander of the Third Cynrog Scientific Militia.’
‘Miss Peyne.’ Rose snorted. ‘Very good. Very original.’
‘An amusement. And an identity for the necessary dealings we have with your unpleasant species.’
‘And what dealings would those be, eh?’ Rose was bolder now, looking Peyne full in the face. ‘Kidnapping old people, drugging them up to the eyeballs. Does Morton know what you get up to in his cellar?
Can’t imagine he manages to get down here with his wheelchair and that. Don’t think he’d be happy.’
The wide smile faded. ‘You’re quite right. Nathaniel does find it difficult to get down here, so we should be polite and pay him a visit, don’t you think?’
Peyne gestured towards the stairs. ‘After you, Miss Evans.’
Ali watched from the doorway to the cellar as Rose was ushered up the stairs by the grey-skinned monsters. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Monsters. Real monsters. Not like the ones from her nightmares, not like the ones that she drew night after night, but something far more tangible and terrifying. Monsters that hid under human masks!
78
Rose vanished through the door at the top of the stairs and the monster that had once been the frightening woman slammed it shut.
‘Ow. You’re hurting me.’
Miss Peyne nodded and they relaxed their hold. Rose rubbed at her bruised arms, staring at the masked figures that surrounded her.
‘All right. You don’t have to keep up the surgeon act. I’m not conta-gious. There’s no need for the masks.’
‘Quite right, Miss Evans. I think we’ve worn all our masks quite long enough.’
Each of the warders reached up in unison, grabbing their surgical masks and peeling them back. There was a horrible wet sucking noise.
Rose stepped back in shock. It wasn’t just the masks that the warders peeled away, but their entire faces!
Miss Peyne gave a leering smile.
‘Now, isn’t that better?’
She grasped her own chin and pulled. Her entire face came away with the same wet sucking noise, revealing dark reptilian skin and gleaming malevolent eyes.
Miss Peyne and all the warders were aliens!
76
Rose stared in horrified fascination at the aliens that surrounded her. They were without doubt among the most unpleasant-looking creatures that she had come across.
Each of them was a dark green-grey colour, their skin wrinkled and ridged like decaying fruit. Short tufts of greasy hair sprouted from around a flattened, pug-like nose and their eyes were yellow slits, like a cat’s. The mouths were wide and studded with sharp protruding teeth and a ridge of transparent spines ran over the tops of their heads, vanishing into the collars of their surgical gowns.
To Rose, Miss Peyne looked the most bizarre of all. From the neck down she was still the stick-thin, prissy woman who had greeted them at the door, her tweed jacket still buttoned neatly beneath her lab coat, her shoes still clean and polished. But the head was now slimy and lizard-like, a thin tongue flicking through yellowing teeth. The effect was like that children’s game where you mix up various heads, legs and torsos.
The aliens jabbered to themselves in hissing tones, their human masks hanging grotesquely in their hands.
77
Miss Peyne shot them a vicious look and instructed them to be quiet.
Then she turned to Rose, her mouth widening unpleasantly.
‘Well, my dear, I’m impressed. You seem to be taking all this in your stride.’
Rose tried to sound more blasé than she felt.
‘Well, you know. When you’ve seen one alien species that disguises itself as human, you’ve seen them all. You’d get on well with the Slitheen. You can trade fashion tips.’
‘Ah, the dear Raxacoricofallapatorians. They do try so hard to integrate themselves seamlessly into society, but all that gas, it’s so undig-nified.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Ah. Direct. Good.’ The lizard tongue flickered out. ‘We are the Cynrog. I am Peyne Tek Verlap, Priest Commander of the Third Cynrog Scientific Militia.’
‘Miss Peyne.’ Rose snorted. ‘Very good. Very original.’
‘An amusement. And an identity for the necessary dealings we have with your unpleasant species.’
‘And what dealings would those be, eh?’ Rose was bolder now, looking Peyne full in the face. ‘Kidnapping old people, drugging them up to the eyeballs. Does Morton know what you get up to in his cellar?
Can’t imagine he manages to get down here with his wheelchair and that. Don’t think he’d be happy.’
The wide smile faded. ‘You’re quite right. Nathaniel does find it difficult to get down here, so we should be polite and pay him a visit, don’t you think?’
Peyne gestured towards the stairs. ‘After you, Miss Evans.’
Ali watched from the doorway to the cellar as Rose was ushered up the stairs by the grey-skinned monsters. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Monsters. Real monsters. Not like the ones from her nightmares, not like the ones that she drew night after night, but something far more tangible and terrifying. Monsters that hid under human masks!
78
Rose vanished through the door at the top of the stairs and the monster that had once been the frightening woman slammed it shut.
Similar Books
