I can't really go back to the Protector with just one chapter out of three for the hungry Earth to go up can I? ;)

Sadly I go back to work tomorrow so the joys of having chapters go up every other day or so is ending now. I won't be able to write as much while at work but I have got a bit ahead on it so hopefully I can keep that up.

Without further ado lets get into this!

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BLUE GRASS
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Rory Stood in the cutout grave with Cassiopeia while Nova watched them from above "Do you want sugar?" Elliot questioned, walking over to them and standing beside the blonde looking down into the grave.

"Sorry?"

"In your tea. Mum's asking."

"No. Just white for me, thanks."

"You two?" He frowned.

"Seven sugars." They replied simultaneously.

"Seven?" He repeatedly.

"Each."

He frowned for a moment before looking at the grave. "There's only one explanation, as far as I can see."

"What's that, then?" Rory asked.

"The graves eat people." He replied. "Devour them whole, leaving no trace."

"Not sure about that."

"Wouldn't knock it until you know it's false, Rory," Nova added.

Elliot nodded in agreement. "They didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides. Only other thing is, they get in from underneath."

"Not very likely, though."

"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Sorry?"

"Sherlock." Cassiopeia and Nova said, Elliot smiled.

"Got the audiobook." He replied. The graves round here eat people."

×××

"Is that what happened to Mo?" Tony asked the Doctor. "Are they dead?"

Hollie's eyes widened. "It's not quicksand." The Doctor replied, ignoring the man's question. "She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in. It wanted her."

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen asked.

"You said the ground was dormant." He pointed at Tony. "Just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped."

"That's right."

"And when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back." Orion raised a brow.

"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling? I'm sorry but that is ridiculous."

"He's not saying that," the Doctor replied, "and it's not ridiculous, we just don't think it's right." He checked the earth with his sonic. "Oh, of course. It's bio-programming."

"What?" Nasreen asked.

"Bio-programming." He answered. "Oh, it's clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?"

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen questioned.

"You're not making any sense, man."

"He usually doesn't," Orion said, Hollie gave a small chuckle, and the Doctor relaxed slightly at the chuckle. At least she gave a small laugh.

He then straightened and turned to Orion glaring at the man. "Oi!" He huffed. "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense." He then turned to Nasreen and Tony. "You're just not keeping up. The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack."

"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?"

"Stop you drilling." He clapped his hands together. "Okay, so we find whatever's doing the bio-programming, we can find Amy. We can get her back. Shush, shush, shush. Have I gone mad?" He looked at Hollie before he answered his own question as she opened her mouth. "I've gone mad."

"Doctor-"

"Shush, shush." He cut her off, Hollie frowned and glanced at Orion who shrugged. "Silence. Absolute silence." He looked at Nasreen. "You've stopped the drill, right?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"And you've only got the one drill?"

"Yes." She confirmed again.

"One hundred percent sure?" Orion cut in, finally understanding what the Doctor had stopped them for.

"Yes," Tony answered.

"So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling?" The Doctor questioned. Tony and Nasreen's eyes widened. "It's under the ground."

"That's not possible."

The Doctor ran over to the computers nearby and used his sonic on the computers.

"Oh no, what are you doing?"

"Hacking into your records." He replied. "Probe reports, samples, sensors." He looked at the screen as the monitor changed to show the tunnels. "Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look. So, we are here," he pointed to the monitor, "and this is your drill hole. Twenty-one point zero zero nine kilometres. Well done."

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time."

"Why here, though? Why'd you drill on this site?"

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years.

"The bluegrass?" Orion guessed.

The woman nodded. "Oh, Nasreen." The Doctor smiled. "Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up."

The screen changed showing a network of tunnels going from the bottom towards the surface. "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."

"No, no, we've surveyed that area." Tony pointed at the screen.

"And only saw what you went looking for," Orion replied.

"What are they?" Nasreen asked.

"Heat signals." The Doctor replied before frowning at three green dots flashing on the screen. "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense." He looked at the other screen. "And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"

"Just my daughter and her family," Tony answered. "The rest of the staff travel in."

"Doctor." Orion began.

"I know." He replied with a grim face. "Grab this equipment and follow me." He told Nasreen and Tony.

"Why? What're we doing?"

"That noise isn't a drill, it's transport." He explained. "Three of them, thirty kilometres down. Rate of speed looks about a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Should be here in ooo, quite soon." He looked at his watch.

"Twelve minutes." Orion did the calculation.

"You're good with your maths." The Doctor remarked.

"Had a good teacher." He shrugged.

The Doctor nodded. "The Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now." He took Hollies hand and headed out. Nasreen and Tony quickly grabbed the equipment and followed with Orion behind them.

×××

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Nasreen asked as she followed the Doctor down a dirt path towards a couple of houses.

"You saw the readings." He replied.

"Who are you, anyway? How can you know all this?"

The Doctor opened his mouth but no words came out as a red light suddenly shimmered over in the sky in what looked like a dome. "Whoa, did you see that?"

"No, no, no." The Doctor whispered, bringing out a catapult from his jacket, he picked up a stone from the ground and shot it into the air. The group watched as a dome with the same red-coloured light appeared for a moment in the sky before it disappeared again.

He brought out his sonic and scanned the sky. "Energy signal originating from under the Earth." He explained.

"Basically we're trapped," Orion added.

"Doctor, something weird's going on here," Rory, Cassiopeia and Nova walked up to the Doctor, Hollie, Orion, Tony and Nasreen, "the graves are eating people."

"Not now, Rory." The Doctor replied. "Energy barricade, invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no one from the outside world can get in."

"What? Okay, what about the TARDIS?" Rory asked.

Cassiopeia and Nova shook their heads at him.

"The what?" Nasreen looked at Rory and the identical girls.

"The energy patterns would mess with the circuits," Nova explained.

"If we had the time it could be done," Orion added. "But right now we don't have a lot of time."

"Nine and a half minutes actually." The Doctor nodded, looking at his watch.

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Rory frowned, and Cassiopeia and Nova raised their eyebrows.

"We're trapped, and something's burrowing towards the surface," Nasreen explained.

"Where's Amy?" Rory asked. Hollie swallowed hard at the mention of her friend.

"Get everyone inside the church. " The Doctor ordered. "Rory, I'll get her back."

"What do you mean, get her back?" He asked as he stepped forward, closer to the Doctor. "Where's she gone?"

"She was taken Rory," Hollie whispered. "Into the Earth, I saw it."

"How?" He asked before his eyes flickered over to the Doctor, his expression hardening. "Why didn't you stop it?"

The Doctor opened his mouth but Orion spoke up first. "He tried to do what he could."

"I tried. I promise, I tried." The Doctor said.

"Well, you should've tried harder!" Rory shouted, moving towards the Time Lord, Hollie stepped between Rory and the Doctor, tears in her eyes and yet an angry look on her face. "He tried his best."

Rory swallowed hard at the look on her face. "I'm sorry-"

Hollie closed her eyes for a moment before she turned around and walked off. Orion looked at Rory for a moment before he headed off after the blonde.

"I'll find Amy." The Doctor told Rory. "I'll keep you all safe, I promise. Come on, please. I need you alongside me." He begged.

Rory slowly nodded in agreement while Cassiopeia and Nova smiled slightly before they followed the Doctor and Rory towards the church. "Where's Mo?" Ambrose asked Tony as the man attempted to open the door. "Is he with you?"

Tony huffed as the door refused to open. "This flaming door." He complained, ignoring Ambrose's question. "Always sticking. I thought you were having it fixed."

"Dad!" Ambrose exclaimed suddenly.

Tony slowly looked at his daughter. "Something's happened to him, hasn't it?" Elliot asked as he looked up at his grandfather.

He swallowed hard and slowly nodded.

×××

After they finally got into the church that looked more like it was being used as a storage cupboard with cardboard boxes stacked high, the Doctor began to scan the equipment they had bought in. "So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth." Ambrose began ranting off.

"Yes." The Doctor replied. "If we move quickly enough, we can be ready."

"No," she pointed at him, "stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"

Hollie frowned. "He's only trying to help."

Ambrose looked to her father who nodded in agreement. "He's telling the truth, love."

"Come on. It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals." Ambrose shook her head. "Reception's always rubbish."

"Look, Ambrose. We saw the Doctor's friend get taken, okay?" Nasreen replied. "You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it for me is them lot."

"Them?" Ambrose frowned and looked to where the Doctor was crouched, Hollie beside him.

"Me." the Time Lord stood up, smiling.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asked.

The Doctor opened his mouth but turned around when Orion spoke instead. "First he needs you to trust him."

The Doctor nodded and looked at Ambrose as he walked towards her. "Do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time."

"So tell us what to do." Ambrose replied.

"Thank you." He nodded. "We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find. We need every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors." He turned to the trio. "I trust you three to help with setting them up. Hollie and I will stay and monitor things from here. We need to be ready for whatever's coming up and I need a map of the village marking where the cameras are going." He looked to Elliot.

The boy shrugged. "I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic."

"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue." He smiled. "Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot."

×××

Elliot sat in the church and drew his map while the Doctor and Hollie watched the screen, cameras began to flicker on the screen as the group made its way through the small village. "Do you think we'll be able to stop them?" Hollie questioned.

The Doctor turned his gaze away from the screen for a moment to look at her. "We need to get Amy back so that's what we're going to do. Okay?"

Hollie nodded. "Okay."

"We need some more equipment." He frowned.

"Look." Hollie pointed at one corner of the screen where a small white van was in sight. "Meals on wheels." She narrowed her eyes as she read off the blurry screen."

The Doctor looked in Ambrose's van on one side while Hollie looked in the other. "Oi! What're you two doing?" The woman called.

"Resources." the Time Lord explained as he looked at Ambrose who was walking towards them. "Every little helps. Meals on wheels." He looked at Hollie and winked, making her roll her eyes. "What've you got here, then? Warmer in the front, refrigerated in the back."

Ambrose placed a cricket bat on the seat and a rifle. "Bit chilly for a hideout, mind."

The Doctor frowned. "What are those?"

"I think it's a cricket bat and a rifle," Cassiopeia commented as she suddenly appeared behind Hollie making her jump. "Sorry." She apologised.

"I meant what are they for." He rolled his eyes.

"Like you say," Ambrose shrugged, "every little helps."

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "no weapons. It's not the way I do things."

"You said we're supposed to be defending ourselves."

"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely. Put them away."

"It's wise to listen to him when he's asking nicely." Cassiopeia pointed out. "Trust me."

The Doctor nodded. "Where's everyone else?"

"Just finishing the last of the cameras, thought I'd come and help you two."

"We should get back to the church," Hollie suggested.

The Doctor nodded in agreement.

×××

The Doctor and Hollie walked back into the church a moment before Elliot ran in with a piece of paper. "Look at that. Perfect." The Doctor took the map from him and nodded approvingly. "Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein." He looked at the young boy. "It's not stopping you."

Elliot frowned, his eyes fixed on the Time Lord. "I don't understand what you're going to do."

"Two-phase plan." He winked back. "First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives." He pointed to the monitor showing multiple cameras. "Second, if something does arrive, I use this" he held his sonic up, "to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices. A pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe."

"Knock 'em out." Elliot nodded while he smiled in amazement. "Cool."

"Bad influence." Hollie pointed out to the Time Lord who huffed.

"Shut up." He shot back, a smirk on his lips as she rolled her eyes at him. The Doctor looked at Elliot. "Lovely place to grow up round here."

The boy shrugged slightly, not looking as impressed as the Doctor. "Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."

"I was the same where I grew up." The Doctor commented.

"Did you get away?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Do you ever miss it?" Elliot asked.

"So much." He replied.

"Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?"

"Yeah."

"You scared of them?"

"Oh no." A voice cut in. They all looked to the doorway where Orion stood with his sisters. He chuckled slightly before nodding at the Doctor. "They're scared of him."

The Doctor watched the three closely as they walked into the room, his eyes flickered to Hollie for a brief moment. Who were they? Definitely not human and they had sonic screwdrivers so either they made them or he gave them one each, just like he had given his to river the day he met her at the library. Not that he could remember much of that day. He didn't want to remember it either. He shook his head as Elliot's voice brought him out of his own thoughts. "Will you really get my dad back?"

The Doctor gave his most reassuring smile. "No question."

Elliot frowned slightly as he looked outside and saw it was darker than usual. "I left my headphones at home."

"We should go find Rory." Hollie looked at the Doctor. "They'll be here soon won't they?"

"Yes." He agreed. "I don't like this one bit Holls."