Author's Note: My first try at horror, so please read and review to tell me if I'm any good at this sort of thing. Constructive criticism is welcome, but people who flame me will be completely ignored. This story is loosely based on the excellent PlayStation game Silent Hill and its PS2 sequel. Featuring the fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry, this adventure is set between the TV stories Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons.

Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and is used without permission.

Nightmare Syndrome

By Jack of the Pelt

Chapter One

Ghost Town

It was late afternoon as a car drove down a road that led towards the American resort town of Highvale. Inside the vehicle was a man and his daughter. The man, whose name was Michael Brookes was talking to his child, Rosemary, or Rose, as she was more commonly know.

"Almost there!" he said cheerfully to her. When he got no reply he looked at his daughter and noticed the rather sullen expression she was wearing. "Hey, why the long face?"

"I've been having those nightmares again, dad," she replied.

Her father frowned. "The ones with-"

"The Mist Knights and the Drowned Queen?" she said, finishing his question for him. "Yeah, those ones." She shuddered slightly.

Michael sighed. His daughter had been having these dreams ever since Alice, her mother and his wife, had died four years ago. "Rose, try and forget those dreams and have a good time at Highvale." He turned and smiled at his daughter. "Let's say we go to that theme park, tomorrow? What do you think -"

"Dad, look out!" she cried, cutting him off.

Michael quickly turned his attention back towards the front of the car, seeing that there was someone standing in the middle of the road, a tall humanoid figure. But before he could properly take any details in, he jerked the steering wheel to the right, swerving off the road. He tried to guide the car back onto the tarmac, but he had lost control of the vehicle. His foot slammed down on the brake, however it was too late and the car slammed into a tree.

***

Some time later, a strange noise disturbed the silence of the surrounding area. The sound was a bizarre shrieking noise that increased in volume as a shape formed out of thin air, which finally coalesced into the shape of a police box from 1960's London. The noise ended with a thump when the box had completely solidified. This was the TARDIS, a time and space machine from the planet Gallifrey.

The door opened and a man poked his head out. He looked around, noticing that the surrounding area was enveloped in mist. "I say! It's very foggy out here," he called back into the blue box. He then stepped out and rubbed his hands together. "You can barely see past your nose!" The man's name was Harry Sullivan, and he was a medical officer in the British navy.

"Doctor, are you absolutely sure this Scotland?" asked an attractive brown haired girl, Sarah Jane Smith, as she followed Harry out of the TARDIS.

"Of course I'm sure!" said a voice from inside. The last occupant of the impossible box, the Doctor, walked out. His strange set of clothes included a fedora, which seemed to trying to keep the unruly mass of curly hair on his head, and a ridiculously long scarf that was wrapped several times around his neck. "When have you know me to be wrong?"

"On quite a few occasions, actually."

He ignored his companion's comment and looked about, a bemused expression on his face. "Oh, it isn't Scotland after all. In fact, I think we're in America." He shrugged. "Oh well, it is Earth, at any rate," he said, returning to his previous cheery mood. "One out of three isn't bad!"

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "How did you know we were in America, Doctor?" he asked.

The Doctor shrugged modestly. "Well, we Time Lords have a special sense for these things." He suddenly pointed up the road. "But it was that road sign over there that really gave it away."

The sign in question said: WELCOME TO HIGHVALE, THE FRIENDLIEST TOWN IN THE USA! PLEASE DRIVE CAREFULLY.

"Doctor, Harry, look!" cried Sarah, diverting their attention. "There's a car over there! And it looks like it crashed!" She pointed down the road away from the tunnel.

"Good lord, there might be people injured!" said Harry with concern. "We better see if anyone needs help!" He hurried over; the Doctor and Sarah following close behind. When Sarah reached him he was kneeling over a prone body by the vehicle. "He's alive and not doesn't look too badly hurt," he said, answering her unasked question. "He must have opened the door after the crash, climbed out and fell unconscious."

While Harry went though the procedure of helping the man, Sarah noticed that the Doctor had stopped some way back and was staring down the road to where there was a tunnel leading off into darkness. She walked back to him to see what was wrong. "What's the matter, Doctor?" she asked.

"Something's not right," replied the Doctor distantly. He turned to his friend. "Can't you feel it, Sarah?"

"Feel what?"

"Something… oh, never mind." He turned around to face her and broke into a broad smile. "Let's see how Harry is getting along with his patient shall we?" He walked up to his other companion, Sarah in tow.

***

Unknown to three time travellers, something watched them as they attended to the injured man, hiding itself in the cover of the nearby woods, the shadows shrouding it completely.

***

"How is he, Harry?" asked the Doctor as he reached his friend. The naval doctor had placed the unconscious man in the recovery position and was now kneeling beside him. They could now see him clearly, noticing he had sandy blonde hair and was fairly tall, perhaps just under six foot.

Harry looked up. "Oh, he'll be fine." Harry got to his feet and brushed his knees down. "He's breathing regularly and there are no bone fractures, just a slight bump on the back of his head. He must have hit the headrest quite hard to knock himself out."

There was a groan at their feet, and they all looked down. The man's eyes flicked open, taking in the three people standing over him. "W…Where am I?" he muttered.

Sarah was one to answer him. "You by a roadside near a town called Highvale, Mr…?"

"Brookes. Michael Brookes." He grimaced and put a hand to his forehead. "Ugh, it feels as though something's cracked my head open!"

"Well," Harry began, "you've had a pretty nasty knock on -"

"What about Rose? Where is she?" Michael said, cutting him off.

"Rose?"

"My Daughter!" he cried, his tone becoming panicky. "She was in the car with me! Where is she?!"

"I'm afraid we only found you here, old chap," Harry told Michael.

"I've got to find her!" he climbed to his feet, but staggered and almost fell over.

"Be careful, you not exactly a hundred percent," Sarah warned, steadying him.

"What made you drive off the road Mr Brookes?" asked the Doctor suddenly.

"Huh?" Michael looked at him, dazed.

"What made you crash?" The Doctor grinned. Noticing the man blank stare, the Time Lord took a white paper bag from his pocket and offered it to him. "Perhaps a jelly baby will help you remember?"

Michael stared at him like he was insane, but he took a jelly baby, examined it for a second, then popped it into his mouth.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Doctor, I don't think -" she began.

"Somebody wearing some kind of armour," the man said suddenly, cutting her off. "He was really tall, at least seven foot tall and…" he trailed off, embarrassed.

"Go on," insisted the Doctor as he took a one of the sweets for himself before putting the bag away.

"I know this sounds stupid, but I swear he had really long arms. They went past his knees."

The Doctor looked thoughtful for a second and then, all of a sudden, marched off down the road to the tunnel. After a few strides, he stopped and turned around. "Well, are you coming?" He then went back to walking to the tunnel.

The three of them looked at each other and a few moments later started to follow the Time Lord.

***

After they had left, the figure that was lurking in the shadows of the wood emerged from behind a tree and approached the Doctor's time machine.

"A TARDIIISSS…" it hissed as it reached the blue box, running a claw across its surface.

***

"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your names," said Michael as they emerged on the other side of the tunnel. "I'm so worried about my daughter."

"Well, that's understandable, Mr Brookes, I'm -" Sarah began.

"Please, just call me Michael," the man interrupted, smiling, albeit in somewhat of a strained fashion. "I hate people calling me Mr Brookes, it sounds so formal."

"Well, Michael, I'm Sarah Jane Smith, but you can call me Sarah." She gestured towards Harry. "This is Harry Sullivan."

The man offered his hand to Michael. "Delighted to meet you," Harry said.

Michael took it and gave him a firm handshake. "Hi," he replied, with another strained smile.

After they had finished Sarah inclined her head towards the figure just in front of them. "And that's the Doctor."

"Doctor…?"

"Just the Doctor," Sarah paused to think for a second. "I don't think he's actually told us his name."

By now they had entered the town proper and were surrounded by various buildings. "I say," said Harry, before the American could say anything else. "It looks as though the good Doctor has found something."

Up ahead the Doctor had stopped by the roadside and was looking at something that was lying in the road itself. "Sarah, Harry, Michael, don't come any closer," he warned.

Harry hurried up to him, doing the exact opposite of what the Doctor had told him to do. "What is it Doctor -" He stopped short as he saw what the Doctor was talking about. "Ah… I see,"

It was the mutilated body of what used to be a man. It looked like it had been torn to shreds, and when Sarah caught sight of the remains she turned away with a look of nausea on her face.

Michael's eyes widened in shock as saw the corpse. "Who the hell could have done this?"

"Not who, what," the Doctor walked up to the dead body and pointed at it. "Do you see? Those marks there were made by fangs and claws."

"Some kind of animal?" asked Harry as he took a look, intrigued despite himself.

"What kind animal could have done this?" said Michael, as he followed, still horrified. "A bear?"

While the three men were talking amongst themselves, Sarah saw something move in the corner of her eye to her right. She looked in that direction and saw someone walking swiftly away from the small group into the mist. "Doctor…" she said, trying to catch the Time Lord's attention, but failing.

"No, whatever it was smaller than a bear," The Doctor said in reply to Michael's question.

"Rose…" murmured Michael worriedly.

"Doctor!"

"Wait a minute, Sarah, I'll be with you in a moment!"

"Doctor! Oooh!" said Sarah, annoyed. "Why doesn't he ever listen to me?" she muttered under her breath. And without another word to her friends, she marched off into the mist after whoever it was.

***

"Odd, it looks as though he's been drained of blood as well," said the Doctor as he inspected the corpse.

"You're telling me a vampire done this?!" Michael asked, incredulous.

"Possibly," the Doctor replied in all seriousness.

Michael shook his head. "Bull-"

"I say Doctor, where's Sarah?" Harry interrupted, looking around for his fellow time traveller.

The Doctor looked up from examination of the body. "Sarah? She was right -" His face fell as he saw that there was no sign of her. "Oh, dear."

"Great," said Michael. He gestured in the vague direction of the dead man. "What about if she bumps into whatever freak of nature that had done this?"

"I sincerely hope not," muttered the Time Lord.

"I better go and look for the old girl," said Harry, running off into the surrounding mist.

"No, Harry! We don't want to split up!" the Doctor cried, attempting to stop his friend from wandering off, but it was too late. "Harry!" He turned to Michael. "Let's go, and stay close to me."

"Okay, boss," said Michael sarcastically, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice.

They went in the direction Harry had taken, but after several minutes of walking they found no sign of either of the Doctor's friends. But they found something else.

"What in god's name could have done this?" asked Michael.

They were staring into a chasm that had been made in the road. It was so deep and wide that they couldn't see the bottom or the other side.

"There are a number of possibilities," murmured the Doctor. "Natural shifting of tectonic plates, perhaps…?" He shook his head, as if to dislodge that particular line of thinking from his head. "No, that can't be it, it's too neat, and why would it be blocking one of the ways out of this town?"

His companion was only half-listening to him. "Doctor?" asked Michael.

"Yes?"

"Is it me, or is something big moving down there?"

"You noticed it too…" The Doctor removed his hat and scratched his head. "Hmm…"

"What is it?" asked Michael, curious.

"Something very wrong is happening here, Mr Brookes," replied the Doctor, "something very wrong indeed…"

"Y'know, Doctor," Michael said, turning away from the chasm to survey their surroundings. "Have noticed that we haven't seen a single person in this town y- HOLY SHIT!!!"

The Doctor span around at the man's exclamation to see a creature scuttling towards them out of the mist, using its long arms and it's short but powerful looking legs to move forward along the pavement. The thing was vaguely humanoid shaped, but that was where the resemblance ended. Its green-purple skin was stretched tightly across its body, making it look like a skeleton, while several thorn-like spikes emerged from its back. When it reached them, it stopped and stood up on its back legs, regarding them curiously, it's red eyes glowing balefully.

"Hello!" said the Doctor cheerily, extending a hand. "We'd be awfully grateful if you could tell us what's happened here and if you've seen -"

"Mmmeeaaattt!!!" it gurgled, cutting him off, salvia dripping from its maw. It lunged forward towards the Time Lord.

He jumped back, dodging the monster. The Doctor frowned. "I'm sorry, I only wanted to ask if you've -"

But the thing wasn't listening, as it had turned its attention to his companion, who was now the closest. It gave another scream and attempted to pounce on him.

"JESUS CHRIST!!!" cried Michael, the thing just missing him. But the creature turned with surprising speed and leapt towards the man, but his luck held out and it missed once more.

It was getting ready to attack again, but the Doctor called out. "Excuse me?" he said in a polite tone, grinning inanely, giving it a little wave as it turned around. "But wouldn't you rather eat me?" He looked at Michael. "I mean he's all skin and bone, so there won't be much to chew on will there? Wouldn't you prefer a nice tasty Time Lord? Lot's of vitamin C! Yum, yum!"

The creature looked blankly at him for a few seconds, but then charged towards him on all fours, growling fiercely.

"Doctor! Move!" yelled Michael. The monster was almost on him.

The Doctor just stood there, grinning.

As the creature pounced, the Time Lord moved out of the way at the last second, the beast hurtling into the abyss behind him with an inhuman shriek.

Michael rushed over to him. "What the hell was that?" he asked as he helped the Doctor to his feet.

The Doctor brushed himself down and picking up his hat, which he had dropped. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah!"

The Doctor frowned. "I have no idea," he replied.

"Oh," the man said, sounding disappointed. "Do you think that was the creature that killed that man?"

The Doctor nodded. "Possibly, but I think there must have been a small group of them to cause that kind of damage," he remarked casually.

Michael's gave a sigh. "This just gets better and better," he muttered to himself. But a troubled expression then appeared on his face. "I really hope to god that one of these things doesn't get my little girl. I'll never forgive myself if one does."

"Never give up hope!" the Doctor said cheerily. He then slapped Michael on the back, perhaps too hard as the man stumbled forward slightly. The Doctor didn't notice, however, and turned to leave. "Come on, we have to find Sarah and Harry, as well as your daughter!" He hurried off down the road, Michael following close behind him.

***

In an alleyway between two nearby buildings, something watched them leave. A few moments later it vanished into the shadows.

***

Sarah had been following the figure for several minutes now. "Excuse me!" she shouted when she knew she was within earshot of the figure.

The figure spun around. It was a girl just on the verge of adolescences, with sandy blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. Sarah realized this could be Michael's missing daughter. "Rose!" she called. The girl's eyes widened in terror and she span around and fled. "Hey, wait a minute!" Sarah yelled as she gave chase.

The girl ran up the garden path of a nearby house and with a fearful glance back at the Sarah, she yanked open it's door and ran inside. When Sarah herself reached it she wondered why the girl had chosen this particular house rather then any of the others, as it didn't look any different from the rest. Steeling herself, Sarah went though the door.

Inside, she heard a thump from a room above and went to climb the stairs, but paused halfway up. Now that she had time to think about it, why had she followed the girl in the first place? The figure could have been anybody, even whoever had killed that man they had found earlier. Her actions had been completely irresponsible, running off without even telling anybody. And where was everybody? Apart from the girl, she hadn't seen a single soul in this town. It was all very disturbing. However now that she was this far she knew she had to continue.

Climbing the stairs Sarah noticed that a door on the left side of the landing was swinging slightly, so she guessed that was where the girl had gone and Sarah entered the room with some trepidation. It was a child's bedroom, perhaps for a young girl. The room was filled with teddy bears, china dolls and various other items that a female child would keep. Sarah noticed a movement over the top of the bed. "Rose?" she asked.

"Go away," came the reply.

Sarah walked around the other side of the bed to find the girl's hiding place. Rose was sitting with her knees up against her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs, staring at the woman with terrified eyes. Sarah crouched down to her height. "You're Rosemary, aren't you?" She asked in her most friendly tone.

The girl nodded. "Who're you?" she demanded, still wary.

"My names Sarah Jane Smith, but you can call me Sarah,"

"Are you English?"

Sarah nodded, smiling.

"Thought so," the girl said, "I knew because you had a funny accent."

"Come on, let's get you back to you father," Sarah said, holding out her hand. "He's really worried about you."

"Daddy?" said the girl, brightening slightly. "I want to see him." Rose looked like she was about to take the older woman's hand, but stopped short and looked around rapidly, clearly terrified. "He's coming!"

"Who's coming?" asked Sarah, puzzled at the girl's sudden panic.

"One of the Mist Knights!"

"The mist what?"

Rose jumped up and started to back away from her. "I have to get away from here!" the young girl almost shrieked, "If he catches us he'll take us to the Drowned Queen who lives in the lake!" Before Sarah could react, she had run out the door and slammed it shut behind her.

"Rose!" Sarah cried. She rushed over to the door, trying the handle, but to her dismay she found it was locked. As she took her hand away from it started to rattle as if someone was wrenching it violently from the other side. Could it really be one of the Mist Knights that Rose was talking about? If it was she had to find a place to hide! Sarah panicked and hurriedly looked around the room for somewhere to conceal herself. Her eyes alighted on a cupboard and she ran over to it, climbing in and shutting the door behind her.

Holding her breath, fearing that whatever was coming though the door would here her, she listened in fear as there was a click as the door unlocked and opened.

Sarah had never felt so frightened in her life. It was as if she was eight years old again, hiding from imaginary monsters that lived in the shadows of her parent's house.

She could hear a rhythmic hissing sound, as if something was breathing heavily. Then there were footsteps, the sound of metal scraping against metal and the creaking of wooden floorboards accompanying them as they moved around the room.

The footsteps stopped right in front of her hiding place.

The cupboard doors were flung open.

Sarah screamed.

To be continued…