Unit HQ Grounds Woodland Escape Path

The narrow woodland section of the Unit HQ grounds serves as a desperate escape route when the conical object descends. The ground here slopes unevenly underfoot, where the Brigadier and Second Doctor’s boots kick through brittle bracken that snaps with sharp cracks under their weight. Sunlight filters through the dense canopy in uneven patches, casting dappled light across the trodden earth and moss-cushioned roots that threaten to trip them as they run. The air carries the sharp scent of crushed ferns and damp loam, the forest’s natural silence broken only by their hurried breaths and the distant rustle of leaves. The trees press in around them—not as shelter, but as an obstacle course, their trunks close enough that arms brush bark as they weave between branches. Each step feels heavier than the last as the TARDIS’s familiar blue shape looms ahead, doors still open as the only true escape from the anomaly’s relentless pull.