It was pitch black outside, but the creatures could see everything as clearly as on summer's day.
Not even in one's worst nightmares could one possibly imagine creatures looking as vile and gruesome as these.
The skin of the creatures was brown and shrivelled, the texture of leather – and oddly shaped, as if smudged with a clumsy finger. Their eyes were a deep purple, large and unblinking. They had small flat noses like buttons, and a tiny slit for a mouth. Their bodies were not dissimilar to that of a panther – except hunched and scrawny. Some of the creatures were larger than others – clearly, they were the elder.
Finally, after months of waiting, the day had arrived. It was time to begin. There was no turning back now.
With nervous eyes, the first creature poked its tiny head out from under the ground. The streets appeared to be deserted. Good. Everything was going to plan so far.
As if they had been spurred on by the first creature's bravery, the other creatures rapidly began to surface. Through the quiet streets they swarmed, seeking any nooks and crannies to take cover in. And there they crouched. Just waiting.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was nearly midnight. The Doctor and Rose had, once again, returned to Earth in 2006, to visit Rose's mum Jackie (Mickey was currently in a parallel world). However, hunger had, once again, struck the Doctor at an inappropriate time, just as Jackie and Rose were preparing for bed, so he had set off for the local chippy. Rose had followed him, but only, or so she said, to 'keep him in check'.
But of course, shops didn't run on a timetable to fit the Doctor's needs. At half past eleven on a Sunday night, they couldn't find a single chippy that was open. This, to Rose's surprise, prompted the Doctor to casually unlock the door of one particularly dingy shop with his trusty sonic screwdriver, stroll in and help himself to the chips left over from the day.
This was a bit too much for Rose, who found herself laughing slightly hysterically at the bizarreness of it all.
The Doctor stopped gorging himself with cold chips for a moment, and looked over at Rose. "What?" he asked in slight surprise. "Have I got something in my teeth? I never could get used to these teeth…" He ran his tongue over them.
Rose shook her head, and tried to compose herself. "Nah… it's just, I've seen so much, so many different worlds – but this, here, right now, has to be the weirdest experience of them all!"
The Doctor looked at her for a second, then gave a huge grin. "Oh. Right. Well, no normal days with the Doctor, you can be sure of that!"
And he was right. For when Rose popped to the loo in the back of the shop and the Doctor had a quick nosey in the other rooms, there was a soft creak as the front door swung to a close and locked shut, leaving them trapped inside.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Back on the Powell Estate, Jackie Tyler's eyes snapped open. She had heard a loud creak and a CLICK from downstairs. Was it Rose and himself coming back? They'd been very quick on their chip mission, if it was. She couldn't pretend she wasn't very pleased to see her daughter, but they did have a habit of turning up at the wrong time. She had friends coming round for dinner the following evening and they would only, the Doctor especially, get in the way.
Jackie fully intended to go downstairs and investigate the noise, but fell back to sleep before she could think anymore.
Meanwhile, throughout London, very few people noticed as each and every door in the city creaked to a tired close and trapped them inside their homes. However, the few that did could only tug at the door in confusion. What was going on?
The city was going into lockdown.