Chapter 1: "Who the Hell are You?"
The TARDIS jangled and clattered as it made its slow stop at their next destination. The Doctor was fiddling with the controls as Captain Jack Harkness attempted to find something to do. It was not a long time since they settled in another location but this descent seemed to take the TARDIS more effort to land. Rose was sitting upon one of the stairs of the TARDIS flipping through a journal she had tried to keep up with. The TARDIS shook slightly but it did not seem to affect any of the three. The shaking seemed to stop along with the other noises that came with the TARDIS's landing.
"Rose, get up now." The Doctor exclaimed with excitement. "The TARDIS has finally found a new location for us to check out. Though, I don't exactly know where."
Rose seemed occupied with her journal until the Doctor nudged her. Rose hummed a little as she swiftly got to her feet. She tucked her journal into her dark pink sweater jacket she was wearing.
"Where are we now, Doctor?" She shifted her footing before strolling over to the Doctor.
"Haven't a clue." He smiled with joy, "but we're about to find out!"
The Doctor moved towards the exit of the TARDIS. Rose followed and turned to call for Jack. Jack jerked his head up and spun to look at Rose exiting the TARDIS. He followed quickly after.
"The Hell…" Trailed Rose as she stepped out and into a grey tinted neighborhood.
The others look about the street and the general area. Rose held out her right hand and caught a floating piece of ash that was drifting down from the sky. Looking up, she found no blue sky but a grey overcast and tons more ash lint falling slightly to the ground. Rose's face scrunched in confusion and slight disgust.
"Doctor, what is this place? What's going on?" Rose looked from side to side and walked out into the cracked street. Her feet crunched about as she walked about.
The Doctors face was of half excitement and confusion. He looked around at the houses before turning his head to gaze at Rose. "I've really got no idea." His voice was slightly whispered.
Jack walked over to Rose. "Is this ash raining from the sky?"
"Obviously." Replied Rose. She seemed disinterested.
The Doctor started walking away in a nonchalant way. "Come along, you two!" He called, waving a hand in the air. "We've apparently got much to explore!"
Rose sighed and ran too caught up to the Doctor. "What do you mean explore?" She breathed. "We have to find out where we are." She caught her breath and strolled alongside the Doctor.
"I'm sure along the way we'll run into a sign or something. We're bound to the inevitable now."
"What?"
Jack ran up the two, interrupting Rose's question. "Yeah, thanks for leaving me behind." He says with thick sarcasm.
"Sorry." Commented Rose.
Jack trailed behind a few steps as he attempts to regain his breathing pattern. The Doctor chuckles slightly as Rose turned her head a few times to check up on Jack.
"Have we determined where we are?" Questioned Jack after he regained his composure.
"No." Answers Rose as the Doctor answers, "We're going with the flow."
Rose gave the Doctor a slight glare. He returned with a smile.
"Come on, Rose. You should be used to this now. Anyways, aren't you just a tad bit curious about this odd, little town?" The Doctor looked to Rose and then to Jack.
The three pause in their walk and Rose stepped in front of the Doctor.
"Ashes are raining from the sky. The trees look dead, everything looks dead!" Panic rose in her voice.
The Doctor held his hands up. "Rose, I won't let anything bad happen to you." He replied with sincere assurance.
"AHEM." Coughed Jack Harkness.
"Or you, Jack." Added the Doctor.
"Thank you!" Jack shifted in place. "But it's not like I need any rescuing. I just want to be included."
The Doctor ignored Jack and looks at Rose as she peers at him. Something in the Doctor's eyes assured Rose that things will be alright. Rose turned and started walking away.
"Alright, alright. Let's go and explore this place. I'm holding you to that promise though." She smiled.
"Things will be fine, right?" Asked Jack with unease.
The Doctor looked at Jack and then patted his shoulder. "Come on."
Jack followed the Doctor as he caught up with Rose. The three slowly walked through the ash grey fog.
"So this is downtown, Ashville." Commented Jack.
The gang had passed through the abandoned neighborhood without much thought as to check the houses for signs of life. Jack insisted that it would seem suspicious if they were to do so. Now they have arrived in a very deserted downtown. The shops and buildings are lined with cracked windows, and boarded up doors. There were glass shards scattered about the sidewalks and street. A thick grey fog was settled just past the downtown area. There was absolutely no sound in the area.
"Looks like it and don't make up names for this place." Rose turned to the Doctor.
"Well, it's not like we even bothered to find out where we are." Jack threw his hands up in the air. "All we did was walk around."
"You didn't let us knock on doors to see if anyone was home or if they could give us directions." Complained Rose.
"We don't need directions!"
"That's so typical of you!"
"Now, now children. We mustn't fight about little things." Intervened the Doctor with a jolly smile. "Let's explore this place!"
He walked past Rose and up to a boarded up shop. Rose, in the distance where he had left her, began to argue quietly with Jack. The Doctor peered into the dusty window and noticed it was a café. While stools and coffee mugs littered the checkered flooring, everything else looked dead and caked with dust. Some of the tables were set for lunch with plates of decaying and rotted food left untouched. The Doctor pulled away from the window and noticed an old flyer that was advertising a music festival. There was a date on the flyer but the Doctor knew that it wasn't a reliable source for time since the whole city seemed to have been abandoned quiet a long time ago.
The Doctor walked away from the boarded café and over to its neighboring shop with a broken window. A blue postal box seemed to have been thrown into the shop. Old, unopened letters and glass shards were scattered all around and under the postal box. The Doctor stepped into the shop through the broken window. The shards of glass crunched under his shoes. The Doctor bent down and picked up one the mail that were strewn about. He went to open it.
"Hey! I think it's illegal to open other people's mail." Snapped Rose who appeared behind the Doctor.
Jack was outside the shop and checking out the broken window that remained. Rose had her hands on her hips. She was not exactly angry, but more so beckoning on confusion and fear. The Doctor held up the letter.
"I really don't think anyone will mind at all." He ripped open the envelope and pulled out the browning letter.
The letter was partly legible but what could be made out from what was left was enough. Rose looked around the Doctor to read the letter as well. The letter was brief but talked about a new exciting spot in the town for families to check out.
"Devil's Pit, hmm?" The Doctor turned to Rose. "Sounds interesting, huh?" He beamed.
"Sounds dangerous, but then again, what isn't?" She replied with a shrug. "I guess we can check it out if we stumble upon it."
"Stumble upon what?" Asked Jack from afar.
"Nothing, Jack. Don't worry about it." Replied The Doctor with a bit of snark.
"Yes, let's leave me out of everything." Mumbled Jack, barely audible.
"I'm gonna hang onto this for now." The Doctor declared as he shoved it into his jacket pocket.
Rose shrugged and climbed out the broken window. She would have just used the door if it was not for the fact that the door was boarded up rather thickly. She wondered what would give the townsfolk such a reason to board everything up. However, her thoughts were interrupted when the Doctor followed and placed a hand on her shoulder. He looked like he was about to say something when an unexpected rumble of thunder clashed in the grey clouds. They had not noticed the flash of light beforehand but the rumble made up for that.
"That sounds terribly near." Commented the Doctor.
"That's because it's practically on top of us." Answered Jack. He turned to Rose and the Doctor. "We should seek shelter before it—"
Jack was not able to finish his sentence as a downpour of rain fell from the sky. The rain started off light but quickly increased as another flash of thunder brought another rumble.
"We need to take shelter!" Shouted the Doctor as he attempted to shield his face from the rain with his arm.
"I agree!"
Rose's pink jacket had already soaked to the bone as they stood for minutes under the heavy rain. Jack and the Doctor looked around them rapidly for a good place to get out of the rain and rest. As hard as it was to even make out what each of them was saying, the three paused as they heard the sound of a bell ringing in the distance. A church bell perhaps?
"What was that?" Shouted Jack as the sound dissipated into the heavy rain.
"I think it was a church bell but I don't-We don't have time. We really should get out of this rain!" The Doctor's voice rang with desperation.
Rose shivered from the cold rain. The two men were busy chatting away instead of finding shelter. Rose thought to herself that it might be best just to go back into the shop with the broken window at this point. However, she got the feeling that the Doctor and Jack are looking for a preferably warmer place.
Rose was beginning to become impatient. She did not like being wet and cold and standing around in an abandoned place in such a miserable state. She was about to tell off her two companions when something caught her eye. She narrowed her eyes to attempt to see whatever it was that was coming toward their group. The rain was heavy and thick which obscured her vision. Maybe this place is not really abandoned? Was what Rose was thinking. Though, the figure moved towards her in an odd fashion. Whoever it was moved as if he had a terrible limp and seemed to pulse just a bit.
It was not until it got six or seven feet away when Rose screamed at the sight. Rose's scream startled the Doctor and Jack. They rushed over to Rose to see what the matter was and got a horrifying view. The "person" that was getting closer to them was not a human. Its arms seemed to be warped into its darkened ash body. Its face was reared far back, glowing a sickly yellow and its rib cage was visible due to a dark orange glow that pulsed through its' swollen lungs. It seemed disoriented but came closer as if it could sense the three.
"What the hell is that?" Whispered Jack, not taking his eyes of the monster.
"I haven't a clue." The Doctor Whispered back.
"I think we should run. I think it can see us and it really does not look friendly." Mumbled Rose.
Her shoulders heighted as she sensed that something was terribly wrong. She looked past the approaching creature and noticed other similar figures advancing through the rain. On instinct, Rose screamed again which brought her two companions to notice the others.
"Let's go." Breathed the Doctor as he grabbed Rose's hand and took off.
Jack followed. Their footsteps splashed in the deepening puddles. As they ran, the buildings of the downtown area seemed to fade away, not that they were really focusing on anything but running. They ran for which seemed like forever as they occasionally passed by other creatures like before. Eventually they made their way to a new side of the town and found themselves at the doors of an abandoned mall. Jack pulled out his tool but was stopped as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Jack made a frustrated groan before stepping back to make room for the Doctor.
The Doctor held the glowing blue screwdriver to the malls' locked doors. After he straightened back up, Rose pushed past him and walked into the mall. Jack and the Doctor soon followed. Jack then begun to push and stack a bunch of heavy objects against the doors to keep the monsters out. Once satisfied with the barricade, Jack peered through one of the gaps and out the glass door. Mist began to form from the heavy rain but he did not see any of those monsters. After a moment, Jack backed up and joined Rose and the Doctor once again.
Rose was sitting on the edge of a waterless fountain. She shivered from her soaked clothes. Both Rose and the Doctor looked up as Jack's echoing footsteps came near. His trench coat sagged and seeped with rain water.
"It doesn't look like those things are gonna follow us in." He said with a serious face.
Beads of water collected and dripped from his face. Rose tilted her head slightly. Her bunched and threaded hair clung to her pink sweater jacket, and refused to move with her movements.
"What the hell were those things?" Her voice sounded dry and stuttered with fear.
"Dunno. All I know is that we definitely should not go back out there." Replied Jack. He brushed off some water droplets from the shoulders of his coat.
The Doctor rubbed his face with his hands and water dropped to the cracked tile flooring due to his movements. He looked up and at Rose then to Jack. "Well, hasn't this trip just become so exciting?" He was not really looking for an answer. He smiled as he talked.
"You are much too cheery for a situation like ours." Commented Jack.
"Oh, you know we've been through worse." The Doctor shot back with a grin.
Jack shrugged. "I've never seen creatures like that before." He thumbed back to where they had just come from.
Rose shot up to her feet before the Doctor could retort. Both Jack and the Doctor were startled by her sudden movement that they turned to her with questions in their eyes. She just stood motionless and gazed past them. The Doctor had opened his mouth to ask Rose if she was alright when a sharp click was heard behind them. Jack raised his hands, realizing the click came from that of a shotgun. He and the Doctor turned slowly around and came face to face to who Rose was looking at. The face of an angry young girl with short, dyed blonde hair…aiming a shotgun in their direction.