Chapter One
The Journey Begins (Shut up I know it's a corny title)
Written by: Irish
Quick author's note: Hey! Thanks for taking the time to read this! Rowan and I really appreciate it! This take place with like the 16th doctor, several years in the future. Hope you like!
"Rowan! Where are my keys?" Rayanne asked, finishing the ponytail she was putting her thick brown hair into.
"OUR keys, idiot." Rowan responded, tying the back of her apron, and plucked the Porsche keys out of her back pocket. "And they're right here. Now get your ass moving before we're late!" she grumbled. Rayanne mumbled something foul under her breath about "Puerto Ricans being so pissy" and ran out of the apartment before Rowan jabbed her with the key.
They both were clad in their "Bonnie's Flower Shop" uniform, consisting of a white puffy blouse, blue jeans, and a forest green apron that reached their knees. Rowan was a tall Puerto Rican woman of five feet, ten inches, and weighed somewhere around 130 pounds. She had long, thick brown hair that reached the middle of her back in giant waves. Rayanne, however, was super pale with freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. She also had bright green eye and her hair, height and weight being the same as Rowan's.
Rayanne swung into the passenger seat of the Porsche, Rowan muttering and grumbling as she pulled out of the driveway and began the five minute drive to the shop. The little flower store was only about 600 square feet, painted white with dark green trim and a small sign out front. There was only one car in the parking lot- a dark purple Lincoln Continental- meaning "new guy" was there.
His name was Nathan, but ever since he started working there Rowan and Rayanne just called him "New Guy." And that had been going on for minimum a year.
"New guy! Coffee!" Rayanne shouted when she stepped inside store… only to find that no one was there. Rowan scowled, suspecting that he was playing a cruel trick.
Rowan slid over the counter and went back to the flower freezer area. In the supply closet, she heard a low, grumbly, almost orgasmic noise. "Nathan!" she yelled, grabbing the door handle. "What did I tell you about bringing your girlfriends-…" But she didn't at all see what she expected- Nathan making out with some new girlfriend. No, it couldn't have been that normal…
A large, bleeding chunk was missing out of the 25-year-old's arm, staining his apron and jeans. In his mouth, a chunks of meat and veins of all sorts hanging from his teeth, painting his lips and stubbly facial hair a dull crimson. The irises and pupils from his eyes rolled into the back of his head, showing only whites.
"Hungry, so hungry, flesh, delicious! SOOOOOOOOOO HUNGRY!" the corpse-thing said. Rowan was too terrified to scream or move. She tried to come up with a logical explanation. A bad batch of ecstasy, that's what it was. She reached for her cellphone to call 911, but heard the bells chime up front. She slammed the supply closet and ran.
At the front desk, Rayanne was talking to a man of six feet in height, and was obviously well-built. He wore a black t-shirt with the sleeves torn off, a thick black leather vest, black cargo pants with chains hooked to the pockets and belt loops, andplain black sneakers. He had a light brown crew-cut, and bright blue eyes.
"Yes, I'm here for Nathan." The man said, leaning on the counter. Rayanne turned to Rowan, whose was drained of all color and showed severe shock.
"Did you find him?" Rowan nodded. "Well?"
Rowan stuttered, trying to somehow make words but all that came out was weird syllables and odd twitching arm motions.
"He's in the closet eating himself, isn't he?" the man sighed with a raised eyebrow.
Her stuttering got louder. "H-How did you…"
He gently moved Rowan out of the way and went to the back closet. "Want to tell me what's going on?" Rayanne whispered. All her friend could do was point in the direction the guy went.
When she went to go see Nathan, the man was already on his way back. "Yep, your friend is dead." He told her.
Fear squeezed her heart and forced the oxygen out of her lungs. How could Nathan be dead? What did this guy know? WHAT WOULD SHE TELL HER BOSS?
"Don't worry about the small details," he said. "I'll erase everything about his existence so you won't have to fret about your boss, just you two pretend this never happened. Alright? Alright!" he grabbed poor, shaken Rayanne by the shoulders, planted a kiss on her forehead, and left.
The girls dubbed the shop closed for the day, telling their boss Bonnie that they came down with a stomach bug. Which was a somewhat half-truth. Rowan had puked three times since the ordeal and Rayanne felt close to that point.
'Forget it ever happened, just like that guy said.' Rayanne thought to herself. 'Nathan never existed.'
The two went to their separate bedrooms in the apartment when they returned home. Rowan sat in her room with the curtains drawn and the lights out, her ears plugged with headphones blaring a mess of guitars and drums. Rayanne, on the other hand, turned on the television and hugged her pillow to her chest. She decided after a while to fish out something to sleep/lounge in, since obviously nothing else was going to happen that day.
But instead, crouched on the floor of her closet, was the man from the flower shop earlier. Rayanne opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish out of water, trying to think of something to say.
"Well that's not quite the reaction I was expecting." He muttered, standing and brushing himself off. "I was kinda hoping for a scream. Close your mouth darling it's not attractive.
"Why the bloody hell are you in my closet?!"
"Why the bloody hell are you in this his house?!"
"I live here!"
"Oh. You do?"
"Yes…" Rayanne ran her nails down her face. "Well, I guess while you're her, do you want something to drink? Hungry?"
"Nope, I'm good." He replied before coming out of the closet.
"Okay, so a coworker dies, and then a hot guy shows up in my closet." She muttered. "And I don't even know who he is…"
"You can call me Doctor." He said.
"Doctor who?"
"Just Doctor."
She got a closer look at his face. "Aren't you a bit young to be a doctor? You don't look a day over twenty-five."
All he did was laugh and continue his way out into the kitchen.
"So what exactly are you here for?"
He sighed. "Checking to make sure you two were alright… and to possibly give you some answers. If you wanted them."
Rayanne slammed her fist on the counter. "Of course we want answers! Rowan! Get out here!"
They all sat around the coffee table in the small living room with piping hot cups of coffee. The Doctor sat cross-legged with a wide grin on his face. "So!" he shouted briskly and clapped his hands. "What should I start with?"
Rowan held her head in her hands. "What did Nathan take that made him eat himself? To me, it looked like a batch of ecastasy gone horribly wrong. I saw something like that on the news. The cop shot the guy in the head but all he did was growl."
'Ah, no. We are dealing with a race of aliens called the Blehvarcylix from the planet Recyclaphlips. They're here because their home planet is running out of food… which is decaying flesh. They're basically entities that take over your body. Normally they take over someone's mind and then kill someone else to eat, but these guys are so starving that they're just eating themselves." The Doctor corrected.
The two girls stared at him with a blank expression.
"Oh, right, you're still waiting for the part where I say 'just kidding.' Well wait all you want because it's not coming. I'm serious." He crossed his arms.
Rowan massaged her temples."Well, I'm not actually completely closed off to this theory. I think aliens could exist."
"You're both basket cases! Bloody nuts! Rowan, I bet you hired this guy and paid Nathan to act nuts to scare me!" Rayanne yelled.
Rowan chuckled nervously. "I actually thought you were doing the same thing. So, Doctor, are you asking us to help you kick ass?"
He nodded. "Totes."
"I'm in."
Rayanne blinked. "You're bloody insane. But you know what? I'll play along."