Plastic

"Wilson?"

Rose Tyler, a nineteen-year-old girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and brown eyes, was currently walking through the dimmed halls of the basement of Henrick's; the store she worked at. Her eyes scanned the dimly lit halls as she searched for the Chief Electrician. Earlier when she tried to leave the store when her shift ended one of the security guards handed her the aforementioned man's lottery money.

But he was nowhere in sight.

Wilson's office was locked and there was no answer when the young woman knocked. Now Rose stood near the door thinking of what to do. She could just leave the money by the door and go home-but last time she did that Wilson threw a fit.

Before any other ideas came to mind a small crash from another room down the hall caught her attention. A set of red doors to her right blocked any view of what could have happened.

"Hello?"

Rose inched closer to the doors. "Wilson?" She pulled an uncertain look before raising a hand to push herself inside.

"Rose?"

The named girl jumped in her skin before turning to face the unexpected voice behind her. She hadn't even heard anyone walk up.

The person behind her was another employee of the shop. Cameron Williams- a shorter girl than Rose herself with porcelain pale skin and shortly cut white hair that peeked out from the girl's red beanie. Her eyes were a darker shade of brown that Rose's which stared into her own with confusion.

"What're you doin' down here?" Cameron asked. She readjusted the strap of her messenger bag on her shoulder. She had changed out of her work uniform and into her regular attire, something Rose's never actually seen before. She has only ever seen Cameron on duty.

Rose raised the plastic bag she'd been holding. "I have Wilson's lottery money. Have you seen him? He wasn't in his office 'cos it was locked or anywhere downstairs." Cameron shook her head, frowning. The white-haired woman just came out of the spare bathroom they had down in the basement to change. But she was on her way looking for Wilson. Instead, she ran into Rose.

"He's got to be somewhere. His shift doesn't end for another half hour."

Another noise from behind the red doors startled the two girls. They exchanged worried looks before heading in that direction. Maybe Wilson was back there messing around.

Rose took the lead, being the closest to the doors, and pushed them open. It squeaked as the girls stepped into the dark room.

Cameron hit a light switch on the wall she knew was there by memory.

The room was filled with extra shop products, displays, the likes. There were multiple plastic mannequins positioned everywhere, old clothing on some of them with boxes and racked laying around, too.

"Wilson?"

Hopefully, the man was in here somewhere so they could leave. It was already ten minutes past store closing hours.

Their eyes roamed the place, each calling out the man's name. They received nothing but silence and nearly gave up. Another door caught Rose's eye and she went to open it.

But while she did that, the door they previously came in from slammed shut. The two of them stared at each other, now freaked out. Cameron ran to the door and tried opening it but it wouldn't budge.

"What the hell? Why won't this open?!" More movement came from behind them, causing the two to swivel back around. Nothing seemed unordinary.

"Is that someone mucking about?" yelled Rose. This was getting annoying now.

"Who is it?" Cameron asked. The girls slowly moved together. Something behind them made a sound again and they turned just in time for a shop mannequin to eerily peek out behind a banister. They started to panic.

Rose scoffed. She thought this might be some elaborate prank. "Yeah, you got us. Very funny." A second mannequin began to move then a third until the whole place was filled with moving plastic dolls. All headed towards them.

"We've got the joke! Who's idea was this, then?" Was it Derek's?" Cameron almost believed it was a prank too but for some reason, the shop dummies were still moving. No one pocked out to laugh it off or anything. Could anyone even fit in those mannequins? They looked solid.

"Rose, I don't think it's-" She ducked from an approaching plastic hand aimed at her face. They both backed up further until they ran out of room and hit a wall. They closed their eyes in fear when the first mannequin raised its hand to strike, now seeing it wasn't a prank they were scared out of their wits.

Rose's hand was then grabbed and the two women looked up at the voice that came next.

"Run."

They didn't need to be told twice. Rose and Cameron took off with a man who somehow showed up. He gripped Rose's hand tight as they ran down the halls crowded with alive mannequins that reached out to grab them. Cameron was on their heels behind them, looking behind her every so often to see the shop dummies catching up.

They reached one of the lifts in no time and rushed in. One dummy managed to fit it's hand inside but the stranger that rescued them ripped it off its body.

"You pulled his arm off!" A disgusted look painted itself onto Rose's face. The two girls were breathless from the events and their run to safety.

The arm was tossed to Rose who scrambled to catch it, surprised. "Plastic," the man said. Rose turned to give the arm to Cameron but she shook her head in refusal.

"What was that, then?" Cameron questioned. The man in front of them faced the metallic elevator doors watching the floor numbers rise.

"Who were they then, students?" The man was still silent. Was he ignoring them? "Is this a student thing or what?"

The man finally turned around, giving Rose a confused look. "Why would they be students?"

"I don't know."

"Well, you said it. Why students?" Rose shrugged, "'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've got to be students."

The man turned again, smiling. "That makes sense. Well done."

"Thanks."

"They're not students." Rose and Cameron shared a look that said; Are you kidding me? before Rose spoke again. "Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police."

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief Electrician," Cameron answered. She had only known Wilson for about a year since her first day working at Henrick's. Even though they weren't close or anything she still felt slightly worried at the thought of anything happening to him.

The doors opened letting the man out, who threw an all too casual response over his shoulder. "Wilson's dead."

Both women's faces dropped. Wilson was dead? So those things in the basement really weren't students or for a prank? Who was the sick bastard doing all of this?

They stormed after the man and out of the lift, Rose angrily barking at him. Cameron stayed silent and instead watched the man pull some type of metal pen that lit up at the tip from the pocket of his leather jacket before he pointed it at the lift buttons.

He pressed the button on it which in turn made some type of whirring sound before it set sparks to the elevator buttons. He pocketed it and walked off.

"Who are you, then?" Rose asked but the man kept walking. "Who's that lot down there?" She and Cameron grew more aggravated by the second at the man's annoying behavior. "She asked you a question!"

"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures." Finally, the man explained more. "They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this-" he flashed a small bomb at them from his pocket which had already begun to countdown. "So, I'm going to go up there and blow it up. And I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me." He gently pushed them both out the side exit of the building. The two girls were too in shock to really say anything. "No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast." His expression darkened then, all jokes aside. "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do you'll get them killed."

With that, he pulled the door shut. Rose and Cameron mindlessly turned to leave when the door opened up again.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What're your names?"

"Rose."

"Cameron." They simultaneously answered and the "Doctor" waved the bomb around with a wicked smile on his face. "Nice to meet you two. Run for your lives!" He shut the door for a final time.

Immediately after that Cameron took Rose's wrist and pulled her down the sidewalk. They had to get away from the building if that man was truly going to set that bomb off.

They crossed the road, avoiding an angry cabby from nearly running them over, before looking back at the shop. Nothing happened yet. Maybe that guy-

BOOM!

The shop's roof exploded, blowing out the windows right after. The sudden blast nearly knocked them off their feet when the ground shook. Their eyes traveled up to watch the building burst into flames, mostly the upper levels as the flames licked the sides of the building, leaking from the windows.

The streets were in a panic now. People ran anywhere they could to escape the scene, running in front of cars that forced to a stop in order to not hit them but also to see what happened.

Rose and Cameron both took off running home then, not noticing the hidden out of date police phone box hidden in a nearby alley.

oOo

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire."

Safe in her flat, Cameron Williams leaned against her kitchen counter listening to the news on the telly. It was broadcasting the breaking news of the events in Henrick's, although their hypothesis for what happened was far from the real thing.

Cameron was trying to go over what happened her head. She wasn't a person to usually be jarred by chaotic events but this one sure was proving that idea wrong. Usually, there wasn't someone around that knew what was actually going on or had a plan to stop it. But now...

Living plastic creatures. The Doctor's words echoed inside her mind. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof.

How was that possible? In all of her years has nothing like this happened.

Cameron shook her head and decided to give up on trying to figure it out. Most likely that guy died in the explosion, sadly, but he managed to get rid of the problem. It was better to just think of more important matters.

I guess I'll have to look for a new job, then.

The thought quickly put Cameron in a foul mood. Her work at Henrick's had gone great, even for being there for just a year. Now she would have to go through the whole process again.

The twenty-two-year-old was renting a small flat in Cardiff. She lived alone, far from family after her life moved on. Loneliness was common but she was used to it by now.

Exhausted, Cameron flopped onto her living room couch, blanketed by the TV's glow in the dark room as she drifted off to sleep.