The dying bulb glimmered faintly. Sparks spat, clocks ticking, where was he? Everything was drifting lazily in and out of focus. His head pulsed with a dull, thought drowning rhythm. Head swimming, the doctor could faintly hear a warped voice. It was calling his name. What had he done this time? Had he insulted an angered slitheen? He sniffed the thick hot air. No, he couldn't have, it smelt nothing like slitheen farts. It was the smell of fear: rusting metal, sweat and blood, the smell of a slaughter house.
Something wasn't right, no, worse than that, something had gone awfully wrong.
He opened his eyes wide, dilated pupils darted around the room. Where – and when- was he? In the corner of his eye, he saw something, something really bad. Something so bad only 2 words popped up in his head to describe it: oh no.
The voice was becoming clear now, frantic, tearful gasps, a woman pleading for his help.
"doctor-" she gulped, red hair shrouding her tear streaked face
"help-" she suppressed a sob
"help me, doctor"
"I'm….. so scared-" this time the sob escaped her lips, a half shriek of frustration, half a wail, bounced off the walls assaulting the doctors ears.
The doctor attempted to jump up, but then he realised. He was strapped to a cold metal chair, by two leather straps, there was a dull metal clag as his head hit cast iron metal.
"doctor-" Amy whispered Horsley, gulping down another sob.
Amy looked like a mad man's sick vision of a angel. Some cold steel claws were clamped around her delicate little rib cage, piercing more than the skin. Every time she wheezed another breath he could tell it was going a little deeper. She looked so fragile, face paler than white, hair frizzed and tangled. He feared if he touched her, she would shatter into a thousand pieces. Her hands chained high above her head. And her feet tightly chained at the ankle.
"are you okay?" Amy asked tentatively.
The doctor tried to talk, but there was something in his mouth, like a horse rider's bit. He could taste foul rusty metal. For the first time he realised that he had something round his hear, a helmet perhaps? No, couldn't be. Helmets didn't probe your mouth. His lips were incased in dirty brown metal.
"aaammmyph" he shouted, not perfectly coherent, but just about good enough to communicate.
"whats going on?" she asked.
"I donnnoo" he mumbled through his teeth.
Suddenly there was a click, and a projector came on, painting a pale white image on the wall opposite.
After a couple of seconds of spluttering the movie began to play. A puppet sat facing him, the movie spattered with black spots. He had jagged red spirals painted on the cheeks on his otherwise pure white face. Ruby red eyes stared mockingly at him, bushy black hair framed his face, and ears completely absent.
"hello doctor, I wanna play a game" Billy chuckled
Freezing cold sweat was visible on what Amy could see of his forehead.
" for the past decade, I thought you were some sort of folk tale, a fairy story, the man with the changing faces, travelling through space in a telephone box, too good to be true -or so I thought-. But you are far more than just a magician and ladies man, you're an alien, the very last of you're kind. you have spent almost a whole millennia travelling time and space, but you have always felt slightly smug, where ever you go, you have see things that most humans don't even dream of, not even in their darkest nightmares. You are here because you have never felt truly scared, a thousand years of travelling and you have never feared for your life. I am challenging you with the most complex traps I have ever devised, that is, if you survive the first." Billy grinned, staring into the doctor's soul.
"You see, it's not just you and Amelia in this building, some of your closest companions you will find throughout the slaughter house. In case you're wondering, you're tardis is just outside, yours to take. But you will only be released when you have attempted all the challenges set for you. Don't, bother to try and break open windows and doors, they are reinforced, and, just to make sure you play fair, I have taken your screwdriver and any other equipment which is not 'of this world'. Don't worry, your equipment will be safely found withing the tardis, if you get out alive"
"Around your head right now is one of my most infamous creations, the reverse bear trap. you probably know, but your friend probably doesn't, after a certain amount of time this will happen" the camera rotated an extra 20 degrees to reveal what appeared to be an ordinary bear trap, apart from it had a couple of extra rings on metal an gears.
"amy, dunn loo" the doctor ordered, but Amy simply ignored him, not even acknowledging him with a glance. Billy the puppet flourished a tiny white arm up into the air, holding a long sharp stick.
Ever so tentatively he reached towards the seemingly harmless deactivated play thing.
"amy, loooo aawaaayy" he shouted angrily at her attempting to sound as clear as possible, but was pretty much impossible with a large ring of metal poking out of his mouth.
Finally Billy prodded the not so harmless toy with the tip of his stick, when suddenly, It bounced open with such force it jumped in to the air.
Amy couldn't speak, but her eyes said it all, it looked like she's just been into the fiery pits of hell and back. Her eyes glittered, fresh tears sitting on the surface of her eye. She kept crying, but this time she remained deathly silent, sobs stifled by sheer horror.
"as soon as this has finished you will have 5 minutes to remove the reverse bear trap, before that happens" Billy pointed to the 'idle plaything'
"One time lord, with everything to loose. Let the games begin" Billy cackled.
Then the screen went black.