(a/n): A brief warning; this story contains some description of gore.
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Less than five minutes before she died, Diane Hayward was already regretting every life decision that had led her to this place.
She'd been driving all day, and she was utterly exhausted, yet here she was, traipsing through some awful haunted house at God-knows-what hour. Of course, it was the only place to stay for miles and she'd already nearly fallen asleep at the wheel, but the creep who owned the place rambling about how it was sure to keep her up the whole night and consume her with fright hadn't exactly fill her with confidence at getting any rest. The loud smashing of glass and high-pitched whirring that had woken her up about ten minutes after she'd finally drifted off didn't help, either.
The house was full of sound effects, but that definitely lacked the tinny nature of the rest, so armed with her truncheon, she'd set off in her pyjamas to investigate. The house was extremely dark, although whether that was for atmosphere or because the owner was too cheap to pay the bills, she wasn't sure. Still, she wasn't going to let some potential intruder wreck the place. Besides, the sooner she got the house silent, the sooner she could get to the next day and see Leo again. God, she missed him.
Another high-pitched whirring sound jolted her out of her thoughts. That one was definitely close, in the room on her left, she thought. She leant with her back to the wall just next to the door, and kicked it open. "Stop! Whoever you are!" she called out.
In the dark, she could just make out a figure. It seemed to be holding some sort of grey tube, which was now pointed at her. The whirring sound started up again.
"No, wait..." she forced out, backing away too slowly. The whirring sound became louder and louder. Then, she couldn't hear anything but her own screams.
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Deep in the Time Vortex, the TARDIS spun lazily, travelling nowhere in particular. Within, only a soft humming could be heard, until the relative quiet was broken by the clanging of boots on metal and an exasperated voice ringing out.
"Doctor, I have no idea what you're doing down there, but since it's apparently shut off every single light on the TARDIS, could you please... stop..."
Clara trailed off as, having groped her way to the console room (seemingly the only one with lights still functioning), she was greeted with the sight of the main console being near-completely disassembled. Underneath the one panel still attached, she could just spot the Doctor's legs sticking out, his coat carelessly slung over the railing nearby.
"Clara!" His familiar grey curls popped out, and he looked around for her briefly. "Sorry, just having a few... technical problems, needed the extra power."
"Problems?" she repeated nervously, head jerking slightly. "Er, what problems?" In her experience, "problems" with regards to the TARDIS usually translated to "we're about to burst like a balloon, crash into a nuclear power plant and delete Luxembourg from history."
"Now, don't get panicky or anything," he said in what she knew was supposed to sound reassuring but instead came off more as irritable. "It's just a... little issue with the navigation," he added, straining to pull an unresponsive lever.
"And when you say 'a little issue,' you mean-"
"I mean we don't have any right now. Must have blown the circuit or something, I swear I've been getting better at flying her in this regeneration."
"So... Doctor, isn't having no navigation in a spaceship that's in flight exactly the sort of thing I should be panicking over?" Clara asked, trying not to do just that as she hopped down the stairs to the Doctor's level.
"Oh, no, it'll be fine," he insisted, giving her a small smile. "I just need to land somewhere so she can get her bearings, but like I said, we don't have any navigation. The power boost was supposed to send us back to where we last landed, but it looks like we're stuck right now. Not that that's going to last," he added at seeing her alarmed expression. "Soon as I get something to lock onto, I can reboot the systems."
At that moment, a red light began blinking and beeping on the panel. They both stared at it for a moment. "What's that?" asked Clara.
"Distress signal. Must be beaming out to anyone nearby," the Doctor mused.
Clara gave him a look. "Well, you wanted a way to get our bearings. Can't we follow that, help whoever it is and let the TARDIS fix up while we do it?"
"Clara, this could be coming from anywhere. It could be a ship that, y'know, that's under attack by Daleks, or dissolving into soap, or something with everyone dead on board and we wouldn't know." At this, Clara snorted and began to smirk.
"Yeah, like that's ever stopped you." The Doctor gave a small smile himself, before pressing a few buttons and pulling the materialisation lever. Instantly, a shower of sparks flew back out at him and the TARDIS shook, tilting at an alarming angle. Most of the stuff strewn over the floor began to slide off the edge, and it was only Clara and the Doctor grabbing a railing and the console, respectively, that stopped them going the same way.
"What's happening?" she yelled over the din of the straining engines and continued sparks. She'd gotten used to this Doctor actually being able to fly his own ship unlike the last one, and this was an unpleasant reminder of just how uncooperative the time machine could be. The Doctor launched himself at the materialisation lever, attempting to wrestle it back to its original position.
"TARDIS doesn't like flying blind! And the signal's getting weaker! We're going off co-" The Doctor was cut off by an almighty thud and jolt, as the TARDIS landed. The pair were thrown sprawling onto the ground. Clara groaned.
"Doctor... Did we make it there?" she asked, sitting up slowly and rubbing her head to soothe the ache from where she hit the ground. He pulled himself up and looked at the scanner.
"Define 'there,'" he replied slowly. "We're in the right place, but we got here a bit late."
"How late, exactly?"
He stood up and grabbed his coat from underneath a bundle of wires. "About... a month. Maybe two," he stated. At his companion's shocked expression, he hurriedly added "The signal's still transmitting, so the ship doesn't think everyone's dead, at least."
"That's good," Clara said briskly, getting up herself. "Let's go and find whoever's asking for help. You can explain why we're late."
"I can't help it if I miss the odd repair job every few decades, you know!" he retorted as he pulled his hood over his coat. Clara scoffed, but she couldn't stave off a smile as she picked up her own jacket from the side. "Where are we, then, old girl?" he murmured.
"Uh... Yorkshire, apparently," Clara shouted back to him with her head sticking through the open door. The Doctor made his way over to her. She pointed at the sign in front of her that confirmed what she said. "And I'm gonna assume that was meant for the TARDIS. No signs of any downed spaceships though. Not even month-old ones. Can you sonic around to find it?"
"Not specifically, the link's too scattered at this point. I can scan for anything with a similar energy signature, but that'll be tricky..."
"We could always see if anyone in the big creepy house up there has seen any spaceships crashing?" Clara pointed out, nodding at said big creepy house up the road. The Doctor ignored her, however, pulling on the sonic sunglasses. Clara couldn't help but stifle a giggle at how incongruous they looked in the night.
"Alright, so I can get a general direction, which is up that way," the Doctor said, looking up in the direction Clara had pointed to earlier. "We should ask if anyone in that big creepy house has seen anything." With that he strode off without waiting for a response, taking a torch out of his pocket and flicking it on. She sighed.
"Of course we should. Great idea, Doctor," she muttered, before pulling the TARDIS door shut and jogging to follow him.
As they got closer, the dim streetlights leading up to it illuminated more and more of the building, which seemed like more of a mansion at this distance. It was imposing from afar, but nearer it seemed to have had better days, and the tacky plastic skeletons hung up in the windows didn't help. From the slight hill they were on, Clara did a full slow spin whilst walking and couldn't see a single other building other than the TARDIS for miles around. She shivered. Despite the state of the place, the sheer isolation was unnerving enough.
They were almost to the gates when they heard the screams. The two of them looked at one another, before running the final distance. The Doctor unlocked the gates and they struggled to get them open, sped to the doors and opened them just as quickly, almost hitting an astonished looking middle-aged man in the face in the process.
"Just who the hell do you think you are, breaking into my-" he began to yell, before the Doctor cut him off.
"Where was the screaming coming from?" he barked. The man stammered. "Screaming, where, now?"
"How should I know?" the man spluttered out. "This is a haunted house, people are supposed to-"
"Up here!" They all looked up the stairs in the hallway to see a woman in a nightie peering anxiously down at them. "This way, I think! Follow me!"
The Doctor and Clara quickly ran up the stairs and followed the woman around the corner, only to see her standing stock-still over something. As they got closer, the Doctor's torch illuminated her. She was shaking.
"Are... you alright?" Clara asked hesitantly as she and the Time Lord approached, until they saw what was in front of the woman. Spattered all over the corridor were chunks of flesh, and in the midst of the red mess lay a mass of bone and gristle that was barely recognisable as having once been a person.
The middle aged man was still shouting obscenities at them, but as he caught up he fell silent. "Oh my God," he breathed, turning pale.
"Clara, I think we have a problem," the Doctor murmured.
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(a/n): Hello there! This is my first fic, and I'm ever-so-slightly anxious about it. I have the rest of it planned out, some areas more loosely than others, although I may change some aspects of it. At the moment, I'm hoping for a murder-mystery vibe.
In the meantime, reviews are greatly appreciated! This being my first fic and all, I would really like hear criticism on stuff you think I got wrong, and any advice you may have, especially with regards to characters and dialogue; I'd especially like to make sure the Doctor and Clara are at least reasonably in character. I mean, comments of how great it is are also welcome, but any issues you have would be wonderful. Thanks for reading, and 'til the next time!
