"London!" The Doctor announced as he merrily stepped out of the TARDIS and in to a pile of sludge, "After the Galactic War of the 26th century. Bit of a shambles now really. All that time and effort spent recovering from the flood of the great flood of 23 and BAM! Someone goes and declares war on the Earth" He sighed as he stared out over the now drained river Thames. The once magnificent skyscrapers lay in piles of rubble and debris along the riverbank, surrounded by a muddy wasteland of sludge and smoke.

"Oh and I wonder who that could've been" Amy stepped out behind him, her sarcastic tones resonating her annoyance toward the Doctor.

"Now come on Amy," The Doctor shot her a sideways glance, "The flood was partly my fault, but what you humans get up to when I'm not around is none of my business. You'd all have been left alone if you didn't keep poking in to space with your pokey flying spaceship things"

"You mean a rocket?"

"Yes! A rocket. Knew what the word was, just couldn't say it. Now then, judging by that signpost, I'd say we were in Lower London. Which means Buckingham Palace is..." He swirled on the spot for a few seconds before finally deciding on a direction and pointing at it, "This way" He bounded across the marshy wasteland in the direction he'd pointed, not pausing for Amy and Rory to follow.

Rory rolled his eyes as the Doctor bounced off in enthusiasm. "He promised to show us Buckingham Palace, not the murky backstreets of London"

"Oh shut up you. He said he'll take us and he will. Come on. Best catch up before we lose sight of him" Amy ran after the Doctor, leaving Rory to slowly trudge after them, his shoes slowly filling up with three hundred year old dirt.

"Here we are" The Doctor opened his arms wide as he beamed at the empty wreck that partly resembled Buckingham Palace. "Not as magnificent as she once was but here she is. Just like I promised"

"Just like you promised, Doctor?" Rory cut in before the Doctor could say anything else, "When you said "Let's go to Buckingham Palace" I thought you meant the Buckingham Palace that we know. Not this...this...pile of rubbish"

"Rory, don't be mean. You'll hurt the old girl's feelings. Time's not been too kind to her" Rory shot raised his eyebrow to Amy, but shrugged off the thoughts he was having about the Doctor. Instead he turned back to the run down magnificence of the Palace and jumped as something jumped out of the wreckage.

"Doctor what was that?" He exclaimed as he pointed to where the thing had emerged.

"What was what?" The Doctor scanned the building for signs of movement.

"It was a...shape. Like a shadow. It just jumped out and landed over..."

The Doctor turned to Rory and looked at him quizzically, wondering why he'd stopped midsentence.

"...there" Rory finished his sentence as he pointed to the shadow that was standing behind the Doctor, towering above them all.

The Doctor spun round and looked up. "Oh. Hello! I'm the Doctor, this is Amy, and that thing shaking in his boots over there's Rory." His tone dropped to a whisper, "Don't mind him. He's a bit shy with new people."

The looming beast growled at the Doctor, baring deadly sharp teeth and showing off its glowing red eyes. It raised a hand and unsheathed its claws, taking a swipe at the Doctor.

"Ah. Not much of a talker then?" The Doctor jumped backwards as the creature's claw swung past him. "Right you two. Time for plan B"

Amy couldn't take her eyes of the beast, "What's plan B?"

"RUN!" The Doctor turned on the spot and ran off, heading back towards the TARDIS. Rory didn't need telling twice and shot off after him, closely followed by Amy, who suddenly called out as she caught her foot on a piece of pipe and tripped. She rolled over quickly to see the creature sink to its haunches, bare it's teeth and pounce, claws outstretched and heading straight for her...