The sun had begun to set when she reached the fairly short driveway to her house. A Gothic Revival from the Sears catalog passed on through her mother's family. It was set further back from the road than most farm houses of the era because her Grandfather had liked the view from the slight ridge it was on far more than the lack of view closer to the road. It was a poor placement in the winter, but the rest of the year it was beautiful. The ranch was forty minutes by car from the town, and while her cowboy boots were made just for her, they really weren't walking shoes. She was so tired and irritated with her situation she didn't register the strange people moving about her property. When she did notice them it was with a start; they looked like something you'd see out of the corner of your eye. The things you saw and would glance over at quickly just to reassure yourself they weren't actually there. Only she was staring at them dead on, and they were still there. As if people were made out of shadows, their limbs were blurred, disorienting to look at closely.

Alice's skin crawled, she wished for her family's rifle, even if it was only loaded with rock salt. But it was in the house, and there was no getting past these 'people' without them noticing her. She knelt near a tree, they hadn't seen her yet, and placed the groceries leaning against the old cottonwood. Should she try to talk to them? Go back to town and get help? Or perhaps this was all her stress, guilt and anxiety manifesting itself? Yes, that was really the only logical explanation, therefore, she watched two of the shadows walk past each other; therefore logic had nothing to do with this situation. Besides, she'd never hallucinated before. The grass tickled and itched her leg, her heavy denim having ridden up, but she didn't dare scratch it.

"They're Plyosynth," said a soft voice next to Alice, a soft male voice with a British accent. Alice did her damnedest not scream or jump, but the man had scared the ever living daylights out of her. Instead she gasped and stared at him with eyes the size of saucers. She took in the stranger's appearance and had to wonder who anywhere near here dressed like that? So strange as if he'd fallen into a costume shop and staggered out hoping he passed for 'normal.' And that accent? No one around here had that accent; also no man would dare have hair longer than a couple inches off his head. "Hunters, though what they're hunting I can't be sure." He continued as if Alice wasn't staring at him as though he had three heads. "I hope that they're just here on their own." He sounded highly doubtful of this point.

"Ply-ply-"

"Plyosinths, yes, hunters." He was watching them; Alice looked back at them as a few carefully seemed to be examining her chickens. Perhaps introducing herself would be a good place to start. It was a breath of normalcy and strange words like, Plyosynths and the fact that they were hunters were making her uncomfortable.

"I'm Alice March." she offered her hand while still watching the shadows move about her property.

"I'm the Doctor." He didn't offer his hand, instead he rubbed his chin, brow furrowed in concentration. Alice looked at her hand, then shrugged and looked back at the Plyosinths.

"Are you British?" Was that too forward for small talk? She was always bad at it, wanting to get to the point rather than talk about niceties, but she tried for her parents' sake. Her mother had had such high hopes for Alice and her prospects, but then her brother had died in the war and Alice had to help the ranch, there was no time for small talk.

"Maybe the British sound like me."

"Uh- oh." Alice couldn't really make sense of that one. "Well, so, Plyosynths, not really people I take it?"

"Not really at all, no." He glanced at her, which caused her to fidget. Something about that look didn't seem right, didn't seem human. She was overreacting, being paranoid. "I think these ones were sent by the Vilnox."

"Vilnox?" Now Alice stared at the stranger. Really, worrying over her own sanity while this man was talking about Plyosinths and Vilnox. "Sir, I may be a country girl, but really I'm no fool."

"Are you certain?" He was watching the scene before them. She was about to protest his question when he continued speaking. "The Plyosynths are often found by anomalies, places where great energies converge, or places where a great many people have lived and died."

"I don't know that there was much here before our house…"

"Who was here before you?"

"Well no one," she paused, and felt irritated and foolish. She knew times were rapidly changing and that people couldn't conveniently forget who had lived on this land before the Europeans had. "No, no, that's not right, the Indians were here."

"For centuries, living, dying, holding ceremonies; someone was here before you. This location is teaming with what the Plyosynths can sense and what the Vilnox love."

"Oh come now! What the Vilnox want?" She was not about to feed into this ridiculous story. Maybe he was just some greedy city-slicker and this was some sort of ploy to scare her into selling her land, or some other way of taking advantage of her. He was a slick one, strange words, odd clothing inappropriate for this area, and a fancy wealthy accent.

"The Vilnox take joy in feeding off of those who live near these anomalies."

"F-feed?" She scoffed, "What is there to eat out here? I have no more cattle, and it must be awful difficult to find anything substantial enough." She might as well prove to this city-slicker that she knew her land well enough not to be spooked out of it.

"That's why they have the Plyosynths."

"To hunt, yes?" She used her sweetest voice, a little too sticky and nice, like when trying to appease a child.

"Is this your house?" He was looking at her, which made her uncomfortable again. For all her false vibrato, the fact that he just didn't seem normal was something she couldn't shake. And how quickly he changed topics!

"Yes, but I'm not going to leave it." She felt her jaw set in a stubborn angle, and with great effort she returned his look. Oh she did not like looking him in the eye. "Whatever game you're trying to play, or trick you're trying to pull, I'm not selling this place for anything."

He looked shocked, then amused and that riled her. "I'm not buying, I'm here because there are Plyosynths, likely sent by Vilnox, and every living creature, particularly sentient ones, is in danger."

Alice glowered thinking this through, when she heard a sniff. Her glower turned into disgusted fascination as she realized an uncomfortably close plyosynth seemed to be getting their scent on the wind. The wind had changed. She tensed, leaning back, it had changed and they were no longer down wind. Also, she noticed unhappily, despite the failing light she knew one thing for certain now. The Shadows were definitely not human. "Can I get rid of whatever it is that they can smell? Whatever it is that the Vilnox want?"

"It's in your blood." The Doctor spoke barely above a whisper, also shifting his weight, watching the ever closer Plyosynth.

"So they can't get it from, oh I don't know, plants?" she was slowly shifting her crouch so her weight was more on her feet, noticing that the Doctor was already cautiously backing in a low crouch.

"Oh, they can, but they just prefer the hunt."

"What! But that's just-" she'd been too loud, but his statement had disgusted her so much. The plyosynth began to move quickly now, its motion was nauseating but she couldn't look away, it was mesmerizing to watch.

"Run!" the Doctor's voice seemed distant. "Run!" She was trying but all she'd been able to do was stand, her body refused to move, fear seemed to harden her joints. "RUN!" his voice was closer and suddenly she was pulled, her knees cracking and tripped over her own feet but didn't fall. The Doctor dragged her in his wake, and while her first steps were stumbling, once she got over her fear of the plyosynths' movements she had only a little trouble keeping up.

"They're not, they're not human! I mean obviously!" Alice gasped. The Doctor had let go of her hand now that he was certain she was following him. It made it much easier for her to keep up with him, which made her wonder why in all the monster movies the woman always clung to the hero. Surely it slowed them both down, maybe the woman was scared of being left behind?

They were running somewhere with some sort of intent, she refused to look to see how closely they were being followed. The Doctor glanced back a couple of times, and the fact that he didn't slow meant that those things must have still been too close for comfort. The cowboy boots continuously reminded her how inappropriate they were for all the activities of the day, the rawhide soles slipping on the grasses. She took the chance of not watching the ground for a little while to glance ahead of her, and there was something that had never been in the hay pasture before. If she hadn't been so out of breath she'd ask the Doctor what it was, because he seemed pretty confident about their destination. Alice had rarely run like this, as if she was gong to fall over, or her feet were going to come off.

Within a short amount of time they arrived at the thing in her hay field. She could not tell what color it was as only a dull light was left in the sky. It had windows, and said 'Police Box,' but it was small. Had Sheriff Jase placed it here? For what purpose? The Doctor had pulled a key from his pocket, Alice stood next to him gasping, she turned to look behind them and saw darkness darker than the surrounding air was rapidly approaching.

"This may be a shock to you," The Doctor was saying pulling Alice's attention back. Her eyes were getting quite the work out tonight, and if they could have gotten any bigger they would have. The Doctor had opened the door and a warm soft light streamed from the Police Box and into the grasses. He strode into the room, "You might want to come in, you'll be safer in here." Alice nodded, her mouth a bit agape, she followed and with shaky hands closed the door behind herself. Her mother had always been quite insistent on the shutting of doors, frequently telling Alice and her brother she did not want anyone to think she'd raised her children in a barn.

"It's it's-"

"Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Yes, yes." He seemed impatient heading to the center of the room and a control console, muttering to himself about the current situation.

"Oh, it is," she looked up into the ceiling which seemed to reach higher than the light could reach. "I was going to say beautiful." Pulling herself from her reverie she turned toward the Doctor. "What is it? Who are you?"

"This is the Tardis, and I am the Doctor."

"Okay," she stayed where she was but her stance became stubborn, projecting some of the frustration she was feeling. "Alright, what are you?"

He looked across his Tardis at Alice. Her face still glistening with sweat, grasses stuck in her hair, and despite all she'd seen in a short amount of time she somehow was projecting an air of defiant confidence. He was a bit amused by her, but he really needed her to stop asking so many questions so he could figure out what to do about the Vilnox. "I'm just a Traveler."

"A human traveler?" She recalled her brother's dime-store novels, because this room seemed like something from from one of those books her father had so disapproved of.

"No. Now be quiet."

She nodded with an offended sniff, and he hoped that would be the last question for awhile. Alice moved quietly about the room, exploring inch after inch and quite quickly establishing that there were no trick mirrors. She also established that she definitely had not stepped down into the room, at least she didn't not recall stepping down. So how could this be possible? He really didn't seem right, not normal in the slightest. Perhaps he was as he claimed a non-human traveler. One thing for certain, she was very far from any other "human being" and there was no help anywhere near. Her house wasn't safe, and it seemed the Pysosinths couldn't get in here, so she most likely was, as he had said, safest here.

"How close is the nearest town?" He was frowning at the exterior monitor not at all pleased at the fact that the Tardis was now surrounded by Plyosynths.

"Pretty far by foot, and my truck broke down. It's about twenty miles."

"And the next closest?"

"It-it's more than fifty miles."

"They'll be safe for now."

"For now? But the town? It's not, well, those people aren't safe?" She heard herself becoming louder; more frantic but there was no stopping her voice.

"The Plyosynths will already have scouted it, if the Vilnox are coming, and you couldn't be found, the town is the best alternative."

"Then I need to go to the town, now." She turned to the door. "I'll run to town, maybe the McCleary's horses are out and about on the way."

"They are still out there." The Doctor watched Alice waiting for her reaction.

"Can they hurt me?" She did not look back at him, but clenched and unclenched her hands a few times.

"They can slow you down." His voice had a darkness to it, someone who knew too much, seen too much.

"I have to warn the other people, I'll take my chances." She sucked in a breath and let it out through her teeth preparing herself.

"I could take you there." The Docotor said softly.

Alice turned and looked to the Doctor a low light of hope flickering in her eyes. "You have a car?"

"Oh, I did at one point, but this," he gestured to the surrounding room. "Is much better, it can travel anywhere in an instant."

"Do not joke." Alice looked at him, tense and unhappy. What he said was impossible, too good to be true.

"You've seen Plyosynths and the inside of the Tardis, and that there is something called the Vilnox coming to attack your town, but you don't think that the Tardis can travel anywhere?" He had a slow smile curling his lips reminding Alice of the Cheshire cat more than anything else.

"You're going to help me?"

"I could."

"Please help me!" She couldn't help but smile, this hope was so exciting, so much potential.