Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since I originally posted this story. Thank you so much to all my reviewers. Hopefully, this chapter is worth the wait. I hope you enjoy the story! Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Trembling beneath the Doctor's harsh grip, the young ginger felt her heart twist in fear.

His breath laced her ear as he whispered something to her very, very quietly.

"Amy, I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid we're both in terrible danger. Just follow my lead for now, and hope by some measure of dumb luck that I'll be able to develop an effective plan in the next thirty seconds." The Doctor's light eyes locked onto the hideous creatures ahead of them, his forehead convulsing into tiny folds.

"B-but, I don't understand, what are they? Doctor, please…just tell me…" Amy's voice quivered as she posed the question that plagued her mind.

"Shhhhhhh!" her best friend shushed her, a single finger propped against his lips.

Complying with the Time Lord's wishes, Amy Pond remained silent; shivering as the grotesque aliens suddenly realized that their cover had been blown.

What are they? Why are they here? How can this even be happening? I came here as a child, and I don't remember any of this. It doesn't make any sense.

These doubts swam through Amy's mind, causing her heart to pound faster by the minute.

Slowly ebbing backwards, the Doctor pretended to be ignorant of the situation.

"Oh, hello, didn't she you there…I'm the Doctor, and this is Amy…and we were just leaving, weren't we, Pond? Nothing to see here, eh?" his attempts to dissuade the creatures were utterly futile.

The red head shot him an angry look.

"Doctor…"

Growling, the beings that appeared to be something rather like a cross between a vampire bat, a sort of poisoness insect, and some other nightmarish fiend, veered closer and closer to the red head and the floppy haired man.

"Okay, okay, stay where you are…" the Doctor commanded, drawing out his sonic defensively. "You're the Dryxolax, aren't you? Rather primitive species that feeds on, well, whatever they can find, am I right? Anything really, doesn't have to be living, because whatever it is, you simply convert it into to pure energy to devour. So, going on that, the question of the hour is, 'what are you doing here?' At a rubbish fairground on a bit of Earth, when there are loads of places across the galaxy that would be much more…what's the word…appetizing?" his words infuriated the starving aliens all the more.

"We are here to feed," the low, raspy chorus of voices resounded through the thickening darkness.

"Feed? On what? Humans? Really, if you wanted to do that, you could have gone to half a billion other places, I mean, this lot…they're everywhere, practically. And anyway, supposing that was your intention, why would you have gone through all the trouble of using high-level perception filters to pose as carnival workers? Why are you really here? Oh, come on, don't give me those looks, you're interfering on a Level 5 planet, and based on Article 51 of the Shadow Proclamation, I could send you off in no time at all. But I'm giving you a chance. Tell me the truth, and I may just let you go…this time." The Doctor babbled on, and Amy supposed that he could have been very well making up half the stuff on the spot.

"We are here to feed," the Dryxolax continued speaking in unison.

"Doctor, they mean us, don't they? What do we do?" Pleading for her friend to respond, the Girl Who Didn't Make Sense inched backwards.

"I'm working on that! But I still don't understand in the first place what could attract these creatures to a fairground in 1994." He scratched his cheek anxiously.

"Well, d'ya think maybe you could start thinking a bit faster? Because in case you haven't noticed… there are a bunch of carnivorous aliens about to dig their very sharp claws into our flesh!" she pointed to the pointy shard-like fingers that were steadily approaching.

Noting the way that the creatures were slightly put off by the buzzing of his sonic screwdriver, the man in the bow tie used his handy gadget to send a few sparks flickering in their direction.

"Stay back! Because believe me, I'll do a whole lot more than that if you make me more cross than I already am. How would you like that? Me, when I'm angry? Well, best not go there, then. Alright, I'll ask you another question, what have you done with the staff members—the original people who worked here? I suppose you're using them for something, yeah? But, never mind, because I really don't have time for an extensive explanation, so if you don't mind, I think I'll take this lovely little opportunity to do what I do best." His eyes darted over to his companion. "Run!" the Doctor released a high pitched yelp, his feet suddenly soaring above the metal platform of the roller coaster entrance.

Amy obeyed without hesitance, her heavy lungs soon gasping for air, as they trudged towards the center of the carnival.

"Where do we go? Those things—they're practically everywhere." She stated the obvious.

"I would say the TARDIS, but I'm afraid she's a bit too far from here at the moment." Breathing in short bursts, the raggedy man scampered as quickly as he could, scanning the area for a suitable hiding place.

"Doctor…"

"What's this…" the Doctor halted, immediately unlocking the strange metallic structure, thus ignoring the especially visible 'Keep Out,' sign. "A storage unit. Clever. And no Dryxolax signs in sight…Interesting…" he ushered for Amy to enter, quickly shutting the door behind her.

"Nice one, Doctor. Like this is really gonna hide us." The red head muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

The green light radiating from the Doctor's sonic illuminated several disassembled ride pieces.

"Hmmm. Abandoned. Out of use. But something's been here fairly recently, and it wasn't the Dryxolax." He appeared to be engaged in a task that Amy was unable to fully comprehend.

"What are you on about? What about all those people out there—Doctor, they weren't frightened at all—like they couldn't even see the Dryxolax…"

"That's because they can't, Amy. After all, we couldn't see them to begin with, and that's exactly what they want. I think that as long as people can't see what they really are, they aren't a serious threat to them." His terse expression did not support his statement.

"Are you sure, Doctor? Because younger me is still out there, and if those creatures get to her then I'll cease to exist. And I still don't even remember this at all…I remember the kind, red haired lady, and I didn't before, but I've never seen the Dryxolax."

The recent image of young, frightened Amelia Pond filled her mind.

"Think about it, Amy, if they had wanted to consume the people here, they would've already done it, easily. And even after we discovered who they were, they could have devoured us, right then and there. But they didn't. Listen, out there. Everything's back to normal. Like they deliberately let us escape. Why?" he paced back and forth, his fingers circling his face.

"I thought you said they were a primitive species, Doctor. According to you, it sounds as if they have one grand scheme thoroughly planned out."

"Quite right, Pond. Though it is possible that this is all just a big coincidence, but that's highly doubtful." Bending down, the man in the bow tie pressed his tongue against a metal rod, clearly working something out. "Perfectly ordinary steel. Earth manufactured."

"Did you really just lick that? That's disgusting." Amy's expression soured and the Doctor ignored her snide comment. "So, this is what River deals with every night…"

He blushed at that.

"Yes, no, I mean…not every night. Besides, half the time it's her fault, anyway…and I have to get her out of whatever unfortunate situation that manages to wander her way into…" the fact that the simple mention of River Song could distract the Doctor so quickly was terribly amusing to Amy.

"But seriously, do you live like this all the time? Doctor, what if you got yourself killed or somethin'? What would Rory and I do? Haven't you ever thought of that?" the child-like part of her feared for her Raggedy Doctor's well-being.

"No, no, no—I'm getting nowhere with this!" he avoided answering her questions, acting as if he hadn't heard her at all.

"Doctor, are you even list—"

"Hush, Pond. I'm busy. Now, let's see…" the childish Doctor mumbled something to himself, causing Amy's irritation to increase.

"Why is that whenever we get to a serious topic of conversation, you pretend that I don't even exist?" her heart sinking, the red head attempted to conceal her hurt.

Seeing that the man in the bow tie appeared to be absorbed in his own world, Amy decided that she might as well at least try to be productive, rather than waste time sulking over the Doctor's annoying habits.

"Hey, Doctor, I'm just gonna have a look over here," she briefly informed him, already making her way towards the darkened corner of the storage unit.

"Uh-Huh," refusing to so much as look up, the hyper-focused man in the bow tie hardly acknowledged his best friend's remark.

"Fine, then… who cares if I just happen to get myself killed along the way," Amy spoke more to herself than to anyone else, as she bent down several feet away from the Doctor.

Her slender fingers shifted through a pile of dust-covered metal.

He said that something's been here. And this place is rather tiny, so finding whatever it is shouldn't be too difficult, I should think. But then again, if he can't even find it, I doubt my efforts would really amount to anything. I still don't understand half this stuff, anyway. Plus, I have the oddest feeling that there's something he's not telling me. Well, some things never change…

Feeling along the edges of the cold wall, the ginger's hand suddenly smoothed over a strange texture.

"What's that?" Amy Pond said aloud, her hazel eyes widening at the sight before her.

Tiny markings were etched into the hard, metallic surface, serving as further evidence that someone—or possibly something, must have been in this very place.

Maybe it's nothing. I mean, I suppose that the metal pieces might have scratched up the wall a bit when they were being put in here. But something about those markings—I don't know what it is—seems so…intentional.

An eerie sensation throbbed at the back of Amy's head, silently communicating this uncanny possibility.

"Doctor, I found somethin' over here that I think you might like to see…" she started, hoping that he might actually give her a decent response in return.

"Sorry, Pond, I'm kind of in the middle of something…" He refused to meet her eyes.

"Oi! Get. Over. Here. Now!" Amy demanded, her boisterous voice finally forcing the Doctor to his feet.

"Alright, alright, there's no need for shouting, especially considering we've got absolutely no idea what the Dryxolax are up to. This better be good." The Doctor practically whined, as he sluggishly walked over to where his companion was residing. "What is it?"

"Look at this. These markings, they've got to mean something, haven't they? What if one of the original staff members was here for some reason?"

She watched the Doctor intently as he scanned the small crevices in the wall.

"Perhaps. But you would think there would be more physical evidence of that. Why do I get the feeling there's something I've missed?" his hands sifted through his dark frock of brown hair.

Yeah, I get that feeling quite a lot. Especially since there's something I know he isn't telling me. This seems too easy…those aliens…they really looked like they were going to kill us earlier…it doesn't make sense…the Doctor said that this was part of the plan…but maybe it's actually some sort of trap.

Turning away from the markings, the Doctor examined the dark area that both he and Amy had apparently overlooked.

"Someone must have made these marks intentionally…as a warning of some kind, don't you think, Doctor? Or maybe they're leading us straight to them…"

"Actually…I'm not so sure about that…" sifting a bit of dust particles through his fingers, the Doctor's expression darkened.

"How'd ya mean?"

"These particles, Amy…" he sounded distressed.

"Yeah, so what? It's dust, which tells us that no one's been here for a while."

"No, not dust."

"What is it then?" the red head furrowed her brow.

"Ashes. Human ashes, according to the sonic. I don't know why I didn't realize this before…" Even in the darkness, Amy could see the lines of fear folding across the Doctor's forehead.

"But that would mean…" her conclusion was briskly interrupted by a firm pounding against the door.

Amy jerked upward.

The Doctor cringed.

Suddenly the only thing she could hear was the rapid pounding of her own heart, mingled with the loud clanking of metal.

Her entire body trembled, and she feared that those dreadful creatures had finally come back, threatening to take her life, once again.

If only it had been that simple.

Note: I hope you enjoyed it! There's still a lot more I have in mind, but only if people are still interested in this story. If you liked it then I would recommend reading my other stories (via my profile page). Please take this time to leave a review.

Have a brilliant day!