CHAPTER 2
Amy came to with a cough, and she tried to clear the dirt from her eyes as she pushed herself upright.
Groaning, she took stock of her aching body and decided that nothing had been broken in the fall. That
didn't mean she didn't hurt, though. She looked upward to see an overcast sky peeking in through a hole at least 10 feet across and at least five feet above her head at standing height. Dust and chunks of dirt and grass from above was still falling, and she was glad she hadn't been out long.
"Rory?" she called, her heart seizing when she didn't hear an answer right away. "Where are you?"
A groan from several feet away alerted her to his location, and Amy made her way to Rory gingerly, picking her way through the dirt in light that was so poor she had trouble seeing anything before her. "Are you alright?"
He gasped as he sat up on his elbows, and she knelt down to inspect him for any injuries. "I think I broke my bum." Then, he looked above them at the hole. "What happened?"
Amy shrugged. "We fell through." Her answer was simply and to the point, he had to give her that.
He fixed her with a stare. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Anytime," she answered distractedly as she stood up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Doctor!"
There was no answer from above. "Great," she sighed, then called out again. "Doctor! We're stuck! We need help!"
Nothing sounded from overhead. But something moved in the darkness underneath.
"Uh ...," Rory scrambled to his feet. "What was that?"
Amy held her breath, listening for the thuds that had sounded like heavy footsteps. "I don't know."
Something appeared to materialize in the inky blackness, and the two instinctively moved closer to each other.
"Who are you?" Amy asked. "Show yourself."
A young boy stepped out of the shadows. "Hi," he said, his middle-American accent obvious. "Are you okay?"
Confused, the couple regarded him curiously. "What are you doing down here?" Rory asked. "Is this a cave?"
The little boy, who looked no older than 9, shrugged. "You could call it that."
"Um, are you alone?" Amy asked, suddenly aware that the child couldn't have been the source of the heavy footsteps she'd heard only seconds before.
The boy shook his head, his blond hair shining despite the darkness. "No, silly. My family's here too."
"Who are you?" she asked.
The little boy took another step forward. "Jeffrey. What's your name, human?"
The boy's question sent a chill down Amy's spine, and she looked at Rory, who appeared equally as fearful. But before they could move, they heard heavy shuffling in the shadows.
"Oh, you want to meet my family?"
Amy's breath hitched in her throat, and she was suddenly struck by a paralyzing fear. Something was very, very wrong here. Then, something struck her in the back of the head, and blackness consumed her.
••••••••••
The Doctor let loose a gleeful chuckle as he followed his sonic toward the river and away from the TARDIS and Amy and Rory. "Something's here," he said, his curiosity piqued. "Something ... not of this world."
He paused then, studying the sonic closely. The readings were puzzling. The air surrounding the town of Masonville, Indiana was certainly electrified, giving hints of the destructive weather that was to hit within hours. But something else was in the air. Something old. Something alien. Besides him, of course. And it was something very familiar …
"Hmmm ...," he muttered as he began walking in a small circle. "What is going on here?"
The air held the essence of human blood — lots of it. But there were no signs of a massacre. Nothing on the grounds, in the grass ... and after a quick check, even in the river. Something was spilling human blood — and yet it was being very good at covering its trail.
Suddenly very nervous for his two human friends, the Doctor spun back toward the way he'd come and sprinted toward the TARDIS. "Amy! Rory!" he yelled. When no answer floated back to him, the Doctor's two hearts each skipped a beat.
When he approached the TARDIS — which had hidden itself in an invisible shield — he caught sight of the gaping hole that had opened up. Below was just darkness. Peeking over the ledge, the Doctor called for his friends again. His own voice echoed back to him, hinting at a tunnel of sorts that led away from the cavern.
"I told them not to wander off, now didn't I?" he asked himself as he lowered himself into the hole and dropped the rest of the way, landing with a thud on the floor of the cavern. "Why must they always get
themselves into trouble?"
The Doctor turned his sonic on, and its green glow bathed the cavern in its soft light. The darkest parts of the cavern remained in shadows, but the Doctor could make out where his two companions had fallen. Amy and Rory's footprints could still be seen in the dirt. But other footprints — at least three pairs, including a small child's — surrounded theirs, and the Doctor began to get a sinking feeling in
the pit of his stomach.
Deciding that discretion would be wise, he refrained from calling for the couple. Instead, he took to following the footprints — now sans Amy and Rory, so he figured they'd been carried — out of the cavern and into the tunnel that opened into it.
If he weren't a Time Lord, the Doctor reckoned he'd be a bit terrified at the moment. Instead, he was positively twitchy with anticipation. Of course, he was concerned for his friends, but the mad part of the Doctor's mind couldn't help but be alight with curiosity at the circumstances surrounding him. Shuffling slowly, quietly, the Doctor made his way through the dark tunnel, becoming quickly bored as he came across nothing but dirt floor and rock wall. So far, he'd come across nothing, yet he could detect the faintest smell of human blood. He couldn't be sure if it were Amy's or Rory's but it was human, nonetheless. Which meant whatever he was dealing with down here was responsible for the sonic's readings above ground.
A sudden movement behind the Doctor alerted him, and he swung the sonic around, coming face to face with a small child with golden hair.
"Hullo there," he said, already suspecting the boy was not human.
"Hi," the child answered, grinning impishly.
"And who might you be?" the Doctor asked, bending down to get a better look at the child.
"Jeffrey," the boy answered. "I'm 8."
"Are you?" the Doctor asked. "Well, you may appear to be 8, but I think you're quite a bit older."
The child frowned, then bared his teeth. His sharper than normal teeth. "Get out."
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid you have my friends, Jeffrey. I can't leave."
The boy hissed.
The Doctor sighed. "I'm going to find my friends now. You can either lead me to them, or stay out of my way."
The boy shrieked before launching himself at the Doctor, hands formed into small claws. His strength was far greater than a young child would appear to have, further lending evidence to his otherworldly
status. The Doctor was slammed against the rock wall of the tunnel, and he grunted as he fought to keep the child's teeth away from his throat as the creature leapt upward, snapping his teeth ferociously.
"No, Jeffrey," he gritted as the thing growled and snarled at him. "This is not the way to behave. I've simply come for my friends."
"They'll soon be dead," he answered as he snapped at the Doctor again, this time drawing blood when his teeth found the Doctor's forearm which had come up to protect his throat. The Doctor couldn't help but huff indignantly when he heard the tweed material of his beloved coat rip as Jeffrey lunged again.
The Doctor grunted again and, in a sudden burst of strength, pushed the creature away from him with a mighty shove. The child reeled back and collided with the rock wall directly across from them. The child's head hit the rock with a sickly thud, and Jeffrey fell, unconscious.
"You tore my jacket," the Doctor said, as he looked at the creature's unconscious form, a mixture of pity and anger in his eyes.
The Doctor took that moment to rush down the tunnel, his sonic held in front of him at the ready.
When he began to see a source of light in front of him, the Doctor picked up his speed, concerned that more Jeffreys may be hiding in the shadows. Then, he had a sudden flashback to Angel Bob, and sincerely hoped the Jeffrey he'd encountered hadn't been a human boy before. That would be quite unfortunate.
Bloodsucking Jeffrey. That would have to be his name. Bloodsucking … something began to click in the Doctor's head, but the thought fled when he found himself face-to-face with two more creatures that resembled humans but certainly weren't.
"Hullo," he said, using the same approach he'd tried with Jeffrey, despite his suspicions that these two creatures wouldn't give him an easier time than the younger one had. "I'm looking for my friends, the Ponds. Have you seen them?"
The first one, a large male who looked to be around 40 in human years, grinned — although it didn't instill anything but nervousness in the Doctor — and regarded him with dark eyes. "You're not human."
"Ah, no. Not currently," the Doctor replied. "But that would be the pot calling the kettle black, now wouldn't you agree?"
The second creature looked like a human female, with mousy brown hair and large, penetrating eyes. "Your friends are here, but they're not long for this world."
"Is that so?"
She nodded, then licked her lips sensually. "The redheaded one. She tastes so ... sweet."
The Doctor's ire was raised a notch, and he felt the familiar fury begin to take hold. "I believe it's quite rude to eat humans, and I can't abide it. Especially if they're my friends."
The female creature laughed as she threw her head back. "You're so odd. But I smell the essence of time travel on you."
"Well yes. Hard to wash out, that," the Doctor answered, running short of patience. "Where are they?"
Before the Doctor would take action, the male creature was upon him, and his teeth sank into his neck with a wet, sickening sound. The Doctor couldn't help the scream that escaped as pain overcame him and as he tried to fight the thing off. The creature only latched on more firmly, drawing in the Doctor's blood deeply.
"Oh, this won't do," the Doctor gasped as he felt himself growing weaker by the second.
The creature let go of his captive with a shriek. "He's a Time Lord, Miriam!"
"Oooooh," the one named Miriam purred, and her voice, to the Doctor, sounded like it was echoing down a long hallway. His vision darkened as he fought to remain upright. He sagged in the male creature's grip, and it tightened its hold on him."We must keep him around then."
Then, the Doctor lost all feeling in his legs, and the male creature released him. He was out before he hit the dirt floor.
••••••••••
"Doctor? Doctor, wake up," the voice was familiar, and the Doctor struggled to regain consciousness. His head was swimming, and he fought to open his suddenly very heavy eyelids.
After a few seconds of internal struggle, he finally wrenched them open, he saw a blurry Rory, looking much the worse for wear above him. "Fancy seeing you here," he croaked, and the young man slumped with relief.
"Thank God, Doctor," he said. "They nearly killed you."
"Yes, well," the Doctor said as he reached up and felt the ragged wound on his neck. A piece of cloth had been placed there, and the Doctor noticed Rory had torn a piece of his shirt from the bottom hem
to use as a bandage. "Two hearts and all that. Replenishes blood quickly. Though it will leave a mark, it seems."
Then, he rose into a sitting position, still feeling weak. "Where's Amy?"
Rory shook his head. "Don't know. I came to in here. But Amy's gone."
The young man seemed to fall apart a bit then, and he dropped his head into his hands. "Doctor, if they do anything to Amy —,"
"They won't," he answered shortly as he rose, stumbling as he tried to regain his footing on weak legs. "Did you hear anything they may have said that may tell us why they're here?"
Rory thought a moment. "Something about the tornadoes. And going above ground. Nothing much past that, I'm afraid."
The Doctor nodded as he tried to rub some of the crusted blood from his neck. "They're humanoid, that's for sure. But what are they doing in the middle of America?"
The young nurse shrugged, then smiled weakly. "Waiting to take over the town once the tornadoes come through?"
The Doctor rubbed his eyes, then regarded his companion seriously. Then, he let loose a wide, mad smile, and Rory, miffed, thought about asking him what he found so damn funny at the moment.
"I knew there was a reason I took you with me, Rory. That's brilliant! Makes complete sense, and I'm quite ashamed I hadn't thought of that."
"I've had a bit of time to think," Rory answered before staring at the crude iron door that separated them from freedom. "What are we going to do?"
"First, I'm going to sonic this door," the Doctor said as he grabbed his trusty tool and made his way to the doorway. "Then we're going to find Amy."