There's tapping behind Lila, near the window she peered into, and she stood with her back towards it with Theodore beside her, as they both heard the tapping noise.
"I've seen plenty of horror movies to know that nothing good comes from turning around," Lila coughed as she whispered to Theodore who hesitated at the thought of turning around.
He conversed with her telepathically as they stood frozen in place, hearing the tapping behind them.
"Could be a person," Theodore suggested the notion that a person would've suddenly sprang up from wherever they hid just to tap on the window.
Further disproven as Lila reminded him that they weren't able to get inside the parliament building despite multiple attempts.
Theodore's fist should've gotten them inside, but it didn't, his Sonic Screwdriver couldn't, either, though that's a minor design flaw in a long line of flaws that Theodore's desperate in removing.
The tapping continues as they conversed about what they should do and Theodore suggested that if it's really a person, they would talk. Sounds simple enough, if they're a person, they'll want to talk to the only two people walking around on the topside.
"After you, maestro," Lila ushered him on with his plot to deducing if they're dealing with an actual person or something they don't want to think about.
Sucking air through his teeth, Theodore exhales before calling out, "If you're a person behind us, say something!"
He waited with Lila for a response, still not turning around to look in the window, because nothing good comes of doing so, and everyone expects them to do it, even killers.
The tapping continued and Theodore conversed with Lila as they weighed their options since the first idea didn't work.
"Not answering," Lila noted as Theodore chewed on his inner lip as he pondered their options.
"Maybe they're mute?" Theodore suggested that whoever's behind them can't answer because they're mute.
Shrugging, Lila responded that it's worth a shot.
Exhaling, Theodore called out again, this time, "If you understand me, stop tapping, it's distracting."
Surprisingly, the tapping stops, and Theodore's relieved, the tapping's gone on too long for his taste.
"Well, we know they're not deaf," Lila shrugs as she looked at Theodore.
That's good, because Theodore didn't want to have to mime things without looking behind.
Now that the tapping stopped, they're given a new set of challenges, what to do with the knowledge, and if they're going to risk looking behind.
Not even for a bonus, Lila isn't looking behind. Theodore wouldn't, either, not even for a year's supply of jelly babies.
"If you understand me, tap once if you're human, tap twice if you're an alien," Theodore calls out to whoever's behind them at the window.
He saw Lila looking at him questionably until he told her that's better for them to find out now than later, at least from his standpoint.
Frowning, Lila turns away as they waited for a response.
They started hearing tapping, but whoever tapped only tapped three times.
Raising her brow, Lila responded with, "What's three?"
Theodore wearily shrugs as he replied that he doesn't know, he never gave a response for three taps.
Furrowing his brow, Theodore pondered before asking, "Tap once, if you're friendly. Tap twice, if you're not."
He caught Lila judging him with her chestnut eyes and she pointed out that if they're not friendly, they wouldn't be tapping the answer, and that much's true, but Theodore told her it couldn't hurt to try.
He wanted things civil, after all.
They waited, but there's no response, the tapping ceased, and they're left with ambiguity.
Lila wondered if they're gone, but Theodore hesitated checking for sure.
"Alright, this isn't going anywhere, and we're looking mighty goofy standing here like this, let's blow," Lila opted for them to leave the area, go back down the staircase, and head off somewhere else within the area.
They don't have a lot of sunlight left, as Theodore noted, so they're wasting precious time playing '50 Questions' with whatever's not answering behind the window.
Seeing her point, Theodore agreed, and gazed through the open field in front of them.
A perfectly cared field with a nicely paved path surrounds it, trimmed and prim trees, among the desolate ruins of a city, that's not a warning sign, Theodore doesn't know what is, and he suggested to Lila they go around the field, if they can.
Doesn't make sense with the impeded roads, but Theodore isn't risking it, too many things as is it, and a field's not one of them, even if it looks fine.
Don't know where they'll go from here, but it's better than sticking around, and Theodore motioned for Lila and she followed him around the building back to the front, so they'll take the road around the field behind the parliament building.
As he walked with Lila next to him, Theodore's icy blue eyes noticed as they walked by the same windows they tried to open before, covered with various handprints of different sizes, behind the glass.
Details meticulous and visible, they would've noticed the handprints, doesn't seem like they're residues either, they looked fresh, but hardly any smudges.
He counted the handprints, there's at least twenty-eight handprints, four at least children, and the way they're pressed against the window, like they're staring out the window, fixated, but they didn't see anyone in the building.
Only heard the tapping, that's it.
Remembering that, Theodore's icy blue eyes moved away from the windows, didn't want to know what made those tapping noises or those handprints.
He believed whatever they experienced isn't human, not in nature at least, of course he doesn't have tangible evidence except his gut feeling, but he swears by it. Just the way the handprints showed up, the frequency, they would've saw someone, but they never did.
Lila started seeing the handprints in the corner of her eyes and understandably moved away from the windows, frightened at the thought of catching sight of the sources of those handprints.
They ended up towards the entrance into the roundabout with the giant fountain before stopping.
"Okay, on a scale, how creepy was that?" Lila exhaled as she stood near the gates with Theodore as he turned towards the parliament building.
Even from afar, he didn't like the look of it, and he summed his answer with, "Terrifying."
There's few things that would've scared him, but something as subtle like this' up there, and he couldn't deny that he would've willingly picked Lila up and ran with her if something so much as opened a window near them.
Sheepishly, Lila asked him what he thinks could've made those handprints and the tapping noises, but Theodore couldn't give her an answer, nothing came to mind, at least an explain it on, all he knew's that they made the right choice getting away from the building.
An arm around her, Theodore pulls her away from the large gate as he led her towards the road that roped around the area that had a large river beside it.
While walking away, Lila felt the feeling of someone watching them, and tried to ignore it, but the feeling's too strong. She couldn't help but slowly turn her head, looking back at the building as they're far away from it.
It's only briefly before she turned her head away from it, but she caught sight of something peculiar, something that she couldn't explain.
One of the large front doors of the building's opened slightly outward, enough that Lila's able to see briefly an outline of someone standing behind the door.
There's nothing she wanted more than getting away from the parliament building and she followed Theodore as they took the cleared path through the road that wrapped around the building before going straight.
While walking, Theodore caught sight of graffiti, fresh, few months at most, and he called to Lila's attention as she stood beside him, looking up and reading the brightly colored spray-painted warning on the side of a road separator.
DON'T GO NEAR THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING, IT'S HAUNTED!
It's in English, so that's a good sign for them, but the warning's caught them off-guard as they looked at each other with curious looks.
"Haunted?" Lila echoed as she blinked.
Looking back at the graffiti, Theodore chewed on his inner lip before telling her, "I'm not sure."
It made Lila uneasy, but Theodore comforted her as he kept her close to him, while they walked past abandoned vehicles.
The parliament building and the field behind it's in view on the left side, far enough that they couldn't see the windows, but neither wanted to chance looking at them.
They're further ahead than they were ten minutes ago, there's more graffiti up ahead, this one said something different.
NEVER GO UP THE THIRTEEN STEPS!
Confused them as they stopped to assess the warning, they thought about the parliament building, but those steps were only eight.
"Oh boy, what did he get us into?" Lila's unnerved by this graffiti, already they've spotted strange things, experienced something odd, and now this, not a good sign.
Uneasily looking around, Theodore replied that he doesn't know, but they'll come across something soon, he's sure of it, and hopefully by then, they'll find a place for them to settle before nightfall.
Really don't want to be caught outside at night in a ruined city where they already experienced what amounted to him's phantom tapping noises.
On his mind, Theodore pondered where they'll hide if they don't find shelter soon, it'll get cooler out once the sun sets, going to need to start a fight, and not just that, he doesn't want them anywhere near that building once they have to stop for the night.
The further they are, the better, and he doesn't know what the graffiti meant by thirteen steps, but considering what they just experienced, he doesn't want to know what it meant, other than now he's going to count every staircase's step from now on.
The two walked, arm in arm, trying to find their way through the cleared part of the road, avoiding the abandoned vehicles on sides of the road before they found themselves on a widened road with barriers put up on opposite sides.
With the silence deafening them, it forced the two to talk to each other, breaking the silence, hoping to keep each other calm, as they're passing vehicles stripped for parts, rusted out, and this continuing until they see that the area up ahead completely collapsed, exposing the raging river passing through the columns.
The water's clearer than Lila imagined, she's able to see rubble with remnants of vehicles underneath, showing her what remained of passengers caught when part of the road collapsed.
Growing among the rubble, aquatic plants, fluorescent colors ranging from orange to green, species that Lila didn't recognize, and among them, she sees movement among the currents.
Small, iridescent fishes of different shapes and sizes, traversing through the currents, their two-pronged tails fluttering.
As the fishes swam, Lila sees something large moving among the floor of the river, it's maroon colored, looked like a giant lobster, and the more it moved, she saw it clearly as it hunted the fishes.
A giant crawdad with huge sharp mandibles pointing upright like teeth and giant pincers to go along with the nightmare in the water as it lunged after one of the fishes, snapping it with one of the pincers.
"Come along, Lee, we musn't dawdle," Theodore called to her and she moved away from her spot, following him towards a path carved out that led them away from the road, over the river, and somewhere towards what used to be a district in the city.
His icy blue eyes surveying every corner and every crevice, Theodore led Lila down the path and onto a smoother section of a road.
Buildings in various stages of ruins, boutiques and whatever else, picked clean, and all that remains the corpses.
Up ahead, there's what used to be a grocery store, torn apart completely, leaving behind only an empty shell of what it once was, and nothing more.
Glancing up at the skies above and seeing them slowly darkening, pushed Theodore into scouring for a safe area for them to hide until morning.
Difficult prospect, but he continued his scouring until he called to Lila, finding a building that didn't look terrible compared to the others.
Must've been a boarding house, but it'll do, and he motioned with his long arm for Lila to follow him, and she did, as he went up the steps towards the door.
With his strength, he forced the door open, and he entered through the doorway.
Inside, there's a hallway with a large staircase leading up to the second floor, eight steps, he counted, and his icy blue eyes surveyed for any movement, any dangers.
When he felt it was safe, Theodore gently pulled Lila inside, she closed the door behind them gently, as Theodore walked up the staircase.
He asked for the torch and Lila gave it to him, with it he lit up the area, seeing walls with peeled off wallpaper exposing the walls behind them, littered with rot and holes.
The staircase creaked as Theodore checked around with the torch, light bouncing off everything, until he sees the long hallway on his right.
His heavy footsteps echoed as he checked for anything out of the ordinary, something dangerous, and found nothing.
Returning to Lila as she waited for him, he brought her up to the second floor, and they searched for a room to stay in, as they felt the temperature dropping around them.
Rattling every doorknob, Theodore stopped when he found one that opened easily, and he checked inside.
Empty except abandoned furniture, the windows completely covered, and he stepped inside the flat.
Footsteps thudding against the carpeting, Theodore checked the flat for threats, when he found none, he returned to Lila, and they entered the flat, closing the door behind them.
"What'll we do tomorrow?" Lila asks Theodore as they found a spot on the floor to rest on that wouldn't cave under them as they slept.
Sitting beside her, drooping his multicoloured scarf around the side of her shoulder, Theodore exhaled as he wrapped a long arm around her, pulling her close to him, before saying, "We'll keep going, hopefully by then we'll find out why we're here and what the hell's going on."
Nodding, Lila rested her head on his wide shoulder, the only thing they heard's silence, nothing else.
"What're the chances we're the only ones here?" Lila wondered about the odds.
Resting his head against hers, Theodore replied that if they don't find anyone by a certain point, either there's no one alive except them or something profoundly happened that decimated the population that it'll take ages before they find someone.
"I hope Al can find us, I don't think we're getting back to that subway," Lila rubbed her heavy eyes as she mentioned that it'll take them longer getting back to the TARDIS.
Theodore assured her that it'll find them, it couldn't afford not to, and they'll be back in their blissful lives in no time.
For now, they better rest for tomorrow, and Lila nodded.
Theodore bid her a goodnight and she responded by gently squeezing his huge nose, making him smile before planting a small kiss on the side of her head.
Lila drifted to sleep first and Theodore kept an arm around her as he stayed up longer, listening to the deafening silence.
He reflected on the odd occurrences they experienced, the graffiti, the unusual wildlife, that it only painted a picture of screams for Theodore.
Slowly, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, until he couldn't open them again, softly snoring as he rested his head on top of Lila's.
Don't know how long they've been asleep for, but it must've been for a few hours at most.
Deep in his slumber, Theodore slowly stirred, he thought he felt the floor vibrating under them, that he briefly opened his eyes, checking the floor for stress points, but there weren't any, and his eyes grew heavy again.
Closing them, he tried to sleep, but he felt eyes on him, unusual, he knew in his head it wasn't Lila, she's still asleep, and he kept his arm around her.
His mind coming back out of the deep slumber, Theodore noticed light on his face, not the light from the torch, they turned it off, conserving the battery, and when he wearily opened his eyes, he sees someone standing in front of them, wearing a gas mask.
Raising his head, Theodore grew irritated with them, waking him up, blinding him with a torch pointed at his face, the nerve!
"Mhm," Lila stirred from her sleep as she attempted to adjust in her spot, but she noticed the light on them, and opened her chestnut eyes to see a pair of boots in front of them.
She froze in her place as she felt Theodore's arm around her tightening as he leered at the person in front of them.
"Who are you?" Theodore asked aloud in a low voice.