Chapter 5 The One at the Hotel
Hello hello hello! Jeeez this one took a hot minute to write, it was both fun and extremely difficult. Sooooo, hope you enjoy part one of the episode!
Notes on some comments and questions from THGHPTVD.2 (thanks again for the review!) I'm hoping to increase frequency of chapters when I have a few more ready to go (which may take longer now that I'm back at work fml); also Florence's jumping is sporadic defo but you will find out more when she does...; now good old Jack? I'll never tell ;-)
I own nothing recognisable!
Florence splashed around for a moment, spluttering out water she had swallowed in surprise upon arrival. She looked around at the large cavernous room she was treading water in, noticing it's never ending ceilings looking out to a starlit sky above her, she supposed she must have been in some alien resort or some place, and shook her head at the ease in which the thought of an alien resort came to her; it was absurd. She caught sight of a ladder to her right and swam towards it, her sodden denim dungarees making it slightly harder than anticipated, she cursed whoever was listening for dumping her in a swimming pool. She made it up the ladder with significant effort and lay flat out on her back on the cool stone floor, breathing heavily. After a moment she sat up, casting a look around the room for a door, frowning at the wild water slides that took up one part of the pool, the bubbling jets of what looked like a pool sized hot tub just off to the side and, success, a door. It was a royal blue colour which reminded Florence of something that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but nonetheless made her way towards, grabbing a fluffy towel she saw hanging on a rack near the exit.
Walking down empty hallways seemed to be becoming a regular occurrence, Florence thought to herself as she towel dried her hair, but at least these ones carried a certain warmth missing from Deffry Vale, bathed in an orange glow despite the metallic design. She couldn't work out how long she had been walking down the same stretch of hallway, never seemingly getting any closer to a destination nor passing any other doors on her way, and for an alien resort, it seemed rather deserted. "Hellooo…" she called out softly, not wanting to disturb anything that may be lurking. "Hello!" She repeated, and began to wonder where the familiar pinstripe suited messy haired Time Lord could be hiding, she'd gotten used to his being the first face she saw after a jump.
Suddenly, the hallway opened up into a large circular archway and she stepped onto a metal walkway, and peering into the room Florence came to a halt. This definitely was not a resort, it looked familiar, in the same way an abstract work of art looked like its subject, but she couldn't work out what it was. The room was huge, a second set of stairs opposite her leading to another part of the strange place, circular window-like decorations covered the walls, and in the centre was a hexagonal console surrounding some sort of mechanical rotor. It was that console, mixed with the unmistakable double doors just off to the right hand side, that Florence was hit by where exactly she was. "Oh my god." She whispered, running down the stairs towards the various buttons and levers that covered the surface, she looked down at her feet, tapping her trainers tentatively on the glass floor on which she stood, looking down at the level below her. Organised chaos. She laughed. "Oh, you are beautiful." The TARDIS gave a hum in response, and Florence ran her hands over the funky circular symbols engraved on the glass of the machinery, dinging the little bell and lightly pulling on the 50s looking television screen suspended in the air.
She plonked herself down on one of the soft leather seats that seemed to have had a similar revamp that the rest of the room had received, the wet squishing reminding her that she had most likely trailed water all over the floor in her snooping. She crossed her arms and sat back, she guessed now all she could do was wait for the Doctor to appear. Or… she could continue being nosy and have a quick look where that other door led to. She stood quickly, looking round the room for any hint of someone catching her - mainly Rose or Martha, or even Mickey - and started towards the second set of stairs, running her hands along the railings as she went, unable to keep her hands off the ship. Oh my god, she realised, stopping in her tracks just as she reached the bottom step, this is what Rose and Sarah-Jane were talking about! Nooo no no I can't become him… She snatched her hand away like she had been burnt and the TARDIS seemed to hum in disappointment. Florence shook her head, the ship wasn't that sentient, was it? She reached the top of the stairs and made her way through the archway, making a right as soon as she appeared in another hallway and stepping through another circular arch.
Straight back into the console room, back at the entrance she had first arrived in. Florence frowned, weird. She turned on her heel back through the arch and down the hallway. And once more appeared back in the console room, on top of the second set of stairs once more. She huffed, turning again and turning left as soon as she entered the hallway.
"Oh come on!" She groaned, stomping her foot in exasperation when she landed straight back in the console room. "Fine." She marched down the stairs and sat back in the plush leather chair, crossing her arms and legs angrily. No exploring for her.
Not long had passed before Florence heard voices outside the doors and the sound of a key in the lock, she stood in anticipation, waiting for his lanky frame to come through the door. Her smile faded slightly when first to enter the ship was a fiery red headed woman, covered in drying green slime and a scowl on her face. She was moaning about whatever had happened to her to the man who entered behind her, he had sandy hair and a prominent nose, and was trying to sooth the ginger. They turned to see the small woman standing at the side of the console and smiled brightly, even the girl covered in slime. "Florence!" They called up to her, but Florence just gave them an awkward half smile half grimace in response, new companions, she supposed, our boy does get around… She hated these kinds of introductions. Before she had a chance to explain her confusion, a final figure entered the TARDIS. And it definitely wasn't her skinny messy haired Doctor. This man was tall, yes, but his hair was floppy and he looked to be in his mid twenties, wearing a tweed tan jacket with a… blue bowtie. His eyes lit up when he saw her and he raised his hands excitedly, pointing in her direction with a laugh.
"Flossssssie!" He drew out the 's' of Florence's most hated nickname and ran up to her, completely oblivious to her surprise and to the two other occupants of the TARDIS' hands raised to tell him something was wrong, and pulled her into his arms. Florence parted her lips in surprise and began to speak, only to be stopped by the feeling of another soft pair of lips planted on her own. Her eyes widened. He was kissing her. She ripped away from him with a cry and pushed roughly at his chest.
"What the fuck?" She glared at him, and he looked weirdly hurt at her reaction. "Who the fuck are you? Where's the Doctor?" She looked to the man and woman who had entered first, the girl held a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter. "What? Where is he?"
"Florence, it's me." The kissy stranger told her, trying to look her in the eye. "Florence, have I not? Oh, maybe I haven't…" He frowned. "How many times have we met?" He looked down at her wet clothes. "And why are you wet?"
"What do you mean 'it's you'? It can't be You! Do you just pick and choose what you look like day to day? Yesterday it's slenderman and today it's the baby faced boy wonder!" The 'Doctor' made a noise at that,
"'Baby faced boy- Hey! You said you liked this face! Well you will say, tenses!" He put his hands gently on her shoulders, holding her still as she tried to back away. "Listen, Florence. It's me, the Doctor, when I'm badly hurt I can change my whole body to survive, it's called regeneration. The man you saw before this, I'm assuming by your lovely nickname, was my tenth body." She frowned at the phrase, it did match what Sarah-Jane had said to her lanky Doctor the night before. "Now, please, how many times have we met, clearly not many."
"Twice." Florence replied, slightly moody that she had clearly overreacted. "First with Martha in New New York, then with Rose, Mickey and Sarah-Jane." The Doctor nodded at this, brushing a strand of wet hair behind her ear.
"And the wet hair, clothes, and well you?" She shifted on her feet, he had a way of making her feel very calm, and she wasn't sure if she appreciated it or not.
"Landed in the pool." She mumbled, smiled slightly at the absurdity of it all, and he laughed. He let her go, spinning on his heel and pointing at the couple watching the spectacle with smiles,
"The Ponds! Meet Florence. Florence these are the Ponds, Amy and Rory." The two smiled but before either could say anything for themselves, the Doctor grabbed Amy's wrist and dragged her towards Florence, grabbing the other girl's hand and pushing both of them towards the stairs. "Right! Off you girls pop, time to change, get out of those filthy clothes and into something nice! Try not to take too long, places to see, people to save." Florence's head spun with all his babble, but let herself be led away by Amy, who rolled her eyes at his madness.
"Come on, best not keep him waiting." Florence nodded but gestured the hallway in front of them as they walked,
"Right but, this just leads straight back to the…" She trailed off as Amy opened a door that had appeared in front of them, leading her straight into what Florence could only describe as the most extensive wardrobe she had ever seen. "Oh. Okay." She nodded and walked further into the spacious multi-storey room, layers of different outfits for different occasions lined the rails, staircases leading up, down and across her vision. Amy laughed when she saw the shocked look on her face,
"No wonder you wanted to show me the wardrobe my first time, your face is priceless! Right, let's get some clean clothes, and I need to wash my face…" The ginger pushed Florence towards the casual clothes and wandered off in search of a flannel for the slime, leaving the wardrobe newbie to begin the search for something to wear.
Florence and Amy waltzed back into the console room having both changed out of their less than fresh outfits to find the Doctor running around pressing buttons and flicking switches, while Rory waited patiently on one of the chairs. Amy wore a mini denim skirt and sheer shirt with a black leather jacket over it, while Florence opted for a cropped white tee with light wash jeans and black cardigan, leaving her still damp hair hanging loose at her shoulders. Amy was telling Florence all about the adventure the three had just come from, apparently the Doctor frequently tried to kill time between her visits with a multitude of activities that usually ended with at least one of them covered in something, the two laughing as the Doctor made a waving motion for them to hurry with his hands,
"Well come on then! I've thought of a great place for you, Floss!" Florence raised her eyebrows at the nickname, she was going to speak to him about that before she hit him. "A holiday in Raven-Skala! This planet has waterfalls that are thousands of feet high! A thousand feet! Although to be fair," he rambled, tapping away at the typewriter poking out from just under one edge of the console, "that is because the Skalarians are six hundred feet tall themselves so it adds up." Amy looked impressed,
"A holiday? 'Bout time you treated us to a break, Doctor." The Doctor grinned and waggled his finger,
"Oh not just a holiday, Pond. We're going full tourist, speaking of! The Skalarians are so big that the tourist centre is actually one of their hats! I wonder what hat, I hope it's a fez…" Florence stared at the man in front of her, he was absolutely mad. There were some habits that reminded her of her lanky Doctor, when he played with his hair and the twinkle in his eye when he talked about their next destination, it was all him. But at the same time, he was completely different, he seemed constantly on show, constantly performing never letting the mask slip. That made Florence sad. She shook herself out of such thoughts and smiled when the madman sent her a hopeful look, asking for her approval of his choice of holiday resorts.
"Is it going to be amazing?" She asked him with a playful smirk. "I'll only go if you promise me amazing." The Doctor grinned wildly at that, flipping the lever to his right down with a flourish and causing the whole TARDIS to shake and rock, Florence grabbing on to the railing behind her with a scream. Okay, she thought as the other three laughed, so that hasn't changed.
The TARDIS lands with one final jolt and the foursome made their way excitedly to the doors, the Doctor still rambling on about how much Florence would enjoy this one, he let her step out first and straight onto an old, patterned carpeted floor. "Um," She began, moving to the side to allow the others to see what she was seeing, "not that I'm not grateful or anything, but this doesn't exactly scream alien, Doctor…"
"Oh, erm, well." The Doctor moved around the landing of the seemingly 1980s style hotel, tapping against the walls and peering down the staircase in front of them. Amy crossed the landing, joining him in leaning on the wooden bannister and staring up and down at the never ending stairs,
"'Let's go to Raven-Skala,' he says." She gave Florence a look of annoyance, and she laughed in response. "'The people are six hundred feet tall. You have to talk to them in hot air balloons and the Tourist Information Centre is made of one of their hats,' he says. I'm sorry, but I don't see any hats. Florence, tell me, do you see any hats?"
Florence laughed but the Doctor didn't seem bothered in the slightest at the girls' teasing, clapping the Ponds on their shoulders and running up the stairs in excitement, "Amy, Beaky, this could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen." He pointed at Florence, still standing on the landing below him, "Florence, I'm sorry but this is better than Raven-Skala…" She raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm, you're yet to give me examples of how exactly." She challenged, earning a secretive wink in response. Rory scoffed,
"You're kidding."
"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" The Doctor bound back down the stairs and resumed his poking and prodding of objects on the landing. He was lumbering around like a kid in a sweet shop, which was in fact the only way Florence could describe both this, and the last regeneration of the Doctor (she was still getting used to the mere idea).
"Because, assembled Ponds and upsettingly boring Florence," Florence blanched at the comment, "this is not Earth. This has just been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved. Can you imagine?" She had to agree with him there, not that she would admit it though, not after he called her boring, it was pretty impressive the detail that went into the exact replication of a hotel like this.
"Okay, firstly: Rude." Florence held up her fingers to make her points. "Secondly: What do you mean, like a replica or something? Somewhere out there is a massive fan of gaudy hotels?"
"Never mind the superfan, where are we exactly?" Amy asked, still looking put off by the change of destination.
The Doctor couldn't keep the grin off his face, "I don't know. Something must have yanked us off course." He strolled past the TARDIS and straight to a potted plant. "Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" He inhaled the leaves sharply, then wiggled his fingers as he picked an apple from the glass bowl on the table on its left.
"Right," Rory began to ask. "but who would mock up an Earth hotel?"
"Colonists maybe," the Doctor suggested, "recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Mallorca. No," he paused to take a bit out of the apple, proving to Florence that it was in fact real, "whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."
A voice in the back of her mind was reminded of someone at that comment, a certain visiting stranger to the cafe who spoke about binaries and species. That seemed like a lifetime ago, when the biggest mystery in Florence's life was the constant presence of an odd man who flashed her a cheeky grin at every coffee order. Not where a fucking spaceship had got them lost at.
"Have you seen these?" Rory asked, pulling her from her musings. He was looking intently at the picture frames littered on the walls of the staircase near them, they all contained photographs of people in the same uniform, with their name and various comments written underneath. "Look at the labels underneath… Commander Halke, defeat… Tim Heath,having his photo taken… Lady Silver-Tear, Daleks." That was the third time Florence had heard mention of the 'Daleks', the enemies that haunted the Doctor's memories of the Time War, and it occurred to her then that this was the third companion to talk about them in recollection, which worried her for the future she would most likely have experiencing their terror. She distracted herself by focusing on the frame in front of her, containing an image of a familiar species,
"Novice Prin, sabrewolves. Doctor look, it's one of those cat ladies!" The Doctor smiled at her and spoke through his second bit of the apple,
"Our first date." Florence rolled her eyes and blushed slightly at the insinuation,
"Oh yeah, nearly choking to death on car fumes, how romantic…"
"Paige Barnes, other people's socks." Amy continued reading, ignoring the two next to her, "Tim Nelson, balloons… Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth? Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla… Doctor, what does it mean?"
The smile seemed to have dimmed from the doctor's face, the hotel finally bordering on creepy rather than an exciting Disneyland adventure. "I don't know. Let's find out." Florence raised her eyebrows at this,
"And by that I presume you mean snoop around and/or get caught?" He tapped her lightly on the nose as if to say 'bingo', before spinning on his heel with a flourish. He led the path down stairs, a lot more cautiously than his previous bounding, but Florence could tell he was still excited to see where this adventure would take them.
They arrived in what seemed to be a reception of the hotel, a beige tile floor in the centre of the room in front of a desk, which had a vase of wild flowers on it. As excited as the Doctor seemed, the whole place was rather dull looking to Florence, it screamed normality and something about it wasn't right. The Doctor dinged on the bell that sat on the desk, and three people appeared from the hallway nearby, two brandishing chair legs as weapons while the other, a taller bald man with a rodent-like grey face, waved a makeshift white flag. The four time travellers screamed out in surprised, their voices all overlapping,
"WOAH!" That was Rory.
"Oh my fuc-" Florence.
"Who are you?" The woman dressed in blue scrubs, the only one of the three managing to accomplish actually looking threatening.
"Blimey, that was quick!" The Doctor, only looking mildly worried, until the chair leg was pointed at him.
"We surrender!" The white flag waver, unsurprisingly.
"A chair leg! She's threatening me with a chair leg!" The Doctor once more, pointing indignantly at the woman.
"No, it's okay! We're nice!" Rory again, trying to be the peace keeper but only earning a look from his wife.
"I've never been threatened with a chair leg before. No, hang on, I tell a lie." The Doctor rambled, not helping.
"Is now the time?" Florence cried, still holding her hands in surrender.
"Oh god, we're back in reception." The boy in glasses sounded shocked, earning a look from the Doctor even in the midst of the panic.
"Did you just say, 'it's okay, we're nice'?" Amy looked at her husband in disbelief.
"Okay!" The woman in scrubs finally shouted. "I need everyone to shut up, now." The large group listened to her, the Doctor going as far as to mime zipping his lips, and playing his hand over Florence's mouth - which she was quick to slap away. "Their pupils are dilated. They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something." Florence raised her eyebrows at her logic, impressed. The Doctor seemed to agree,
"Oh, you're good. Oh, she's good. Amy, with regret, you're fired." He pointed at the ginger, who seemed offended,
"What?"
"I'm kidding." He made a gesture as if on the phone, "We'll talk." Before turning to the grey alien, "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli." He nodded,
"Yes. The most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called Glory To Insert Name Here." Florence let out a laugh at that, but noticed the man's straight face,
"Oh you're serious… Sorry."
"You, with the face, you said you were surprised to be back in reception."
The bespectacled boy nodded, losing the ferocity he entered the room with, "The walls move. Everything changes."
"You, clever on. What's he talking about?" The Doctor asked, while Florence found the source of the increasingly irritating music.
"It's Rita. And that Howie and Gibbis, thanks for asking. The corridors twist and stretch." She explained, "Rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive." Florence flipped the switch of the radio,
"Sorry," She said, when everyone looked over, "can't hear myself think."
The young man, Howie, nodded at Rita's words. "Yeah, and it's huge. With like, no way out."
"Have you tried the front door?" Rory asked simply, and Florence pulled a face at the question, really?
Rita seemed to have the same thought. "No. In two days it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank God you're here." She replied sarcastically, causing Amy to laugh but stop when Rory shot her a look. The Doctor wandered over the wooden doors and ran his screwdriver along them, opening them to reveal a white brick wall.
"They're not doors, they're walls." He stated the obvious. "Walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or dwalls. Woors even, though you'd probably get it if you said they're not doors."
"Maybe just, stop. Yeah?" Florence patted him on the shoulder and went towards the drawn curtains to the side of the dwalls. "I presume the windows are…" She pulled back the curtains to reveal more white walls.
"Right," the Doctor stated, "big day if you're a fan of walls." Rory covered his mouth in contemplation, probably thinking the same thing Florence was, namely what the hell is this place?
"It's not just that." The Doctor continued observing his surroundings as Rita spoke. "The rooms have things in them." The Doctor perked up at that,
"Things? Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone."
Rita hesitated. "Bad dreams."
"Doctor…" Florence warned. "Those pictures on the wall, they sure did sound like people's nightmares…"
"Well, thank you both, that killed the mood." The Doctor suddenly looked the most concerned since they had arrived at the hotel. "So, how did you get here?"
"I don't know." Rita shrugged. "I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."
Howie nodded in agreement, "I was just blogging. Next thing, this."
They all looked to Gibbis, "Oh, I was at work. I'm in Town Planning. We're lining all the highways with trees so invading forces can march in the shade." They all paused at that. "Which is nice for them." Everyone just nodded awkwardly.
"So, what have we got?" The Doctor asked himself. "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms." He brought a rubik's cube of all things out of his pocket and threw it in the air, catching it with one hand. "Well, apart from anything else, that's just rude." He walked off suddenly, Florence hot on his heels and the rest moments behind.
"You do that a lot." Florence commented as she stepped behind him, causing him to pause slightly.
"Do what?" He asked.
"Talk to yourself, walk off, expect us to follow." She had noticed the same thing when they fought the Krillitane, he had a way of occupying any room with just his voice, and everyone happily listened.
"Is that a problem?" He slowed down so they were walking up the stairs at the same pace, and looked down at her seriously, concerned at her opinion, which made her feel a bit funny inside. He constantly did that too, looking to her for approval, which she assumed stemmed from their long standing companionship.
She shrugged a bit, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, "No, I'm just getting used to… all this"
"... and you're liking, all this…"
"I'm…" She felt guilty for hesitating, looking anywhere but him. "Getting used to it…" Despite her guilt at being unable to give him a definite answer, it seemed to appease him for the time being, and he continued up the stairs with gusto.
"We'll pop back to the Tardis," the Doctor was telling them, as they reached the landing where they had parked, "I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have a sing song." He trailed of at the end, as they saw the empty air where the TARDIS had stood.
"Um, where's the TARDIS? You parked it there, didn't you?" Amy questioned, looking around, their three new friends looked confused at the development.
"What's a 'tardis'?" Howie asked Rory, who was leaning against the bannister with his head in his hands. Florence rubbed his shoulder slightly,
"A ship. Our ship."
"More specifically, our way out." Rory added. "And it's gone."
Florence started slightly when she heard the familiarly annoying music from the reception start up again, "I - I turned that off…"
"This is bad." The Doctor told them from his position on the staircase near them. "At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good." Florence shook her head at him,
"Sometimes you say things, and I just…" She shook her head. "Never mind, let's just - right," she turned to the original three hotel guests, "are there any more of you?" Rita looked at the others before responding,
"Joe. But he's.. tied up right now."
"Doing what?" The Doctor asked, Rita shook her head.
"No I mean, he's tied up right now. Come on, I'll show you."
She led the group back down the stairs, past the reception and towards a set of grand double doors, which she opened, letting the others see for themselves what it was Joe was doing. The sound of laughter stopped the moment they entered the large dining room, at least ten tables occupied by numerous vintage looking ventriloquist dummies turning to look at them. The source of the laughter. In the middle of the room, tied to one of the chairs, was a man dressed in a blue suit with a yellow tie. The Doctor walked towards him, while the others hung back.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor."
"We're all going to die here." Lovely, Florence thought to herself, unsettled by the calmness with which he spoke.
"Not enjoying the strong murder vibes of this hotel." She whispered to Amy, who nodded in agreement,
"You and me both…"
"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure." The Doctor quipped. "Is Joe there? Can I have a quick word?"
"Oh, it's still me, Doctor." Joe told him. "But I've seen the light.I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon he shall feast." Florence couldn't see the Doctor's face, as his back was to them, but she saw Joe's intense, wild look in his eyes.
"Well, you've been here two days. What's he waiting for?"
"We were ready. We were still raw."
"But now you're what, cooked?" Joe didn't seem phased by the Doctor's disbelief.
"If you like. Soon you will be too. Be patient. First, find your room." Florence frowned at that, the bad dreams were in the rooms… that's what Rita had said. Joe's eyes shifted to everyone else, and Florence felt his stare down to her bones.
"My room." The Doctor repeated.
"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you."
"You said you'd seen the light now." The Doctor pressed, searching for answers. Joe's eyes seemed to dull and he rocked slightly.
"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things." He motioned to his dining buddies. "I used to hate them. They make me laugh now." He started laughing maniacally, causing the dummies to join in. "Gottle o' geer. Gottle o' geer." He stopped suddenly. "You should go. He'll be here soon." The Doctor stood, walking to the back of the room towards a luggage cart, pushing it towards Joe and jamming it under his chair.
"I think you should come with me." He told the man, tilting the cart ready to wheel him out of the room.
With a bit of struggling, the Doctor managed to wheel Joe, chair and all, behind the reception desk. He leaned against it from the other side and tapped his hands against it as he thought. "Why you four?" He asked. "That's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other things I don't understand." Florence smiled a bit at this, at least they were all somewhat confused.
"What does it matter?" Gibbing asked from his position half sheltered behind the office door. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us." Florence once more flicked off the music player. "Or enslave us." She looked over at him,
"Okay, positive attitudes, everyone. Doctor, what's the plan?"
He smiled at her. "First, we find the TARDIS. Quick thing before we go. If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all times." Florence nodded, ready to start exploring, she was creeped out, yes, but she couldn't help but be relatively curious about what was lurking in the rooms.
"Joe said, 'he will feast'." Rita reminded them. "Is there something here with us?" Okay, maybe she was now more creeped out, less curious, about the thought of something dangerous wandering the halls.
The Doctor looked at the tied up Joe behind the reception desk, "Something to add, Joe?" The man smiled,
"Here comes a candle to light you to bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop." Howie looked disconcerted as the crazed man sang, laughing at the same time.
"Can we do something about him?" Howie asked.
Florence clapped her hands and walked behind the desk, "Let's see what the receptionist has, shall we?"
The large group made their way down the first corridor near the reception, Gibbs wheeling Joe who finally had his mouth taped shut. The hallways were covered with the same cream wallpaper and lights lining the walls, every step felt the same, like they were walking along a treadmill, never progressing further than the first few steps. Rory and Florence trailed behind with Howie, who was looking around nervously.
"I've worked out where we are." The nerdy boy began. "Norway."
"Norway?" Rory repeated, looking at Florence in disbelief, who raised an eyebrow at her new friend from the other side of the conspiracy theorist.
"You see, the US government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains. And Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off." Florence rolled her eyes at the thought,
"And what? We're the test subjects? They wanna drive us to madness first? Sounds ridiculous." Howie looked a bit put out at her comment.
"Amazing." Rory agreed.
"It's all there on the internet." Howie maintained, but Rory shook his head.
"No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening." The ridiculous conversation Florence had found herself part of was interrupted by one of the doors to the Doctor's left opening suddenly. A large man wearing a white vest and shorts combo with a whistle round his neck came out,
"Have you forgotten your PE kit again? Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" Florence laughed at the way the Doctor turned to look at her once the man retreated back into his room, the shell shocked expression reminiscent of a naughty schoolboy. In the distraction, however, no one had noticed Howie branching off from the group and head towards a door labelled 155, until it was too late.
"No, no, no!" The Doctor cried, rushing towards him, but Howie had already opened the door. Inside the room was a group of pretty teenage girls, all giggling and they didn't stop when they saw the Doctor and Howie.
"Oh look girls. It's H-H-Howie!" They all laughed harder at the mocking comment, and one of the other girls added,
"What's 'loser' in K-K-K-Klingon?" Florence went to grab Howie and pull him away, but he flinched and backed up quickly,
"Shut the the the door. This is just some mmessed up, CIA shit. I'm I'm telling you."
"Howie," Florence asked carefully, "are you okay?" The Doctor stepped up and wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders, patting his chest.
"He's fine. You're right, Howie. Keep telling yourself that, just CIA stuff, nothing more."
They turned down another corridor and approached a set of stairs, after a bit of struggling Gibbis managed to pull Joe up behind them and they were off down another identical hallway. The Doctor was walking by, stroking the walls and tapping the lights, and it wasn't until they got to the end of the hallway did any of them noticed who peculiarities about this one. Firstly, the Doctor ran his finger over aggressive rivets made in the ceiling above him, a set of three that dragged over the slightly lower part of the ceiling. Secondly, Amy noticed a set of papers littered on the floor, bending to collect them.
"Look at these." Behind Florence, Rory had bent down to tie his shoelace, and smacked her gently on the leg to get her to look at something he had seen,
"Florence, is that a-?" Before she could turn to see, a loud roar echoed through the hallways, and she ran up to stand near the Doctor.
"Okay, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?" Amy asked, as they all stared off down the corridor.
"Amy," Florence began, looking at the Doctor's less than happy face, "in the short time I've been doing this, always assume it's real." The Doctor looked around them for an escape route.
"No. No," he assured them, "I'm sure it isn't, but just in case, let's run away and hide anyway. In here." He grabbed Florence's hand and pulled her into the room to their left. "Rory!" He called out to the man who was taking his time following them. Florence shut the door behind the men and they all froze at the beings that were in the room with them. They were granite grey statues of angels, one held her head in her hands while the other scowled at them with her hands raised in attack. Florence was surprised at the fear Amy exhibited, and the warning she delivered:
"Don't blink." The Doctor let out a little scream as he turned and saw them.
"What?" Florence asked. "What do you mean?" The lights flickered above them with a fizzling sound, and when they returned the angels had moved, closer and more aggressively towards them. Florence jumped back with a scream,
"Woah! Oooooh my god! Doctor! What are they?" The Doctor grabbed her and shoved her behind him, while Rory did the same with Amy.
"Get back!" He told them, before hesitating. "Why haven't they got us yet?"
"You want them to KILL us faster?!" Florence yelled at him, watching him move closer to the creatures and holding out a hand to touch them, letting out a sigh of relief.
"They're not real. Amy they're not real." He comforted the terrified woman. "They should have got us by now. Amy, look at me. Focus on me. It's your bad dream, that's all.
"I don't understand." Florence looked at the suddenly stationary angels. "Amy are you okay?"
"I don't even think they're for us." Rory reasoned, before going silent at the sound of heavy footsteps thumping on the carpeted floor outside. There was growling accompanying the thumping, and the Doctor moved closer to the door, much to the chagrin of Amy and Florence.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" Amy asked, and Florence shook her head at him,
"Don't you dare."
The Doctor looked at the two of them apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is. I just have to see." He pressed up gently against the door to look through the peephole, just as the shadow of the monster appeared at the crack at the bottom of the floor. "Oh, look at you. Oh, you are beautiful. Oh, dear…" He added, jumping back from the door before the shadow moved on. "I think it's going after Joe."
There was silence except the lumbering sound of the creature's feet, before they all heard a man's scream bouncing down the walls of the corridor. It went quiet again and the Doctor ran of out of the room, running after the creature. "Leave him alone!"
Florence tried to follow, running out behind him but only catching a glimpse of his shadow turning down another corridor before he disappeared from her sight. "Doctor!" He was gone.
End of chapter five! This is one of my fave episodes from Matt Smith's era, I think it explore really cool concepts of fear and faith… next chapter we'll see some Rory/Florence interactions which I love
See you for chapter six! xo