Oh my gosh, guys! During third period today, I realized that, while I uploaded the story to the Doc Manager, I never actually updated! I am so sorry xD Erm...action finally picks up, although the chapter's still short. Sorry 'bout that; they'll all like that. Regardless, enjoy! And please feel free to point out anything I've gotten wrong or that sounds weird. I've had to backtrack about something I messed up earlier and right it a bit in this chapter. Okay, annoying long A/N over now, cross my heart(s).
They walked across the rubble and stones, past the mound that once was an entrance to the mine.
"Parts of it's still up, I guess," John was saying. "There's an entrance or two still open, and there's still paths underground. It's not safe to go under, though. Why so interested?" He turned to look at the Doctor with what could be considered concern, if you squint and tilt your head. "You ain't going down there, are you?"
"'Course not!" the Doctor said, but Amy could tell the feeling wasn't in it.
As the two of them continued talking, Amy and Rory followed behind with Kimberly.
"So, Kimberly," Amy started. "How long have you been in England for?"
"John!" Kimberly called. The boy turned back to look at her. "We've been working together for about a year now, right?"
"Right!"
"About a year," she told Amy, smiling up at her.
"How old are you?" Amy asked. "You act so mature for a young face."
Kimberly chuckled. "I turn seventeen…" she trailed off, brows furrowing as she thought. "Later this month, actually."
"You barely look sixteen," Rory said, raising an eyebrow.
"I get that a lot," she sighed, the grin tugging at her lips disregarding the sad tone of her voice. "I blame my height, really."
"Not everybody can be tall like me," Amy laughed. Kimberly and Rory couldn't help but join in. Amy caught Kimberly look up at her and grinned.
"You keep looking at me like I've got three heads or something," she teased, seeing the admiration in the younger girl's eyes. Kimberly's cheeks reddened and she dropped her gaze.
"S-Sorry, ma'am," she stammered. "It's just…You honestly seem to care about how John and I are doing, about our history and such. The rich don't usually care about poor factory workers, unless they can somehow turn a profit."
Amy and Rory looked at each other over her head, both surprised at how suddenly bitter the girl sounded.
"We're not all that rich," Rory said, trying to placate her. Kimberly rolled her eyes, no longer looking bitter.
"You've got a fancy suit on and a gold pocket watch, and she's wearing a bustle skirt. Not everybody goes 'round wearin' them in 1863. Only the richest trendsetters."
Hoping to turn the subject off of his and Amy's (slightly historically wrong) 'rich' wardrobe, Rory changed the subject. "Why'd you come to this place, anyway? What's wrong with ol' America?"
"M-My parents died," Kimberly mumbled, lowering her head. "I had family here, but none really took me in. The factory has lodging for workers, so it's a constant place to sleep if needed."
"That's terrible," Rory said. "How'd you meet John?"
"Factory. He showed me around a bit. Kind of became my partner in crime, y'know what I mean?"
"Rory and I are like that," Amy told her with a nod. "Right, Rory?"
"Yes, ma'am," Rory agreed, nodding right back to her.
"So, uh, was the Doctor being serious when he said aliens?" Kimberly asked, trying desperately to change the subject. "From the stars? That is not possible."
"It is, though," Rory said in his most convincing tone of voice. "The Doctor's from space, too."
Kimberly looked at him in alarm. "Is he dangerous?"
"Only to himself and anything that interests him," he said, smiling to let her know he was only joking and, no, the Doctor mainly wasn't dangerous - at least while on Earth.
"You three coming or what?" the Doctor called. Him and John were standing in front of what looked like a wooden well. The three of them hurried up to stand with them.
"What's this, then?" Amy asked, rushing forward to look down it. She could see nothing but darkness.
"Ventilation shaft and a place to lower supplies," Kimberly informed her, coming up to stand next to her. "We're not sure if any part over here has collapsed or not. It's all open further on."
"How big is this mine?" the Doctor asked, surprised. "We walked for a while."
"It's pretty big," John said with a nod. "Under almost all of the stone here. It's a wonder it hasn't collapsed before now, really. There was a lot of -"
There was a large gust of wind, which blew Amy's hat right off of her head, followed by a heart wrenching shriek.
"Doctor!"
"Kimberly!" John yelled, rushing forward. Amy, who had started to run after her hat, looked back at the wooden structure and saw a large purple tentacle coming out of it. She followed it up into the air and felt her heart drop into her stomach when she saw Kimberly dangling in the air, the tentacle wrapped around her stomach.
"Kimberly, hold on!" John yelled up at her.
"Do-John, do something!" Kimberly called back. The Doctor could hear how choked up she sounded; the girl was definitely close to tears. She started to kick and thrash - there was something about her shoes that the Doctor immediately pegged as off, but he decided to worry about it when Kimberly wasn't dangling 20 feet in the air by a giant alien tentacle.
"Stop trashing!" John yelled. "You're only going to make it angry!"
"I'm not really concerned about its feelingsright now!" Kimberly snapped. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was quieted by the tentacle suddenly pulled back into the shaft, taking her with it.
"Doctor, do something!" she shrieked as she disappeared from sight. The Doctor looked back at Amy and Rory.
"It's Salitoran!" the Doctor said, jumping up to stand on the well around the shaft.
"Wha- Doctor, what are you doing?" Rory demanded as the Doctor crouched down.
"Geronimo!" he exclaimed as he jumped into the shaft.