Chapter 4: Up At Night
Amy, Wanda and Tim strolled through town, with Rory, Arnold and Phoebe lagging a bit behind.
"Well, you lived here in the future right?" Amy asked. "Or, will live here anyway. What's normally worth checking out?"
Tim put a finger to his chin as he looked around.
"I'm not sure. I barely recognize anything."
Wanda pointed to what looked like an abandoned building. "I wanna check that out! Looks cool."
"Let's not!" opined Arnold.
Amy decided it wouldn't be any harm and made to move toward the building, before she was suddenly stopped by a tall man in a construction helmet. He had sunken in eyes and didn't seem to be looking at Amy as he spoke to her.
"I'm afraid I can't let you pass here miss."
Amy made a slightly indignant face, but held the children back anyway.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"This building is private property. Trespassers are prohibited."
Tim looked with some concern at the tall man, who still refused to make eye contact with any of them.
"Are you ok, sir-"
"This building is private property. Trespassers are prohibited."
The group stepped back and traded confused looks.
"Well, ok then." said Amy, taking the kids hands, "Sorry I asked. Come on then, let's all just go to the park or something."
"Finally," said Arnold, "something normal."
Wanda rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile, The Doctor, Carlos and Keesha had found themselves in a quaint little cafe/bar. The Doctor waved a hand in front of his face as he and the kids noted that every single person in the building had a lit cigarette in their mouth. The kids plugged their noses as the Doctor wasting no time rushing to the stereo system in the corner. He looked it over like a kid would a Christmas present.
Keesha and Carlos looked with some anxiety at the smoking patrons around them. The ones that weren't staring at them with distaste seemed to be constantly dozing off.
Keesha walked up to him and whispered so as not to draw attention.
"Hey Doctor, you where just pulling our legs when you said you're an alien, right?"
"Nope." said the Doctor, not taking his eyes of the turn-table, "Why would I pull your legs? You need those. Hey, I love these things! Only play the hits. Who'd have an iPod?"
Keesha's head spun at the man's sudden change of subject.
"A what? Nevermind, listen, you can't be an alien, you look human."
"And you sound like you're from England." said Carlos.
The Doctor hopped to his feet and faced them.
"Funny how that keeps happening. More to the point, I don't look like your species, you look like my species."
Having considerably less care for the volume of his voice than the children, the Doctor made note of the kill gestures they gave him before their conversation drew the attention of the bartender. Remembering suddenly why they were there, the Doctor went up to the counter.
"Yes, hello, three root beer floats for my friends and I please."
The man scoffed, but got to work on the drinks anyway.
Carlos took a seat next to the Doctor. "I hope the ice cream is as cold as his shoulder."
"Carlos!" groaned Keesha as Carlos and the Doctor shared a giggle.
"It only figures," said the Doctor, "Odds are no one in town is gonna be very warm to non-Americans, which from their perspective could be all three of us. It should be fine though, just smile a whole bunch in that way that shows your teeth and say 'Gee Whiz' a lot."
"Anyway! Where're those drinks!?" The Doctor leaned over the counter to find the bartender standing asleep over the half-prepared floats.
"Oi! Hey! Hello? You okay?"
The man snapped awake, the look of irritation returning to his face.
"Yeah, yeah, get your drinks, Limey."
The Doctor ignored this comment and looked around at the other uncomfortably quiet patrons. Everyone in the building seemed just barely awake. He whistled before turning back to the bartender.
"Trouble sleeping?"
"How could you tell?"
"And it's not just you, it's everyone. It's the students in school, too. What's got you all so drowsy?"
The man hesitated before answering, as if considering which option would end the conversation quicker.
"Noises at night." he said. "Animals and such. They show up every night in or around someone else's home and keep the whole neighborhood up."
The other patrons had keyed into the conversation and decided to add their two cents.
"It's happened to me twice now over the past week. Sounded like a deer, the little pests."
"No, no, it can't be deer. It roared like a mountain lion!"
Keesha snickered involuntarily. "A mountain lion! Loose in a town like this?"
"So you don't actually know what it is?" asked The Doctor. "Or what THEY are?"
The chatter ceased and the uncomfortable silence returned.
"Well," said one young man, "no one's been able to lay eyes on them. They only show up when it's dark. Sometimes they're out of sight faster than you can blink, and other times..."
"Other times people go out looking for them. And never come back."
Apprehension overtook Keesha and Carlos' faces, while The Doctor grew one of his trademark grins.
"Mysterious creature stalking the night in 1955? It's one of my days."
He spun around to face the bartender again. "Keep the floats! Drink 'em yourself if you want. I'm gonna have a walk with the kids. Carlos, Keesha, come on!"
The kids looked at each other and followed the Doctor out, as a small bit of the tension in the room seemed to follow them out.
A ways away, Dorothy-Ann was excitedly leading Ralphie and Ms. Frizzle through the town museum. Ralphie was trying his best to be interested, but in all honesty he couldn't find the point of checking out history when they themselves were now part of history.
"I just find it fascinating how much has changed between then and now. There are so many factual inaccuracies here." said the blonde girl, giddy with excitement.
Ralphie shrugged before noticing how dark it was outside. "Shouldn't there be a guard or something closing up this place by now? I either want to go somewhere fun or back to the bus."
The question was directed more toward Ms. Frizzle than anyone else, but she remained silent as if she hadn't heard him. Ralphie leaned over to Dorothy-Ann as Liz waved a hand in front of the redhead's gaze.
"D.A, does the Frizz seem a bit out of it to you? I mean, more than usual."
"Ever since the meteor storm, yeah. What do you suppose it is?"
The subject of their conversation suddenly spoke before Ralphie had the chance to answer.
"Where IS that guard? I could have sworn I saw one on the way in."
There was a sudden THUMP! and the sound of something breaking nearby which put the four on alert. Looking around, they seemed to be the only ones in the building.
Frizzle went towards the large, dimly lit room where the sound originated, pulling out a flashlight.
"Hello?" she chirped, "Is there anybody in here?"
She was greeted with a slight hissing noise and a movement so quick she could barely make out what it was. Going further into the room, she shone the light around trying to get a goof look.
Before she knew it, the movement was behind her and the door had closed.
"Remind me what it is we're looking for, Doctor."
By now it was pitch black outside, The Doctor had been leading Carlos and Keesha around town for what seemed like hours, holding a small, glowing, beeping bow in front of him like a tracker.
"Aliens." he said.
Keesha rolled her eyes, admiring The Doctor's ability to make her do that every five minutes.
"What, like you?" asked Carlos.
"No, not like me. There aren't really any like me left. One of a kind..."
The Doctor paused just long enough for the children to wonder whether they should say something, before he continued.
"But there have been tons of other species, less friendly ones, running around your planet since before it ever was. Odds are if you hear a creature go bump in the night and you don't know what it is, you could be dealing with a Rutan, or a Roboform, or Krillitanes, or any number of things out there looking to get you for one reason or another."
The Doctor patted the box as it beeped again, oblivious to the thoroughly frightened looks on the kids' faces.
"This bad boy should let us know who we're dealing with, but it's not picking up anything extraterrestrial..."
The ground suddenly shook beneath the three as they began looking around in panic.
"What was that?" demanded Keesha.
"Dunno." said The Doctor, checking his machine again, "It's got nothing! Nothing foreign to Earth in the entire vicinity of the town."
"Does that mean it was a deer, or a mountain lion?"
Another shake of the ground.
"I doubt it."
The trio stopped steeping back as they were greeted by a low growl directly behind them, followed by a blast of hot air onto them.
They remained momentarily frozen in silence, The Doctor only moving to put his machine away before the three of them turned simultaneously.
Behind them was a very large and very menacing...
"Tyrannosaurus Rex." said The Doctor in a mix of giddiness and fear.
Keesha looked up in stunned silence while Carlos swallowed nervously.
"Gee Whiz."