Chapter 5: The Chapter Were A Lot Of Stuff Happens
The Doctor took each of the kids' hand in his own, unsure how to move at this current juncture.
The T-Rex seemed to sniff them, and waited for several moments before slowly steeping over them and moving on. Very slowly, The Doctor stepped forward as well, ushering the kids to follow his lead. They were now walking directly underneath the T-Rex, with their grip on each other's hands iron tight.
"Well, now we know it's not a mountain lion, eh?"
"A T-Rex." mumbled Keesha, "A real, actual, living T-Rex. Alive. In 1955."
The Doctor smiled with an "I know, isn't great?"
"Aside from the fact that it makes no sense and it could KILL US, it's just wonderful."
"Ssh-ssh!" The Doctor let go of Carlos' hand in order to place a finger to his lips. He then began fishing through his breast pocket. "For whatever reason it's ignoring us, but if we do anything to set it off..."
Carlos gave a questioning look. "I thought T-Rex's could only see you if you moved."
"Jurassic Park, eh? Great film, but not very reliable. That method of detection's just a myth. If we do anything that so much as grabs it's attention it'll be on us in seconds. Obviously it didn't smell anything it liked, so all we have to do is stay like this; out of sight and relatively far from the teeth."
"For how long?"
"Until I think of a clever escape plan. Ah!"
The Doctor pulled from his pocket the same glowing wand the children had seen him use on the bus. The Doctor held a button on it and it began blinking a bright green light.
"What is that thing?" asked Carlos.
"Sonic screwdriver. Really useful, really cool. Hey, listen, I'm gonna do something that hopefully won't get us killed. When I tell you, I want you both to run over to that car over there."
"What, the blue one?"
"Yep."
With that, The Doctor took a deep breath and pointed the screwdriver at a far off street lamp before pressing the button again. The green light shone and the street lamp exploded, causing the T-Rex to run and make its way toward the disturbance. As it did, The Doctor, Keesha and Carlos remained perfectly in place.
One the dinosaur was far enough with its back turned to them, The Doctor and the kids ran for the blue car. The Doctor shone his screwdriver on the car door and it was instantly unlocked, with the three piling in.
The Doctor looked haphazardly around the car as if unsure what to do at this juncture.
"What are you doing?" asked Keesha in a tense whisper, "Can't you drive."
"I thought you could!" said The Doctor indignantly. "It's not exactly a time and space machine. Or a fire truck."
Barely a moment later, The Doctor had started the car, and despite some haphazard driving they were off. The sudden noise and movement recaptured the T-Rex's attention and it began to run after them, with all three of its prey screaming in panic.
Back at the museum, a group of six were walking up to the entrance, having spent some time looking for their compatriots.
"I'm telling you," said Arnold, "we should've just stayed on the bus. That's what Ms. Frizzle told us to do."
Amy ignored him, holding the museum entrance open for the others to step in.
"We waited on the bus for an hour, kid, and no one showed up. Knowing The Doctor, that means he's probably in danger or needs our help with something."
"We haven't so much as heard from him or The Frizz or anyone since we split up." said Phoebe, "I am a bit worried."
"We've checked just about every place that could be of interest except this one, so at least one if them has to be here." said Rory.
"Hey shouldn't a place like this be locked at this hour?" asked Wanda.
"Not if The Doctor's been here." said Amy.
Before anyone had time to say anything else, a scream was heard from another room, and they all went running toward it.
Just moments prior, Frizzle had tried in vain to open the door that had been shut behind her.
"*tsk* Locked. What a shame." She heard another hissing noise and pointed her flashlight up into her hair.
"That wasn't you, was it Liz?"
The lizard shook its head, now looking quite apprehensive. Shining the light around the room yet again, Frizzle stopped rather quickly as she found herself faced with a scaly, hungry looking guest.
"Why hello, Mr. Velociraptor." she said as Liz took further refuge in her hair.
"I certainly didn't think I'd be running into you this millennia. The Doctor is going to love it when I tell him you're here. Should make a great little mysterious paradox."
The raptor ignored Frizzle's ramblings as it advanced on her, the schoolteacher's smile never fading even as she stepped back and reached out for the doorknob.
"On that note I should probably avoid you eating me if I want to tell him. So sorry but we'll have to cut this visit short. Ralphie! Dorothy-Ann! I seemed to have locked myself in, could you let me out please?"
Hearing their teacher's request, Ralphie and Dorothy-Ann quickly let her out, before she just as quickly slammed the door shut and leant against it.
"What's wrong, Ms. Frizzle?" asked Dorothy-Ann, "What's in there?"
The teacher waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, absolutely nothing to be worried about."
Before either of her students could ask what was going on, they got their answer as a pair of claws pierced through the wooden door in either side of Frizzle's torso. The sudden attacked caused both children to scream out, as Frizzle quickly stepped away from the door before it was torn off it hinges by the raptor.
Neither party had the chance to make another move before Amy, Rory, and the others came running to see what was wrong.
Amy registered the humans first, while her boyfriend and the kids stared in shock at the raptor.
"Ah!" she said, "There you are. That's three down, three left to- WOAH!"
She stopped speaking as the raptor caught her attention, and both she and Rory began pointing between Frizzle and the advancing creature.
"Sorry," said Rory, "is that an actual velociraptor?"
Frizzle nodded with her signature smile.
"Cool!" exclaimed Tim.
"And that means it can kill all of us, right?"
"I suppose, if you want to be morbid about it."
As the raptor seemed like it was preparing to lunge, Amy grabbed Tim and Wanda's hands, while Rory did the same for Arnold and Phoebe.
"All in favor of running to the second floor," said Amy, "DO IT NOW!"
With that, that three adults and their charges split into separate directions, each heading for a different stairwell while the raptor hesitated momentarily. It appeared torn between which group to follow, before ultimately tailing Amy.
The dinosaur roared out as it followed the group up the stairwell and into a long, window lined hallway.
"Well," said Wanda as she ran, "I think we know what happened to the night guard."
"Less talking, more running!"
A loud whistle from the other end of the hallway got the raptors attention, and it turned to see Frizzle waving to it from around the corner. By the time it had turned back to Amy's group they had disappeared around another corner, and so it ran for Frizzle.
"Great," said Ralphie in a panic, "Now it's after US!"
"It'll be alright children." said Frizzle as she opened a window and stepped onto the sill. "Just follow my lead!"
With that, she jumped.
Ralphie and Dorothy-Ann peeked out to see that she had landed safely in a bush outside and was motioning for them to follow. Dorothy-Ann was still questioning this plan before Ralphie caught her off guard by grabbing her hand and pulling her out the window with him.
As they landed the raptor tried and failed to maneuver itself out the window to follow them. Giving up, it began to stalk the hallway yet again, as Rory, Arnold and Phoebe watched it from another corner.
"Ok," said Rory, "I've got a plan. Stay back, kids."
"Wait!" said Arnold, "What are you doing? Can I help?"
Rory hesitated, about to argue that Arnold should stay, before he heard a loud his and the screams of Amy, Tim and Wanda. It had found them.
"Yeah," he said, "ok, whatever!"
With that, the two of them rushed down the hallway and with a shout, tackled the raptor away from the others and out yet another window, this time on the opposite side to Frizzle. Rory pulled the boy away as the raptor clawed at them before it fell.
Phoebe rushed up to the others, and she, Wanda and Tim began praising Arnold for his bravery, while Rory turned to Amy.
"You ok?" he asked.
She responded with a "Shut up." before kissing him hard on the lips, which garnered noises of disgust and disapproval from the kids.
Outside, Frizzle, Dorothy-Ann and Ralphie were dusting themselves off before they heard another hiss and saw the raptor get to its feet and run right for them. Ralphie's grip on Dorothy-Ann's hand tightened as they followed Frizzle out into the street.
The raptor was hot on their trail and would've been on them in seconds had it not been rammed into and knocked several yards away by a speeding blue car.
The car stopped and out came The Doctor. Almost immediately he and Frizzle began talking over each other.
"Dinosaurs!"
"I know!"
"But not really!"
"I KNOW!"
"I knew you'd be excited!"
"Excited?! Just imagine me, walking around 1955 looking for an alien or something when suddenly...T-Rex!"
"Ooh, a T-Rex? You always get the bigger ones, don't you?"
As the two conversed, Carlos and Keesha exited the car, thrown off by The Doctor's...unorthodox driving.
"I've decided," said Carlos, "that I hate dinosaurs."
Amy, Rory, and their charges came out of the museum at this moment and as the kids all went to make sure their friends were ok, The a Doctor swept Amy and Rory up in a hug before turning back to Frizzle.
"Oh, look at me, bragging about a silly old T-Rex. We lost the thing a couple of blocks back. What'd you find?"
Frizzle pointed at the velociraptor which hadn't moved a muscle since being hit, and The Doctor's smile died as he and the others stared at it.
The Time Lord walked up to the lying creature and knelt next to it.
"Sorry." he said somberly, petting it lightly. "So sorry about that..."
He then noticed something odd.
"BUT...not...that...sorry."
Amy walked up to him.
"Doctor, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," the Doctor said standing up, "that's the problem-"
A roar broke them out if their conversation, as the T-Rex suddenly rounded the corner and spotted all of them.
They all remained still for several moments, before Frizzle split off from the group and called out for the T-Rex to follow her.
"YOOHOO!" she shouted as she ran, successfully making the Rex follow her.
"Valerie!?" shouted The Doctor. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
His fears, as well as the others', were laid to rest, as in that exact moment Frizzle ran directly under some power lines. As soon as it it hit the lines, a powerful electrical current ran through the Dinosaur, and it fell forward before it ceased movement completely.
There was a silent moment before a The Doctor rushed up to the fallen dinosaur, jumping onto its back and running up to its skull before pulling out his screwdriver and looking the beast over.
Arnold was the first to speak.
"Is it dead?"
"No." said The Doctor.
"Yes." said Ms. Frizzle.
"Well, more accurately, it was never alive."
A collective "What?" rang out from the children and their chaperones.
"It roared, while it turned the corner, didn't you notice that? T-Rex's never roar while on a hunt. It also stands in a tripod stance with its tail when it's not moving."
The Doctor took this moment to pull out a pair of scissors and stab it into the Rex's head before making a wide circle with it.
"Carlos, remember what I said about that whole 'detection by moving' thing being a myth? How T-Rex's don't really do that? Well, this one does-"
He ripped off the layer of skin he had carved out to revel what looked like a clear container holding several machine-works in it where the Rex's skull should be.
"Because it's a robot."
The kids looked on in awe, running up to the dinosaurs and inspecting it. The Doctor noticed that Arnold was still hesitant.
"It's ok," he said, "your teacher fried all the important functioning bits. He won't be getting up again."
"Same goes our good friend the velociraptor." said Ms. Frizzle, walking over to said creature.
"It's much too big, and instead of scales it should have feathers. It's palms should be pointed inward rather than downward, and it's tail is too stiff."
She propped up the dinosaur to show even more mechanical bits that had been unveiled by the car slamming into the skin.
"All just animatronics."
"Puppets!" confirmed The Doctor. "And plenty impressive for the time period, too. I'm sure 'Sam and Friends' could've used something like this." He then
Suddenly, the gang was made aware of the lights of all the houses around them turned on one by one.
"Aaaaaaaaaand that'd be the neighbors."
The kids grouped around each other as the townspeople exited their home and surrounded them in what couldn't really be anything other than an angry mob.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT HERE!?" The Doctor recognized the angered voice as that of the bartender from earlier, joined by a collective murmur of those around him.
Thinking fast, The Doctor pulled out a wallet with an I.D inside of it.
"Sorry." he said, putting on a faux-Texan accent, "Department of Animatronic Attractions. We're government sanctioned to test our giant dinosaur attractions in this area, with our pool of...child test subjects."
The murmur rose as the bartender joined in scoffing incredulously. The Doctor was momentarily distracted, as he heard the heavy beating of wings amongst the crowd and turned to the skies just in time to notice a large pair of such wings disappearing behind a nearby house. He turned back to the crowd and filed that observation away for later.
"I assure you that all tests went off without a hitch, and we apologize for the necessary inconvenience of keeping you all up. Please return to your homes, we assure you that tests are done for the night. "
It was a long pause full of confused whispers and much staring at The Doctor's I.D before the crowd dissipated, some more reluctantly than others.
When it was jus them again, Arnold was the first to speak.
"D...do you just carry an I.D that says Department of Animatronic Attractions around with you?"
"Hm? What, this? No, it's psychic paper. Says whatever the user wants it to say. Awfully convenient for getting out of jams like that."
"And excuse me, Mister," interrupted Amy, "What kind of accent was that?"
The Doctor looked slightly offended. "American! I think I got it down pact, don't you guys?"
The kids and Rory all shook their heads, prompting the Doctor to wave them off.
"Everyone's a critic."
"So, now what?" asked Tim, "The dinosaurs are taken care of, right? And the bus should be charged up by now. Do we just go home?"
The Doctor turned his gaze to the sky again.
"No." he said before turning to them all again.
"There are still some dinosaurs left, and we've pretty much confirmed that they've killed people. Right now we're the only ones stopping them from doing it again, and step one is tracking down the pterosaur that just flew by."
A.N: Hooray For making chapters longer! Thanks as always to Zerowing21 for beta reading.