7.
The 'Timbalier Times' was ten minutes walk across town. Amy wasn't sure whether it was the wound on her head or the Doctor's frenetic pace, but by the time they arrived at the modern building with its walls of green corrugated metal, she was quite out of breath. She wiped a hand across her brow and glanced at her watch. It was a little after four in the afternoon and cicadas were just starting to warm up.
The front window of the building had been carefully lettered to read 'The Timbalier Times, Voice of the Parish of Lafourche since 1842'. The Doctor pushed the door open and Amy sighed in relief as she stepped into the cool air-conditioned office.
Inside, a young woman with glasses sat behind a desk, tapping away at a laptop. She looked up and smiled, just as the phone next to her on the desk began to ring. "I'll be right with you," she said, reaching for the receiver. "Hello, Timbalier Times…one moment please." She pressed a few buttons on the phone, then hung up and returned her attention to the Doctor and Amy. "Well, how are y'all today? Can I help you?"
The Doctor grinned and held up his psychic paper as Amy rolled her eyes.
********************
Amy stretched her aching back and rubbed irritably at the patch on her forehead. It had started to itch and throb at the same time. She glanced at her watch - it was almost five o'clock.
"Come on Doctor," she said, nudging him. "The reception woman said they closed at five."
The Doctor had utilised all four of the laptops in the small records room. He had slung his long brown coat over one of the chairs and now, with his glasses on, was studying a microfiche machine intently. "No, no, hang on a minute! There, that's the last one." He sat back smugly.
"What have you found?"
"Big Mo at the morgue was right. This has happened before – three times in fact."
Amy sat forward and peered at the articles the Doctor had pulled up on the laptops and the microfiche. "1937, blimey that is old."
"Oy, everything's relative," frowned the Doctor. "Anyway, this was in the next town of Thibodaux. Four bodies stolen with no suspects or motives uncovered." He pushed his chair across to one of the laptops and tapped the screen showing an old, yellowed piece of newsprint. "Then there were the cases in 1879. Twelve corpses disappeared that year. No-one ever identified the thieves, and lawmen couldn't find any motive."
"But we're talking about something that happened over a hundred years ago! They can't be connected."
The Doctor nodded. "Oh they're connected all right." He pointed to another laptop. "Look at that one."
8.
Amy looked worriedly at the Doctor then back to the laptop and another old article. This one was from 1903. "Four men hanged, accused of stealing bodies," she read slowly and shivered. "Why?"
"None had any connection with the others and there was no hard evidence that supported the four men's guilt, but……" The Doctor trailed off.
"But what?" whispered Amy.
"Each man claimed that 'Timbalier Tommy' was responsible for the crime and through voodoo magic had made the corpses come to life."
"Voodoo magic? This is nuts!" exclaimed Amy, chewing on a nail. "Who's this 'Tommy' guy anyway?"
"Oh, I checked." The Doctor hauled over the last laptop. "Our 'Timbalier Tommy is quite a celebrity around these parts. Voodoo magic is still practiced in the area – the people still believe in it. And if anything really bad happens they blame 'Timbalier Tommy' – a sort of undead zombie master that can animate corpses and control the walking dead."
Amy swallowed nervously. "Oh you're kidding right?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Depends on your point of view. One planet's necromancer is another's top medic!"
"Planet?" Amy sighed and rubbed her brow. "You are so weird Doctor."
"Anyway," the Doctor continued, "this Timbalier Tommy is supposed to live in the bayou – that's where we have to go to solve this mystery."
Amy's heart leapt into her mouth as there was a sudden hammering on the door.
"Hey, y'all finished in there? I need to lock up."
Amy let out a breath at the sound of the receptionist's voice and then slapped a grinning Doctor on the arm.
******************
"You don't have to do this y'know." Amy muttered to herself as she stuffed a change of clothes into her backpack.
The Doctor had walked her back to the hotel, all the time trying to persuade her that she was safer staying in Galliano, but Amy had stubbornly refused. Now whilst she was packing, he had gone off to try and find out some more information about how the bayou was laid out.
Amy looked at her reflection in the long mirror on the wall of the room and sighed. "Yes I do Price. Got to find out what happened on that bus. You owe it to those poor ….."
She broke off as she heard the sound of someone moving outside her room. Amy frowned. "Doctor?" she called, but there as no reply. Taking a breath, she walked over and pulled open the door.
Amy screamed in mortal fear, her eyes wide in terror at what she saw.
On the shadowy landing outside her room was a severed human hand, balanced upright on the remains of the wrist. Its fingers were splayed outwards and each one was burning with an oily flame.
9.
"It is a warning."
There was a creak from the stairs as a figure stepped onto the landing. A tall black man, completely bald and in his mid twenties, regarded Amy carefully. The flames from the burning hand reflected eerily in his dark eyes.
Amy took a step back into her room. "Who the Hell are you?" she managed to stammer, the icy chill of fear in her heart.
"My name is Emil." The man took a step towards her. He was dressed in a loose blue cotton shirt and cut-off jeans that ended at the knee.
"Don't come any closer!" She automatically widened her stance and braced herself to throw him if he came any nearer. She hadn't gone to a judo class in ages – but she still held a black belt.
"It's all right, I won't hurt you. You are Amy, yes?" the man asked. "The Doctor sent me."
Amy looked past Emil and down the stairs. "The Doctor?" she croaked. "Where is he?"
"Finding us a boat." Emil took another step closer and picked up the severed hand, a look of both disgust and fear on his face. He opened a window on the landing and threw the hand as far as he could into the shadowy trees behind the hotel. He turned back to Amy and smiled revealing perfect white teeth. "There. You are safe now. Come with me, yes?"
Amy stared at Emil and nodded slowly. She licked her parched lips as she looked at him for a moment and Emil smiled again. Amy couldn't see any malice in his face so she picked up her rucksack from the bed and then walked out of the room to stand next to him, closing the door behind her.
Amy pointed a commanding finger at Emil. "The Doctor – now."
Emil nodded and started back down the stairs.
A sudden thought struck Amy as she followed him. "You said that….thing was a warning."
Emil nodded, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Who from?"
Emil paused and then turned to look at Amy. "From Mama," he said sadly. "The madness has taken her again."
****************
The sun hung low in the sky, turning the water of the bayou that surrounded the landing dock a blood red.
The Doctor finished loading a cloth bag of supplies – rope, lanterns and some food - he had bought from the rental shack onto the small boat that bobbed up and down in the water.
He turned and grinned as the two figures approached. "He found you then?" he called.
Amy glared at the Doctor. "Yeah, damn well nearly gave me heart failure too!"
Emil said nothing but jumped into the little boat, grabbing a long pole from where it rested against the landing dock. "We must hurry," he said to the Doctor. "It will be dark soon."
"Where are we going?" whispered Amy.
The Doctor helped her into the boat and then stepped down next to her. "Emil is taking us to Mama Regina – a voodoo woman. We're going into the swamp."
10.
Emil pointed to an unpainted wooden house ahead. "That's it," he said. "She'll be waitin' inside. Mama always knows when I'm coming."
The dwelling rose out of the swamp like a gnarled tree stump, covered with moss and damp weed. Five foot stilts supported the house itself, keeping the murky swamp water and its creatures from taking up residence inside.
They had been travelling for close to an hour. Emil's strong, confident poling of the boat pushed them smoothly through the swamp at a fair speed, much to Amy's relief. Now night was about to fall, and only a flicker of light shone in Mama Regina's windows. Shadowy, doll-like figures stood like small sentinels in the windowsills, keeping watch on the outside world.
The boat moved silently forward until it bumped with a dull thud against a piling beneath the house. Emil leant over and secured a mooring rope. "Follow me," he whispered, climbing up a few small boards that were nailed horizontally to the piling and to form a crude ladder.
Amy glanced at the Doctor who smiled reassuringly and nodded. He stood up and hopped off the boat, reaching back so that Amy could grab his hand, and then climbed up after Emil.
"You'd better let me talk first," Emil added, "Mama doesn't take much to strangers." He paused. "And we gotta hope the madness don' take her."
Amy frowned. "You said that before, what do you…."
But before Emil could answer, there came a female chuckle from inside the house that made Amy jump. "Come on in Emil, and since you brought 'em, those other folks can come on in too."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow but said nothing as Emil pushed open the creaky door and they stepped inside.
The house was dimly lit with a kerosene lamp and five or six stubby candles. The dwelling had three areas – a living area at the front, a kitchen at the back and another area off to one side that was shielded by a plastic curtain. Amy wrinkled her nose and fought the impulse to gag at the smell of herbs and incense that were heavy in the house.
Small idols and shrines filled the room. A few pieces depicted familiar religious symbols but most were small paintings and figurines showing strange, primitive figures, some of them animals. A striking figure of a hairless, winged angel with tattooed skin sat on a small table near the door.
A very old, steely black woman sat in the corner of the room, rocking in a chair. Her eyes were fixed on the Doctor. Shadows covered most of her face but as she rocked, her ebony eyes shone clearly.
Amy gasped. It was the woman she saw watching her outside the morgue.
"Y'all come in and make yourselves at home," the old woman said, her voice old as dust, yet still clear and strong. "I'm Mama Regina. You must be the ones trackin' Timbalier Tommy. I knew you were comin'."
11.
The Doctor watched the old woman carefully. "That's clever."
Mama Regina just laughed. "Honey, that's as clear as can be. Tommy's been busy lately and you've just come into town." Her eyes narrowed as she studied the Doctor. "Not like the poor girl here, you just appeared." She took a breath through her nose. "You've got power Doctor - I can smell it on you."
Amy looked at the Doctor who just shrugged. "Can you tell us what you know?" he asked.
Mama Regina's voice was deep and sombre, belying her small size. "Timbalier Tommy used to be a Cajun, a long, long time ago. He used to go into the bayou for gator hide and stuff. One day he was found dead on the edge of the swamp, just as pale and white as can be with no hands and no feet and with this strange animal skull over his head. Only his head weren't there no more." She paused and leant forward in her chair. "They reckon that thieves had killed him for his money, but I think he found something in the bayou that day."
"Or something found him," muttered the Doctor, his chin resting on his hands.
"Thing is," Mama continued, "when folks went to bury him, they say Tommy leapt up and ran away through the swamp, splashing through the water like a chicken with no head. Nobody saw him after that. He became nzambi - part of the livin' dead. A few of us 'round here understand that, and we know he's come back times after to take hold of our deceased, forcing them to rise up with him."
"He just walks into town?" said Amy.
Mama Regina chuckled. "Honey, Tommy's a lot cleverer than that. They say he can change himself into a fly and go wherever he pleases, do whatever he wants."
"A fly huh? Perhaps we should tell him to buzz off?" The Doctor smiled as Amy groaned then his face became serious again. "And what about you?" he asked Mama. "You're not telling us something?"
Mama Regina looked away and got slowly to her feet. "I'll get you some stew, you'll be needin' it."
Emil had watched the conversation between the Doctor and Mama Regina carefully. "Tell him Mama," he piped up. "Tell them about the madness."
Mama Regina scowled. "Why? He don' want to hear 'bout that."
"Anything could be important," said the Doctor quickly, "please?"
Mama sighed. "I was just a lil girl the first time, 'bout seven years old. I lived in Thibodaux with my pappy. When Tommy came callin', I could see it. Didn't know what was happenin' to me. My pappy had to tie me down or I'd have killed him."
"Telepathic connection – fascinating," said the Doctor. "A temporary control of some kind…."
Amy struggled to understand where the conversation was heading. "So this zombie thing can control her?"
The Doctor nodded. "For a short time."
Amy jumped to her feet. "Then how do we know he's not doing it right now?"
12.
The Doctor shook his head. "Oh, I think we'd know." He looked at Mama Regina who was busying herself at a pan on the old stove. "You don't remember what happens do you?"
Mama had her back to the Doctor and just shook her head. "It's like a blackness takes me – but I know it's Tommy."
"How often does this happen?"
Mama turned around and there was fear in her eyes. "Every time he wakes up."
"And it's been happening recently hasn't it?"
Mama nodded. "He's hungry again."
*****************
Amy turned over on her other side to ease her aching shoulder. The bedroll that Mama had given her was only thin, and the floor was hard beneath her. She hit the musty cushion under her head, trying to get it more comfortable but without success. With a sigh, Amy opened her eyes to see the few candles that lit the room had burnt down almost completely. She must have dropped off after all. It had taken her long enough. She had argued against staying here at all until the Doctor had pointed out that travelling through the swamp at the dead of night was hardly the most sensible thing to do. If they were going deeper into the bayou to find Timbalier Tommy, best do it in the morning.
Amy licked her lips. There was a strange taste in her mouth – probably the stew that Mama had given them. She hadn't (for once) pressed the old woman to find out what was in it, although her imagination worked overtime. Still, it tasted like chicken….
Amy craned her neck to see the silhouette of the Doctor sitting astride one of the chairs, his chin in his hands and clearly awake. Emil sat snoring in one of the other chairs. Mama Regina had retired behind the plastic curtain after drawing them a crude map of where she thought they could look for Tommy.
"You awake?" The Doctor had heard her moving.
Amy nodded. "What time is it?" she asked as she glanced at her watch, angling it towards the flickering light of the nearest candle. "Just after four."
"It'll be time to leave soon," the Doctor whispered.
Suddenly Amy heard a strange buzzing sound coming from behind the plastic curtain and sat up. "What was that?"
The Doctor had heard it too and his face was unreadable in the shadows. He got to his feet and motioned for Amy to stay back. Then he walked slowly across the room and snatched back the curtain.
Standing behind it was Mama Regina, her eyes glowing with an unearthly light. She opened her mouth and let out a terrible wail as suddenly the air behind her was thick with swarming insects.
13.
Amy screamed at the terrifying sight of the possessed woman. Behind her, Emil leapt to his feet. "Get back," he shouted, "the madness has taken her!"
The insects erupted into the room, trying to engulf them all, but the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it upwards. The tip glowed a brilliant blue in the shadowy house as it emitted a pulsating whine.
Amy screwed up her eyes in pain, throwing her hands over her ears, as did Emil. The effect on the insects was far more severe however. Rather than swarming towards them in a deadly cloud, they immediately dispersed and shot from the room, disappearing into the swamp air.
Mama Regina screamed too, but not in fear. Her face was contorted with fury. With fingers twisted into talons, she flew at the Doctor.
The Doctor didn't flinch but just adjusted his screwdriver to another setting. The whine rose in pitch until Amy thought her eardrums would burst.
Mama Regina screamed again, this time in pain, and with a snarl she collapsed to the ground. As she did so, and just for a moment, her entire head was replaced by the immense, bleached white skull of a creature that just wasn't human. Then the skull faded into nothingness leaving a harmless old woman lying unmoving on the floor of the hut.
"Quickly," ordered the Doctor, "get her some water." He scooped up Mama like a rag doll and carried her over to her small bed. Putting her down, he felt her brow. She was burning hot.
Emil grabbed a chipped cup and poured some water into it before handing it to the Doctor.
The Doctor cradled the old woman in his arm and gently gave her a sip. Mama started to moan a little, her eyelids fluttering. "She'll be alright," said the Doctor, although his face was creased with worry, "the contact's been broken." He sat back. "I think it's safe to assume it knows we're coming."
"What was that thing?" gasped Amy, her heart still pounding.
The Doctor put down the cup and laid Mama Regina down gently onto the bed. He turned to Emil. "We'd better get going."
Emil nodded silently and started to pack his rucksack.
"Doctor," warned Amy, "I said, what was it? This 'Timbalier Tommy'?"
The Doctor looked at her and nodded. "But this isn't a voodoo zombie master."
"Then what was it?"
"That skull was alien."
"Alien?" Amy frowned. It all sounded so bizarre. First voodoo, now aliens. "You mean from space?"
The Doctor nodded. "I've met them before. That was the skull of a Sycorax!"